II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1787 

To conduct 1 or more higher education and career readiness demonstration 

projects for rural, low-income students. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 13, 2007 

Mrs. CLINTON (for herself, Mr. SPECTER, and Mr. SANDERS) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To conduct 1 or more higher education and career readiness 

demonstration projects for rural, low-income students. 

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 ‘‘Rural Students Col5 lege, Career, and Community Readiness Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) roughly 1 in 4 public schools are located in 

9 rural America, accounting for 14.5 percent of total 

10 public school enrollment; 


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1 (2) rural boys and girls demonstrate lower edu2 cational aspirations than their urban and suburban 

3 peers; 

4 (3) fewer than 1 in 7 rural residents have ob5 tained a 4-year baccalaureate degree, compared with 

6 nearly 1 in 4 metropolitan area residents; 

7 (4) roughly half of rural secondary school stu8 dents live in counties that have no 4-year institu9 tions of higher education; 

10 (5) there are major gaps in substantive re11 search about effective rural education strategies; 

12 (6) rural economic development is a continuing 

13 effort supported by the Federal Government, and 

14 rural schools can be important engines for economic 

15 development and long-term community and regional 

16 growth; 

17 (7) one of the best ways to address the needs 

18 of students in rural communities is to help young 

19 people finish secondary school and attend college by 

20 providing programs that promote higher education 

21 throughout childhood and adolescence, and sup22 porting programs that expose young people to the 

23 world of careers; and 


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1 (8) effective rural policy requires an emphasis 

2 on the development of human capital through edu3 cation. 

4 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

5 The purpose of this Act is to conduct a demonstration 

6 project to improve the educational and career outcomes 

7 of rural, low-income students in grades 7 through 12 that 

8 will seek to— 

9 (1) improve the academic motivation and per10 formance of rural students; 

11 (2) improve student academic success in rural 

12 schools, including with respect to performance on 

13 statewide assessments; 

14 (3) improve secondary school graduation rates 

15 in rural schools; 

16 (4) increase the number of rural students en17 gaged in rigorous, college-preparatory coursework; 

18 (5) increase the number of rural students tak19 ing college entrance examinations, such as the SATs 

20 or ACTs; 

21 (6) increase the rates among rural students of 

22 application to institutions of higher education, en23 rollment in such institutions, and institution of high24 er education program completion; 


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1 (7) prepare rural students to become the next 

2 generation of leaders in their States and commu3 nities; 

4 (8) complement Federal and State efforts to 

5 build the State and local workforce and economy; 

6 and 

7 (9) increase the number of people within rural 

8 communities who are able to meet the workforce 

9 needs of the local community and enhance the State, 

10 local, and regional economies. 

11 SEC. 4. DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS. 

12 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—From amounts appro13 priated under section 9, the Secretary shall award grants 

14 to not more than 2 non-profit entities to enable the enti15 ties to carry out the activities described in section 5 in 

16 rural schools and rural local educational agencies. 

17 (b) APPLICATION.—A non-profit entity desiring to re18 ceive a grant under this section shall submit an application 

19 to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and con20 taining such information as the Secretary may require. 

21 (c) SELECTION BASIS.—In awarding grants under 

22 this Act, the Secretary shall give priority to a non-profit 

23 entity that has— 

24 (1) existing capacity to implement program ele25 ments with the rigor called for in this Act; 


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1 (2) history and experience in working with rural 

2 schools and supporting student achievement goals; 

3 (3) organizational capacity to successfully im4 plement the demonstration project; and 

5 (4) capacity and commitment to serve rural 

6 schools that have student populations with histori7 cally low rates of secondary school graduation, insti8 tution of higher education enrollment, or institution 

9 of higher education program completion. 

10 (d) AMOUNT AND DURATION OF GRANTS.— 

11 (1) AMOUNT; DURATION.—Each grant awarded 

12 by the Secretary under this Act shall be in an 

13 amount of not less than $2,500,000 for each fiscal 

14 year of the grant period, and shall be awarded for 

15 a period of 6 years, in order to enable cohorts of 

16 students in grade 7 to participate in the demonstra17 tion project under this Act for 6 consecutive years 

18 in the grant. 

19 (2) USE OF GRANT FUNDS FOR EVALUATION.— 

20 Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a non-profit entity 

21 receiving a grant under this Act may use remaining 

22 grant funds after the grant period has expired in 

23 order to carry out the evaluation required under sec24 tion 6 during the 3-year period immediately fol25 lowing the last year of the grant period. 


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1 SEC. 5. PROGRAM OPERATIONS. 

2 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—A non-profit entity re3 ceiving a grant under this Act shall develop and carry out 

4 a rural school-based, institution of higher education prepa5 ration and career exploration demonstration project 

6 through which the non-profit entity shall— 

7 (1)(A) in the case of an entity receiving a grant 

8 of $5,000,000 or more per year— 

9 (i) serve a minimum of 40 rural schools 

10 and 7,500 students; and 

11 (ii) serve rural schools in not fewer than 3 

12 geographic regions of the United States (such 

13 as the Southwest, Midwest, Southeast, North14 east, or Northwest regions); or 

15 (B) in the case of an entity receiving a grant 

16 of less than $5,000,000 per year— 

17 (i) serve a minimum of 20 rural schools 

18 and 3,000 students; and 

19 (ii) serve rural schools in not fewer than 2 

20 such geographic regions; 

21 (2) in selecting rural schools to participate in 

22 the project— 

23 (A) collectively reach diverse racial and 

24 ethnic student populations; and 

25 (B) ensure a sufficient participation of stu26 dents in both grade 7 and grade 9 cohorts, as 


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1 described in paragraph (4), in order to allow for 

2 a full measure of the project’s impact as both 

3 a 6-year program and a 4-year program; 

4 (3) partner with rural local educational agencies 

5 and rural schools to carry out the activities under 

6 this subsection, and enter into a written agreement 

7 with each participating local educational agency or 

8 rural school in which— 

9 (A) the entity agrees to carry out the ac10 tivities described in paragraph (5) for the co11 horts described in paragraph (4) at the identi12 fied rural school; and 

13 (B) the rural local educational agency or 

14 rural school agrees— 

15 (i) to allow the entity access to stu16 dents in the cohorts during the school day 

17 for the purposes of administering the dem18 onstration project; and 

19 (ii) to cooperate in the project evalua20 tion, including the collection and sharing of 

21 data; and 

22 (4) for each rural school with which the entity 

23 enters into a written agreement— 

24 (A) identify the cohort of students who will 

25 be entering grade 7 in the first year of the 


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1 grant under this Act, and serves such students 

2 for 6 consecutive years; or 

3 (B) identify the cohort of students who will 

4 be entering grade 9 in the first year of the 

5 grant under this Act, and serves such students 

6 for 4 consecutive years; 

7 (5) provide participating students in a cohort at 

8 a partnering rural school with a program that— 

9 (A) includes approximately 25 hours per 

10 grade of program workshops during the school 

11 day over the course of grades 7 through 12 or, 

12 in the case of a grade 9 cohort, grades 9 

13 through 12, to provide services including— 

14 (i) providing education planning to 

15 the students; 

16 (ii) providing information for the stu17 dents about the opportunities for and the 

18 importance of higher education and post19 secondary training; 

20 (iii) developing career awareness in 

21 the students; 

22 (iv) building the students’ career, 

23 leadership, and life skills; 

24 (v) building awareness in the students 

25 of the State’s future labor needs and the 


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1 importance of young people to the State’s 

2 economy, and coordinating with the State’s 

3 efforts to develop the State’s workforce 

4 and economy; and 

5 (vi) creating awareness in the stu6 dents of local businesses and integrating 

7 expertise from local business and nonprofit 

8 providers into the program, as appropriate; 

9 (B) reaches all students in the cohort who 

10 are participating in the demonstration project; 

11 and 

12 (C) is implemented consistently across all 

13 participating rural school sites; and 

14 (6) evaluates the project, as described in section 

15 6. 

16 (b) STAFF.—A non-profit entity receiving a grant 

17 under this Act shall hire, train, and employ personnel to 

18 administer and deliver the demonstration project. These 

19 individuals shall function as employees of the nonprofit en20 tity but shall coordinate with the partnering rural schools 

21 and rural local educational agencies in the delivery of the 

22 program, consistent with the applicable agreements de23 scribed in subsection (a)(3). 


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1 SEC. 6. EVALUATION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—A non-profit entity receiving a 

3 grant under this Act shall use a portion of grant funds 

4 to award a contract, on a competitive basis, to a third5 party evaluator to enable the evaluator— 

6 (1) to rigorously evaluate the impact of the en7 tity’s demonstration project under this Act in ac8 cordance with subsection (d); and 

9 (2) to submit the annual evaluation required 

10 under subsection (e). 

11 (b) COMPETITIVE BASIS AND PREFERENCE.—The 

12 non-profit entity shall select the evaluator for a contract 

13 under this section by a competitive process, with a pref14 erence given to evaluators using evaluation models that 

15 utilize experimental design methodology. 

16 (c) APPROVAL BY THE SECRETARY.—The Secretary 

17 or the Secretary’s designee shall approve the evaluator se18 lected by the non-profit entity before the entity enters into 

19 a contract with the evaluator. 

20 (d) CONTENT OF EVALUATION.—An evaluator receiv21 ing a contract for a demonstration project under this Act 

22 shall perform an evaluation of the project that— 

23 (1) follows rigorous standards of third-party 

24 evaluation in determining the effects of the dem25 onstration project under this Act on— 


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1 (A) the rigor of secondary school course2 taking the rigor of secondary school courses 

3 taken by participating students; 

4 (B) the performance of participating stu5 dents on statewide assessments; 

6 (C) the engagement of participating stu7 dents in school, including attendance rates, dis8 cipline data, and grades; 

9 (D) the rates of participating students tak10 ing college entrance examinations, such as the 

11 SAT or ACT; 

12 (E) the career aspirations of participating 

13 students; 

14 (F) the rates of participating students en15 rolling in career and technical education 

16 courses, dual enrollment courses, advanced 

17 placement courses, or other related programs; 

18 (G) the secondary school graduation rates 

19 of participating students; 

20 (H) the rates among participating students 

21 of institution of higher education application, 

22 enrollment, and program completion; and 

23 (I) the participating students’ awareness of 

24 State economic indicators and workforce needs; 

25 and 


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1 (2) follows a rigorous model so that findings re2 garding the program outcomes meet standards of 

3 scientifically-based research, as defined in section 

4 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

5 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801); and 

6 (3) addresses the scalability and replicability of 

7 the program model with respect to other rural areas, 

8 including— 

9 (A) the identification of elements that are 

10 integral to program effectiveness; 

11 (B) efficacy in use of Federal funds; and 

12 (C) the impact of coordination with State 

13 workforce development efforts. 

14 (e) ANNUAL EVALUATION REPORT.—An evaluator 

15 receiving a contract under this section shall submit an an16 nual evaluation on the progress of the program to the Sec17 retary. 

18 SEC. 7. REPORTS. 

19 (a) ANNUAL REPORTS.—A non-profit entity receiving 

20 a grant under this Act shall submit an annual report on 

21 the progress of the demonstration project to the Secretary 

22 for each year of the grant period. 

23 (b) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

24 (1) INTERIM REPORT.—Not later than 18 

25 months after amounts are appropriated under this 


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1 Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress an in2 terim report on the progress of the demonstration 

3 projects funded under this Act that includes the out4 come measures described in section 6(d)(1). 

5 (2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 90 days 

6 after the last day of the grant period for all grants 

7 under this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Con8 gress a final report on the results of the program, 

9 which report shall include— 

10 (A) the outcome measures described in sec11 tion 6(d)(1); and 

12 (B) recommendations for such legislative 

13 or administrative action as the Secretary deter14 mines appropriate. 

15 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act: 

17 (1) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

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

19 meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 

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

21 (2) RURAL LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.— 

22 The term ‘‘rural local educational agency’’ means a 

23 local educational agency that meets— 

24 (A) the eligibility requirements under sec25 tion 6211(b) (20 U.S.C. 7345(b)) for participaVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:25 Jul 14, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1787.IS S1787

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1 tion in the program described in subpart 1 of 

2 part B of title VI of the Elementary and Sec3 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7345 

4 et seq.); or 

5 (B) the eligibility requirements under sec6 tion 6221(b) (20 U.S.C. 7351(b)) for participa7 tion in the program described in subpart 2 of 

8 part B of such title VI (20 U.S.C. 7351 et 

9 seq.). 

10 (3) RURAL SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘rural school’’ 

11 means a school served by a rural local educational 

12 agency. 

13 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

14 the Secretary of Education. 

15 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

16 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

17 this Act $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 

18 through 2013. 

Æ 


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