II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 478 

To promote career readiness indicators and career counseling for students. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2015 

Mr. KAINE (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To promote career readiness indicators and career counseling 

for 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 ‘‘Career Ready Act of 

5 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CAREER READINESS INDICATORS. 

7 (a) ADEQUATE YEARLY PROGRESS.—Section 

8 1111(b)(2)(C)(vii) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu9 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)(C)(vii)) is 

10 amended— 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 478 IS

1 (1) by striking ‘‘include other academic indica2 tors’’ and inserting ‘‘include other college and career 

3 ready indicators’’; and 

4 (2) by striking ‘‘such as achievement on’’ and 

5 all that follows through the end of the clause and in6 serting ‘‘such as— 

7 ‘‘(I) achievement on additional 

8 State or locally administered assess9 ments; 

10 ‘‘(II) decreases in grade-to-grade 

11 retention rates; 

12 ‘‘(III) attendance rates and rates 

13 of chronic absenteeism; 

14 ‘‘(IV) the number and percentage 

15 of students attaining recognized post16 secondary credentials, as defined by 

17 the Workforce Innovation and Oppor18 tunity Act, while in secondary school; 

19 ‘‘(V) the number and percentage 

20 of students attaining State and local 

21 adjusted levels of performance, as de22 fined in section 113(b) of the Carl D. 

23 Perkins Career and Technical Edu24 cation Act of 2006, and reported by 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 478 IS

1 the State in a manner consistent with 

2 section 113(c) of such Act; 

3 ‘‘(VI) measures that integrate 

4 preparation for postsecondary edu5 cation and the workforce, including 

6 measures of performance in 

7 coursework sequences that include rig8 orous academics, work-based learning, 

9 and career and technical education; 

10 ‘‘(VII) performance on assess11 ments of career readiness; 

12 ‘‘(VIII) rates of enrollment, re13 mediation, persistence, and completion 

14 of postsecondary education; and 

15 ‘‘(IX) the number, percentage, 

16 and changes in the percentages of stu17 dents completing gifted and talented, 

18 advanced placement, and college pre19 paratory courses.’’. 

20 (b) STATE REPORT CARD OPTIONAL INFORMA21 TION.—Section 1111(h)(1)(D) of the Elementary and Sec22 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(h)(1)(D)) 

23 is amended— 

24 (1) in clause (vi), by striking ‘‘and’’ after the 

25 semicolon; 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 478 IS

1 (2) in clause (vii), by striking the period at the 

2 end and inserting a semicolon; and 

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

4 ‘‘(viii) the number and percentage of 

5 students enrolled in each public secondary 

6 school in the State who attain State and 

7 local adjusted levels of performance, as de8 fined in section 113(b) of the Carl D. Per9 kins Career and Technical Education Act 

10 of 2006, and reported by the State in a 

11 manner consistent with section 113(c) of 

12 such Act; 

13 ‘‘(ix) the number and percentage of 

14 students enrolled in each public secondary 

15 school in the State that attain a recognized 

16 postsecondary credential, as defined in sec17 tion 3 of the Workforce Innovation and 

18 Opportunity Act, while in secondary school; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(x) for high schools— 

21 ‘‘(I) the high school graduation 

22 rate; and 

23 ‘‘(II) rates of enrollment, remedi24 ation, persistence, and completion of 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 478 IS

1 postsecondary education for stu2 dents.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. CAREER GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING. 

4 Section 5421 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu5 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7245) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a)(2)(B), by striking ‘‘for ini7 tiating or expanding school counseling’’ and insert8 ing ‘‘for initiating, enriching, or expanding school 

9 counseling and career guidance’’; 

10 (2) in subsection (b)(2)— 

11 (A) in subparagraph (D)— 

12 (i) by inserting ‘‘local workforce devel13 opment board described in section 107 of 

14 the Workforce Opportunity and Investment 

15 Act (29 U.S.C. 3122), regional economic 

16 development agencies, area career and 

17 technical education schools (as defined in 

18 section 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career 

19 and Technical Education Act of 2006), 

20 local businesses and industries, organiza21 tions offering apprenticeship programs, 

22 tribal organizations, labor organizations, 

23 programs leading to a recognized postsec24 ondary credential,’’ after ‘‘social service 

25 agencies,’’; and 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 478 IS

1 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, where appropriate 

2 in the case of secondary school applica3 tions’’ after ‘‘school-linked services integra4 tion’’; 

5 (B) in subparagraph (G), by striking and 

6 after the semicolon; 

7 (C) in subparagraph (H) by striking the 

8 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

9 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(I) describe how the local educational 

11 agency will provide college and career aware12 ness and exploration activities, which may begin 

13 prior to a student entering high school; and 

14 ‘‘(J) describe how the local educational 

15 agency will provide students with comprehensive 

16 and timely school counseling that addresses 

17 both college and career planning needs.’’; and 

18 (3) in subsection (c)(2)— 

19 (A) in subparagraph (K) by striking ‘‘and’’ 

20 after the semicolon; 

21 (B) in subparagraph (L) by striking the 

22 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

23 (C) by adding at the end the following: 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 478 IS

1 ‘‘(M) develop and implement comprehen2 sive school counseling programs that align with 

3 the local educational agency’s application; 

4 ‘‘(N) in the case of a program serving sec5 ondary schools, identify regional workforce 

6 trends in collaboration with entities with exper7 tise in identifying such trends, such as local 

8 workforce development boards described in sec9 tion 107 of the Workforce Opportunity and In10 vestment Act (29 U.S.C. 3122) and regional 

11 economic development organizations; 

12 ‘‘(O) in the case of a program serving sec13 ondary schools, train counselors to effectively 

14 provide students with labor market information; 

15 ‘‘(P) in the case of a program serving sec16 ondary schools, develop and implement a proc17 ess for school counselors and school counselor 

18 programs to access the information regarding 

19 the regional workforce trends identified in para20 graph (N); 

21 ‘‘(Q) where appropriate, develop and imple22 ment integrated, job-embedded, and ongoing 

23 professional development programs for coun24 selors and other educators involved in preparing 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 478 IS

1 students for postsecondary opportunities and 

2 careers; and 

3 ‘‘(R) where appropriate, develop personal4 ized learning plans for each student that map 

5 a defined program of study based on the stu6 dent’s academic and career goals.’’. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS