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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2344

To provide funds to assist high-poverty school districts meet their teaching

needs.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 24, 1999

Mr. DAVIS of Florida (for himself, Mr. ROEMER, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. FORD, Mr. SHOWS, Mr. BENTSEN, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mrs.

MINK of Hawaii, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. SANCHEZ, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. HOLT,

Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́, Mr. SCARBOROUGH, Mr. FOLEY,

Mr. HINOJOSA, Ms. STABENOW, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. THURMAN, Mr.

KIND, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. LAMPSON, and Mr. WYNN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on Armed

Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To provide funds to assist high-poverty school districts meet

their teaching needs.

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 ‘‘Transition to Teaching

5 Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds as follows:

3 (1) School districts will need to hire more than

4 2,000,000 teachers in the next decade. The need for

5 teachers in the areas of mathematics, science, for6 eign languages, special education, and bilingual edu7 cation, and for those able to teach in high-poverty

8 school districts will be particularly high. To meet

9 this need, talented Americans of all ages should be

10 recruited to become successful, qualified teachers.

11 (2) Nearly 28 percent of teachers of academic

12 subjects have neither an undergraduate major nor

13 minor in their main assignment fields. This problem

14 is more acute in high-poverty schools, where the out15 of-field percentage is 39 percent.

16 (3) The Third International Math and Science

17 Study (TIMSS) ranked United States high school

18 seniors last among 16 countries in physics and next

19 to last in mathematics. It is also evident, mainly

20 from the TIMSS data, that based on academic

21 scores, a stronger emphasis needs to be placed on

22 the academic preparation of our children in mathe23 matics and science.

24 (4) One-fourth of high-poverty schools find it

25 very difficult to fill bilingual teaching positions, and

26 nearly half of public school teachers have students in
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1 their classrooms for whom English is a second lan2 guage.

3 (5) Many career-changing professionals with

4 strong content-area skills are interested in a teach5 ing career, but need assistance in getting the appro6 priate pedagogical training and classroom experi7 ence.

8 (6) The Troops to Teachers model has been

9 highly successful in linking high-quality teachers to

10 teach in high-poverty districts.

11 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

12 The purpose of this Act is to address the need of

13 high-poverty school districts for highly qualified teachers

14 in particular subject areas, such as mathematics, science,

15 foreign languages, bilingual education, and special edu16 cation, needed by those school districts, by—

17 (1) continuing and enhancing the Troops to

18 Teachers model for recruiting and supporting the

19 placement of such teachers; and

20 (2) recruiting, preparing, placing, and sup21 porting career-changing professionals who have

22 knowledge and experience that will help them be23 come such teachers.
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1 SEC. 4. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

2 (a) AUTHORITY.—Subject to subsection (b), the Sec3 retary is authorized to use funds appropriated under sub4 section (c) for each fiscal year to award grants, contracts,

5 or cooperative agreements to institutions of higher edu6 cation and public and private nonprofit agencies or organi7 zations to carry out programs authorized by this Act.

8 (b) TROOPS TO TEACHERS.—(1) Before making

9 awards under subsection (a) for any fiscal year, the Sec10 retary shall first—

11 (A) consult with the Secretary of Defense and

12 the Secretary of Transportation regarding the ap13 propriate amount of funding needed to continue and

14 enhance the Troops to Teachers program; and

15 (B) upon agreement, transfer that amount to

16 the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education

17 Support (DANTES) to carry out the Troops to

18 Teachers program.

19 (2) The Secretary may enter into a written agreement

20 with the Departments of Defense and Transportation, or

21 take such other steps as the Secretary determines are ap22 propriate to ensure effective continuation of the Troops

23 to Teachers program.

24 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the

25 purpose of carrying out this Act, there are authorized to
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1 be appropriated $18,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2000

2 through 2005.

3 SEC. 5. APPLICATION.

4 Each applicant that desires an award under section

5 4(a) shall submit an application to the Secretary con6 taining such information as the Secretary requires,

7 including—

8 (1) a description of the target group of career9 changing professionals upon which the applicant will

10 focus in carrying out its program under this Act, in11 cluding a description of the characteristics of that

12 target group that shows how the knowledge and ex13 perience of its members are relevant to meeting the

14 purpose of this Act;

15 (2) a description of how the applicant will iden16 tify and recruit program participants;

17 (3) a description of the training that program

18 participants will receive and how that training will

19 relate to their certification as teachers;

20 (4) a description of how the applicant will en21 sure that program participants are placed and teach

22 in high-poverty local educational agencies;

23 (5) a description of the teacher induction serv24 ices (which may be provided through existing induc-
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1 tion programs) the program participants will receive

2 throughout at least their first year of teaching;

3 (6) a description of how the applicant will col4 laborate, as needed, with other institutions, agencies,

5 or organizations to recruit, train, place, and support

6 program participants under this Act, including evi7 dence of the commitment of those institutions, agen8 cies, or organizations to the applicant’s program;

9 (7) a description of how the applicant will

10 evaluate the progress and effectiveness of its pro11 gram, including—

12 (A) the program’s goals and objectives;

13 (B) the performance indicators the appli14 cant will use to measure the program’s

15 progress; and

16 (C) the outcome measures that will be used

17 to determine the program’s effectiveness; and

18 (8) an assurance that the applicant will provide

19 to the Secretary such information as the Secretary

20 determines necessary to determine the overall effec21 tiveness of programs under this Act.

22 SEC. 6. USES OF FUNDS AND PERIOD OF SERVICE.

23 (a) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Funds under this Act

24 may be used for—
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1 (1) recruiting program participants, including

2 informing them of opportunities under the program

3 and putting them in contact with other institutions,

4 agencies, or organizations that would train, place,

5 and support them;

6 (2) training stipends and other financial incen7 tives for program participants, not to exceed $5,000

8 per participant;

9 (3) assisting institutions of higher education or

10 other providers of teacher training to tailor their

11 training to meet the particular needs of professionals

12 who are changing their careers to teaching;

13 (4) placement activities, including identifying

14 high-poverty local educational agencies with a need

15 for the particular skills and characteristics of the

16 newly trained program participants and assisting

17 those participants to obtain employment in those

18 local educational agencies; and

19 (5) post-placement induction or support activi20 ties for program participants.

21 (b) PERIOD OF SERVICE.—A program participant in

22 a program under this Act who completes his or her train23 ing shall serve in a high-poverty local educational agency

24 for at least 3 years.
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1 (c) REPAYMENT.—The Secretary shall establish such

2 requirements as the Secretary determines appropriate to

3 ensure that program participants who receive a training

4 stipend or other financial incentive under subsection

5 (a)(2), but fail to complete their service obligation under

6 subsection (b), repay all or a portion of such stipend or

7 other incentive.

8 SEC. 7. EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.

9 To the extent practicable, the Secretary shall make

10 awards under this Act that support programs in different

11 geographic regions of the Nation.

12 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

13 As used in this Act—

14 (1) the term ‘‘high-poverty local educational

15 agency’’ means a local educational agency in which

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

17 families below the poverty level is 20 percent or

18 greater, or the number of such children exceeds

19 10,000; and

20 (2) the term ‘‘program participants’’ means ca21 reer-changing professionals who—

22 (A) hold at least a baccalaureate degree;

23 (B) demonstrate interest in, and commit24 ment to, becoming a teacher; and
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1 (C) have knowledge and experience that

2 are relevant to teaching a high-need subject

3 area in a high-need local educational agency.

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