115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5509 

AN ACT 

To direct the National Science Foundation to provide grants 

for research about STEM education approaches and the 

STEM-related workforce, 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 ‘‘Innovations in Men3 toring, Training, and Apprenticeships Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) To remain competitive in the global econ7 omy, foster greater innovation, and provide a foun8 dation for shared prosperity, the United States 

9 needs a workforce with the right mix of skills to 

10 meet the diverse needs of the economy. 

11 (2) Evidence indicates that the returns on in12 vestments in technical skills in the labor market are 

13 strong when students successfully complete their 

14 education and gain credentials sought by employers. 

15 (3) The responsibility for developing and sus16 taining a skilled technical workforce is fragmented 

17 across many groups, including educators, students, 

18 workers, employers, Federal, State, and local govern19 ments, civic associations, and other stakeholders. 

20 Such groups need to be able to coordinate and co21 operate successfully with each other. 

22 (4) Coordination among students, community 

23 colleges, secondary and post-secondary institutions, 

24 and employers would improve educational outcomes. 
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1 (5) Promising experiments currently underway 

2 may guide innovation and reform, but scalability of 

3 some of those experiments has not yet been tested. 

4 (6) Evidence suggests that integration of aca5 demic education, technical skills development, and 

6 hands-on work experience improves outcomes and re7 turn on investment for students in secondary and 

8 post-secondary education and for skilled technical 

9 workers in different career stages. 

10 (7) Outcomes show that mentoring can increase 

11 STEM student engagement and the rate of comple12 tion of STEM post-secondary degrees. 

13 SEC. 3. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION STEM INNOVA14 TION AND APPRENTICESHIP GRANTS. 

15 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of the National 

16 Science Foundation shall award competitive grants to eli17 gible entities in accordance with this section. 

18 (b) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this section, the 

19 Director shall consult and cooperate with the programs 

20 and policies of other relevant Federal agencies to avoid 

21 duplication with, and enhance the effectiveness of, the pro22 vision of grants under this section. 

23 (c) GRANTS FOR ASSOCIATE DEGREE PROGRAMS IN

24 STEM FIELDS.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

2 Science Foundation shall award competitive grants 

3 to community colleges to develop or improve asso4 ciate or certificate programs in STEM fields in, with 

5 respect to the region in which the respective college 

6 is located, an in-demand industry sector or occupa7 tion (as defined in section 3(23)) of the Workforce 

8 Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 

9 3102(23))). 

10 (2) APPLICATION.—In considering applications 

11 for grants under paragraph (1), the Director shall 

12 prioritize— 

13 (A) applicants that consist of a partnership 

14 between the applying community college and in15 dividual employers or an employer consortia, or 

16 industry or sector partnerships, and may in17 clude a university or other organization with 

18 demonstrated expertise in academic program 

19 development; 

20 (B) applications that demonstrate current 

21 and future workforce demand in occupations di22 rectly related to the proposed associate degree 

23 or certificate program; 

24 (C) applications that include commitments 

25 by the partnering employers or employer con-
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1 sortia, or industry or sector partnerships, to 

2 offer apprenticeships, internships or other ap3 plied learning opportunities to students enrolled 

4 in the proposed associate degree program; 

5 (D) applications that include outreach 

6 plans and goals for recruiting and enrolling 

7 women and other historically underrepresented 

8 individuals in STEM studies and careers in the 

9 proposed associate degree program; and 

10 (E) applications that describe how the ap11 plying community college will support the col12 lection of information and data for purposes of 

13 evaluation of the proposed associate degree pro14 gram. 

15 (3) FUNDING.—The National Science Founda16 tion shall devote not less than $20,000,000 to 

17 awards described in this subsection, which shall in18 clude not less than $5,000,000 for each of fiscal 

19 years 2018 through 2021, subject to the availability 

20 of appropriations, to come from amounts made avail21 able for the Education and Human Resources Direc22 torate. This subsection shall be carried out using 

23 funds otherwise appropriated by law after the date 

24 of enactment of this Act. 
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1 (d) GRANTS FOR STEM DEGREE APPLIED LEARN2 ING OPPORTUNITIES.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

4 Science Foundation shall award competitive grants 

5 to institutions of higher education partnering with 

6 employers or employer consortia, or industry or sec7 tor partnerships, that commit to offering apprentice8 ships, internships, research opportunities, or applied 

9 learning experiences to enrolled university students 

10 in identified STEM baccalaureate degree programs. 

11 (2) APPLICATION.—In considering applications 

12 for grants under paragraph (1), the Director shall 

13 prioritize— 

14 (A) applicants that consist of a partnership 

15 between— 

16 (I) the applying university; and 

17 (ii) individual employers or an em18 ployer consortia, or industry or sector part19 nerships; 

20 (B) applications that demonstrate current 

21 and future workforce demand in occupations di22 rectly related to selected STEM fields; 

23 (C) applications that include outreach 

24 plans and goals for recruiting and enrolling 
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1 women and other populations historically under2 represented in STEM; and 

3 (D) applications that describe how the uni4 versity will support the collection and informa5 tion of data for purposes of the evaluation of 

6 identified STEM degree programs. 

7 (3) FUNDING.—The National Science Founda8 tion shall devote not less than $10,000,000 to 

9 awards described in this subsection, which shall in10 clude not less than $2,500,000 for each of fiscal 

11 years 2018 through 2021, subject to the availability 

12 of appropriations, to come from amounts made avail13 able for the Education and Human Resources Direc14 torate. This subsection shall be carried out using 

15 funds otherwise appropriated by law after the date 

16 of enactment of this Act. 

17 (e) GRANTS FOR COMPUTER-BASED AND ONLINE

18 STEM EDUCATION COURSES.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

20 Science Foundation shall award competitive grants 

21 to institutions of higher education or nonprofit orga22 nizations to conduct research on student outcomes 

23 and determine best practices for STEM education 

24 and technical skills education through distance 

25 learning or in a simulated work environment. 
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1 (2) RESEARCH AREAS.—The research areas eli2 gible for funding under this subsection may in3 clude— 

4 (A) post-secondary courses for technical 

5 skills development for STEM occupations; 

6 (B) improving high-school level career and 

7 technical education in STEM subjects; 

8 (C) encouraging and sustaining interest 

9 and achievement levels in STEM subjects 

10 among women and other populations histori11 cally underrepresented in STEM studies and 

12 careers; and 

13 (D) combining computer-based and online 

14 STEM education and skills development with 

15 traditional mentoring and other mentoring ar16 rangements, apprenticeships, internships, and 

17 other applied learning opportunities. 

18 (3) FUNDING.—The National Science Founda19 tion shall devote not less than $10,000,000 to 

20 awards described in this subsection, which shall in21 clude not less than $2,500,000 for each of fiscal 

22 years 2018 through 2021, subject to the availability 

23 of appropriations, to come from amounts made avail24 able for the Education and Human Resources Direc25 torate. This subsection shall be carried out using 
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1 funds otherwise appropriated by law after the date 

2 of enactment of this Act. 

3 SEC. 4. RESEARCH ON EFFICIENCY OF SKILLED TECH4 NICAL LABOR MARKETS. 

5 (a) EFFICIENCY OF SKILLED TECHNICAL LABOR

6 MARKETS.—The Directorate of Social, Behavioral & Eco7 nomic Sciences of the National Science Foundation, in co8 ordination with the Secretary of Labor, shall support re9 search on labor market analysis innovations, data and in10 formation sciences, electronic information tools and meth11 odologies, and metrics. 

12 (b) COMPARISON OF UNITED STATES WORK13 FORCE.— 

14 (1) RESEARCH.—The National Science Founda15 tion shall commission research that compares and 

16 contrasts skilled technical workforce development be17 tween States and regions within the United States 

18 and other developed countries, including the diver19 sity of skilled technical and professional workforces, 

20 to the extent feasible. 

21 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the 

22 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the 

23 National Science Foundation shall submit to Con24 gress a report on the results of the study under 

25 paragraph (1). 
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1 (c) SKILLED TECHNICAL WORKFORCE.— 

2 (1) REVIEW.—The National Center for Science 

3 and Engineering Statistics of the National Science 

4 Foundation shall consult and coordinate with other 

5 relevant Federal statistical agencies, including the 

6 Institution of Education Science, and the Committee 

7 on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathe8 matics Education, to explore the feasibility of ex9 panding its surveys to include the collection of objec10 tive data on the skilled technical workforce. 

11 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

12 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the 

13 National Science Foundation shall submit to Con14 gress a report containing the progress made in ex15 panding the National Center for Science and Engi16 neering Statistics surveys to include the skilled tech17 nical workforce. Such report shall include a plan for 

18 multi-agency collaboration in order to effect data 

19 collection and reporting of data on the skilled tech20 nical workforce. 

21 SEC. 5. SPENDING LIMITATION. 

22 No additional funds are authorized to be appro23 priated to carry out this Act and the amendments made 

24 by this Act, and this Act and such amendments shall be 
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1 carried out using amounts otherwise available for such 

2 purpose. 

3 SEC. 6. EVALUATION AND REPORT. 

4 (a) EVALUATION.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of 

7 the National Science Foundation shall evaluate the 

8 grants and programs provided under this Act. 

9 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In conducting the evalua10 tion under paragraph (1), the Director shall — 

11 (A) use a common set of benchmarks and 

12 assessment tools to identify best practices and 

13 materials developed or demonstrated by the re14 search conducted pursuant to such grants and 

15 programs; 

16 (B) include an assessment of the effective17 ness of the grant programs established under 

18 this Act in expanding apprenticeships, intern19 ships, and other applied learning opportunities 

20 offered by employers in conjunction with com21 munity colleges and institutions of higher edu22 cation; 

23 (C) assess the number of students who 

24 participated in programs established under or 

25 pursuant to this Act; 
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1 (D) assess the percentage of students par2 ticipating in programs established under or pur3 suant to this Act who successfully complete 

4 their education program; and 

5 (E) assess the median earnings of students 

6 who have completed a program with respect to 

7 which a grant was awarded under section 3(c), 

8 as of the date that is two calendar quarters 

9 after completing the program, as practicable. 

10 (b) REPORT ON EVALUATIONS.—Not later than 180 

11 days after the completion of the evaluation under sub12 section (a), the Director of the National Science Founda13 tion shall submit to Congress and make widely available 

14 to the public a report that includes— 

15 (1) the results of the evaluation; and 

16 (2) any recommendations for legislative action 

17 that could optimize the effectiveness of the grants 

18 and programs under this Act. 

19 (c) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out this section, the 

20 Director of the Foundation shall consult the programs and 

21 policies of other relevant Federal agencies to avoid dupli22 cation with, and enhance the effectiveness of, the grants 

23 and programs under this Act. 

24 (d) SUBMISSION TO SECRETARY OF EDUCATION.— 

25 On the date on which the report is submitted under sub-
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1 section (b), the Director of the National Science Founda2 tion shall also submit to the Secretary of Education a copy 

3 of the report. 

4 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) STEM.—The term ‘‘STEM’’ means science, 

7 technology, engineering, and mathematics, including 

8 computer science. 

9 (2) COMMUNITY COLLEGE.—The term ‘‘commu10 nity college’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘junior 

11 and community college’’ in section 312 of the Higher 

12 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058). 

13 (3) REGION.—The term ‘‘region’’ means a labor 

14 market area, as such term is defined in section 3 of 

15 the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 

16 U.S.C. 3102). 

17 (4) SKILLED TECHNICAL WORKFORCE.—The 

18 term ‘‘skilled technical workforce’’ means workers 

19 with high school diplomas and two-year technical 
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1 training or certifications who employ significant lev2 els of STEM knowledge in their jobs. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 25, 

2018. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5509 

AN ACT 

To direct the National Science Foundation to proand for other purposes. approaches and the STEM-related workforce, vide grants for research about STEM education