I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2321 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide 

grants for innovative teacher retention programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2015 

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. 

BROWN of Florida, Mr. HONDA, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. ADAMS, and Mr. 

BUTTERFIELD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to provide grants for innovative teacher retention 

programs. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keep Teachers Teach5 ing Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The United States faces an increasing need 

9 for high-quality educators. The Department of EduVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:11 May 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2321.IH H2321

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1 cation estimates the United States will need about 

2 430,000 new elementary and secondary teachers by 

3 2020. 

4 (2) For the first time since the 1960s, teachers 

5 with 10 years of experience or less now constitute 

6 more than half of our teaching force. 

7 (3) Research shows that a key reason for teach8 er turnover is job dissatisfaction, which may result 

9 from poor working conditions, inadequate adminis10 trative support, low salary, low morale, or lack of a 

11 pathway for professional advancement. 

12 (4) The National Center for Education Statis13 tics found a correlation between the level of support 

14 and training provided to new teachers and the likeli15 hood of a teacher leaving after their first year, with 

16 teachers who are assigned a mentor teacher more 

17 likely to continue their teaching careers than those 

18 who did not. 

19 (5) Efforts to address the teacher shortage de20 mands a national strategy to support the develop21 ment and implementation of innovative teacher re22 tention programs. 

23 (6) Effective teacher retention programs to ad24 dress this problem are already at work in local edu25 cational agencies around the country, and many 


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1 more innovative programs could be advanced if addi2 tional resources were available. 

3 (7) The Department of Education has made 

4 teacher recruitment and retention a priority, and 

5 can play an important role in facilitating the identi6 fication of the most promising teacher retention ap7 proaches and disseminating information about them 

8 to State educational agencies and local educational 

9 agencies. 

10 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR INNOVATIVE TEACHER RETENTION 

11 PROGRAMS. 

12 Section 2151 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu13 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6651) is amended by add14 ing at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(g) TEACHER RETENTION ACTIVITIES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab17 lish and carry out a teacher retention program to— 

18 ‘‘(A) assist State educational agencies and 

19 local educational agencies in developing and im20 plementing innovative teacher retention pro21 grams, and support the development of model 

22 programs and best practices in retaining quality 

23 teachers in the classroom; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) facilitate the dissemination of innova2 tive teacher retention programs to State edu3 cational agencies and local educational agencies. 

4 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.—The Secretary shall carry out 

5 paragraph (1)(A) by making grants to eligible enti6 ties to develop and implement innovative teacher re7 tention programs, including activities such as— 

8 ‘‘(A) professional development programs; 

9 ‘‘(B) teacher mentoring programs; 

10 ‘‘(C) advanced certification or advanced 

11 credentialing; 

12 ‘‘(D) research, travel, or fellowship oppor13 tunities; and 

14 ‘‘(E) pairing of teachers with professionals 

15 in research or industry. 

16 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—In this subsection, 

17 the term ‘eligible entity’ includes— 

18 ‘‘(A) local educational agencies; 

19 ‘‘(B) State educational agencies; and 

20 ‘‘(C) partnerships of local educational 

21 agencies, nonprofit organizations, and institu22 tions of higher education. 

23 ‘‘(4) GRANT TERMS.—Grants under this sub24 section shall be awarded for periods of not more 


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1 than 5 years and on a competitive basis. Grants 

2 awarded under this subsection may be renewed. 

3 ‘‘(5) SECRETARY’S DUTY TO IDENTIFY MOST

4 PROMISING TEACHER RETENTION APPROACHES.—In 

5 carrying out paragraph (1)(B), the Secretary shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) identify the most promising teacher 

7 retention approaches, including the approaches 

8 already working and the approaches developed 

9 through grants funded under this subsection, 

10 and make information about such approaches 

11 publicly available and easily accessible to State 

12 educational agencies and local educational agen13 cies; and 

14 ‘‘(B) not later than 9 months after the 

15 date of the enactment of this subsection, and 

16 annually thereafter, transmit to the Committee 

17 on Education and the Workforce of the House 

18 of Representatives and the Committee on 

19 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the 

20 Senate, a report that describes— 

21 ‘‘(i) the methodology by which the 

22 most promising teacher retention programs 

23 are identified under subparagraph (A); and 

24 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary’s efforts to dis25 seminate information regarding such proVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:11 May 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2321.IH H2321

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1 grams to State educational agencies and 

2 local educational agencies.’’. 

Æ 


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