I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1156 

To provide grants to eligible consortia to provide professional development 

to superintendents, principals, and prospective superintendents and principals. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2007 

Mrs. LOWEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To provide grants to eligible consortia to provide professional 

development to superintendents, principals, and prospective superintendents and principals. 

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 ‘‘Investment in Quality 

5 School Leadership Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Nation is experiencing a shortage of 

9 qualified school administrators and principals with 

10 such shortage expected to intensify. This shortage 


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1 comes at a time when States are enacting new and 

2 more rigorous learning standards, school officials are 

3 expected to handle an increasing number of non-edu4 cational problems and issues, and the current gen5 eration of school administrators and officials are re6 tiring. The combination of these factors results in a 

7 shrinking pool of qualified applicants. 

8 (2) The shortage is particularly severe in high 

9 poverty school districts because of lower salaries and 

10 the challenging work environment. In many such 

11 districts, a disproportionate number of school admin12 istrators and principals have less than 3 years of ex13 perience. 

14 (3) The ability of a school or district to improve 

15 teaching and raise student achievement is greatly 

16 dependent on the quality of leadership. Quality lead17 ership can only be achieved if potential leaders are 

18 provided with the necessary support, professional de19 velopment, and resources. 

20 (4) All current and prospective principals and 

21 superintendents need support in their first 3 years, 

22 such as mentoring and sustained professional devel23 opment, to become effective school leaders and to 

24 raise school and classroom performance effectively. 


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1 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

2 The purposes of this Act are— 

3 (1) to provide ongoing, intensive professional 

4 development to superintendents, principals, and pro5 spective superintendents and principals, particularly 

6 those serving, or intending to serve, in high-poverty, 

7 low-performing school districts and schools; 

8 (2) to improve the capacity of current and pro9 spective superintendents and principals to serve as 

10 effective leaders and successfully implement stand11 ards-based reforms; 

12 (3) to encourage the recruitment and retention 

13 of quality school leaders at the district- and school14 level by enabling them to further develop their skills 

15 and knowledge; and 

16 (4) to recognize and support the importance of 

17 principals and superintendents in facilitating student 

18 learning and improving academic achievement. 

19 SEC. 4. GRANTS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

21 (1) GRANT AWARDS.—From the amounts ap22 propriated to carry out this section and not reserved 

23 under subsection (g) for any fiscal year, the Sec24 retary of Education (in this Act referred to as the 

25 ‘‘Secretary’’) shall award grants to eligible consortia 


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1 to establish professional development programs de2 scribed in paragraph (2). 

3 (2) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.—A pro4 gram referred to in paragraph (1) shall serve a 

5 State or region and provide superintendents, prin6 cipals, and prospective superintendents and prin7 cipals, particularly those serving, or intending to 

8 serve, in high-poverty, low-performing school dis9 tricts and schools, with ongoing, intensive profes10 sional development opportunities to improve their ca11 pacity to serve as effective leaders and successfully 

12 implement standards-based reforms. 

13 (b) AWARD BASIS.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 

15 grants on a competitive basis to eligible applicants 

16 to carry out this section. 

17 (2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 

18 section, the Secretary shall give priority to consortia 

19 in which the local educational agency participating 

20 in the consortium serves the highest concentration of 

21 children living in poverty. 

22 (c) ELIGIBILITY.— 

23 (1) REQUIRED PARTICIPANTS.—In order to re24 ceive a grant under this section, a consortium shall 

25 include not less than— 


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1 (A) one local educational agency serving a 

2 high concentration of children living in poverty; 

3 (B) one institution of higher education; 

4 and 

5 (C) one organization that does not usually 

6 provide educational services, but has the nec7 essary expertise to provide professional develop8 ment to school administrators. 

9 (2) OTHER PARTICIPANTS.—An eligible consor10 tium may also include— 

11 (A) one or more additional local edu12 cational agencies; 

13 (B) State educational agencies; 

14 (C) for-profit organizations with the exper15 tise to provide professional development to 

16 school administrators; and 

17 (D) public or private nonprofit organiza18 tions with the expertise to provide professional 

19 development to school administrators. 

20 (d) APPLICATION.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to receive an award 

22 under this section, an eligible applicant shall submit 

23 an application to the Secretary at such time, in such 

24 manner, and containing such information as the Sec25 retary may require. 


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1 (2) CONTENTS.—Each such application shall 

2 include— 

3 (A) information demonstrating that the ap4 plicant shall meet the matching requirement of 

5 subsection (f); and 

6 (B) a description of the involvement of su7 perintendents and principals in developing the 

8 application. 

9 (e) USE OF FUNDS.— 

10 (1) REQUIRED USES.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—A consortium that re12 ceives a grant under this section shall use the 

13 grant funds to establish or expand a leadership 

14 development program described in subpara15 graph (B). 

16 (B) ACTIVITIES.—The program referred to 

17 in subparagraph (A) shall provide superintend18 ents, principals, and prospective superintend19 ents and principals, particularly individuals 

20 serving, or intending to serve, in high-poverty, 

21 low-performing schools and school districts, 

22 with ongoing, intensive professional develop23 ment opportunities through activities that in24 crease the knowledge and skills of participants 

25 in such areas as— 


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1 (i) effective instructional practices; 

2 (ii) the content of the State’s stand3 ards and supporting implementation of the 

4 standards in the classroom; 

5 (iii) comprehensive whole-school re6 form approaches and programs; 

7 (iv) the effective use of educational 

8 technology to improve teaching and learn9 ing; 

10 (v) the recruitment, assignment, re11 tention, and evaluation of school staff; 

12 (vi) the enhancement and development 

13 of management and organizational skills; 

14 (vii) leadership skills; 

15 (viii) the effective use of data for deci16 sionmaking; and 

17 (ix) the implementation of school18 based leadership teams. 

19 (2) ADDITIONAL USES.—A consortium that re20 ceives a grant under this section may also use the 

21 grant funds to support— 

22 (A) the recruitment and preparation of 

23 prospective principals and superintendents, in24 cluding candidates with leadership and manageVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:49 Feb 22, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1156.IH H1156

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1 rial experience in fields other than education; 

2 and 

3 (B) alternative pathways to administrative 

4 positions. 

5 (f) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each recipient of a 

8 grant under this Act shall provide not less than 

9 50 percent of the annual cost of the project as10 sisted by the grant from sources other than this 

11 Act. 

12 (B) CONTRIBUTIONS.—A grantee’s share 

13 of such costs may be provided in cash or in 

14 kind, fairly evaluated. 

15 (2) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive the 

16 matching requirement of paragraph (1) with respect 

17 to applicants that the Secretary determines serve 

18 low-income areas. 

19 (g) RESERVATION.—The Secretary may reserve not 

20 more than 4 percent of the amount appropriated under 

21 subsection (i) for each fiscal year for technical assistance, 

22 evaluation, dissemination of information on effective pro23 grams for preparing and training district and school-level 

24 administrators, carrying out activities to encourage the 

25 spread and adoption of successful leadership development 


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1 centers, and other national activities that support the pro2 grams under this section. 

3 (h) REPORT.— 

4 (1) EXISTING PROGRAMS.— 

5 (A) STUDY.—The Secretary shall, in con6 sultation with representatives of local edu7 cational agencies, State educational agencies, 

8 institutions of higher education, superintend9 ents, principals, education organizations, com10 munity groups, business, and labor, conduct a 

11 study to evaluate and report to Congress re12 garding existing professional development pro13 grams that recruit, prepare, and train district14 and school-level administrators to serve as ef15 fective leaders and successfully implement 

16 standards-based reforms in diverse educational 

17 environments across the Nation. 

18 (B) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Sec19 retary shall submit a report to Congress not 

20 later than one year after the date of enactment 

21 of this Act regarding the findings of the study 

22 conducted under subparagraph (A). 

23 (2) PROGRAM REPORT.—The Secretary shall 

24 submit to Congress a report not later than March 1, 

25 2012, regarding the effectiveness of professional deVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:49 Feb 22, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1156.IH H1156

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1 velopment programs, established pursuant to this 

2 section, to recruit and retain principals and super3 intendents. 

4 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for each 

6 of fiscal years 2008 through 2012 to carry out this sec7 tion. 

Æ 


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