I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1223

To provide grants to 10 high-need local educational agencies or eligible consortium to establish or expand National Teachers Academies to serve as

national models for teacher training, development, and recruitment and

to facilitate high-quality curriculum development.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 23, 1999

Mr. BLAGOJEVICH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To provide grants to 10 high-need local educational agencies

or eligible consortium to establish or expand National

Teachers Academies to serve as national models for

teacher training, development, and recruitment and to

facilitate high-quality curriculum development.

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 ‘‘Teachers for the 21st

5 Century Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:
2

•HR 1223 IH

1 (1) The dawn of the 21st century will place in2 creased demands upon our Nation’s students that

3 can only be met with the proper instruction from

4 qualified, experienced, and well-trained teachers. The

5 teachers of the 21st century must not only be well6 versed in increasingly complex subject matters and

7 technologies, but also highly trained in the best tech8 niques to impart these skills to their students.

9 (2) Teacher development resources are severely

10 lacking in the majority of school districts across the

11 Nation, leaving many teachers ill-prepared to meet

12 the growing, modern challenges of educating chil13 dren in the age of a global workforce. Spending less

14 than 3 percent of their resources on teacher develop15 ment, many American schools have fallen far behind

16 the curve of most corporations and schools in other

17 industrialized nations.

18 (3) Over the next 10 years, the Nation will face

19 a tremendous demand for 2,000,000 additional

20 teachers resulting from increased student enroll21 ments and teacher attrition, which will place many

22 school districts in the precarious position of choosing

23 between quantity and quality. Already, the National

24 Commission on Teaching and America’s Future has

25 reported that 50,000 unqualified teachers have been
3

•HR 1223 IH

1 hired annually on emergency or substandard licenses

2 to meet this growing demand.

3 (4) Teacher shortages will unevenly impact

4 high-need urban and rural communities that have

5 the most difficulty attracting and retaining qualified

6 teachers. The National Center for Education Statis7 tics reports that 39 percent of teachers in these

8 communities have neither a college major or minor

9 in their primary field of coursework.

10 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

11 The purposes of this Act are to establish or expand

12 10 National Teachers Academies, one in each of the 10

13 regions established by the Department of Education and

14 serving at least 1 high-need local education agency. The

15 Academies will establish models for local educational agen16 cies to improve teaching and learning by meeting the 21st

17 century challenges of recruiting and retaining qualified

18 teachers, and giving teachers the tools they need to pre19 pare their students for competition in a global workforce

20 by—

21 (1) assembling a team of ‘‘master’’ teachers to

22 mentor and train student teachers on how to provide

23 quality instruction;

24 (2) increasing the pool of ‘‘master’’ teachers by

25 partnering with education institutions that offer a
4

•HR 1223 IH

1 range of professional development opportunities in2 cluding seminars, institutes, or mini-research

3 sabbaticals focused on the knowledge and skills re4 quired in the 21st century;

5 (3) providing 1 or more demonstration sites for

6 research-based ‘‘best practices’’ in increasing stu7 dent achievement, classroom management and in8 struction, teacher mentoring, training, and profes9 sional staff development;

10 (4) increasing collaboration between elementary,

11 secondary, and university faculty to improve the in12 tensity and quality of clinical experiences for pro13 spective teachers;

14 (5) working with the regional national edu15 cational labs to provide information obtained

16 throughout the research and development process to

17 the Secretary for dissemination to school districts

18 across the Nation;

19 (6) entering into a partnership between local

20 educational agencies, State educational agencies, in21 stitutions of higher education, education founda22 tions, professional development and recruitment cen23 ters, parent groups, corporations, and community

24 organizations;
5

•HR 1223 IH

1 (7) providing an opportunity for mid-career

2 professionals to obtain alternative teaching certifi3 cation;

4 (8) offering ongoing professional development

5 opportunities and support and providing opportuni6 ties for teachers to engage in research on specific

7 issues of teaching and learning, and developing test

8 curriculum, instruction, and assessment; and

9 (9) providing students from disadvantaged com10 munities with challenging curriculum, quality in11 struction, and an overall outstanding elementary and

12 secondary education experience.

13 SEC. 4. PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to

15 provide grants to not more than 10 high-need local edu16 cational agencies or eligible consortium, one in each of the

17 10 regions established by the Department of Education,

18 to establish or expand National Teachers Academies.

19 (b) NATIONAL TEACHERS ACADEMY.—Each Na20 tional Teachers Academy shall promote teacher training,

21 professional development and recruitment, and curriculum

22 development.
6

•HR 1223 IH

1 SEC. 5. GRANT AWARDS AND RENEWALS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a grant

3 award under this Act, a high-need local educational agency

4 or eligible consortium shall—

5 (1) submit an application to the Secretary at

6 such time, in such manner, and containing such in7 formation as the Secretary may reasonably require;

8 (2) describe how the agency—

9 (A) will recruit and hire a team of ‘‘mas10 ter’’ teachers to mentor and train student

11 teachers regarding the provision of quality in12 struction in high-need urban and rural areas;

13 (B) will increase the pool of ‘‘master’’

14 teachers by partnering with education institu15 tions that offer a range of professional develop16 ment opportunities including seminars, insti17 tutes, or mini-research sabbaticals focused on

18 the knowledge and skills required in the 21st

19 century;

20 (C) serve as a demonstration site for ‘‘best

21 practices’’ in classroom management and in22 struction, teacher mentoring, training, and pro23 fessional staff development;

24 (D) increase collaboration between elemen25 tary, secondary, and university faculty to im-
7

•HR 1223 IH

1 prove the intensity and quality of clinical expe2 riences for prospective teachers;

3 (E) make available knowledge obtained

4 throughout the research and development proc5 ess to school districts across the Nation;

6 (F) establish a consortium between local

7 educational agencies, State educational agen8 cies, institutions of higher education, education

9 foundations, professional development and re10 cruitment centers, parent groups, corporations,

11 or community organizations;

12 (G) provide an opportunity for mid-career

13 professionals to obtain alternative teaching cer14 tification; and

15 (H) offer ongoing professional development

16 opportunities and support and provide opportu17 nities for teachers to engage in action research

18 on specific issues of teaching and learning, and

19 develop test curriculum, instruction, and assess20 ment; and

21 (2) provide an assurance that, either directly or

22 through private contributions, the agency will pro23 vide non-Federal matching funds equal to not less

24 than 25 percent of the amount of the award for the
8

•HR 1223 IH

1 first 2 years, 35 percent for the 3d and 4th years,

2 and 50 percent for the 5th year.

3 (b) RENEWAL.—The Secretary may award each

4 grant for a period not to exceed 5 years. These awards

5 may be renewed annually on a noncompetitive basis if the

6 Secretary determines that—

7 (1) the goals set forth in the application for the

8 initial grant request have been achieved;

9 (2) there is promise of continuing progress;

10 (3) the non-Federal share of project costs have

11 been met; and

12 (4) a plan has been developed for continuing

13 the Academy after Federal funding is no longer

14 available.

15 SEC. 6. USE OF FUNDS.

16 (a) PERMITTED USES.—A high-need local edu17 cational agency or eligible consortium that receives a grant

18 award under this Act shall use funds to establish or ex19 pand a National Teachers Academy in new or existing

20 school facilities and to meet the operating costs of estab21 lishing such Academy, which may include—

22 (1) reasonable startup and initial operating

23 costs;

24 (2) training costs related to staff development;
9

•HR 1223 IH

1 (3) the costs to purchase books, materials and

2 other equipment, including new technology;

3 (4) payment of personnel directly related to the

4 operation of the Academy;

5 (5) recruitment costs including scholarship in6 centives;

7 (6) participation in the activities of the consor8 tium; and

9 (7) any costs related to the construction, re10 modeling, or renovation of the facilities to house

11 each National Teachers Academy.

12 (b) LIMITATIONS.—The Secretary may limit the

13 amounts of funds that may be used for remodeling and

14 construction costs as such costs relate to the creation or

15 expansion of each National Teachers Academy.

16 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

17 For the purposes of this Act:

18 (1) The term ‘‘high-need local educational agen19 cy’’ means a local educational agency that serves an

20 elementary or secondary school located in an area in

21 which there is—

22 (A) a high percentage of individuals from

23 families with incomes below the poverty line as

24 defined by the Office of Management and

25 Budget, and revised annually in accordance
10

•HR 1223 IH

1 with section 673(2) of the Community Services

2 Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) applica3 ble to a family of the size involved;

4 (B) a high percentage of secondary school

5 teachers who have neither a college major or

6 minor in their primary field of coursework; or

7 (C) a high teacher turnover rate.

8 (2) The term ‘‘National Teachers Academy’’

9 means a teacher training and professional develop10 ment program conducted in at least one elementary

11 or secondary school that provides prospective and

12 novice teachers an opportunity to work under the

13 mentorship of master teachers in a laboratory-style

14 setting, and provides professional development op15 portunities for veteran teachers and curriculum de16 velopment services.

17 (3) The term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has

18 the same meaning given such term in section 14101

19 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

20 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

21 (4) The term ‘‘master teacher’’ means a teacher

22 of exceptional expertise and accomplishment who

23 meets high standards as defined by State law, the

24 National Board for Professional Teaching Stand-
11

•HR 1223 IH

1 ards, or the local educational agency in its applica2 tion for a grant under this Act.

3 (5) The term ‘‘eligible consortium’’ means a

4 consortium of one or more high-need local edu5 cational agencies and one or more institutions of

6 higher education.

7 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

8 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

9 this Act $75,000,000 for fiscal years 2000 and 2001, and

10 $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002, 2003, and

11 2004.

Æ