II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 727 

To improve and expand geographic literacy among kindergarten through grade 

12 students in the United States by improving professional development 

programs for kindergarten through grade 12 teachers offered through 

institutions of higher education. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 1, 2007 

Mr. COCHRAN (for himself, Mr. DODD, Mr. AKAKA, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. STEVENS, Mr. LOTT, Mr. SMITH, Mr. ALEXANDER, and Ms. SNOWE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To improve and expand geographic literacy among kindergarten through grade 12 students in the United States 

by improving professional development programs for kindergarten through grade 12 teachers offered through 

institutions of higher education. 

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 ‘‘Teaching Geography 

5 is Fundamental Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION. 

2 Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

3 U.S.C. 1021 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘PART C—GEOGRAPHY EDUCATION 

6 ‘‘SEC. 231. FINDINGS. 

7 ‘‘Congress makes the following findings: 

8 ‘‘(1) Geographic literacy is essential to a well9 prepared citizenry in the 21st Century because geo10 graphic factors assume greater importance as the 

11 world’s economies, societies, and political structures 

12 grow more global in scale. 

13 ‘‘(2) In a recent National Geographic-Roper 9- 

14 country survey of geographic literacy among young 

15 adults aged 18 through 24, Americans ranked sec16 ond to last. Only 13 percent of young adults aged 

17 18 through 24 in the United States were able to cor18 rectly identify Iraq on a map of Asia and the Middle 

19 East. 

20 ‘‘(3) The economic stature and competitiveness 

21 of the United States requires increasingly sophisti22 cated levels of geographic knowledge and mastery of 

23 geographic tools. 

24 ‘‘(4) United States Department of Labor data 

25 identifies geotechnology as one of the 3 fastest grow26 ing employment fields serving industries such as inVerDate Aug 31 2005 19:16 Mar 03, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S727.IS S727

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1 surance, banking, real estate, forestry, and agri2 culture as well as Federal, State, and local Govern3 ments. 

4 ‘‘(5) The National Academy of Sciences urged 

5 creation of a national program to improve the geo6 graphic competence of the United States general 

7 population and the school age population. 

8 ‘‘(6) Geography is defined as a ‘core academic 

9 subject’ within the Elementary and Secondary Edu10 cation Act of 1965 (as amended by the No Child 

11 Left Behind Act of 2001). 

12 ‘‘(7) A recent National Geographic Society sur13 vey found that all 50 States and the District of Co14 lumbia recognize geography in their curricula or con15 tent standards, and an increasing number require 

16 geography for graduation and include geography in 

17 mandated statewide assessments. 

18 ‘‘(8) Seven of 10 educators responding to a Na19 tional Geographic survey felt their professional de20 velopment opportunities in geography were inad21 equate and half believed their schools had inad22 equate basic materials for teaching geography. 

23 ‘‘(9) The National Geographic Society has 

24 spent over 15 years pioneering an extraordinarily ef25 fective national program for improving the teaching 


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1 of geography by engaging university faculty 

2 geographers and highly trained teachers in State Ge3 ographic Alliances dedicated to providing high qual4 ity professional development opportunities for kin5 dergarten through grade 12 teachers. 

6 ‘‘(10) More than 60 colleges and universities in 

7 all 50 States have received grants from the National 

8 Geographic Society to support State Geographic Alli9 ances and their professional development programs. 

10 Alliance-trained kindergarten through grade 12 

11 teachers and their higher education partners conduct 

12 workshops, develop localized teaching materials, and 

13 facilitate communication among thousands of teach14 ers whose responsibilities include teaching of geog15 raphy in various formats and grade levels. 

16 ‘‘(11) A study by Mid-continent Research for 

17 Education and Learning that assessed student aca18 demic achievement in geography on the National As19 sessment of Educational Progress showed that stu20 dents taught by Alliance-trained teachers out21 performed other students by almost 10 percent. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 232. PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVES. 

23 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this part is to pro24 mote geographic literacy and improved understanding of 

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1 dents by expanding programs that employ the geographic 

2 knowledge and expertise of faculty members in institutions 

3 of higher education for the benefit of kindergarten 

4 through grade 12 teachers and to otherwise advance geo5 graphic literacy. 

6 ‘‘(b) OBJECTIVES.—The objectives of this part are 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) To increase students’ knowledge of, and 

9 achievement in, standards-based geography to enable 

10 the students to become better informed and more 

11 productive citizens. 

12 ‘‘(2) To increase the number of highly qualified 

13 teachers of United States and world geography and 

14 to enable the teachers— 

15 ‘‘(A) to improve student mastery of geo16 graphic principles; and 

17 ‘‘(B) to increase practical applications of 

18 those principles. 

19 ‘‘(3) To encourage geographic education re20 search, to develop and disseminate effective instruc21 tional materials, and to promote replication of best 

22 practices and exemplary programs that foster geo23 graphic literacy. 

24 ‘‘(4) To assist States in measuring the impact 

25 of education in geography. 


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1 ‘‘(5) To leverage and expand private and public 

2 support for geography education partnerships at na3 tional, State, and local levels. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 233. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

5 ‘‘The Secretary is authorized to award a grant to a 

6 national nonprofit education organization or a consortium 

7 of national nonprofit education organizations (hereafter in 

8 this part referred to as the ‘grantee’) that has as its pri9 mary purpose the improvement of the quality of student 

10 understanding of geography through effective teaching of 

11 geography in the Nation’s classrooms. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 234. USE OF FUNDS. 

13 ‘‘(a) DIRECT ACTIVITIES.—The grantee shall use not 

14 more than 25 percent of the funds made available through 

15 the grant for a fiscal year— 

16 ‘‘(1) to strengthen and expand the grantee’s re17 lationships with institutions of higher education and 

18 with State and local agencies and other public and 

19 private organizations with a commitment to geog20 raphy education and the benefits of geography edu21 cation; 

22 ‘‘(2) to support and promote research-based 

23 training of teachers of geography and related dis24 ciplines in kindergarten through grade 12 as a 

25 means of broadening student knowledge of the 


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1 world, including the dissemination of information on 

2 effective practices and research findings concerning 

3 the teaching of geography; 

4 ‘‘(3) to support research on effective geography 

5 teaching practices and the development of assess6 ment instruments and strategies to document stu7 dent understanding of geography; 

8 ‘‘(4) to convene national conferences on geog9 raphy education to assess the current state of geo10 graphic literacy and to identify strategies for im11 provement; and 

12 ‘‘(5) to develop and disseminate appropriate re13 search-based materials to foster geographic literacy. 

14 ‘‘(b) SUBGRANTS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The grantee shall use not 

16 more than 75 percent of the funds made available 

17 through the grant for a fiscal year to award sub18 grants to eligible recipients. 

19 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT DEFINED.—In this 

20 part the term ‘eligible recipient’ means an institution 

21 of higher education associated with— 

22 ‘‘(A) a State geographic alliance; 

23 ‘‘(B) a nonprofit educational organization; 

24 ‘‘(C) a State educational agency or local 

25 educational agency; or 


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1 ‘‘(D) a partnership between or among an 

2 alliance, organization, or agency described in 

3 subparagraph (A), (B) or (C). 

4 ‘‘(3) SUBGRANT USES OF FUNDS.—Eligible re5 cipients shall use the subgrant funds for 1 or more 

6 of the following purposes: 

7 ‘‘(A) Conducting teacher training pro8 grams that use effective and research-based ap9 proaches to the teaching of geography at the 

10 kindergarten through grade 12 level. 

11 ‘‘(B) Applying Geographic Information 

12 System (GIS) or other geographic technological 

13 tools to the teaching of geography. 

14 ‘‘(C) Applying Internet and other distance 

15 leaning technology to the teaching of geography 

16 or to the continuing education of teachers. 

17 ‘‘(D) Promoting rigorous academic stand18 ards and assessment techniques to guide and 

19 measure student performance in geography. 

20 ‘‘(E) Promoting research in geography 

21 education, emphasizing research that leads to 

22 improving student achievement. 

23 ‘‘(F) Carrying out local, field-based activi24 ties for teachers and students to improve their 

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1 raphy while enhancing understanding of their 

2 home region. 

3 ‘‘(G) Promoting comparative studies of 

4 world cultures, economies, and environments. 

5 ‘‘(H) Encouraging replication of best prac6 tices and model programs to promote geo7 graphic literacy. 

8 ‘‘(I) Developing and disseminating effec9 tive, research-based geography learning mate10 rials. 

11 ‘‘(J) Convening State-based conferences to 

12 assess the state of geographic literacy and to 

13 identify strategies for improvement. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 235. APPLICATIONS. 

15 ‘‘(a) GRANTEE APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to re16 ceive a grant under this part, the grantee shall submit 

17 to the Secretary an application at such time, in such man18 ner, and accompanied by such information as the Sec19 retary may require. 

20 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT APPLICATIONS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) SUBMISSION.—To be eligible to receive a 

22 subgrant under this part, an eligible recipient shall 

23 submit an application to the grantee at such time, 

24 in such manner and accompanied by such informa25 tion as the grantee may require. 


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1 ‘‘(2) REVIEW.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The grantee shall in3 vite individuals described in subparagraph (B) 

4 to review all applications from eligible recipients 

5 for a subgrant under this section and to make 

6 recommendations to the grantee regarding the 

7 approval of the applications. 

8 ‘‘(B) REVIEWERS.—The individuals re9 ferred to in subparagraph (A) are the following: 

10 ‘‘(i) Leaders in the field of geography 

11 education. 

12 ‘‘(ii) Such other individuals as the 

13 grantee may determine are necessary or 

14 desirable. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 236. REQUIREMENTS. 

16 ‘‘(a) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The grantee receiv17 ing a grant under this part for a fiscal year, and each 

18 eligible recipient receiving a subgrant under this part for 

19 a fiscal year, may use not more than 15 percent of the 

20 funds made available through the grant or subgrant, re21 spectively, for administrative costs. 

22 ‘‘(b) MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In order to be eligible to 

24 receive a subgrant under this part an eligible recipi25 ent shall agree in the application submitted under 


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1 section 235(b) to provide matching funds towards 

2 the costs of the activities assisted under the 

3 subgrant. 

4 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT.—An eligible recipient shall pro5 vide matching funds in an amount equal to 20 per6 cent of the subgrant funds received under this part 

7 for the second and each succeeding fiscal year for 

8 which subgrant payments are made. 

9 ‘‘(3) SOURCE OF MATCHING FUNDS.—Matching 

10 funds may be provided in cash or in kind, fairly 

11 evaluated, including facilities, staffing salaries, and 

12 educational materials. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 237. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

15 this part $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and each of 

16 the 4 succeeding fiscal years.’’. 

Æ 


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