II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2484

To ensure that immigrant students and their families receive the services

that the students and families need to successfully participate in elementary schools, secondary schools, and communities, in the United States,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 27, 2000

Mr. CLELAND (for himself and Mr. COVERDELL) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To ensure that immigrant students and their families receive

the services that the students and families need to successfully participate in elementary schools, secondary

schools, and communities, in the United States, 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. IMMIGRANTS TO NEW AMERICANS MODEL PRO4 GRAMS.

5 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This section may be cited as the

6 ‘‘Immigrants to New Americans Act’’.

7 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) In 1997, there were an estimated

2 25,800,000 foreign-born individuals residing in the

3 United States. That number is the largest number

4 of such foreign-born individuals ever in United

5 States history and represents a 6,000,000, or 30

6 percent, increase over the 1990 census figure of

7 19,800,000 of such foreign-born individuals. The

8 Bureau of the Census estimates that the recently ar9 rived immigrant population (including the refugee

10 population) currently residing in the Nation will ac11 count for 75 percent of the population growth in the

12 United States over the next 50 years.

13 (2) For millions of immigrants settling into the

14 Nation’s hamlets, towns, and cities, the dream of

15 ‘‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’’ has be16 come a reality. The wave of immigrants, from var17 ious nationalities, who have chosen the United

18 States as their home, has positively influenced the

19 Nation’s image and relationship with other nations.

20 The diverse cultural heritage of the Nation’s immi21 grants has helped define the Nation’s culture, cus22 toms, economy, and communities. By better under23 standing the people who have immigrated to the Na24 tion, individuals in the United States better under25 stand what it means to be an American.
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1 (3) There is a critical shortage of teachers with

2 the skills needed to educate immigrant students and

3 their families in nonconcentrated, nontraditional, im4 migrant communities as well as communities with

5 large immigrant populations. The large influx of im6 migrant families over the last decade presents a na7 tional dilemma: The number of such families with

8 school-age children, requiring assistance to success9 fully participate in elementary schools, secondary

10 schools, and communities in the United States, is in11 creasing without a corresponding increase in the

12 number of teachers with skills to accommodate their

13 needs.

14 (4) Immigrants arriving in communities across

15 the Nation generally settle into high-poverty areas,

16 where funding for programs to provide immigrant

17 students and their families with the services the stu18 dents and families need to successfully participate in

19 elementary schools, secondary schools, and commu20 nities in the United States is inadequate.

21 (5) The influx of immigrant families settling

22 into many United States communities is often the

23 result of concerted efforts by local employers who

24 value immigrant labor. Those employers realize that

25 helping immigrants to become productive, pros-
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1 perous members of a community is beneficial for the

2 local businesses involved, the immigrants, and the

3 community. Further, local businesses benefit from

4 the presence of the immigrant families because the

5 families present businesses with a committed and ef6 fective workforce and help to open up new market

7 opportunities. However, many of the communities

8 into which the immigrants have settled need assist9 ance in order to give immigrant students and their

10 families the services the students and families need

11 to successfully participate in elementary schools, sec12 ondary schools, and communities, in the United

13 States.

14 (c) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to es15 tablish a grant program, within the Department of Edu16 cation, that provides funding to partnerships of local edu17 cational agencies and community-based organizations for

18 the development of model programs to provide to immi19 grant students and their families the services the students

20 and families need to successfully participate in elementary

21 schools, secondary schools, and communities, in the

22 United States.

23 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

24 (1) COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATION; ELE25 MENTARY SCHOOL; LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY;
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1 SECONDARY SCHOOL.—The terms ‘‘community-based

2 organization’’, ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local edu3 cational agency’’, and ‘‘secondary school’’ have the

4 meanings given the terms in section 14101 of the

5 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

6 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

7 (2) IMMIGRANT.—The term ‘‘immigrant’’ has

8 the meaning given the term in section 101 of the

9 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101).

10 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

11 the Secretary of Education.

12 (e) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized

14 to award not more than 10 grants in a fiscal year

15 to eligible partnerships for the design and implemen16 tation of model programs to—

17 (A) assist immigrant students to achieve in

18 elementary schools and secondary schools in the

19 United States by offering such educational serv20 ices as English as a second language classes,

21 literacy programs, programs for introduction to

22 the education system, and civics education; and

23 (B) assist parents of immigrant students

24 by offering such services as parent education

25 and literacy development services and by coordi-
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1 nating activities with other entities to provide

2 comprehensive community social services such

3 as health care, job training, child care, and

4 transportation services.

5 (2) DURATION.—Each grant awarded under

6 this section shall be awarded for a period of not

7 more than 5 years. A partnership may use funds

8 made available through the grant for not more than

9 1 year for planning and program design.

10 (f) APPLICATIONS FOR GRANTS.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible partnership de12 siring a grant under this section shall submit an ap13 plication to the Secretary at such time and in such

14 manner as the Secretary may require.

15 (2) ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIPS.—To be eligible

16 to receive a grant under this section, a

17 partnership—

18 (A) shall include—

19 (i) at least 1 local educational agency;

20 and

21 (ii) at least 1 community-based orga22 nization; and

23 (B) may include another entity such as an

24 institution of higher education, a local or State

25 government agency, a private sector entity, or
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1 another entity with expertise in working with

2 immigrants.

3 (3) REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION.—Each appli4 cation submitted by a partnership under this section

5 for a proposed program shall include documentation

6 that—

7 (A) the partnership has the qualified per8 sonnel required to develop, administer, and im9 plement the proposed program; and

10 (B) the leadership of each participating

11 school has been involved in the development and

12 planning of the program in the school.

13 (4) OTHER APPLICATION CONTENTS.—Each ap14 plication submitted by a partnership under this sec15 tion for a proposed program shall include—

16 (A) a list of the organizations entering into

17 the partnership;

18 (B) a description of the need for the pro19 posed program, including data on the number

20 of immigrant students, and the number of such

21 students with limited English proficiency, in the

22 schools or school districts to be served through

23 the program and the characteristics of the stu24 dents described in this subparagraph,

25 including—
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1 (i) the native languages of the stu2 dents to be served;

3 (ii) the proficiency of the students in

4 English and the native languages;

5 (iii) achievement data for the students

6 in—

7 (I) reading or language arts (in

8 English and in the native languages,

9 if applicable); and

10 (II) mathematics; and

11 (iv) the previous schooling experiences

12 of the students;

13 (C) a description of the goals of the pro14 gram;

15 (D) a description of how the funds made

16 available through the grant will be used to sup17 plement the basic services provided to the immi18 grant students to be served;

19 (E) a description of activities that will be

20 pursued by the partnership through the pro21 gram, including a description of—

22 (i) how parents, students, and other

23 members of the community, including

24 members of private organizations and non-
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1 profit organizations, will be involved in the

2 design and implementation of the program;

3 (ii) how the activities will further the

4 academic achievement of immigrant stu5 dents served through the program;

6 (iii) methods of teacher training and

7 parent education that will be used or devel8 oped through the program, including the

9 dissemination of information to immigrant

10 parents, that is easily understandable in

11 the language of the parents, about edu12 cational programs and the rights of the

13 parents to participate in educational deci14 sions involving their children; and

15 (iv) methods of coordinating com16 prehensive community social services to as17 sist immigrant families;

18 (F) a description of how the partnership

19 will evaluate the progress of the partnership in

20 achieving the goals of the program;

21 (G) a description of how the local edu22 cational agency will disseminate information on

23 model programs, materials, and other informa24 tion developed under this section that the local

25 educational agency determines to be appro-
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1 priate for use by other local educational agen2 cies in establishing similar programs to facili3 tate the educational achievement of immigrant

4 students;

5 (H) an assurance that the partnership will

6 annually provide to the Secretary such informa7 tion as may be required to determine the effec8 tiveness of the program; and

9 (I) any other information that the Sec10 retary may require.

11 (g) SELECTION OF GRANTEES.—

12 (1) CRITERIA.—The Secretary, through a peer

13 review process, shall select partnerships to receive

14 grants under this section on the basis of the quality

15 of the programs proposed in the applications sub16 mitted under subsection (f), taking into consider17 ation such factors as—

18 (A) the extent to which the program pro19 posed in such an application effectively address20 es differences in language, culture, and cus21 toms;

22 (B) the quality of the activities proposed

23 by a partnership;

24 (C) the extent of parental, student, and

25 community involvement;
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1 (D) the extent to which comprehensive

2 community social services are made available;

3 (E) the quality of the plan for measuring

4 and assessing success; and

5 (F) the likelihood that the goals of the pro6 gram will be achieved.

7 (2) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF PRO8 GRAMS.—The Secretary shall approve applications

9 under this section in a manner that ensures, to the

10 extent practicable, that programs assisted under this

11 section serve different areas of the Nation, including

12 urban, suburban, and rural areas, with special atten13 tion to areas that are experiencing an influx of im14 migrant groups (including refugee groups), and that

15 have limited prior experience in serving the immi16 grant community.

17 (h) EVALUATION AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT.—

18 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Each partnership receiv19 ing a grant under this section shall—

20 (A) conduct a comprehensive evaluation of

21 the program assisted under this section, includ22 ing an evaluation of the impact of the program

23 on students, teachers, administrators, parents,

24 and others; and
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1 (B) prepare and submit to the Secretary a

2 report containing the results of the evaluation.

3 (2) EVALUATION REPORT COMPONENTS.—Each

4 evaluation report submitted under this section for a

5 program shall include—

6 (A) data on the partnership’s progress in

7 achieving the goals of the program;

8 (B) data showing the extent to which all

9 students served by the program are meeting the

10 State’s student performance standards,

11 including—

12 (i) data comparing the students

13 served to other students, with regard to

14 grade retention and academic achievement

15 in reading and language arts, in English

16 and in the native languages of the students

17 if the program develops native language

18 proficiency, and in mathematics; and

19 (ii) a description of how the activities

20 carried out through the program are co21 ordinated and integrated with the overall

22 school program of the school in which the

23 program described in this section is carried

24 out, and with other Federal, State, or local
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1 programs serving limited English proficient

2 students;

3 (C) data showing the extent to which fami4 lies served by the program have been afforded

5 access to comprehensive community social serv6 ices; and

7 (D) such other information as the Sec8 retary may require.

9 (i) ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS.—A partnership that re10 ceives a grant under this section may use not more than

11 5 percent of the grant funds received under this section

12 for administrative purposes.

13 (j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the

14 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized

15 to be appropriated $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 and

16 such sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 suc17 ceeding fiscal years.

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