I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1889

To improve the utilization of educational technologies in elementary and

secondary education by creating an educational technology extension service.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 17, 2001

Mr. BARCIA (for himself and Mr. WU) introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on Science, and in addition to the Committee

on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To improve the utilization of educational technologies in elementary and secondary education by creating an educational technology extension service.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:

5 (1) Extension services such as the Manufac6 turing Extension Partnership and the Agricultural

7 Extension Service have proven to be effective public8 private partnerships to integrate new technologies
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1 and to improve utilization of existing technologies by

2 small to medium sized manufacturers and the

3 United States agricultural community.

4 (2) Undergraduate institutions of higher edu5 cation working with nonprofit organizations and

6 State and Federal agencies can tailor educational

7 technology extension programs to meet specific local

8 and regional requirements.

9 (3) Undergraduate institutions of higher edu10 cation, often with the assistance of the National

11 Science Foundation, have during the past 20 years

12 been integrating educational technologies into their

13 curriculums, and as such can draw upon their own

14 experiences to advise elementary and secondary

15 school educators on ways to integrate a variety of

16 educational technologies into the educational proc17 ess.

18 (4) Many elementary and secondary school sys19 tems, particularly in rural and traditionally under20 served areas, lack general information on the most

21 effective methods to integrate their existing tech22 nology infrastructure, as well as new educational

23 technology, into the educational process and cur24 riculum.
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1 (5) Most Federal and State educational tech2 nology programs have focused on acquiring edu3 cational technologies with less emphasis on the utili4 zation of those technologies in the classroom and the

5 training and infrastructural requirements needed to

6 efficiently support those types of technologies. As a

7 result, in many instances, the full potential of edu8 cational technology has not been realized.

9 (6) Our global economy is increasingly reliant

10 on a workforce not only comfortable with technology,

11 but also able to integrate rapid technological

12 changes into the production process. As such, in

13 order to remain competitive in a global economy, it

14 is imperative that we maintain a work-ready labor

15 force.

16 (7) According to ‘‘Teacher Quality: A Report on

17 the Preparation and Qualifications of Public School

18 Teachers’’, prepared by the Department of Edu19 cation, only 1 in 5 teachers felt well prepared to

20 work in a modern classroom.

21 (8) The most common form of professional de22 velopment for teachers continues to be workshops

23 that typically last no more than 1 day and have little

24 relevance to teachers’ work in the classroom.
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1 (9) A 1998 national survey completed by the

2 Department of Education found that only 19 per3 cent of teachers had been formally mentored by an4 other teacher, and that 70 percent of these teachers

5 felt that this collaboration was very helpful to their

6 teaching.

7 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to improve

8 the utilization of educational technologies in elementary

9 and secondary education by creating an educational tech10 nology extension service based at intermediate school dis11 tricts, regional education service agencies, or under12 graduate institutions of higher education.

13 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

14 In this Act:

15 (1) The term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of

16 the National Science Foundation.

17 (2) The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’

18 has the meaning given that term in section 101 of

19 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

20 1001).

21 SEC. 3. EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION EXTEN22 SION ASSISTANCE.

23 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—

24 (1) GENERAL AUTHORITY—The Director, in co25 operation with the Secretary of Education and the
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1 Director of the National Institute of Standards and

2 Technology, is authorized to provide assistance for

3 the creation and support of regional centers for the

4 utilization of educational technologies (hereinafter in

5 this Act referred to as ‘‘ETU Centers’’).

6 (2) FUNCTIONS OF CENTERS—

7 (A) ESTABLISHMENT.—ETU Centers may

8 be established at any intermediate school dis9 trict, regional education service agency, institu10 tion of higher education, or consortium of such

11 entities, but such Centers may include the par12 ticipation of nonprofit entities.

13 (B) OBJECTIVES OF CENTERS.—The objec14 tive of ETU Centers is to enhance the utiliza15 tion of educational technologies in elementary

16 and secondary education through—

17 (i) advising elementary and secondary

18 school administrators, school boards, and

19 teachers on the adoption and utilization of

20 new educational technologies and the util21 ity of local schools’ existing educational

22 technology assets and infrastructure;

23 (ii) participation of individuals from

24 the private sector, universities, State and
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1 local governments, and other Federal agen2 cies;

3 (iii) active dissemination of technical

4 and management information about the

5 use of educational technologies; and

6 (iv) utilization, if appropriate, of the

7 expertise and capabilities that exist in Fed8 eral laboratories and Federal agencies.

9 (C) ACTIVITIES OF CENTERS.—The activi10 ties of ETU Centers shall include the following:

11 (i) The active transfer and dissemina12 tion of research findings and ETU Center

13 expertise to local school authorities, includ14 ing school administrators, school boards,

15 and teachers.

16 (ii) The training of teachers in the in17 tegration of local schools’ existing edu18 cational technology infrastructure into

19 their instructional design.

20 (iii) The training and advising of

21 teachers, administrators, and school board

22 members in the acquisition, utilization, and

23 support of educational technologies.

24 (iv) Support services to teachers, ad25 ministrators, and school board members as
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1 agreed upon by ETU Center representa2 tives and local school authorities.

3 (v) The advising of teachers, adminis4 trators, and school board members on cur5 rent skill set standards employed by pri6 vate industry.

7 (3) PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION.—

8 (A) PROPOSED RULES.—The Director,

9 after consultation with the Secretary of Edu10 cation and the Director of the National Insti11 tute of Standards and Technology, shall publish

12 in the Federal Register, not later than 90 days

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, pro14 posed rules for the program for establishing

15 ETU Centers, including—

16 (i) a description of the program;

17 (ii) the procedures to be followed by

18 applicants;

19 (iii) the criteria for determining quali20 fied applicants; and

21 (iv) the criteria, including those listed

22 in this section, for choosing recipients of fi23 nancial assistance under this Act from

24 among qualified applicants.
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1 (B) FINAL RULES.—The Director shall

2 publish final rules for the program under this

3 Act after the expiration of a 30-day comment

4 period on such proposed rules.

5 (4) ELIGIBILITY AND SELECTION.—

6 (A) APPLICATIONS REQUIRED.—Any inter7 mediate school district, regional education serv8 ice agency, undergraduate institution of higher

9 education, or consortium of any of those enti10 ties may submit an application for financial

11 support under this Act in accordance with the

12 procedures established under this Act. In order

13 to receive assistance under this Act, an appli14 cant shall provide adequate assurances that the

15 applicant will contribute 50 percent or more of

16 the proposed ETU Center’s capital and annual

17 operating and maintenance costs.

18 (B) SELECTION.—The Director, in con19 junction with the Secretary of Education and

20 the Director of the National Institute of Stand21 ards and Technology, shall subject each applica22 tion to competitive, merit-based review. In mak23 ing a decision whether to approve such applica24 tion and provide financial support under this
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1 Act, the Director of the National Science Foun2 dation shall consider, at a minimum—

3 (i) the merits of the application, par4 ticularly those portions of the application

5 regarding the adaptation of training and

6 educational technologies to the needs of

7 particular regions;

8 (ii) the quality of service to be pro9 vided;

10 (iii) the geographical diversity and ex11 tent of service area, with particular empha12 sis on rural and traditionally under13 developed areas; and

14 (iv) the percentage of funding and

15 amount of in-kind commitment from other

16 sources.

17 (C) EVALUATION.—Each ETU Center that

18 receives financial assistance under this Act shall

19 be evaluated during its third year of operation

20 by an evaluation panel appointed by the Direc21 tor. Each evaluation panel shall measure the in22 volved ETU Center’s performance against the

23 objectives specified in this Act. Funding for an

24 ETU Center shall not be renewed unless the

25 evaluation is positive.
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1 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

2 are authorized to be appropriated to the National Science

3 Foundation to carry out this Act $7,000,000 for fiscal

4 year 2002, $8,500,000 for fiscal year 2003, and

5 $9,500,000 for fiscal year 2004.

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