I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5467 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to award contracts to nonprofit 

organizations with national experience that enter into partnerships with 

local educational agencies to turn around low-performing public high 

schools. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 28, 2010 

Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to award contracts 

to nonprofit organizations with national experience that 

enter into partnerships with local educational agencies 

to turn around low-performing public high schools. 

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 ‘‘Turning Around Low5 Performing Public High Schools Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress makes the following findings: 

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1 (1) Only 70 percent of United States students 

2 graduate on time with a regular diploma and about 

3 1,200,000 students drop out regularly. Almost 50 

4 percent of public high school students in the 50 larg5 est cities of the United States fail to graduate. 

6 (2) Only 50 percent of all Black students and 

7 53 percent of Hispanic students graduate from high 

8 school. Males fare even worse, with only 43 percent 

9 of Black male students and 48 percent of Hispanic 

10 male students graduating. 

11 (3) High school dropouts are more likely to live 

12 in poverty, join gangs, and use drugs. They are more 

13 than 8 times as likely to be in jail as a person with 

14 a diploma. This results in a lifetime cost for a drop15 out who moves to a life of crime and drugs of 

16 $1,700,000 to $2,300,000. 

17 (4) High school turnaround requires a system18 atic and comprehensive approach that addresses 

19 changes in instructional improvement and structural 

20 changes in the school organization. 

21 (5) Effective turnaround organizations that 

22 partner with low-performing local educational agen23 cies and schools can build the capacity of the agen24 cies and schools to reform services and systems. 

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1 (6) Turnaround partner organizations with ex2 perience and expertise at the high school level that 

3 have the capacity and flexibility to work nationally 

4 are in short supply. 

5 (7) Although the funds made available under 

6 section 14006 of division A of the American Recov7 ery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 are designed to 

8 help States reform low-performing schools, not all 

9 States will qualify to receive the funds, even though 

10 they contain low-performing high schools. 

11 (8) Not all failing high schools are eligible to 

12 receive school improvement grants under section 

13 1003 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

14 Act of 1965. 

15 (9) The challenge of high school turnaround ex16 ceeds the capacity of many local educational agen17 cies, requiring the expertise of external partnership 

18 organizations. 

19 (10) Alternative turnaround strategies that do 

20 not involve charter schools or were not addressed in 

21 the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 

22 2009 turnaround model are needed to be able reach 

23 all low-performing public high schools. 

24 SEC. 3. HIGH SCHOOL TURNAROUND. 

25 (a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 

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1 (1) to turn around low-performing high schools 

2 and increase graduation rates and college readiness 

3 for poor and minority graduating high school stu4 dents; 

5 (2) to improve teacher and principal quality in 

6 high schools that serve students at risk of dropping 

7 out of school; 

8 (3) to provide support and assistance to organi9 zations that serve as high school turnaround part10 ners for schools and local educational agencies that 

11 may not be eligible to receive funds made available 

12 under section 14006 of division A of the American 

13 Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in order to 

14 improve secondary school graduation, postsecondary 

15 program attendance, and postsecondary completion 

16 rates for low-income students; and 

17 (4) to promote the establishment of new pro18 grams to implement high school turnaround that do 

19 not involve charter schools or were not addressed in 

20 the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 

21 2009 turnaround model. 

22 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 (1) COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL TURN24 AROUND MODEL.—The term ‘‘comprehensive high 

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1 school turnaround model’’ means a research-based 

2 high school turnaround model that— 

3 (A) defines and guides school turnaround, 

4 enabling schools to develop strategies for school 

5 design that are customized to meet the unique 

6 needs of schools and local educational agencies; 

7 and 

8 (B) includes the following: 

9 (i) Establishment of a 5-year partner10 ship between a school district partnership 

11 turnaround organization and a local edu12 cational agency that begins with a plan13 ning period during which the school dis14 trict turnaround partnership organization 

15 works with the local educational agency 

16 and school staff to assist them to articu17 late a school vision, identify staff, recruit 

18 students, and implement parent outreach. 

19 (ii) A college preparatory instructional 

20 program that encourages students to view 

21 themselves as future college students, and 

22 prepares students for admission to, and 

23 success in, college. 

24 (iii) A student support structure that 

25 personalizes the educational experience, 

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1 providing students with a caring, safe, and 

2 supportive learning environment. 

3 (iv) A staffing structure that— 

4 (I) personalizes the school envi5 ronment; 

6 (II) creates strong, long-term 

7 connections between students and 

8 their teachers and counselors; 

9 (III) ensures that the support 

10 network is engaged and knowledge11 able; 

12 (IV) generates strong relation13 ships that enable teachers to elicit 

14 higher levels of student performance; 

15 and 

16 (V) can include maintaining the 

17 same set of core subject teachers and 

18 guidance counselors throughout the 

19 four years of high school. 

20 (v) Standards of professional practice 

21 to build capacity as a professional commu22 nity and develop a sense of collective re23 sponsibility for student and school out24 comes. 

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1 (vi) An extended day and extended 

2 school year to enable staff to provide stu3 dents with structured time, individual at4 tention, and other supports necessary for 

5 their success with the school’s challenging, 

6 college-preparatory curriculum. 

7 (vii) An expectation that parents will 

8 take an active role in school activities to 

9 share their knowledge of their child with 

10 teachers and counselors and to give staff 

11 feedback on their children’s experience and 

12 progress. 

13 (viii) Use of multiple mechanisms to 

14 assess a school’s organizational and pro15 gram effectiveness. 

16 (2) LOW-INCOME STUDENT.—The term ‘‘low-in17 come student’’ means a student who is determined 

18 by a local educational agency to be from a low-in19 come family using the measures described in section 

20 1113(a)(5) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu21 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6313(a)(5)). 

22 (3) SCHOOL DISTRICT PARTNERSHIP TURN23 AROUND ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘school district 

24 partnership turnaround organization’’ means a non25 profit education organization that— 

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1 (A) has as its primary purpose the im2 provement of secondary school graduation and 

3 postsecondary attendance and completion rates 

4 for low-income students; 

5 (B) has a comprehensive high school turn6 around model that can be successful in mul7 tiple, varied schools and States; and 

8 (C) has a proven success rate and the abil9 ity to implement high school turnaround activi10 ties on a large scale. 

11 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

12 the Secretary of Education. 

13 (c) CONTRACTS AUTHORIZED.—From the amount 

14 appropriated to carry out this section, the Secretary is au15 thorized to award 5-year contracts to school district part16 nership turnaround organizations that employ comprehen17 sive high school turnaround models. Such a contract shall 

18 be used to carry out the requirements of subsection (d) 

19 and to implement and sustain integrated and sustained 

20 education reform services through subcontractor activities 

21 described in subsection (e) at low-performing high schools. 

22 (d) REQUIREMENTS OF CONTRACTS.—A contract re23 ferred to in subsection (c) shall require a school district 

24 partnership turnaround organization to accomplish the 

25 following: 

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1 (1) Partner with local educational agencies 

2 that— 

3 (A) serve a substantial number or percent4 age of low-income students; and 

5 (B) have made a commitment to imple6 ment a comprehensive high school turnaround 

7 model. 

8 (2) Provide a program based on a comprehen9 sive high school turnaround model that reflects the 

10 needs of the local educational agencies. 

11 (3) Improve teacher quality and develop the ca12 pacity of the local educational agencies to continue 

13 to implement the comprehensive high school turn14 around model after the turnaround partnership has 

15 been completed. 

16 (4) Develop activities for the purpose of imple17 menting new turnaround sites. 

18 (5) Implement activities for the purpose of pro19 moting greater public awareness of the relationship 

20 between personalized and academically rigorous high 

21 schools and improved attendance, graduation, and 

22 college-going rates for low-income students. 

23 (e) ACTIVITIES AT EACH SITE.—At each turnaround 

24 site, the school district partnership turnaround organiza25 tion shall carry out the following activities: 

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1 (1) Partner with the school community to de2 sign and implement a customized plan of how the 

3 comprehensive high school turnaround model is to be 

4 implemented so as to produce an increase in the 

5 number of students who graduate college-ready. 

6 (2) Train school personnel in establishing and 

7 implementing student support structures which will 

8 result in greater student engagement and school af9 filiation and promote school safety. 

10 (3) Provide student performance data and im11 plementation reports for the purpose of assessing 

12 the status of the comprehensive high school turn13 around model implementation and school improve14 ment. 

15 (4) Provide offsite professional development op16 portunities, school-based, job-embedded professional 

17 development, and opportunities for networking with 

18 staff from other turnaround schools and local edu19 cational agencies. 

20 (5) Work with local educational agency and 

21 school administrators, teachers, and counselors to 

22 provide guidance regarding turnaround strategies as 

23 well as specific content area development. 

24 (6) Provide customized professional develop25 ment activities and technical assistance and onsite 

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1 coaching to address local needs and interests with 

2 the goal of improving teacher quality. 

3 (7) Provide assistance in designing and imple4 menting parent engagement activities. 

5 (8) Provide assistance with staff and student 

6 recruitment. 

7 (f) ACTIVITIES OF ASSISTED SCHOOLS.—Each school 

8 assisted under this Act shall carry out the following: 

9 (1) Assign an administrator as liaison to the 

10 school district partnership turnaround organization 

11 who will be responsible for ensuring that the re12 quired local educational agency policies, schedules, 

13 space, staffing, resources, and other supports are in 

14 place to facilitate the implementation of the com15 prehensive high school turnaround model. 

16 (2) Construct a schedule that includes common 

17 planning time for school staff and regular meetings 

18 of the administration so that all students realize the 

19 maximum benefit from the personalization aspects of 

20 the program. 

21 (3) Assign sufficient teaching staff in the core 

22 discipline areas as well as for non-core areas. 

23 (4) Ensure that teachers have expertise in the 

24 areas they teach, demonstrate commitment to the 

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1 comprehensive high school turnaround model, and 

2 meet local certification requirements. 

3 (5) Assign at least one full-time counselor. 

4 (6) Design a student support program in col5 laboration with the school district partnership turn6 around organization. 

7 (7) Schedule and implement parent orientation 

8 and engagement activities. 

9 (8) Ensure that staff and administration com10 mit to attending offsite professional development ac11 tivities. 

12 (9) Participate in data collection activities con13 ducted by the school district partnership turnaround 

14 organization. 

15 (g) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Of 

16 the funds made available to carry out a contract under 

17 this section, a school district partnership turnaround orga18 nization shall not use more than 8 percent to pay for ad19 ministration of the contract. 

20 (h) EVALUATION.— 

21 (1) EVALUATION BY SECRETARY.—The Sec22 retary shall select an independent entity to evaluate, 

23 every 3 years, the performance of students who at24 tend a turnaround school. The evaluation— 

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1 (A) shall be conducted using a rigorous re2 search design for determining the effectiveness 

3 of the comprehensive high school turnaround 

4 model; and 

5 (B) shall compare course achievement, sec6 ondary school graduation rates, and post-sec7 ondary attendance and completion rates of stu8 dents who attend schools assisted under this 

9 section with those indicators for students of 

10 similar backgrounds who do not attend such 

11 schools. 

12 (2) EVALUATION BY ORGANIZATION.—A school 

13 district partnership turnaround organization— 

14 (A) shall require each partner school to 

15 provide the turnaround organization access to 

16 data on student demographics, student attend17 ance, course grades, suspensions, student safety 

18 incidents, graduation rates, relevant test scores, 

19 teacher retention, and other such agreed upon 

20 information needed to prepare implementation 

21 reports; and 

22 (B) shall prepare an annual report describ23 ing the implementation of the comprehensive 

24 high school turnaround model and student 

25 achievement in partner schools. 

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1 (3) AVAILABILITY OF EVALUATION.—Copies of 

2 any evaluation or report prepared under this sub3 section shall be made available to the Secretary and 

4 the Congress. 

5 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

6 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 

7 such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2011 and 

8 each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years. 

Æ 

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