I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5509 

To direct the National Science Foundation to provide grants for research 

about STEM education approaches and the STEM-related workforce, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 13, 2018 

Mr. MCCARTHY (for himself and Mr. SMITH of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and 

Technology 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Innovations in Men5 toring, Training, and Apprenticeships Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) To remain competitive in the global econ9 omy, foster greater innovation, and provide a founVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Apr 18, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5509.IH H5509

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1 dation for shared prosperity, the United States 

2 needs a workforce with the right mix of skills to 

3 meet the diverse needs of the economy. 

4 (2) Evidence indicates that the returns on in5 vestments in technical skills in the labor market are 

6 strong when students successfully complete their 

7 training and gain credentials sought by employers. 

8 (3) The responsibility for developing and sus9 taining a skilled technical workforce is fragmented 

10 across many groups, including educators; students; 

11 workers; employers; Federal, State, and local govern12 ments; labor organizations; and civic associations. 

13 Such groups need to be able to coordinate and co14 operate successfully with each other. 

15 (4) Coordination among students, community 

16 colleges, secondary and post-secondary institutions, 

17 and employers would improve educational outcomes. 

18 (5) Promising experiments currently underway 

19 may guide innovation and reform, but scalability of 

20 some of those experiments has not yet been tested. 

21 (6) Evidence suggests that integration of aca22 demic education, technical training, and hands-on 

23 work experience improves outcomes and return on 

24 investment for students in secondary and post-secVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Apr 18, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5509.IH H5509

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1 ondary education and for skilled technical workers in 

2 different career stages. 

3 (7) Outcomes show that mentoring can increase 

4 STEM student engagement and the rate of comple5 tion of STEM post-secondary degrees. 

6 SEC. 3. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION STEM INNOVA7 TION AND APPRENTICESHIP GRANTS. 

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

9 Science Foundation shall award competitive grants to eli10 gible applicants in accordance with this section. 

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

12 Director shall consult and cooperate with the programs 

13 and policies of other relevant Federal agencies to avoid 

14 duplication with, and enhance the effectiveness of, the pro15 vision of grants under this section. 

16 (c) GRANTS FOR ASSOCIATE DEGREE PROGRAMS IN

17 STEM FIELDS.— 

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

19 Science Foundation shall award competitive grants 

20 to community colleges to develop or improve asso21 ciate degree and certificate programs in STEM 

22 fields in which there is significant workforce demand 

23 in the region of the community college receiving the 

24 award and a need to strengthen the global competi25 tiveness of affected companies. 


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1 (2) APPLICATION.—In considering applications 

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

3 prioritize— 

4 (A) applicants that consist of a partnership 

5 between the applying community college and in6 dividual employers or an employer consortia, 

7 and may include a university or other organiza8 tion with demonstrated expertise in academic 

9 program development; 

10 (B) applications that demonstrate current 

11 and future workforce demand in occupations di12 rectly related to the proposed associate degree 

13 or certificate program. 

14 (C) applications that include commitments 

15 by the partnering employers or employer con16 sortia to offer apprenticeships, internships or 

17 other applied learning opportunities to students 

18 enrolled in the proposed associate degree pro19 gram; and 

20 (D) applications that include outreach 

21 plans and goals for recruiting and enrolling 

22 women and other historically underrepresented 

23 individuals in STEM studies and careers in the 

24 proposed associate degree program. 


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1 (3) FUNDING.—The National Science Founda2 tion shall devote not less than $20,000,000 to 

3 awards described in this subsection, which shall in4 clude not less than $5,000,000 for each of fiscal 

5 years 2018 through 2021, subject to the availability 

6 of appropriations, to come from amounts made avail7 able for the Education and Human Resources Direc8 torate. This subsection shall be carried out using 

9 funds otherwise appropriated by law after the date 

10 of enactment of this Act. 

11 (d) GRANTS FOR STEM DEGREE APPLIED LEARN12 ING OPPORTUNITIES.— 

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

14 Science Foundation shall award competitive grants 

15 to universities partnering with employers or em16 ployer consortia that commit to offering apprentice17 ships, internships, research opportunities, or applied 

18 learning experiences to enrolled university students 

19 in identified four-year STEM degree programs. 

20 (2) APPLICATION.—In considering applications 

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

22 prioritize— 

23 (A) applicants that consist of a partnership 

24 between— 

25 (i) the applying university; and 


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1 (ii) individual employers or an em2 ployer consortia; 

3 (B) applications that demonstrate current 

4 and future workforce demand in occupations di5 rectly related to selected STEM fields; and 

6 (C) applications that include outreach 

7 plans and goals for recruiting and enrolling 

8 women and other populations historically under9 represented in STEM. 

10 (3) FUNDING.—The National Science Founda11 tion shall devote not less than $10,000,000 to 

12 awards described in this subsection, which shall in13 clude not less than $2,500,000 for each of fiscal 

14 years 2018 through 2021, subject to the availability 

15 of appropriations, to come from amounts made avail16 able for the Education and Human Resources Direc17 torate. This subsection shall be carried out using 

18 funds otherwise appropriated by law after the date 

19 of enactment of this Act. 

20 (e) GRANTS FOR COMPUTER-BASED AND ONLINE

21 STEM EDUCATION COURSES.— 

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

23 Science Foundation shall award competitive grants 

24 to institutions of higher education or nonprofit orga25 nizations to conduct research on student outcomes 


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1 and determine best practices and scalability of com2 puter-based and online courses for technical skills 

3 training. 

4 (2) RESEARCH AREAS.—The research areas eli5 gible for funding under this subsection may in6 clude— 

7 (A) post-secondary courses for technical 

8 training for STEM occupations; 

9 (B) improving high-school level vocational 

10 training in STEM subjects; 

11 (C) encouraging and sustaining interest 

12 and achievement levels in STEM subjects 

13 among women and other populations histori14 cally underrepresented in STEM studies and 

15 careers; and 

16 (D) combining computer-based and online 

17 STEM education and training with traditional 

18 mentoring and other mentoring arrangements, 

19 apprenticeships, internships, and other applied 

20 learning opportunities. 

21 (3) FUNDING.—The National Science Founda22 tion shall devote not less than $10,000,000 to 

23 awards described in this subsection, which shall in24 clude not less than $2,500,000 for each of fiscal 

25 years 2018 through 2021, subject to the availability 


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1 of appropriations, to come from amounts made avail2 able for the Education and Human Resources Direc3 torate. This subsection shall be carried out using 

4 funds otherwise appropriated by law after the date 

5 of enactment of this Act. 

6 SEC. 4. RESEARCH ON EFFICIENCY OF SKILLED TECH7 NICAL LABOR MARKETS. 

8 (a) EFFICIENCY OF SKILLED TECHNICAL LABOR

9 MARKETS.—The Directorate of Social, Behavioral & Eco10 nomic Sciences of the National Science Foundation, in co11 ordination with the Secretary of Labor, shall support re12 search that improves the efficiency of skilled technical 

13 labor markets in the United States, including research on 

14 labor market analysis innovations, data and information 

15 sciences, electronic information tools and methodologies, 

16 and metrics. 

17 (b) COMPARISON OF UNITED STATES WORK18 FORCE.— 

19 (1) RESEARCH.—The National Science Founda20 tion shall commission research that compares and 

21 contrasts skilled technical workforce development be22 tween the United States and other developed coun23 tries, including the diversity of skilled technical and 

24 professional workforces, to the extent feasible. 


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

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

3 National Science Foundation shall submit to Con4 gress a report on the results of the study under 

5 paragraph (1). 

6 (c) 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 to explore the 

11 feasibility of expanding its surveys to include the col12 lection of objective data on the skilled technical 

13 workforce. 

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

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

16 National Science Foundation shall submit to Con17 gress a report containing the progress made in ex18 panding the National Center for Science and Engi19 neering Statistics surveys to include the skilled tech20 nical workforce. Such report shall include a plan for 

21 multi-agency collaboration in order to effect data 

22 collection and reporting of data on the skilled tech23 nical workforce. 


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1 SEC. 5. SPENDING LIMITATION. 

2 No additional funds are authorized to be appro3 priated to carry out this Act and the amendments made 

4 by this Act, and this Act and such amendments shall be 

5 carried out using amounts otherwise available for such 

6 purpose. 

7 SEC. 6. EVALUATION AND REPORT. 

8 (a) EVALUATION.— 

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

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

11 the Foundation shall evaluate the grants and pro12 grams provided under this Act. 

13 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In conducting the evalua14 tion under paragraph (1), the Director shall use a 

15 common set of benchmarks and assessment tools to 

16 identify best practices and materials developed or 

17 demonstrated by the research conducted pursuant to 

18 such grants and programs. 

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

20 days after the completion of the evaluation under sub21 section (a), the Director of the Foundation shall submit 

22 to Congress and make widely available to the public a re23 port that includes— 

24 (1) the results of the evaluation; and 


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1 (2) any recommendations for administrative 

2 and legislative action that could optimize the effec3 tiveness of the grants and programs under this Act. 

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

5 Director of the Foundation shall consult the programs and 

6 policies of other relevant Federal agencies to avoid dupli7 cation with, and enhance the effectiveness of, the grants 

8 and programs under this Act. 

9 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act: 

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

12 technology, engineering, and mathematics, including 

13 computer science. 

14 (2) COMMUNITY COLLEGE.—The term ‘‘commu15 nity college’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘junior 

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

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

18 (3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

19 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

20 meaning given such term in section 101(a) of the 

21 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

22 (4) REGION.—The term ‘‘region’’ means a labor 

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

24 the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 

25 U.S.C. 3102). 


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1 (5) SKILLED TECHNICAL WORKFORCE.—The 

2 term ‘‘skilled technical workforce’’ means workers 

3 with high school diplomas and two-year technical 

4 training or certifications who employ significant lev5 els of STEM knowledge in their jobs. 

6 (6) UNIVERSITY.—The term ‘‘university’’ 

7 means a 4-year institution of higher education, as 

8 defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education 

9 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

Æ 


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