II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2044

To assist urban and rural local education agencies to raise the academic

achievement of all of their students.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 7, 1998

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. INOUYE, Mr.

DODD, Mr. KERRY, Mr. DASCHLE, Mr. BINGAMAN, Mr. GLENN, Ms.

MOSELEY-BRAUN, and Mr. WELLSTONE) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Labor and

Human Resources

A BILL

To assist urban and rural local education agencies to raise

the academic achievement of all of their students.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 That this Act may be cited as the ‘‘Education Opportunity

4 Zones Act of 1998’’.

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

6 The Congress finds as follows:

7 (1) Students in schools that have high con8 centrations of poor children begin school academi9 cally behind their peers in other schools and are
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1 often unable to close the gap as they progress

2 through school. In later years, these students are

3 less likely than other students to attend a college or

4 university and more likely to experience unemploy5 ment.

6 (2) Many children who attend these high-pov7 erty schools lack access to the challenging curricula,

8 well-prepared teachers, and high expectations that

9 make better achievement possible. More specifically,

10 they are often educated in over-crowded classrooms

11 and by teachers who are assigned to teach in subject

12 areas outside their areas of certification.

13 (3) Data from the National Assessment of Edu14 cational Progress consistently show large gaps be15 tween the achievement of students in high-poverty

16 schools and those in other schools. High-poverty

17 schools will face special challenges in preparing their

18 students to reach high standards of performance on

19 national and State assessments, such as voluntary

20 national tests and the assessments States are devel21 oping under the Goals 2000 and ESEA, Title I pro22 grams.

23 (4) Recent reports have found that students in

24 urban districts are more likely to attend high-pov25 erty schools; more frequently taught by teachers pos-
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1 sessing only an emergency or temporary license; and

2 less likely to score above the basic level on achieve3 ment tests than are nonurban students.

4 (5) High-poverty rural schools, because of their

5 isolation, small size, and low levels of resources, also

6 face particular challenges. For example, teachers in

7 rural districts are nearly twice as likely as other

8 teachers to provide instruction in three or more sub9 jects.

10 (6) Notwithstanding these general trends, some

11 high-poverty school districts have shown that they

12 can increase student achievement, if they adopt chal13 lenging standards for all children, focus on improv14 ing curriculum and instruction, expand educational

15 choice among public schools for parents and stu16 dents, adopt other components of systemic edu17 cational reform, and hold schools, staff, and stu18 dents accountable for results.

19 (7) Districts that have already established the

20 policies needed to attain widespread student achieve21 ment gains, and have attained those gains in some

22 of their schools, can serve as models for other dis23 tricts desiring to improve the academic achievements

24 of their students. The Federal Government can spur

25 more districts in this direction by providing targeted
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1 resources for urban and rural districts willing to

2 carry out solid plans for improving the educational

3 achievements of all their children.

4 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

5 The purpose of this Act is to assist urban and rural

6 educational agencies that—

7 (1) have high concentrations of children from

8 low-income families;

9 (2) have a record of achieving high educational

10 outcomes, in at least some of their schools;

11 (3) are implementing standards-based systemic

12 reform strategies; and

13 (4) are keeping their schools safe and drug-free,

14 to pursue further reforms and raise the academic

15 achievement of all their students.

16 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

17 As used in this Act, the following terms have the fol18 lowing meanings:

19 (1) The term ‘‘central city’’ has the meaning

20 given that term by the Office of Management and

21 Budget.

22 (2) The term ‘‘high-poverty local educational

23 agency’’ means a local educational agency in which

24 the percentage of children, ages 5 through 17, from

25 families with incomes below the poverty level is 20
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1 percent or greater or the number of such children

2 exceeds 10,000.

3 (3) The term ‘‘local educational agency’’—

4 (A) has the meaning given that term in

5 section 14101(18) (A) and (B) of the Elemen6 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; and

7 (B) includes elementary and secondary

8 schools operated or supported by the Bureau of

9 Indian Affairs.

10 (4) The term ‘‘metropolitan statistical area’’

11 has the meaning given that term by the Office of

12 Management and Budget.

13 (5) The term ‘‘rural locality’’ means a locality

14 that is not within a metropolitan statistical area and

15 has a population of less than 25,000.

16 (6) The term ‘‘urban locality’’ means a locality

17 that is—

18 (A) a central city of a metropolitan statis19 tical area; or

20 (B) any other locality within a metropoli21 tan statistical area, if that area has a popu22 lation of at least 400,000 or a population den23 sity of at least 6,000 persons per square mile.
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1 SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY.

2 (a) ELIGIBLE LEAS.—(1) A local educational agency

3 is eligible to receive a grant under this Act if it is—

4 (A) a high-poverty local educational agency; and

5 (B) located in, or serves, either an urban local6 ity or a rural locality.

7 (2) Two or more local educational agencies described

8 in paragraph (1) may apply for, and receive a grant under

9 this Act as a consortium.

10 (b) DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY.—The Sec11 retary shall determine which local educational agencies

12 meet the eligibility requirements of subsection (a) on the

13 basis of the most recent data that are satisfactory to the

14 Secretary.

15 SEC. 6. APPLICATIONS.

16 (a) APPLICATIONS REQUIRED.—In order to receive a

17 grant under this Act, an eligible local educational agency

18 shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time,

19 in such form, and containing such information as the Sec20 retary may require.

21 (b) CONTENTS.—Each application shall include evi22 dence that the local educational agency meets each of the

23 following conditions:

24 (1) It has begun to raise student achievement,

25 as measured by State assessments under title III of

26 the Goals 2000: Educate America Act, title I of the
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1 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965,

2 or comparably rigorous State or local assessments;

3 or it has shown significant progress on other meas4 ures of educational performance, including school at5 tendance, high school completion, and school safety.

6 Student achievement evidence shall include data

7 disaggregated to show the achievement of students

8 separately by race and by gender, as well as for stu9 dents with disabilities, students with limited English

10 proficiency, and students who are economically dis11 advantaged (compared to students who are not eco12 nomically disadvantaged), throughout the district or,

13 at a minimum, in schools that have implemented a

14 comprehensive school improvement strategy.

15 (2) It expects all students to achieve to chal16 lenging State or local content standards, it has

17 adopted or is developing or adopting assessments

18 aligned with those standards, and it has imple19 mented or is implementing comprehensive reform

20 policies designed to assist all children to achieve to

21 the standards.

22 (3) It has entered into a partnership that in23 cludes the active involvement of representatives of

24 local organizations and agencies and other members

25 of the community, including parents, and is designed
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1 to guide the implementation of the local educational

2 agency’s comprehensive reform strategy.

3 (4) It has put (or is putting) into place effective

4 educational reform policies, including policies that—

5 (A) hold schools accountable for helping all

6 students, including students with limited

7 English proficiency and students with disabil8 ities, reach high academic standards. The appli9 cation shall describe how the agency will reward

10 schools that succeed and intervene in schools

11 that fail to make progress;

12 (B) require all students, including students

13 with disabilities and students with limited

14 English proficiency, to meet academic standards

15 before being promoted to the next grade level at

16 key transition points in their careers or grad17 uating from high school. The application shall

18 describe the local educational agency’s strategy

19 for providing students with a rich curriculum

20 tied to high standards, and with well-prepared

21 teachers and class sizes conducive to high stu22 dent achievement;

23 (C) identify, during the early stages of

24 their academic careers, students who have dif25 ficulty in achieving to high standards, and pro-
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1 vide them with more effective educational inter2 ventions or additional learning opportunities

3 such as after-school programs, so that the stu4 dents are able to meet the standards at key

5 transition points in their academic careers;

6 (D) hold teachers, principals, and super7 intendents accountable for quality, including a

8 description of the local educational agency’s

9 strategies for ensuring quality through, among

10 other things—

11 (i) development of clearly articulated

12 standards for teachers and school adminis13 trators, and development, in cooperation

14 with teacher organizations, of procedures

15 for identifying, working with, and, if nec16 essary, quickly but fairly removing teach17 ers and administrators who fail to perform

18 at adequate levels, consistent with State

19 law and locally negotiated agreements;

20 (ii) implementation of a comprehen21 sive professional development plan for

22 teachers and instructional leaders, such as

23 a plan developed under title II of the Ele24 mentary and Secondary Education Act of

25 1965; and
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1 (iii) encouraging excellent teaching,

2 such as by providing incentives for teach3 ers to obtain certification by the National

4 Board for Professional Teaching Stand5 ards; and

6 (E) provide students and parents with ex7 panded choice within public education.

8 (5) It is working effectively to keep its schools

9 safe, disciplined, and drug-free.

10 (c) DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED PROGRAM.—The ap11 plication shall also include a description of how the local

12 educational agency will use the grant made available under

13 this Act, including descriptions of—

14 (1) how the district will use all available re15 sources (Federal, State, local, and private) to carry

16 out its reform strategy;

17 (2) the specific measures that the applicant

18 proposes to use to provide evidence of future

19 progress in improving student achievement, includ20 ing the subject areas and grade levels in which it

21 will measure that progress, and an assurance that

22 the applicant will collect such student data in a

23 manner that demonstrates the achievement of stu24 dents separately by race and by gender, as well as

25 for students with disabilities, students with limited
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1 English proficiency, and students who are economi2 cally disadvantaged (compared to students who are

3 not economically disadvantaged); and

4 (3) how the applicant will continue the activities

5 carried out under the grant after the grant has ex6 pired.

7 SEC. 7. SELECTION OF APPLICATIONS.

8 (a) CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall, using a peer-re9 view process, select applicants to receive funding based

10 on—

11 (1) evidence that—

12 (A) the applicant has made progress in im13 proving student achievement or the other meas14 ures of educational performance described in

15 section 6(b)(1), in at least some of its schools

16 that enroll concentrations of children from low17 income families;

18 (B) the applicant has put (or is putting)

19 into place effective reform policies as described

20 in section 6(b)(4); and

21 (C) the applicant is working effectively to

22 keep its schools safe, disciplined, and drug-free;

23 and
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1 (2) the quality of the applicant’s plan for carry2 ing out activities under the grant, as set forth in the

3 application.

4 (b) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—In approving appli5 cations, the Secretary shall seek to ensure that there is

6 an equitable distribution of grants among geographic re7 gions of the country, to varying sizes of urban local edu8 cational agencies, and to rural local educational agencies,

9 including rural local educational agencies serving con10 centrations of Indian children.

11 SEC. 8. PRESIDENTIAL DESIGNATION; TECHNICAL ASSIST12 ANCE.

13 (a) DESIGNATION AS EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY

14 ZONE.—The President shall designate each local edu15 cational agency selected by the Secretary to receive a

16 grant under this Act as an ‘‘Educational Opportunity

17 Zone’’.

18 (b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The President may

19 instruct Federal agencies to provide grant recipients with

20 such technical and other assistance as those agencies can

21 make available to enable the grantees to carry out their

22 activities under the program.
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1 SEC. 9. AMOUNT AND DURATION OF GRANTS; CONTINU2 ATION AWARDS.

3 (a) GRANT AMOUNTS.—In determining the amount

4 of a grant, the Secretary shall consider such factors as—

5 (1) the scope of the activities proposed in the

6 application;

7 (2) the number of students in the local edu8 cational agency who are from low-income families;

9 (3) the number of low-performing schools in the

10 local educational agency; and

11 (4) the number of children in the local edu12 cational agency who are not reaching State or local

13 standards.

14 (b) DURATION OF GRANTS.—(1) Each grant shall be

15 for three years, but may be continued for up to two addi16 tional years if the Secretary determines that the grantee

17 is achieving agreed-upon measures of progress by the third

18 year of the grant.

19 (2) The Secretary may increase the amount of a

20 grant in the second year, in order to permit full implemen21 tation of grant activities, except that—

22 (A) the amount of a second-year award shall be

23 no more than 140 percent of the award for the first

24 year;

25 (B) the amount of a third-year award shall be

26 no more than 80 percent of the second-year award;
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1 (C) the amount of a fourth-year award shall be

2 no more than 70 percent of the second-year award;

3 and

4 (D) the amount of a fifth-year award shall be

5 no more than 50 percent of the second-year award.

6 (c) EXPECTED ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS AND CON7 TINUATION AWARDS.—(1) Before receiving its award,

8 each grantee shall develop and adopt, with the approval

9 of the Secretary, specific, ambitious levels of achievement

10 that exceed typical achievement levels for comparable local

11 educational agencies and that the local educational agency

12 commits to attaining during the period of the grant.

13 (2) the agreed-upon levels shall—

14 (A) reflect progress in the areas of—

15 (i) student academic achievement;

16 (ii) dropout rates;

17 (iii) attendance; and

18 (iv) such other areas as may be proposed

19 by the local educational agency or the Sec20 retary; and

21 (B) provide for the disaggregation of data sepa22 rately by race and by gender, as well as for students

23 with disabilities, students with limited English pro24 ficiency, and students who are economically dis-
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1 advantaged students (compared to students who are

2 not economically disadvantaged).

3 SEC. 10. USES OF FUNDS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each grantee shall use its award

5 only for activities that support the comprehensive reform

6 efforts described in its application or that are otherwise

7 consistent with the purpose of this Act.

8 (b) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Activities that may

9 be carried out with funds under this Act include—

10 (1) implementing school-performance-informa11 tion systems to measure the performance of schools

12 in educating their students to high standards, main13 taining a safe school environment, and achieving the

14 anticipated school-attendance and graduation rates;

15 (2) implementing district accountability systems

16 that reward schools that raise student achievement

17 and provide assistance to, and ultimately result in

18 intervention in, schools that fail to do so, including

19 such intervention strategies as technical assistance

20 on school management and leadership, intensive pro21 fessional development for school staff, institution of

22 new instructional programs that are based on reli23 able research, and the reconstitution of the school;

24 (3) providing students with expanded choice

25 and increased curriculum options within public edu-
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1 cation, through such means as open-enrollment poli2 cies, schools within schools, magnet schools, charter

3 schools, distance-learning programs, and opportuni4 ties for secondary school students to take post5 secondary courses;

6 (4) implementing financial incentives for

7 schools to make progress against the goals and

8 benchmarks the district has established for the pro9 gram;

10 (5) providing additional learning opportunities,

11 such as after-school, weekend, and summer pro12 grams, to students who are failing, or are at risk of

13 failing, to achieve to high standards;

14 (6) providing ongoing professional development

15 opportunities to teachers, principals, and other

16 school staff that are tailored to the needs of individ17 ual schools, and aligned with the State or local aca18 demic standards and with the objectives of the pro19 gram carried out under the grant;

20 (7) implementing programs, designed in co21 operation with teacher organizations, to provide rec22 ognition and rewards to teachers who demonstrate

23 outstanding capability at educating students to high

24 standards, including monetary rewards for teachers
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1 who earn certification from the National Board for

2 Professional Teaching Standards;

3 (8) implementing procedures, developed in co4 operation with teacher organizations, for identifying

5 ineffective teachers and administrators, providing

6 them with assistance to improve their skills and, if

7 there is inadequate improvement, quickly but fairly

8 removing them from the classroom or school, con9 sistent with State law and locally negotiated agree10 ments;

11 (9) establishing programs to improve the re12 cruitment and retention of well-prepared teachers,

13 including the use of incentives to encourage well-pre14 pared individuals to teach in areas of the district

15 with high needs;

16 (10) designing and implementing procedures for

17 selecting and retaining principals who have the abil18 ity to provide the school leadership needed to raise

19 student achievement;

20 (11) strengthening the management of the local

21 educational agency so that all components of man22 agement are focused on improving student achieve23 ment;
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1 (12) carrying out activities to build stronger

2 partnerships between schools and parents, busi3 nesses, and communities; and

4 (13) assessing activities carried out under the

5 grant, including the extent to which the grant is

6 achieving its objectives.

7 SEC. 11. FLEXIBILITY.

8 (a) ELIGIBILITY FOR SCHOOLWIDE PROGRAMS

9 UNDER ESEA, TITLE I.—Each school operated by a local

10 educational agency receiving funding under this authority

11 that is selected by the agency to receive funds under sec12 tion 1113(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education

13 Act of 1965 shall be considered as meeting the criteria

14 for eligibility to implement a schoolwide program as de15 scribed in section 1114 of the Act.

16 (b) CARRYING OUT SCHOOLWIDE PROGRAMS.—All

17 schools in the local educational agency that qualify for eli18 gibility for a schoolwide program based solely on the agen19 cy’s receiving funding under this Act and that wish to

20 carry out a schoolwide program shall—

21 (1) develop a plan that satisfies the require22 ments of section 1114(b)(2) of the Elementary and

23 Secondary Education Act of 1965; and
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1 (2) develop a program that includes the compo2 nents of a schoolwide program described in section

3 1114(b)(1) of that Act.

4 SEC. 12. PARTICIPATION OF PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTS

5 AND TEACHERS.

6 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—(1)(A) If a local educational

7 agency uses funds under this Act to provide for training

8 of teachers or administrators, it shall provide for the par9 ticipation of teachers or administrators from private non10 profit elementary or secondary schools, in proportion to

11 the number of children enrolled in those schools who reside

12 in attendance areas served by the local educational agen13 cy’s program under this Act.

14 (B) A local educational agency may choose to comply

15 with subparagraph (A) by providing services to teachers

16 or administrators from private schools at the same time

17 and location it provides those services to teachers and ad18 ministrators from public schools.

19 (C) The local educational agency shall carry out sub20 paragraph (A) after timely and meaningful consultation

21 with appropriate private school officials.

22 (2) If the local educational agency uses funds under

23 this Act to develop curricular materials, it shall make in24 formation about those materials available to private

25 schools.
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1 (b) WAIVER.—If, by reason of any provision of law,

2 a local educational agency is prohibited from providing the

3 training for private school teachers or administrators re4 quired by subsection (a)(1)(A), or if the Secretary deter5 mines that the agency is unable to do so, the Secretary

6 shall waive the requirement of that subsection and shall

7 use a portion of the agency’s grant to arrange for the pro8 vision of the training.

9 SEC. 13. EVALUATION.

10 The Secretary shall carry out an evaluation of the

11 program supported under this Act, which shall address

12 such issues as the extent to which—

13 (1) student achievement in local educational

14 agencies receiving support increases;

15 (2) local educational agencies receiving support

16 expand the choices for students and parents within

17 public education; and

18 (3) local educational agencies receiving support

19 develop and implement systems to hold schools,

20 teachers, and principals accountable for student

21 achievement.

22 SEC. 14. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.

23 The Secretary may reserve up to five percent of the

24 amount appropriated under section 15 for any fiscal year

25 for—
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1 (1) peer review activities;

2 (2) evaluation of the program under section 13

3 and measurement of its effectiveness in accordance

4 with the Government Performance and Results Act

5 of 1993;

6 (3) dissemination of research findings, evalua7 tion data, and the experiences of districts imple8 menting comprehensive school reform; and

9 (4) technical assistance to grantees.

10 SEC. 15. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

11 For the purpose of carrying out this Act, there are

12 authorized to be appropriated $200 million for fiscal year

13 1999, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the

14 four succeeding fiscal years.

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