H. R. 5509 

One Hundred Fifteenth Congress 

of the 

United States of America 

AT THE SECOND SESSION 

Begun and held at the City of Washington on Wednesday, 

the third day of January, two thousand and eighteen 

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. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Innovations in Mentoring, 

Training, and Apprenticeships Act’’. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

Congress finds the following: 

(1) To remain competitive in the global economy, foster 

greater innovation, and provide a foundation for shared prosperity, the United States needs a workforce with the right 

mix of skills to meet the diverse needs of the economy. 

(2) Evidence indicates that the returns on investments 

in technical skills in the labor market are strong when students 

successfully complete their education and gain credentials 

sought by employers. 

(3) The responsibility for developing and sustaining a 

skilled technical workforce is fragmented across many groups, 

including educators, students, workers, employers, Federal, 

State, and local governments, civic associations, and other 

stakeholders. Such groups need to be able to coordinate and 

cooperate successfully with each other. 

(4) Coordination among students, community colleges, secondary and post-secondary institutions, and employers would 

improve educational outcomes. 

(5) Promising experiments currently underway may guide 

innovation and reform, but scalability of some of those experiments has not yet been tested. 

(6) Evidence suggests that integration of academic education, technical skills development, and hands-on work experience improves outcomes and return on investment for students 

in secondary and post-secondary education and for skilled technical workers in different career stages. 

(7) Outcomes show that mentoring can increase STEM 

student engagement and the rate of completion of STEM postsecondary degrees. 
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SEC. 3. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION STEM INNOVATION AND 

APPRENTICESHIP GRANTS. 

Section 3 of the Scientific and Advanced-Technology Act of 

1992 (42 U.S.C. 1862i) is amended— 

(1) by redesignating subsections (d) through (g) as subsections (g) through (j), respectively; 

(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the following: 

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

FIELDS.— 

‘‘(1) IN-DEMAND WORKFORCE GRANTS.—The Director shall 

award grants to junior or community colleges to develop or 

improve associate degree or certificate programs in STEM 

fields, with respect to the region in which the respective college 

is located, and an in-demand industry sector or occupation. 

‘‘(2) APPLICATIONS.—In considering applications for grants 

under paragraph (1), the Director shall prioritize— 

‘‘(A) applications that consist of a partnership between 

the applying junior or community college and individual 

employers or an employer consortia, or industry or sector 

partnerships, and may include a university or other 

organization with demonstrated expertise in academic program development; 

‘‘(B) applications that demonstrate current and future 

workforce demand in occupations directly related to the 

proposed associate degree or certificate program; 

‘‘(C) applications that include commitments by the 

partnering employers or employer consortia, or industry 

or sector partnerships, to offer apprenticeships, internships, 

or other applied learning opportunities to students enrolled 

in the proposed associate degree or certificate program; 

‘‘(D) applications that include outreach plans and goals 

for recruiting and enrolling women and other underrepresented populations in STEM fields in the proposed associate degree or certificate program; and 

‘‘(E) applications that describe how the applying junior 

or community college will support the collection of information and data for purposes of evaluation of the proposed 

associate degree or certificate program. 

‘‘(e) GRANTS FOR STEM DEGREE APPLIED LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES.— 

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

institutions of higher education partnering with private sector 

employers or private sector employer consortia, or industry 

or sector partnerships, that commit to offering apprenticeships, 

internships, research opportunities, or applied learning experiences to enrolled students in identified STEM baccalaureate 

degree programs. 

‘‘(2) PURPOSES.—Awards under this subsection may be 

used— 

‘‘(A) to develop curricula and programs for apprenticeship, internships, research opportunities, or applied 

learning experiences; or 

‘‘(B) to provide matching funds to incentivize partnership and participation by private sector employers and 

industry. 

‘‘(3) APPLICATIONS.—In considering applications for grants 

under paragraph (1), the Director shall prioritize— 
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‘‘(A) applicants that consist of a partnership between— 

‘‘(i) the applying institution of higher education; 

and 

‘‘(ii) individual employers or an employer consortia, 

or industry or sector partnerships; 

‘‘(B) applications that demonstrate current and future 

workforce demand in occupations directly related to the 

identified STEM fields; 

‘‘(C) applications that include outreach plans and goals 

for recruiting and enrolling women and other underrepresented populations in STEM fields; and 

‘‘(D) applications that describe how the institution of 

higher education will support the collection and information 

of data for purposes of the evaluation of identified STEM 

degree programs. 

‘‘(f) GRANTS FOR COMPUTER-BASED AND ONLINE STEM EDU- CATION COURSES.— 

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

Foundation shall award competitive grants to institutions of 

higher education or nonprofit organizations to conduct research 

on student outcomes and determine best practices for STEM 

education and technical skills education through distance 

learning or in a simulated work environment. 

‘‘(2) RESEARCH AREAS.—The research areas eligible for 

funding under this subsection may include— 

‘‘(A) post-secondary courses for technical skills development for STEM occupations; 

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

education in STEM subjects; 

‘‘(C) encouraging and sustaining interest and achievement levels in STEM subjects among women and other 

populations historically underrepresented in STEM studies 

and careers; and 

‘‘(D) combining computer-based and online STEM education and skills development with traditional mentoring 

and other mentoring arrangements, apprenticeships, 

internships, and other applied learning opportunities.’’; 

(3) in subsection (a)(3)(A), by striking the comma and 

inserting a semicolon; 

(4) in subsection (c)(1)(B)(iv), by striking ‘‘subsection (f)(3)’’ 

and inserting ‘‘subsection (i)(3)’’; 

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

(A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘LIMITATION ON

FUNDING’’ and inserting ‘‘FUNDING’’; 

(B) by inserting ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON FUNDING.—’’ before 

‘‘To qualify’’ and indenting appropriately; and 

(C) by inserting before paragraph (3), as redesignated, 

the following: 

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

made available for the Education and Human Resources Directorate— 

‘‘(A) up to $5,000,000 to carry out the activities under 

subsection (d) for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2022, 

subject to the availability of appropriations; ‘‘(B) up to $2,500,000 to carry out the activities under 

subsection (e) for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2022, 

subject to the availability of appropriations; and 
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‘‘(C) up to $2,500,000 to carry out the activities under 

subsection (f) for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2022, 

subject to the availability of appropriations. 

‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON FUNDING.—Amounts made available to 

carry out subsections (d), (e), and (f) shall be derived from 

amounts appropriated or otherwise made available to the 

National Science Foundation.’’; and 

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

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

a semicolon; 

(B) by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (7); 

and 

(C) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following: 

‘‘(5) the term ‘in-demand industry sector or occupation’ 

has the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Workforce 

Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102); 

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

given the term in section 312 of the Higher Education Act 

of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058);’’; and 

(D) by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘(8) the term ‘region’ means a labor market area, as that 

term is defined in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and 

Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102); and 

‘‘(9) the terms ‘mathematics, science, engineering, or technology’ or ‘STEM’ mean science, technology, engineering, and 

mathematics, including computer science.’’. 

SEC. 4. RESEARCH ON EFFICIENCY OF SKILLED TECHNICAL LABOR 

MARKETS. 

(a) EFFICIENCY OF SKILLED TECHNICAL LABOR MARKETS.—The 

Director of the National Science Foundation, working through the 

Directorate of Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences, in coordination with the Secretary of Labor, shall support research on labor 

market analysis innovations, data and information sciences, electronic information tools and methodologies, and metrics. 

(b) SKILLED TECHNICAL WORKFORCE.— 

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

Engineering Statistics of the National Science Foundation shall 

consult and coordinate with other relevant Federal statistical 

agencies, including the Institute of Education Sciences of the 

Department of Education, and the Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education of the 

National Science and Technology Council established under 

section 101 of the America COMPETES Act of 2010 (Public 

Law 111–358), to explore the feasibility of expanding its surveys 

to include the collection of objective data on the skilled technical 

workforce. 

(2) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the National Science Foundation shall submit to Congress a report on the progress made 

in expanding the National Center for Science and Engineering 

Statistics surveys to include the skilled technical workforce, 

including a plan for multi-agency collaboration to improve data 

collection and reporting of data on the skilled technical 

workforce. 

(3) DEFINITION OF SKILLED TECHNICAL WORKFORCE.—The 

term ‘‘ ‘skilled technical workforce’ ’’ means workers with high 
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school diplomas and two-year technical training or certifications 

who employ significant levels of STEM knowledge in their 

jobs. 

SEC. 5. EVALUATION AND REPORT. 

(a) EVALUATION.— 

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

of enactment of this Act, the Director of the National Science 

Foundation shall evaluate the grant programs established 

under subsections (d), (e), and (f) of section 3 of the Scientific 

and Advanced-Technology Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 1862i), as 

amended by this Act. 

(2) REQUIREMENTS.—In conducting the evaluation under 

paragraph (1), the Director shall— 

(A) use a common set of benchmarks and assessment 

tools to identify best practices and materials developed 

or demonstrated by the research conducted pursuant to 

such grants and programs under subsection (f) of that 

section; 

(B) include an assessment of the effectiveness of the 

grant programs in expanding apprenticeships, internships, 

and other applied learning opportunities offered by 

employers in conjunction with junior or community colleges, 

or institutions of higher education, as applicable; 

(C) assess the number of students who participated 

in the grant programs; and 

(D) assess the percentage of students participating in 

the grant programs who successfully complete their education programs. 

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

the date the evaluation under subsection (a) is complete, the 

Director of the National Science Foundation shall submit to Congress and the Secretary of Education, and make widely available 

to the public, a report on the results of the evaluation, including 

any recommendations for legislative action that could optimize the 

effectiveness of the grant programs. 

Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

Vice President of the United States and

President of the Senate.