In the Senate of the United States, 

December 20 (legislative day, December 19), 2018. 

Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 5509) entitled ‘‘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.’’, do pass with the following 

AMENDMENT: 

Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the 

following: 

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 economy, 

7 foster greater innovation, and provide a foundation 

8 for shared prosperity, the United States needs a work-
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1 force with the right mix of skills to meet the diverse 

2 needs of the economy. 

3 (2) Evidence indicates that the returns on invest4 ments in technical skills in the labor market are 

5 strong when students successfully complete their edu6 cation and gain credentials sought by employers. 

7 (3) The responsibility for developing and sus8 taining a skilled technical workforce is fragmented 

9 across many groups, including educators, students, 

10 workers, employers, Federal, State, and local govern11 ments, civic associations, and other stakeholders. Such 

12 groups need to be able to coordinate and cooperate 

13 successfully with each other. 

14 (4) Coordination among students, community 

15 colleges, secondary and post-secondary institutions, 

16 and employers would improve educational outcomes. 

17 (5) Promising experiments currently underway 

18 may guide innovation and reform, but scalability of 

19 some of those experiments has not yet been tested. 

20 (6) Evidence suggests that integration of aca21 demic education, technical skills development, and 

22 hands-on work experience improves outcomes and re23 turn on investment for students in secondary and 

24 post-secondary education and for skilled technical 

25 workers in different career stages. 
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1 (7) Outcomes show that mentoring can increase 

2 STEM student engagement and the rate of completion 

3 of STEM post-secondary degrees. 

4 SEC. 3. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION STEM INNOVA5 TION AND APPRENTICESHIP GRANTS. 

6 Section 3 of the Scientific and Advanced-Technology 

7 Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 1862i) is amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating subsections (d) through (g) 

9 as subsections (g) through (j), respectively; 

10 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(d) GRANTS FOR ASSOCIATE DEGREE PROGRAMS IN

13 STEM FIELDS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN-DEMAND WORKFORCE GRANTS.—The Di15 rector shall award grants to junior or community col16 leges to develop or improve associate degree or certifi17 cate programs in STEM fields, with respect to the re18 gion in which the respective college is located, and an 

19 in-demand industry sector or occupation. 

20 ‘‘(2) APPLICATIONS.—In considering applica21 tions for grants under paragraph (1), the Director 

22 shall prioritize— 

23 ‘‘(A) applications that consist of a partner24 ship between the applying junior or community 

25 college and individual employers or an employer 
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1 consortia, or industry or sector partnerships, 

2 and may include a university or other organiza3 tion with demonstrated expertise in academic 

4 program development; 

5 ‘‘(B) applications that demonstrate current 

6 and future workforce demand in occupations di7 rectly related to the proposed associate degree or 

8 certificate program; 

9 ‘‘(C) applications that include commitments 

10 by the partnering employers or employer con11 sortia, or industry or sector partnerships, to offer 

12 apprenticeships, internships, or other applied 

13 learning opportunities to students enrolled in the 

14 proposed associate degree or certificate program; 

15 ‘‘(D) applications that include outreach 

16 plans and goals for recruiting and enrolling 

17 women and other underrepresented populations 

18 in STEM fields in the proposed associate degree 

19 or certificate program; and 

20 ‘‘(E) applications that describe how the ap21 plying junior or community college will support 

22 the collection of information and data for pur23 poses of evaluation of the proposed associate de24 gree or certificate program. 
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1 ‘‘(e) GRANTS FOR STEM DEGREE APPLIED LEARNING

2 OPPORTUNITIES.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall award 

4 grants to institutions of higher education partnering 

5 with private sector employers or private sector em6 ployer consortia, or industry or sector partnerships, 

7 that commit to offering apprenticeships, internships, 

8 research opportunities, or applied learning experi9 ences to enrolled students in identified STEM bacca10 laureate degree programs. 

11 ‘‘(2) PURPOSES.—Awards under this subsection 

12 may be used— 

13 ‘‘(A) to develop curricula and programs for 

14 apprenticeship, internships, research opportuni15 ties, or applied learning experiences; or 

16 ‘‘(B) to provide matching funds to 

17 incentivize partnership and participation by 

18 private sector employers and industry. 

19 ‘‘(3) APPLICATIONS.—In considering applica20 tions for grants under paragraph (1), the Director 

21 shall prioritize— 

22 ‘‘(A) applicants that consist of a partner23 ship between— 

24 ‘‘(i) the applying institution of higher 

25 education; and 
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1 ‘‘(ii) individual employers or an em2 ployer consortia, or industry or sector part3 nerships; 

4 ‘‘(B) applications that demonstrate current 

5 and future workforce demand in occupations di6 rectly related to the identified STEM fields; 

7 ‘‘(C) applications that include outreach 

8 plans and goals for recruiting and enrolling 

9 women and other underrepresented populations 

10 in STEM fields; and 

11 ‘‘(D) applications that describe how the in12 stitution of higher education will support the col13 lection and information of data for purposes of 

14 the evaluation of identified STEM degree pro15 grams. 

16 ‘‘(f) GRANTS FOR COMPUTER-BASED AND ONLINE

17 STEM EDUCATION COURSES.— 

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

19 Science Foundation shall award competitive grants to 

20 institutions of higher education or nonprofit organi21 zations to conduct research on student outcomes and 

22 determine best practices for STEM education and 

23 technical skills education through distance learning or 

24 in a simulated work environment. 
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1 ‘‘(2) RESEARCH AREAS.—The research areas eli2 gible for funding under this subsection may include— 

3 ‘‘(A) post-secondary courses for technical 

4 skills development for STEM occupations; 

5 ‘‘(B) improving high-school level career and 

6 technical education in STEM subjects; 

7 ‘‘(C) encouraging and sustaining interest 

8 and achievement levels in STEM subjects among 

9 women and other populations historically under10 represented in STEM studies and careers; and 

11 ‘‘(D) combining computer-based and online 

12 STEM education and skills development with 

13 traditional mentoring and other mentoring ar14 rangements, apprenticeships, internships, and 

15 other applied learning opportunities.’’; 

16 (3) in subsection (a)(3)(A), by striking the 

17 comma and inserting a semicolon; 

18 (4) in subsection (c)(1)(B)(iv), by striking ‘‘sub19 section (f)(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (i)(3)’’; 

20 (5) in subsection (h), as redesignated— 

21 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘LIMITA22 TION ON FUNDING’’ and inserting ‘‘FUNDING’’; 

23 (B) by inserting ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON FUND24 ING.—’’ before ‘‘To qualify’’ and indenting ap25 propriately; and 
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1 (C) by inserting before paragraph (3), as 

2 redesignated, the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) FUNDING.—The Director shall allocate out 

4 of amounts made available for the Education and 

5 Human Resources Directorate— 

6 ‘‘(A) up to $5,000,000 to carry out the ac7 tivities under subsection (d) for each of fiscal 

8 years 2019 through 2022, subject to the avail9 ability of appropriations; 

10 ‘‘(B) up to $2,500,000 to carry out the ac11 tivities under subsection (e) for each of fiscal 

12 years 2019 through 2022, subject to the avail13 ability of appropriations; and 

14 ‘‘(C) up to $2,500,000 to carry out the ac15 tivities under subsection (f) for each of fiscal 

16 years 2019 through 2022, subject to the avail17 ability of appropriations. 

18 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON FUNDING.—Amounts made 

19 available to carry out subsections (d), (e), and (f) 

20 shall be derived from amounts appropriated or other21 wise made available to the National Science Founda22 tion.’’; and 

23 (6) in subsection (j), as redesignated— 

24 (A) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

25 and inserting a semicolon; 
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1 (B) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 

2 paragraph (7); and 

3 (C) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(5) the term ‘in-demand industry sector or oc6 cupation’ has the meaning given the term in section 

7 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 

8 (29 U.S.C. 3102); 

9 ‘‘(6) the term ‘junior or community college’ has 

10 the meaning given the term in section 312 of the 

11 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058);’’; 

12 and 

13 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(8) the term ‘region’ means a labor market 

15 area, as that term is defined in section 3 of the Work16 force Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 

17 3102); and 

18 ‘‘(9) the terms ‘mathematics, science, engineer19 ing, or technology’ or ‘STEM’ mean science, tech20 nology, engineering, and mathematics, including com21 puter science.’’. 

22 SEC. 4. RESEARCH ON EFFICIENCY OF SKILLED TECHNICAL 

23 LABOR MARKETS. 

24 (a) EFFICIENCY OF SKILLED TECHNICAL LABOR MAR25 KETS.—The Director of the National Science Foundation, 
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1 working through the Directorate of Social, Behavioral & 

2 Economic Sciences, in coordination with the Secretary of 

3 Labor, shall support research on labor market analysis in4 novations, data and information sciences, electronic infor5 mation tools and methodologies, and metrics. 

6 (b) SKILLED TECHNICAL WORKFORCE.— 

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

8 and Engineering Statistics of the National Science 

9 Foundation shall consult and coordinate with other 

10 relevant Federal statistical agencies, including the In11 stitute of Education Sciences of the Department of 

12 Education, and the Committee on Science, Tech13 nology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education of 

14 the National Science and Technology Council estab15 lished under section 101 of the America COMPETES 

16 Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–358), to explore the fea17 sibility of expanding its surveys to include the collec18 tion of objective data on the skilled technical work19 force. 

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

21 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Na22 tional Science Foundation shall submit to Congress a 

23 report on the progress made in expanding the Na24 tional Center for Science and Engineering Statistics 

25 surveys to include the skilled technical workforce, in-
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1 cluding a plan for multi-agency collaboration to im2 prove data collection and reporting of data on the 

3 skilled technical workforce. 

4 (3) DEFINITION OF SKILLED TECHNICAL WORK5 FORCE.—The term ‘‘ ‘skilled technical workforce’ ’’ 

6 means workers with high school diplomas and two7 year technical training or certifications who employ 

8 significant levels of STEM knowledge in their jobs. 

9 SEC. 5. EVALUATION AND REPORT. 

10 (a) EVALUATION.— 

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

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

13 National Science Foundation shall evaluate the grant 

14 programs established under subsections (d), (e), and 

15 (f) of section 3 of the Scientific and Advanced-Tech16 nology Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 1862i), as amended by 

17 this Act. 

18 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In conducting the evalua19 tion under paragraph (1), the Director shall— 

20 (A) use a common set of benchmarks and 

21 assessment tools to identify best practices and 

22 materials developed or demonstrated by the re23 search conducted pursuant to such grants and 

24 programs under subsection (f) of that section; 
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1 (B) include an assessment of the effective2 ness of the grant programs in expanding appren3 ticeships, internships, and other applied learning 

4 opportunities offered by employers in conjunc5 tion with junior or community colleges, or insti6 tutions of higher education, as applicable; 

7 (C) assess the number of students who par8 ticipated in the grant programs; and 

9 (D) assess the percentage of students par10 ticipating in the grant programs who success11 fully complete their education programs. 

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

13 days after the date the evaluation under subsection (a) is 

14 complete, the Director of the National Science Foundation 

15 shall submit to Congress and the Secretary of Education, 

16 and make widely available to the public, a report on the 

17 results of the evaluation, including any recommendations 

18 for legislative action that could optimize the effectiveness 

19 of the grant programs. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H.R. 5509 

AMENDMENT