II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1059 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to support innovative, evidencebased approaches that improve the effectiveness and efficiency of postsecondary education for all students, to allow pay for success initiatives, 

to provide additional evaluation authority, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 8, 2019 

Mr. YOUNG (for himself, Mr. BENNET, and Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to support 

innovative, evidence-based approaches that improve the 

effectiveness and efficiency of postsecondary education 

for all students, to allow pay for success initiatives, to 

provide additional evaluation authority, 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 ‘‘Fund for Innovation 

5 and Success in Higher Education Act’’ or the ‘‘FINISH 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INNOVATION GRANTS. 

2 Part B of title VII of the Higher Education Act of 

3 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1138 et seq.) is amended— 

4 (1) by redesignating section 745 as section 746; 

5 and 

6 (2) by inserting after section 744 the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 745. INNOVATION GRANTS. 

8 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are 

9 to— 

10 ‘‘(1) increase access to, retention in, and com11 pletion of postsecondary education opportunities for 

12 high-need students; 

13 ‘‘(2) identify and support the most effective 

14 interventions to increase postsecondary degree at15 tainment and career success of high-need students; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(3) improve the efficiency of postsecondary 

18 education, including by reducing the percentage of 

19 students enrolling in postsecondary remediation and 

20 increasing the effectiveness of postsecondary remedi21 ation. 

22 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en24 tity’ means any of the following: 

25 ‘‘(A) A State educational agency. 


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1 ‘‘(B) A public or private nonprofit institu2 tion of higher education. 

3 ‘‘(C) The Bureau of Indian Education. 

4 ‘‘(D) A consortium of any of the entities 

5 described in subparagraphs (A) through (C). 

6 ‘‘(E) A partnership between a State edu7 cational agency or public or private nonprofit 

8 institution of higher education and one or more 

9 of the following: 

10 ‘‘(i) A nonprofit organization. 

11 ‘‘(ii) An intermediary organization. 

12 ‘‘(iii) A business. 

13 ‘‘(iv) A sponsor of a program receiv14 ing assistance under the National and 

15 Community Service Act of 1990 (42 

16 U.S.C. 12501 et seq.). 

17 ‘‘(v) A local educational agency. 

18 ‘‘(2) FIRST GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENT.— 

19 The term ‘first generation college student’ means— 

20 ‘‘(A) an individual both of whose parents 

21 did not complete a baccalaureate degree; or 

22 ‘‘(B) in the case of any individual who reg23 ularly resided with and received support from 

24 only one parent, an individual whose only such 

25 parent did not complete a baccalaureate degree. 


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1 ‘‘(3) HIGH-NEED STUDENT.—The term ‘high2 need student’— 

3 ‘‘(A) means a postsecondary student who 

4 is at risk of educational failure or otherwise in 

5 need of special assistance and support; and 

6 ‘‘(B) may include an adult learner, work7 ing student, part-time student, student from a 

8 low-income background, student of color, 

9 former foster youth, first generation college stu10 dent, student with a disability, student who is 

11 deaf or blind or visually impaired, or student 

12 who is an English learner. 

13 ‘‘(4) INTERMEDIARY ORGANIZATION.—The term 

14 ‘intermediary organization’ means an entity— 

15 ‘‘(A) with strong skills and a track record 

16 of success in— 

17 ‘‘(i) identifying effective interventions 

18 to address State, regional, or local prob19 lems; 

20 ‘‘(ii) managing high-quality subgrant 

21 processes; and 

22 ‘‘(iii) providing technical assistance 

23 and support to subgrantees to ensure qual24 ity and improve outcomes; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) that utilizes an evidence-based deci2 sionmaking strategy when selecting high-per3 forming entities, on a competitive basis, to re4 ceive subgrants in order to validate and grow 

5 effective interventions. 

6 ‘‘(c) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made avail8 able to carry out this section, the Secretary shall 

9 award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible enti10 ties to enable the eligible entities to create, develop, 

11 implement, replicate, or scale evidence-based and 

12 field-initiated innovations, including through pay for 

13 success initiatives (as defined in section 124(a)), in 

14 order to improve postsecondary access and comple15 tion or career success for high-need students. 

16 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.—The grants awarded under this 

17 section shall implement and evaluate programs, 

18 interventions, and strategies that address the pur19 poses described under subsection (a) and, to the ex20 tent practicable based on the strength of the applica21 tions, include— 

22 ‘‘(A) early-phase grants to fund the devel23 opment, implementation, and feasibility testing 

24 of a practice, program, or intervention that 

25 prior research suggests has promise, for the 


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1 purpose of determining whether the practice, 

2 program, or innovation can successfully im3 prove, for high-need students— 

4 ‘‘(i) access to, retention in, and com5 pletion of a postsecondary program of 

6 study; or 

7 ‘‘(ii) career success; 

8 ‘‘(B) mid-phase grants to fund implemen9 tation and a rigorous evaluation of a practice, 

10 program, or intervention that has been success11 fully implemented under an early phase grant 

12 described in subparagraph (A) or another effort 

13 meeting similar criteria, for the purpose of 

14 measuring (using existing administrative data 

15 where possible) the impact and cost-effective16 ness of the practice, program, or intervention; 

17 or 

18 ‘‘(C) expansion grants to fund implementa19 tion and a rigorous replication evaluation of a 

20 practice, program, or intervention that has been 

21 found to produce sizable, important impacts 

22 under a mid-phase grant described in subpara23 graph (B) or another effort meeting similar cri24 teria, for the purposes of— 


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1 ‘‘(i) determining whether such impacts 

2 can be successfully reproduced and sus3 tained over time; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) identifying the conditions in 

5 which the practice, program, or initiative is 

6 most effective. 

7 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.— 

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

9 grant under this section shall submit to the Sec10 retary an application at such time, in such manner, 

11 and containing such information as the Secretary 

12 may require. 

13 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 

14 under paragraph (1) shall include— 

15 ‘‘(A) a description of the high-need stu16 dents that the eligible entity is proposing to 

17 serve through the grant; and 

18 ‘‘(B) a description of the outcome meas19 ures, including explicit outcome measures for 

20 high-need students, that the eligible entity will 

21 use, in addition to the outcome measures de22 scribed in subsection (f)(2)(A), to evaluate the 

23 success of the grant. 


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1 ‘‘(e) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec2 tion, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities 

3 that— 

4 ‘‘(1) propose to serve the largest number of 

5 high-need students; or 

6 ‘‘(2) serve a high proportion of students from 

7 one or more school districts with a school district lo8 cale code of 31, 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, as determined 

9 by the Secretary using the school district locale 

10 codes in effect on December 1, 2019. 

11 ‘‘(f) EVALUATIONS.—Each recipient of a grant under 

12 this section shall conduct, and submit to the Secretary, 

13 a rigorous, independent evaluation of— 

14 ‘‘(1) the effectiveness of the practice, program, 

15 or intervention carried out under such grant; 

16 ‘‘(2) the outcomes achieved by such grant, 

17 which shall include— 

18 ‘‘(A) the numbers and percentages, in the 

19 aggregate and disaggregated by each subgroup 

20 of students (as defined in section 1111(c)(2) of 

21 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

22 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(c)(2))), of— 

23 ‘‘(i) students supported by the grant 

24 entering, persisting, and completing post25 secondary education; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) such students enrolling in reme2 dial coursework at the institution; 

3 ‘‘(iii) such students enrolling and 

4 completing such remedial coursework; and 

5 ‘‘(iv) such students enrolling in and 

6 completing such remedial coursework and 

7 successfully completing first-year credit8 bearing coursework within 16 months of 

9 enrollment in an institution of higher edu10 cation; and 

11 ‘‘(B) the recipient’s performance on any 

12 other outcome measures described in the appli13 cation in accordance with subsection (d)(2)(B); 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(3) the activities carried out under such grant. 

16 ‘‘(g) REPORTS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

18 after the date of enactment of the Fund for Innova19 tion and Success in Higher Education Act, and 

20 every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall prepare 

21 and submit to the authorizing committees a report 

22 on the grants carried out under this section. 

23 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each report issued under 

24 this subsection shall— 

25 ‘‘(A) include— 


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1 ‘‘(i) information from the outcomes 

2 reported in the evaluations submitted 

3 under subsection (f) for the reporting pe4 riod about the success of the grants sup5 ported under this section; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) the number of high-need stu7 dents served through the grants under this 

8 section during the reporting period; 

9 ‘‘(B) disaggregate all data on student out10 comes related to the grants by, at a minimum, 

11 race and income, and, to the extent practicable, 

12 any other relevant student characteristic, as de13 termined by the Secretary; and 

14 ‘‘(C) consider— 

15 ‘‘(i) how the tiered-evidence grant 

16 structure described in subsection (c)(2) can 

17 be applied to other grant programs author18 ized under this Act, in order to strengthen 

19 those programs; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) how the evidence generated by 

21 the projects, programs, and interventions 

22 supported by grants under this section can 

23 inform how to carry out other grants au24 thorized under this Act. 


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1 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Secretary 

2 shall make each report issued under this subsection 

3 available to the public through the website of the 

4 Department.’’. 

5 SEC. 3. OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES. 

6 Section 741(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

7 (20 U.S.C. 1138(a)) is amended— 

8 (1) in paragraph (12), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

9 the semicolon; 

10 (2) in paragraph (13), by striking the period 

11 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

12 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(14) making all forms of postsecondary in14 structional content widely available, which may in15 clude the use of open educational resources (defined, 

16 for purpose of this paragraph, as teaching, learning, 

17 or research resources that reside in the public do18 main or have been released under a copyright license 

19 that permits their free use, reuse, modification, and 

20 sharing with others).’’. 

21 SEC. 4. PAY FOR SUCCESS INITIATIVES. 

22 Part B of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

23 (20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

24 the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 124. PAY FOR SUCCESS INITIATIVES. 

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

3 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en4 tity’ means a partnership between— 

5 ‘‘(A) a private entity (which may include a 

6 private nonprofit entity); and 

7 ‘‘(B) an institution of higher education, a 

8 Federal, State, or local public entity, or a Trib9 al entity. 

10 ‘‘(2) PAY FOR SUCCESS INITIATIVE.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘pay for 

12 success initiative’ means a performance-based 

13 grant, contract, or other agreement— 

14 ‘‘(i) between an eligible entity and the 

15 Secretary or a grant recipient, as author16 ized under subsection (b)(1); 

17 ‘‘(ii) in which— 

18 ‘‘(I) a commitment is made to 

19 pay the eligible entity for improved 

20 outcomes, including meaningful out21 put measures strongly correlated to 

22 outcomes, that result in increased 

23 public value or social benefit to stu24 dents and the public sector, such as 

25 increased effectiveness in improving 

26 outcomes, direct cost savings or cost 


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1 avoidance, or increased public rev2 enue; and 

3 ‘‘(II) the entity providing the 

4 funds under the grant, contract, or 

5 agreement imposes minimal adminis6 trative requirements to allow for max7 imum flexibility to achieve increased 

8 public value and social benefit; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) that requires— 

10 ‘‘(I) a study describing how the 

11 proposed intervention is based on evi12 dence of effectiveness, which may be a 

13 study not exclusively developed for the 

14 specific grant, contract, or other 

15 agreement; 

16 ‘‘(II) a rigorous, third-party eval17 uation that uses experimental or 

18 quasi-experimental design or other re19 search methodologies that allow for 

20 the strongest possible causal infer21 ences to determine whether the initia22 tive has met its proposed outcomes; 

23 ‘‘(III) an annual, publicly avail24 able report on the progress of the ini25 tiative; and 


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1 ‘‘(IV) that payments be made to 

2 the recipient of the grant, contract, or 

3 agreement only when agreed-upon 

4 outcomes are achieved, except as pro5 vided under paragraph (2) or (3) of 

6 subsection (b). 

7 ‘‘(B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘pay for suc8 cess initiative’ does not include any initiative 

9 that— 

10 ‘‘(i) reduces the benefits to a student 

11 or the obligations of an entity under this 

12 Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 

13 U.S.C. 701 et seq.), the Americans with 

14 Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 

15 et seq.), the Individuals with Disabilities 

16 Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.), or 

17 any other law; or 

18 ‘‘(ii) reduces services that an indi19 vidual is entitled to receive under Federal, 

20 State, or local law. 

21 ‘‘(b) PAY FOR SUCCESS INITIATIVE AUTHORITY.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

23 provision of this Act and except as provided under 

24 subsection (c)— 


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1 ‘‘(A) any recipient of a grant under this 

2 Act may request to use grant funds to carry out 

3 a pay for success initiative that accomplishes 

4 the objectives of the grant and meets all re5 quirements of the grant (except to the extent a 

6 requirement is specifically modified by the pay 

7 for success initiative), if such use is proposed in 

8 the application or plan submitted for such 

9 grant; and 

10 ‘‘(B) the Secretary may approve not more 

11 than 5 pilot demonstrations each fiscal year 

12 from the grant applications or plans that con13 tain a request to carry out a pay for success 

14 initiative. 

15 ‘‘(2) USE OF FUNDS FOR FEASIBILITY STUDIES

16 AND RIGOROUS THIRD-PARTY EVALUATION.—If the 

17 Secretary, or a grant recipient, is authorized to 

18 carry out a pay for success initiative under para19 graph (1), the Secretary or grant recipient may use 

20 funds available for the pay for success initiative— 

21 ‘‘(A) to conduct the feasibility study re22 quired under subsection (a)(2)(A)(iii)(I) or the 

23 rigorous third-party evaluation required under 

24 subsection (a)(2)(A)(iii)(II); or 


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1 ‘‘(B) to provide funds to the entity car2 rying out the pay for success initiative for the 

3 costs of the initial costs associated with starting 

4 the initiative. 

5 ‘‘(3) USE OF REMAINING FUNDS.—Notwith6 standing any other provision of law, if the Secretary 

7 or a grant recipient is carrying out a pay for success 

8 initiative under paragraph (1) and the pay for suc9 cess initiative has met or exceeded its proposed out10 comes, the Secretary or grant recipient may use any 

11 funds remaining at the conclusion of the pay for 

12 success initiative to enter into an additional agree13 ment, through a competitive process, with an eligible 

14 entity to expand capacity under the pay for success 

15 initiative or to carry out additional pilot demonstra16 tions of pay for success initiatives. 

17 ‘‘(c) STUDENT PROTECTIONS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) NO NEGATIVE IMPACT ON STUDENT AID.— 

19 A pay for success initiative shall not be supported 

20 with funds under this Act if the pay for success ini21 tiative would adversely affect the funding of, or stu22 dent access to, individual student aid awards made 

23 under section 401 or any other program supported 

24 under this Act. 


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1 ‘‘(2) NONINCLUSION IN DETERMINATION OF

2 NEED.—A grant or aid provided directly to a stu3 dent under a pay for success initiative supported 

4 with funds under this Act shall not be considered in 

5 determining that student’s need for grant, loan, or 

6 work assistance under title IV of this Act, except 

7 that in no case shall the total amount of student fi8 nancial assistance awarded to a student through a 

9 pay for success initiative and under title IV exceed 

10 that student’s cost of attendance, as defined in sec11 tion 472. 

12 ‘‘(d) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding 

13 any other provision of this Act, any funds made available 

14 for a fiscal year to an entity for a pay for success initiative 

15 authorized under this section shall remain available until 

16 expended.’’. 

17 SEC. 5. EVALUATION. 

18 Part B of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

19 (20 U.S.C. 1011 et seq.), as amended by section 4, is fur20 ther amended by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 125. EVALUATION AUTHORITY. 

22 ‘‘(a) EVALUATION RESERVATION.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

24 provision of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation 

25 with the Director of the Institute of Education 


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1 Sciences, may, for each fiscal year, reserve not more 

2 than 1 percent of the amount appropriated for each 

3 discretionary grant program authorized under this 

4 Act (except for the Federal Pell Grant program 

5 under section 401) in order to rigorously and inde6 pendently evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of 

7 the outcomes of all programs authorized under this 

8 Act. 

9 ‘‘(2) EFFECT ON OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—The 

10 amount reserved under paragraph (1) shall be in ad11 dition to any other amounts reserved for evaluation 

12 under this Act. 

13 ‘‘(b) EVALUATION PLAN.—On a biennial basis, the 

14 Director of the Institute of Education Sciences shall de15 velop, submit to the authorizing committees, and make 

16 publicly available on the website of the Department, an 

17 evaluation plan for the next 2 fiscal years that— 

18 ‘‘(1) describes the specific activities that will be 

19 carried out under subsection (a) for the 2-year pe20 riod applicable to the plan, and the timelines of such 

21 activities; 

22 ‘‘(2) contains the results of the activities car23 ried out under subsection (a) for the most recent 2- 

24 year period; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) describes how programs authorized under 

2 this Act will be regularly evaluated, including the 

3 outcome measures to be used to evaluate each pro4 gram. 

5 ‘‘(c) POOLING AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding any 

6 other provision of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation 

7 with the Director of the Institute of Education Sciences— 

8 ‘‘(1) may consolidate the funds reserved under 

9 subsection (a) for purposes of carrying out the ac10 tivities described in subsection (b); and 

11 ‘‘(2) shall not be required to evaluate each pro12 gram authorized under this Act each year. 

13 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec14 tion shall be construed to conflict with or supercede any 

15 other evaluation requirement for a specific program or ac16 tivity authorized under this Act.’’. 

Æ 


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