II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3710 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to improve 

retention of public elementary and secondary school teachers, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 20, 2006 

Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to improve retention of public elementary and 

secondary school teachers, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Teacher Center Act 

5 of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) There are not enough qualified teachers in 

9 the Nation’s classrooms, and an unprecedented numVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:15 Jul 21, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3710.IS S3710

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1 ber of teachers will retire over the next 5 years. Over 

2 the next decade, the Nation will need to bring 

3 2,000,000 new teachers into public schools. 

4 (2) Too many teachers do not receive adequate 

5 preparation for their jobs. 

6 (3) More than one-third of children in grades 7 

7 through 12 are taught by a teacher who lacks both 

8 a college major and certification in the subject being 

9 taught. Rates of ‘‘out-of-field teaching’’ are espe10 cially high in high-poverty schools. 

11 (4) Teacher turnover is a serious problem, par12 ticularly in urban and rural areas. Over one-third of 

13 new teachers leave the profession within their first 

14 3 years of teaching, and 14 percent of new teachers 

15 leave the field within the first year. After 5 years— 

16 the average time it takes for teachers to maximize 

17 students’ learning—half of all new teachers will have 

18 exited the profession. Rates of teacher attrition are 

19 highest in high-poverty schools. Between 2000 and 

20 2001, 1 out of 5 teachers in the Nation’s high-pov21 erty schools either left to teach in another school or 

22 dropped out of teaching altogether. 

23 (5) African-American, Latino, and low-income 

24 students are much less likely than other students to 

25 have highly-qualified teachers. 


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1 (6) Research shows that individual teachers 

2 have a great impact on how well their students 

3 learn. The most effective teachers have been shown 

4 to be able to boost their pupils’ learning by a full 

5 grade level relative to students taught by less effec6 tive teachers. 

7 (7) Only 16 States finance new teacher induc8 tion programs, and fewer still require inductees to 

9 be matched with mentors who teach the same sub10 ject. 

11 (8) Large-scale studies of effective professional 

12 development have documented that student achieve13 ment and teacher learning increases when profes14 sional development is teacher-led, ongoing, and col15 laborative. 

16 (9) Research shows that the characteristics of 

17 successful professional development include a focus 

18 on concrete classroom applications and practice, and 

19 opportunities for teacher observation, critique, re20 flection, group support, and collaboration. 

21 (10) Data on school reform shows that teachers 

22 are attracted to and continue to teach in academi23 cally challenged schools when appropriate supports 

24 are in place to help them succeed. Appropriate sup25 ports include high-quality induction programs, jobVerDate Aug 31 2005 04:15 Jul 21, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3710.IS S3710

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1 embedded professional development, and small class2 es which allow teachers to tailor instruction to meet 

3 the needs of individual students. 

4 SEC. 3. IMPROVING RETENTION OF AND PROFESSIONAL 

5 DEVELOPMENT FOR PUBLIC ELEMENTARY 

6 AND SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Elementary and 

8 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et 

9 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘PART E—TEACHER RETENTION 

11 ‘‘SEC. 2501. IMPROVING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OP12 PORTUNITIES THROUGH TEACHER CENTERS. 

13 ‘‘(a) GRANTS.—The Secretary may make grants to 

14 eligible entities for the establishment and operation of new 

15 teacher centers or the support of existing teacher centers. 

16 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION.—In making grants 

17 under this section, the Secretary shall give special consid18 eration to any application submitted by an eligible entity 

19 that is— 

20 ‘‘(1) a high-need local educational agency; or 

21 ‘‘(2) a consortium that includes at least one 

22 high-need local educational agency. 

23 ‘‘(c) DURATION.—Each grant under this section shall 

24 be for a period of 3 years. 


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1 ‘‘(d) REQUIRED ACTIVITIES.—A teacher center re2 ceiving assistance under this section shall carry out each 

3 of the following activities: 

4 ‘‘(1) Providing high-quality professional devel5 opment to teachers to assist the teachers in improv6 ing their knowledge, skills, and teaching practices in 

7 order to help students to improve the students’ 

8 achievement and meet State academic standards. 

9 ‘‘(2) Providing teachers with information on de10 velopments in curricula, assessments, and edu11 cational research, including the manner in which the 

12 research and data can be used to improve teaching 

13 skills and practice. 

14 ‘‘(3) Providing training and support for new 

15 teachers. 

16 ‘‘(e) PERMISSIBLE ACTIVITIES.—A teacher center 

17 may use assistance under this section for any of the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(1) Assessing the professional development 

20 needs of the teachers and other instructional school 

21 employees, such as librarians, counselors, and para22 professionals, to be served by the center. 

23 ‘‘(2) Providing intensive support to staff to im24 prove instruction in literacy, mathematics, science, 


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1 and other curricular areas necessary to provide a 

2 well-rounded education to students. 

3 ‘‘(3) Providing support to mentors working with 

4 new teachers. 

5 ‘‘(4) Providing training in effective instructional 

6 services and classroom management strategies for 

7 mainstream teachers serving students with disabil8 ities and students with limited English proficiency. 

9 ‘‘(5) Enabling teachers to engage in study 

10 groups and other collaborative activities and collegial 

11 interactions regarding instruction. 

12 ‘‘(6) Paying for release time and substitute 

13 teachers in order to enable teachers to participate in 

14 the activities of the teacher center. 

15 ‘‘(7) Creating libraries of professional materials 

16 and educational technology. 

17 ‘‘(8) Providing high-quality professional devel18 opment for other instructional staff, such as para19 professionals, librarians, and counselors. 

20 ‘‘(9) Assisting teachers to become highly quali21 fied and paraprofessionals to become teachers. 

22 ‘‘(10) Assisting paraprofessionals to meet the 

23 requirements of section 1119. 

24 ‘‘(11) Developing curricula. 


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1 ‘‘(12) Incorporating additional on-line profes2 sional development resources for participants. 

3 ‘‘(13) Providing funding for individual- or 

4 group-initiated classroom projects. 

5 ‘‘(14) Developing partnerships with businesses 

6 and community-based organizations. 

7 ‘‘(15) Establishing a teacher center site. 

8 ‘‘(f) TEACHER CENTER POLICY BOARD.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A teacher center receiving 

10 assistance under this section shall be operated under 

11 the supervision of a teacher center policy board. 

12 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.— 

13 ‘‘(A) TEACHER REPRESENTATIVES.—The 

14 majority of the members of a teacher center 

15 policy board shall be representatives of, and se16 lected by, the elementary and secondary school 

17 teachers to be served by the teacher center. 

18 Such representatives shall be selected through 

19 the teacher organization, or if there is no teach20 er organization, by the teachers directly. 

21 ‘‘(B) OTHER REPRESENTATIVES.—The 

22 members of a teacher center policy board— 

23 ‘‘(i) shall include at least 2 members 

24 who are representatives of, or designated 

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1 cational agency to be served by the teacher 

2 center; 

3 ‘‘(ii) shall include at least 1 member 

4 who is a representative of, and is des5 ignated by, the institutions of higher edu6 cation (with departments or schools of edu7 cation) located in the area; and 

8 ‘‘(iii) may include paraprofessionals. 

9 ‘‘(g) APPLICATION.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To seek a grant under this 

11 section, an eligible entity shall submit an application 

12 at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by 

13 such information as the Secretary may reasonably 

14 require. 

15 ‘‘(2) ASSURANCE OF COMPLIANCE.—An appli16 cation under paragraph (1) shall include an assur17 ance that the eligible entity will require any teacher 

18 center receiving assistance through the grant to 

19 comply with the requirements of this section. 

20 ‘‘(3) TEACHER CENTER POLICY BOARD.—An 

21 application under paragraph (1) shall include the 

22 following: 

23 ‘‘(A) An assurance that— 

24 ‘‘(i) the eligible entity has established 

25 a teacher center policy board; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the board participated fully in 

2 the preparation of the application; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) the board approved the applica4 tion as submitted. 

5 ‘‘(B) A description of the membership of 

6 the board and the method of selection of the 

7 membership. 

8 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) The term ‘eligible entity’ means a local 

10 educational agency or a consortium of 2 or more 

11 local educational agencies. 

12 ‘‘(2) The term ‘high-need’ means, with respect 

13 to an elementary school or a secondary school, a 

14 school— 

15 ‘‘(A) that serves an eligible school attend16 ance area (as defined in section 1113) in which 

17 not less than 65 percent of the children are 

18 from low-income families, based on the number 

19 of children eligible for free and reduced priced 

20 lunches under the Richard B. Russell National 

21 School Lunch Act; or 

22 ‘‘(B) in which not less than 65 percent of 

23 the children enrolled are from such families. 

24 ‘‘(3) The term ‘high-need local educational 

25 agency’ means a local educational agency— 


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1 ‘‘(A) that serves not fewer than 10,000 

2 children from families with incomes below the 

3 poverty line, or for which not less than 20 per4 cent of the children served by the agency are 

5 from families with incomes below the poverty 

6 line; and 

7 ‘‘(B) that is having or expected to have 

8 difficulty filling teacher vacancies or hiring new 

9 teachers who are highly qualified. 

10 ‘‘(4) The term ‘teacher center policy board’ 

11 means a teacher center policy board described in 

12 subsection (f). 

13 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To 

14 carry out this section, there are authorized to be appro15 priated $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2007 and such sums 

16 as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal 

17 years.’’. 

18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con19 tents at section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu20 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended 

21 by inserting after the item relating to section 2441 of such 

22 Act the following new items: 

‘‘PART E—TEACHER RETENTION

‘‘Sec. 2501. Improving professional development opportunities.’’. 

Æ 


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