I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5704 

To amend title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

to establish a Master Teacher Corp program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 13, 2014 

Mr. HOLT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish a Master Teacher Corp 

program. 

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 ‘‘Master Teacher Corps 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) As stated in The Heart of the Matter, a re9 port published by the American Academy of Arts 


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1 and Sciences, our need for a broadly literate popu2 lation is more urgent than ever. 

3 (2) As citizens, we need to absorb an ever-grow4 ing body of information and to assess the sources of 

5 that information. 

6 (3) As workers, we need to adapt to an ever7 accelerating rate of technological change and to re8 flect on the implications of these changes. 

9 (4) As members of a global community, we need 

10 to look beyond our borders to communicate and 

11 interact with individuals from societies and cultures 

12 different from our own. 

13 (5) As a Nation, we need to provide an edu14 cational foundation for our future stability and pros15 perity—drawing on all areas of knowledge. 

16 (6) Good teachers matter. Students with highly 

17 skilled teachers can gain an additional year’s worth 

18 of learning compared to their peers in other class19 rooms. Moreover, having an effective teacher for 

20 three to four years in a row can erase the income21 based achievement gap. 

22 (7) Attrition among new teachers is exception23 ally high. As many as 50 percent of new teachers 

24 leave within their first five years teaching. Moreover, 


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1 many of those leaving are the highly performing new 

2 teachers. 

3 (8) Short-term, in-service professional develop4 ment has not been found to be effective. Rather, 

5 successful professional development is extensive, sus6 tained, focused on content, and embedded in the 

7 day-to-day work of teachers. 

8 (9) Teacher induction and mentoring programs 

9 increase job satisfaction and retention among new 

10 teachers. Furthermore, research shows that addi11 tional young people would consider teaching if the 

12 profession offered more opportunities for advance13 ment and collaboration. 

14 (10) Programs that provide teachers with op15 portunities to lead and grow, and to be recognized 

16 and compensated for their leadership, are key to 

17 keeping talented teachers in the classroom. 

18 (11) A Master Teacher Corps will provide 

19 schools a way to use their human capital to improve 

20 student achievement by providing their best teachers 

21 with an opportunity to share best practices and sup22 port other teachers. 

23 SEC. 3. MASTER TEACHER CORPS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part A of title II of the Elemen25 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 


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1 6601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘SUBPART 6—MASTER TEACHER CORPS

4 ‘‘SEC. 2161. DEFINITION. 

5 ‘‘In this subpart, the term ‘eligible entity’ means— 

6 ‘‘(1) a consortium of— 

7 ‘‘(A) 2 or more local educational agencies; 

8 ‘‘(B) 2 or more State educational agencies; 

9 or 

10 ‘‘(C) 2 or more local educational agencies 

11 and 1 or more State educational agencies; act12 ing in partnership with 

13 ‘‘(2) 1 or more— 

14 ‘‘(A) institutions of higher education; or 

15 ‘‘(B) nonprofit organizations with a dem16 onstrated record of success in preparing or im17 proving the effectiveness of teachers. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 2162. GRANTS AUTHORIZED. 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 

20 Master Teacher Corps program by awarding, on a com21 petitive basis, 1 or more grants of not less than 

22 $10,000,000 each to eligible entities to establish the pro23 gram in accordance with section 2164. 

24 ‘‘(b) DURATION OF GRANT.—A grant awarded under 

25 this subpart shall be for a period of not more than 5 years. 


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1 ‘‘(c) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para3 graph (2), an eligible entity that receives a grant 

4 under this subpart shall provide, from non-Federal 

5 sources, an amount equal to not less than 30 per6 cent of the amount of the grant, which may be pro7 vided in cash or in-kind, to carry out the activities 

8 supported by the grant. 

9 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 

11 waive the 30 percent matching requirement 

12 under paragraph (1) for an eligible entity that 

13 the Secretary determines is unable to meet such 

14 requirement. The Secretary shall set a match15 ing requirement for such eligible entities ac16 cording to the sliding scale described in sub17 paragraph (B). 

18 ‘‘(B) SLIDING SCALE.—The amount of a 

19 match under subparagraph (A) shall be estab20 lished based on a sliding fee scale that takes 

21 into account— 

22 ‘‘(i) the relative poverty of the popu23 lation to be targeted by the eligible entity; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the ability of the eligible entity to 

2 obtain such matching funds. 

3 ‘‘(3) CONSIDERATION.—The Secretary shall not 

4 consider an eligible entity’s ability to match funds 

5 when determining which eligible entities will receive 

6 grant awards under this subpart. 

7 ‘‘(d) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Each eligible en8 tity receiving funds under this subpart for a fiscal year 

9 may use not more than 5 percent of such funds for the 

10 cost of administering this subpart. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 2163. APPLICATION. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desiring a 

13 grant under this subpart shall submit an application to 

14 the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and con15 taining such information as the Secretary may require. 

16 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—An application submitted under 

17 this section shall include— 

18 ‘‘(1) a description of the Master Teacher Corps 

19 program that the eligible entity intends to carry out, 

20 including the number of Corps members the entity 

21 intends to select, the intended distribution of sub22 jects and grade levels taught, the geographic and 

23 economic characteristics of the local educational 

24 agencies that are part of the eligible entity; 


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1 ‘‘(2) a description of the types of activities and 

2 responsibilities with which the corps members will be 

3 involved, which— 

4 ‘‘(A) shall include— 

5 ‘‘(i) roles around school, local edu6 cational agency, or State policymaking; 

7 ‘‘(ii) mentoring and supporting begin8 ning teachers within subject area; 

9 ‘‘(iii) sharing best practices and re10 sources; 

11 ‘‘(iv) networking of master teachers; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(v) support for master teachers; and 

14 ‘‘(B) may not include typical building ad15 ministrator roles that are not related to teacher 

16 development or student achievement; 

17 ‘‘(3) a description of strategies the applicant 

18 will use to measure impact, such as observations, 

19 learning objectives, and student achievement data. 

20 ‘‘(4) a description of the roles and responsibil21 ities that each higher education or nonprofit institu22 tion will have with the eligible entity. 

23 ‘‘(5) a clear plan for research-based professional 

24 development that includes instruction regarding— 

25 ‘‘(A) mentoring and supporting adults; 


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1 ‘‘(B) opportunities to improve knowledge 

2 of content area; 

3 ‘‘(C) opportunities to learn how to analyze 

4 data in ways that can impact instruction; and 

5 ‘‘(D) instructional leadership training; 

6 ‘‘(6) an explanation of how master teachers will 

7 be afforded dedicated time, authority, and resources 

8 to fulfill requirements, and how other teachers will 

9 be afforded time to interact with master teachers, 

10 since master teachers may have hybrid roles teach11 ing part-time and engaging in master teacher re12 sponsibilities part-time; 

13 ‘‘(7) a demonstration that the entity has suffi14 cient capacity to carry out the activities described in 

15 the application and measure the impact of the pro16 gram; and 

17 ‘‘(8) a description of how the grant funds will 

18 be financially managed. 

19 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR AWARDING GRANTS.—The Sec20 retary shall award grants under this subpart on the basis 

21 of merit considering, at a minimum, the following: 

22 ‘‘(1) The extent to which the local educational 

23 agencies that are part of the eligible entity are com24 mitted to integrating the program into existing 


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1 school, local educational agency, State, and regional 

2 structures. 

3 ‘‘(2) The quality of the proposed professional 

4 development, corps member activities, and leadership 

5 roles for master teachers. 

6 ‘‘(3) The capacity of the eligible entity to effec7 tively carry out the program. 

8 ‘‘(4) Proposed logistical and scheduling meas9 ures that will allow for master teachers to partici10 pate. 

11 ‘‘(5) The diversity of proposed grade levels, 

12 subjects, content areas, and skill sets covered by the 

13 types of teachers proposed to be selected for the 

14 corps. 

15 ‘‘(6) The geographic and economic diversity of 

16 schools proposed to participate in the applicant’s 

17 program. 

18 ‘‘(7) The extent that various stakeholders, in19 cluding teachers, school leaders, administrators, 

20 were involved in the process of creating the structure 

21 for a master teacher corps in the application. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 2164. REQUIRED USES OF FUNDS. 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity receiving a 

24 grant under this subpart shall use grant funds for the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Selecting teachers into the Master Teach2 ers Corps. 

3 ‘‘(2) Financially compensating corps members. 

4 ‘‘(3) Providing research-based professional de5 velopment. 

6 ‘‘(4) Assisting with coordination of instructional 

7 leadership, mentorship, training, and coaching roles 

8 of corps members, includes hiring substitute teach9 ers to fill the role of the master teacher if the teach10 er is working with other teachers. 

11 ‘‘(5) Facilitating efforts for master teachers to 

12 be involved in policy decisions at the local edu13 cational agency, State, and regional levels. 

14 ‘‘(6) Defraying school and local educational 

15 costs associated with corps members fulfilling their 

16 responsibilities. 

17 ‘‘(7) Tracking the effectiveness and impact of 

18 the program. 

19 ‘‘(8) Supporting other activities that advance 

20 the purpose of this subpart. 

21 ‘‘(b) SELECTING MEMBERS OF THE MASTER TEACH22 ER CORPS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) SELECTION CRITERIA FOR CORPS MEM24 BERS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) EXPERIENCE.—Corps members must 

2 have at least 5 years of full-time experience as 

3 a public or private elementary or secondary 

4 school teacher. 

5 ‘‘(B) RATINGS.—Corps members must 

6 have earned the highest rating on their State7 or locally-developed evaluations for a majority 

8 of their teaching years prior to their application 

9 to be part of the corps. 

10 ‘‘(C) OTHER CRITERIA.—Corps members 

11 will be selected based on the teacher’s— 

12 ‘‘(i) ability to improve and enhance 

13 student achievement; 

14 ‘‘(ii) ability to focus on individual stu15 dent learning needs and tailor instruction 

16 to those needs; 

17 ‘‘(iii) ability to address adult learners 

18 in professional development; 

19 ‘‘(iv) ability to successfully collaborate 

20 with teachers, school leaders, and staff; 

21 ‘‘(v) skill in promoting teacher reflec22 tion through formative assessment proc23 esses, including using evidence of student 

24 learning and student practice; 


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1 ‘‘(vi) strong interpersonal and oral 

2 and written communication skills; 

3 ‘‘(vii) record of leadership in the 

4 teacher’s school; 

5 ‘‘(viii) participation in student extra6 curricular activities and professional and 

7 school outreach activities; 

8 ‘‘(ix) record of teaching students not 

9 on grade level or not on track to graduate 

10 college- and career-ready; and 

11 ‘‘(x) measurable ability using various 

12 indicators, including National Board Cer13 tification, assessments of content knowl14 edge and pedagogical skills, and practical 

15 professional experience outside of the class16 room (such as previous work in a content17 related industry). 

18 ‘‘(2) OVERALL CORPS MEMBERSHIP REQUIRE19 MENTS.—An eligible entity receiving a grant under 

20 this subpart shall ensure that not more than 20 per21 cent of the teachers who teach in the participating 

22 area are members of the Corps. 

23 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITION.—A local educational agency 

24 shall not change the status of a teacher from full25 time to part-time if that teacher becomes a corps 


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1 member and is teaching while simultaneously ful2 filling the responsibilities of a corps member. 

3 ‘‘(4) PARTICIPATION OF PRIVATE SCHOOL

4 TEACHERS.—An eligible entity may select teachers 

5 who teach at private schools in the participating 

6 area to be members of the Master Teacher Corps, 

7 except that— 

8 ‘‘(A) a private school teacher must meet 

9 the same requirements and accountability 

10 standards as a public school teacher; and 

11 ‘‘(B) a private school teacher is not eligible 

12 to receive monetary compensation under sub13 section (c) and their school is not eligible to re14 ceive funds to defray the costs associated with 

15 affording the teacher time to fulfill the teach16 er’s duties as a Corps member. 

17 ‘‘(c) COMPENSATION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity receiving 

19 a grant under this subpart shall use grant funds to 

20 provide compensation to each teacher who is selected 

21 and serves as a member of the Master Teacher 

22 Corps, in recognition of the teacher’s teaching ac23 complishments, leadership, and increased respon24 sibilities, which amount shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) supplement, and not supplant, the 

2 teacher’s base salary; and 

3 ‘‘(B) be equal to $10,000 per year for each 

4 year the teacher serves as a member of the 

5 Corps; 

6 ‘‘(2) WITHHOLDING COMPENSATION FOR NON7 COMPLIANCE.— 

8 ‘‘(A) MONITORING COMPLIANCE.—Each el9 igible entity that receives a grant under this 

10 subpart shall monitor whether each teacher the 

11 entity selects to be a member of the Master 

12 Teacher Corps is in compliance with the Corps 

13 member requirements. 

14 ‘‘(B) WITHHOLDING PAYMENT.—A teacher 

15 selected to be a member of the Master Teacher 

16 Corps may not receive the additional compensa17 tion provided for a school year to the eligible 

18 entity if— 

19 ‘‘(i) the entity finds the teacher not in 

20 compliance with the Corps member re21 quirements and the entity determines the 

22 teacher should no longer be a member of 

23 the Corps for such year; or 

24 ‘‘(ii) the teacher withdraws during 

25 such year from membership in the Corps 


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1 without an accepted excuse, as determined 

2 by the eligible entity. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 2165. REPORTS AND EVALUATION. 

4 ‘‘(a) REPORTS TO THE SECRETARY.—Each eligible 

5 entity receiving a grant under this subpart shall provide 

6 an annual report to the Secretary that— 

7 ‘‘(1) summarizes the activities assisted under 

8 the grant and program outcomes; and 

9 ‘‘(2) includes, with respect to each member of 

10 the Master Teacher Corps, the following: 

11 ‘‘(A) The name of the member. 

12 ‘‘(B) The school at which the member 

13 teaches and the location of such school. 

14 ‘‘(C) The subject or skill area the teacher 

15 teaches. 

16 ‘‘(D) The grade level the teacher teaches. 

17 ‘‘(b) IES EVALUATION.—The Secretary, acting 

18 through the Director of the Institute of Education 

19 Sciences, shall— 

20 ‘‘(1) evaluate the implementation and impact of 

21 the program under this subpart, particularly with re22 gard to the program’s success in achieving the goals 

23 of this subpart; 

24 ‘‘(2) identify successes, best practices, and 

25 areas for improvement; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) disseminate findings from the evaluation 

2 and make the findings publicly available. 

3 ‘‘(c) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 4 

4 years after the establishment of the program under this 

5 chapter, and not later than 2 years thereafter, the Sec6 retary shall prepare and submit to the Committee on Edu7 cation and the Workforce and the Committee on Science, 

8 Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives 

9 and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor10 tation and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

11 and Pensions of the Senate, a report that summarizes— 

12 ‘‘(1) the activities assisted under the program 

13 under this chapter; 

14 ‘‘(2) the outcomes of the program; and 

15 ‘‘(3) any recommendations regarding changes 

16 to, the termination of, or the continuation and ex17 pansion of the program.’’. 

18 (b) FUNDING.—Section 2103 of the Elementary and 

19 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6603) is 

20 amended by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(c) MASTER TEACHER CORPS.—Of the amount ap22 propriated under subsection (a), the Secretary shall set 

23 aside such sums as may be necessary to carry out subpart 

24 6.’’. 


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1 (c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

2 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

3 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

4 to section 2151 the following: 

‘‘SUBPART 6—MASTER TEACHER CORPS

‘‘Sec. 2161. Definition. 

‘‘Sec. 2162. Grants authorized. 

‘‘Sec. 2163. Application. 

‘‘Sec. 2164. Required uses of funds. 

‘‘Sec. 2165. Reports and evaluation.’’. 

5 SEC. 4. CONSTRUCTION. 

6 This Act shall not be construed to increase the 

7 amount of appropriations that are authorized to be appro8 priated for any fiscal year. 

Æ 


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