I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1089 

To stimulate collaboration with respect to, and provide for coordination and 

coherence of, the Nation’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education initiatives, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 12, 2013 

Mr. HONDA (for himself, Ms. BASS, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BERA of California, 

Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Ms. 

CHU, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS

of Illinois, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 

LANGEVIN, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. MCDERMOTT, 

Mrs. NEGRETE MCLEOD, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MOORE, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. 

NAPOLITANO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. POLIS, Mr. PRICE of North 

Carolina, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, 

Mr. SABLAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SIRES, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. SWALWELL

of California, Mr. TAKANO, and Mr. VEASEY) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To stimulate collaboration with respect to, and provide for 

coordination and coherence of, the Nation’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education initiatives, and for other purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stepping Up to STEM 

3 Act of 2013’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Technology and the Internet have trans7 formed nearly every aspect of both the global econ8 omy and our daily lives. In a technology-rich world, 

9 no amount of memorizing information will make a 

10 student competitive in the global labor market. 

11 America needs an education system that supports 

12 students from all walks of life in becoming inquisi13 tive, resourceful thinkers who use technology to pur14 sue knowledge, collaborate across geographic and 

15 cultural boundaries, acquire new skills, and solve 

16 complex problems. 

17 (2) Equality and equity of access is more than 

18 access to the same hardware, software, and 

19 broadband connections. It includes access to the best 

20 digital learning resources and access to teachers who 

21 know how to orchestrate the use of these resources 

22 in ways that inspire students and produce better 

23 learning outcomes. 

24 (3) Technology by itself will not improve stu25 dent outcomes. What is needed are carefully de26 signed innovations that include not just technology 


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1 but also good learning content, effective instructional 

2 strategies, supports for teachers and school systems 

3 figuring out how to use the new approach, and the 

4 capacity to collect, analyze and reflect on data that 

5 will show whether or not the innovation is having the 

6 intended effects. 

7 (4) Effective learning technology implementa8 tions addressing the challenging aspects of language 

9 arts, mathematics and science that all students are 

10 expected to master. This will require partnerships 

11 among education agencies, education researchers, 

12 and technology developers with the common goal of 

13 harnessing technology to provide opportunities for 

14 deeper learning to students who would not otherwise 

15 experience them. 

16 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, 

17 AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION WITHIN THE 

18 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. 

19 (a) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—Section 202 of the De20 partment of Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3412) 

21 is amended in subsection (b)(1)— 

22 (1) in subparagraph (E) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

23 the end; 

24 (2) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as (G); 

25 and 


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1 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(F) an Assistant Secretary for Science, 

4 Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics 

5 Education (in this Act referred to as the ‘As6 sistant Secretary for STEM Education’); and’’. 

7 (b) OFFICE.—Title II of the Department of Edu8 cation Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3411 et seq.) is 

9 amended by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 221. OFFICE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEER11 ING, AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There shall be in the Depart13 ment of Education an Office of Science, Technology, Engi14 neering, and Mathematics Education (in this section re15 ferred to as the ‘Office of STEM Education’), to be ad16 ministered by the Assistant Secretary for STEM Edu17 cation appointed under section 202(b). 

18 ‘‘(b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Assistant Secretary of 

19 STEM Education, acting through the Office, shall serve 

20 as the principal advisor to the Secretary on matters affect21 ing science, technology, engineering, and math education, 

22 and shall administer such functions representing STEM 

23 education, including the coordination of STEM activities 

24 and programs across Federal agencies. 


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1 ‘‘(c) EVALUATION AND REPORT.—The Assistant Sec2 retary for STEM Education shall conduct an independent 

3 evaluation, through grant or by contract, of the STEM 

4 education programs administered by the Department, at 

5 least every 5 years, which shall include— 

6 ‘‘(1) conducting an assessment of STEM edu7 cation activities within the Department by using the 

8 evaluations and reports of these programs to deter9 mine these programs’ impact on— 

10 ‘‘(A) the quantity of students taking ad11 vanced placement in STEM areas and seeking 

12 STEM degrees; 

13 ‘‘(B) the quantity of students exposed to 

14 STEM content in the hours outside of the reg15 ular school day; 

16 ‘‘(C) student academic achievement in 

17 mathematics and science; and 

18 ‘‘(D) the increased number of highly quali19 fied STEM teachers, STEM content coaches, 

20 and STEM master educators; and 

21 ‘‘(2) the preparation and submission of a report 

22 on the results of the evaluation described in para23 graph (1) to the Committee on Health, Education, 

24 Labor, and Pensions and the Committee on Com25 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, 


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1 the Committee on Education and the Workforce and 

2 the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of 

3 the House of Representatives, and the Committees 

4 on Appropriations of the Senate and the House of 

5 Representatives. 

6 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

7 are authorized to be appropriated $1,500,000 to carry out 

8 this section for fiscal year 2014 and such sums as may 

9 be necessary for each fiscal year thereafter.’’. 

10 SEC. 4. ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY FOR 

11 EDUCATION. 

12 Title II of the Department of Education Organization 

13 Act (20 U.S.C. 3411 et seq.), as amended by section 2 

14 of this Act, is further amended by adding at the end the 

15 following: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 222. ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY FOR 

17 EDUCATION. 

18 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There shall be in the De19 partment an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Edu20 cation (referred to in this section as ‘ARPA–ED’). 

21 ‘‘(b) PURPOSES.—ARPA–ED is established under 

22 this section for the purposes of pursuing breakthrough re23 search and development in educational technology and 

24 providing the effective use of the technology to improve 

25 achievement for all students, by— 


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1 ‘‘(1) integrating STEM related content areas 

2 including science, technology, computer science, en3 gineering design, mathematics and computational 

4 thinking; 

5 ‘‘(2) identifying and promoting revolutionary 

6 advances in fundamental and applied sciences and 

7 engineering that could be translated into new learn8 ing technologies; 

9 ‘‘(3) developing novel learning technologies, and 

10 the enabling processes and contexts for effective use 

11 of those technologies; 

12 ‘‘(4) developing, testing, and evaluating the im13 pact and efficacy of those technologies; 

14 ‘‘(5) developing educational technology innova15 tions including data analytic tools that help State 

16 educational agencies and local educational agencies 

17 with reporting required under Federal accountability 

18 mandates; 

19 ‘‘(6) accelerating transformational technological 

20 advances in areas in which the private sector, by 

21 itself, is not likely to accelerate such advances be22 cause of difficulties in implementation or adoption, 

23 or technical and market uncertainty; 

24 ‘‘(7) coordinating activities with nongovern25 mental entities to demonstrate technologies and reVerDate Mar 14 2013 18:15 Mar 15, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1089.IH H1089

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1 search applications to facilitate technology transfer; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(8) encouraging educational research using 

4 new technologies and the data produced by the tech5 nologies. 

6 ‘‘(c) COORDINATION.— 

7 ‘‘(1) The Agency shall work closely and collabo8 ratively between agencies in order to maximize the 

9 Federal effort and investment to the Project. 

10 ‘‘(2) The Agency shall work with the National 

11 Science Foundation’s Cyber Learning Program. 

12 ‘‘(d) AUTHORITIES OF SECRETARY.—The Secretary 

13 is authorized to— 

14 ‘‘(1) appoint a Director, who shall be respon15 sible for carrying out the purposes of ARPA–ED, as 

16 described in subsection (b), and such additional 

17 functions as the Secretary may prescribe; 

18 ‘‘(2) establish processes for the development 

19 and execution of projects and the solicitation of enti20 ties to carry out the projects in a manner that is— 

21 ‘‘(A) tailored to the purposes of ARPA– 

22 ED and not constrained by other Department23 wide administrative requirements that could de24 tract from achieving program results; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) designed to heighten transparency, 

2 and public- and private-sector involvement, to 

3 ensure that investments are made in the most 

4 promising areas; 

5 ‘‘(3) award grants, contracts, cooperative agree6 ments, and cash prizes, and enter into other trans7 actions (in accordance with such regulations as the 

8 Secretary may establish regarding other trans9 actions); 

10 ‘‘(4) obtain independent, periodic, rigorous eval11 uations, as appropriate, of— 

12 ‘‘(A) the effectiveness of the processes 

13 ARPA–ED is using to achieve its purposes; and 

14 ‘‘(B) the effectiveness of individual projects 

15 assisted by ARPA–ED, using evidence stand16 ards developed in consultation with the Insti17 tute of Education Sciences, and the suitability 

18 of ongoing projects assisted by ARPA–ED for 

19 further investment or increased scale; and 

20 ‘‘(5) disseminate, through the comprehensive 

21 centers established under section 203 of the Edu22 cational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 

23 U.S.C. 9602), the regional educational laboratories 

24 system established under section 174 of the Edu25 cation Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 


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1 9564), or such other means as the Secretary deter2 mines to be appropriate, information on effective 

3 practices and technologies developed with ARPA–ED 

4 support. 

5 ‘‘(e) EVALUATION FUNDS.—The Secretary may use 

6 funds made available for ARPA–ED to pay the cost of 

7 the evaluations under subsection (c)(6). 

8 ‘‘(f) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT.—Not9 withstanding any other provision of law, any advisory com10 mittee convened by the Secretary to provide advice with 

11 respect to this section shall be exempt from the require12 ments of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 

13 App.) and the definition of ‘employee’ in section 2105 of 

14 title 5, United States Code, shall not be considered to in15 clude any appointee to such a committee. 

16 ‘‘(g) NONDUPLICATION.—To the maximum extent 

17 practicable, the Secretary shall ensure that grants, con18 tracts, cooperative agreements, cash prizes, or other as19 sistance or arrangements awarded or entered into pursu20 ant to this section that are designed to carry out the pur21 poses of ARPA–ED do not duplicate activities under pro22 grams carried out under Federal law other than this sec23 tion by the Department or other Federal agencies.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. STATE NETWORKS AND CONSORTIA ON SCIENCE, 

2 TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHE3 MATICS EDUCATION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available to 

5 carry out this section, the Secretary of Education shall 

6 make grants to eligible networks to expand STEM edu7 cation. 

8 (b) ELIGIBLE NETWORK DEFINED.—In this section, 

9 the term ‘‘eligible network’’ means a State-based STEM 

10 network or similar organization, which— 

11 (1) may include the participation of State offi12 cials, educators, administrators, afterschool pro13 viders, out of school time educators, parents, indus14 try leaders, philanthropists, and representatives from 

15 the STEM communities; 

16 (2) aims to increase student achievement and 

17 experiences in the STEM disciplines at the elemen18 tary schools and secondary schools in its State, and 

19 out of school programs and particularly for students 

20 with a high concentration of historically under rep21 resented students and at rural schools (within the 

22 meaning of part B of title VI of the Elementary and 

23 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6201 

24 et seq.)); and 

25 (3) aims to increase the number of quality 

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1 tunities, particularly for students from populations 

2 traditionally under-represented in the STEM fields. 

3 (c) ELIGIBLE NETWORK APPLICATION.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible network seeking 

5 a grant under this section shall submit an applica6 tion at such time, in such manner, and containing 

7 such information as the Secretary may reasonably 

8 require. 

9 (2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—In order to re10 ceive a grant under this section, an eligible network 

11 shall agree to provide, either directly or through pri12 vate contributions, non-Federal matching funds 

13 equal to not less than 30 percent of the amount of 

14 the grant. 

15 (d) USES OF FUNDS.—Each eligible network receiv16 ing a grant under this section shall use the funds to carry 

17 out one or more of the following: 

18 (1) Testing, validating, sharing, and scaling up 

19 STEM education research, promising practices, and 

20 exemplary programs among members of the network 

21 and with other eligible networks receiving grants 

22 under this section. 

23 (2) Identifying points of weakness and strength 

24 among State STEM education efforts, prioritizing 


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1 strategies for addressing problem areas, and commu2 nicating State needs to the Secretary. 

3 (3) Assisting in the implementation of rigorous 

4 career and college ready standards in STEM edu5 cation for grades prekindergarten through grade 12 

6 that reflect and take into consideration— 

7 (A) career and college ready standards in 

8 STEM disciplines; 

9 (B) established international standards 

10 and 21st century skills that include critical 

11 thinking, problem solving, communication, col12 laboration, creativity, and innovation; 

13 (C) the needs of English language learners 

14 and special education students; and 

15 (D) the need to increase STEM literacy of 

16 prekindergarten through grade 12 students. 

17 (4) Assisting the development of innovative 

18 STEM assessments that measure interest, engage19 ment, and content proficiency. 

20 (5) Supporting the implementation of STEM 

21 assessments that measure career and college ready 

22 standards. 

23 (6) Promoting and developing rigorous under24 graduate pre-service teacher programs in institutions 


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1 of higher education that emphasize STEM content 

2 with emphasis on the elementary educator. 

3 (7) Promoting and developing curriculum tools 

4 and professional development for STEM educators 

5 both in school and out of school. 

6 (8) Developing STEM career pathways that re7 flect the projected STEM workforce needs of the 

8 21st century that may include mentoring programs 

9 and STEM professional outreach. 

10 (9) Developing STEM-related education and 

11 workforce training programs in secondary schools 

12 and community colleges to reflect the needs of the 

13 local community. 

14 (10) Developing systems for the implementation 

15 of expanded learning opportunities on school sites to 

16 enhance STEM education inside and outside of the 

17 classroom. 

18 (11) Promoting, supporting, and designing pro19 grams that develop STEM content coaches and mas20 ter educators in order to strengthen core com21 petencies of the classroom practitioner. 

22 (e) EVALUATION AND REPORT.—Not later than 2 

23 years after receiving a grant under this section, each eligi24 ble network receiving such a grant shall— 


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1 (1) conduct periodic independent evaluations, 

2 by grant or by contract, of the eligible network’s ef3 fectiveness at accomplishing the activities described 

4 in this section, which shall include an assessment of 

5 the impact of such activities on STEM teaching and 

6 learning; and 

7 (2) prepare and submit a report on the results 

8 of each evaluation described in paragraph (1) to the 

9 Secretary and make for dissemination to other 

10 STEM Networks. 

11 (f) PROHIBITIONS.—In implementing this section, 

12 the Secretary may not— 

13 (1) endorse, approve, or sanction any STEM 

14 curriculum designed for use in any elementary 

15 school, secondary school, or institution of higher 

16 education; or 

17 (2) engage in oversight, technical assistance, or 

18 activities that will require the adoption of a specific 

19 STEM program or instructional materials by a 

20 State, local educational agency, or school. 

21 (g) TOTAL AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—The total amount 

22 of grants made under this section in any fiscal year may 

23 not exceed $20,000,000. 

24 (h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) The terms ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local edu2 cational agency’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, and ‘‘State 

3 educational agency’’ have the meanings given such 

4 terms in section 9101 of the Elementary and Sec5 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

6 (2) The term ‘‘high concentration of low-income 

7 students’’ has the meaning given such term in sec8 tion 1707 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu9 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6537). 

10 (3) The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 

11 has the meaning given such term in section 101 of 

12 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

13 1001). 

14 (4) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

15 of Education. 

16 (5) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 

17 States of the United States, the District of Colum18 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the 

19 Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, Amer20 ican Samoa, and the United States Virgin Islands. 

21 (6) The term ‘‘STEM’’ means science, tech22 nology, engineering, and mathematics. 

23 (7) The term ‘‘21st century readiness initia24 tive’’ means any initiative that— 


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1 (A) embeds core academic subjects with 

2 critical skills; and 

3 (B) is focused on ensuring that students 

4 are prepared for postsecondary education and 

5 careers, upon graduation from secondary 

6 school. 

Æ 


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