II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 605 

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

in innovation for education. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2015 

Mr. BENNET (for himself and Mr. SCHATZ) 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 invest in innovation for education. 

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 ‘‘Investing in Innovation 

5 for Education Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INVESTING IN INNOVATION. 

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

8 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et 

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


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1 ‘‘PART D—INVESTING IN INNOVATION 

2 ‘‘SEC. 4401. PURPOSES. 

3 ‘‘The purposes of this part are to— 

4 ‘‘(1) fund the identification, development, eval5 uation, and expansion of innovative, evidence-based 

6 practices, programs, and strategies in order to sig7 nificantly— 

8 ‘‘(A) increase student academic achieve9 ment and decrease achievement gaps; 

10 ‘‘(B) increase secondary school graduation 

11 rates; 

12 ‘‘(C) increase postsecondary education en13 rollment rates and persistence rates; 

14 ‘‘(D) improve teacher and school leader ef15 fectiveness; and 

16 ‘‘(E) increase the identification of innova17 tive educational strategies in rural areas; and 

18 ‘‘(2) support the rapid development, expansion, 

19 and adoption of tools and resources that improve the 

20 efficiency, effectiveness, or pace of adoption of such 

21 educational practices, programs, and strategies. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 4402. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES. 

23 ‘‘The Secretary may reserve not more than 10 per24 cent of the funds appropriated under section 4408 for 

25 each fiscal year to carry out activities of national signifi26 cance, which may include— 


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1 ‘‘(1) capacity building; 

2 ‘‘(2) technical assistance, including assistance 

3 to applicants from rural areas; 

4 ‘‘(3) pre-application workshops and web-based 

5 seminars for potential applicants, including appli6 cants from rural areas; 

7 ‘‘(4) dissemination of best practices, in con8 sultation with the regional educational laboratories 

9 established under part D of the Education Sciences 

10 Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9561 et seq.) and 

11 comprehensive centers established under section 203 

12 of the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 

13 (20 U.S.C. 9602), and developed with grant funds 

14 provided under this part, including best practices de15 veloped with grant funds in rural areas; 

16 ‘‘(5) carrying out prize awards consistent with 

17 section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology In18 novation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719); and 

19 ‘‘(6) entering into partnerships with other agen20 cies, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, and in21 stitutions of higher education to carry out advanced 

22 research and development activities, including re23 search and activities in rural areas. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 4403. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED; LENGTH OF GRANTS; 

2 PRIORITIES. 

3 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary 

4 shall use funds made available to carry out this part to 

5 award grants, on a competitive basis, to local educational 

6 agencies (including educational service agencies) and non7 profit organizations that propose to provide support to one 

8 or more public schools or local educational agencies, con9 sistent with section 4405. 

10 ‘‘(b) DURATION OF GRANTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A grant under this part 

12 shall be for a period of not more than 3 years. 

13 ‘‘(2) EXTENSION.—The Secretary may extend a 

14 grant awarded under this part for an additional 2- 

15 year period if the grantee demonstrates to the Sec16 retary that the grantee is making significant 

17 progress on the program performance measures 

18 identified in section 4406. 

19 ‘‘(c) RURAL AREAS.—The Secretary shall ensure that 

20 not less than 25 percent of the funds awarded under sub21 section (a) for any fiscal year are for projects that meet 

22 both of the following requirements: 

23 ‘‘(1) The grantee is— 

24 ‘‘(A) a local educational agency with an 

25 urban-centric district locale code of 32, 33, 41, 

26 42, or 43, as determined by the Secretary; 


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1 ‘‘(B) a consortium of such local edu2 cational agencies; or 

3 ‘‘(C) an educational service agency or a 

4 nonprofit organization with demonstrated ex5 pertise in serving students from rural areas. 

6 ‘‘(2) A majority of the schools to be served by 

7 the project are designated with a school locale code 

8 of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, or a combination of such 

9 codes, as determined by the Secretary. 

10 ‘‘(d) PRIORITIES.—In awarding grants under this 

11 part, the Secretary may give priority to an eligible entity 

12 that includes, in its application under section 4404, a plan 

13 to— 

14 ‘‘(1) improve early learning outcomes; 

15 ‘‘(2) support postsecondary education access 

16 and success; 

17 ‘‘(3) support family and community engage18 ment; 

19 ‘‘(4) address the unique learning needs of stu20 dents with disabilities or English language learners; 

21 ‘‘(5) support the effective use of education tech22 nology to improve teaching and learning; 

23 ‘‘(6) improve the teaching and learning of 

24 science, technology, engineering, or mathematics; 

25 ‘‘(7) serve rural schools; 


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1 ‘‘(8) develop alternative career pathways or dif2 ferentiated school staffing models for effective teach3 ers or principals to expand their impact on student 

4 learning; or 

5 ‘‘(9) train or support principals or teacher lead6 ers, including teacher leaders preparing for principal 

7 roles. 

8 ‘‘(e) STANDARDS OF EVIDENCE.—The Secretary, 

9 with advice from the Director of the Institute of Education 

10 Sciences, shall set standards for the quality of evidence 

11 that an applicant shall provide in order to demonstrate 

12 that the activities the applicant proposes to carry out with 

13 funds under this part are likely to succeed in improving 

14 student outcomes or outcomes on other performance meas15 ures. These standards may include any of the following: 

16 ‘‘(1) Strong evidence, based on at least one ef17 fectiveness study using a randomized design and an 

18 overlapping population, that the activities proposed 

19 by the applicant will improve student academic 

20 achievement, student academic growth, or outcomes 

21 on other performance measures. 

22 ‘‘(2) Moderate evidence, based on at least one 

23 effectiveness study using a randomized or non-ran24 domized design with an overlapping population, that 

25 the activities proposed by the applicant will improve 


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1 student academic achievement, student academic 

2 growth, or outcomes on other performance measures. 

3 ‘‘(3) Promising evidence, based on a correla4 tional study, that the activities proposed by the ap5 plicant will improve student academic achievement, 

6 student academic growth, or outcomes on other per7 formance measures. 

8 ‘‘(4) A rationale based on research findings or 

9 a reasonable hypothesis that the activities proposed 

10 by the applicant will improve student academic 

11 achievement, student academic growth, or outcomes 

12 on other performance measures. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 4404. APPLICATIONS. 

14 ‘‘(a) APPLICATIONS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational 

16 agency (including an educational service agency) or 

17 nonprofit organization that desires to receive a grant 

18 under this part shall submit an application to the 

19 Secretary at such time, in such manner, and con20 taining such information as the Secretary may rea21 sonably require. 

22 ‘‘(2) REASONABLE PERIOD OF TIME.—The Sec23 retary shall ensure that prospective applicants are 

24 provided a reasonable period of time in which to pre25 pare and submit their applications. 


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1 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—At a minimum, each application 

2 shall— 

3 ‘‘(1) describe the project for which the appli4 cant is seeking a grant and how the evidence sup5 porting that project meets the standards of evidence 

6 established by the Secretary under section 4403(e); 

7 ‘‘(2) describe how the applicant will address at 

8 least one of the areas described in section 

9 4405(a)(1); 

10 ‘‘(3) provide an estimate of the number of stu11 dents that the applicant plans to serve under the 

12 proposed project, including the percentage of those 

13 students who are from low-income families, and the 

14 number of students to be served through additional 

15 expansion after the grant ends; 

16 ‘‘(4) demonstrate that— 

17 ‘‘(A) the applicant has established one or 

18 more partnerships with nonprofit or for-profit 

19 organizations, community-based organizations, 

20 Federal, State, or local agencies, or regional 

21 service units; and 

22 ‘‘(B) the partner or partners will provide 

23 matching funds, except that the Secretary may 

24 waive the matching funds requirement, on a 

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1 tional circumstances, such as the difficulty of 

2 raising matching funds for a project to serve a 

3 rural area; 

4 ‘‘(5) describe the applicant’s plan for continuing 

5 the proposed project after funding under this part 

6 ends; 

7 ‘‘(6) demonstrate that the proposed project has 

8 incorporated input and feedback from educators 

9 working in the area to be served; 

10 ‘‘(7) if the applicant is a local educational agen11 cy (not including an educational service agency)— 

12 ‘‘(A) document the local educational agen13 cy’s record during the previous 3 years in— 

14 ‘‘(i) increasing student academic 

15 achievement, including achievement for 

16 each group described in section 

17 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); and 

18 ‘‘(ii) decreasing achievement gaps; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(B) demonstrate how the local edu21 cational agency has made significant improve22 ments in other outcomes, as applicable, on the 

23 performance measures described in section 

24 4406; 


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1 ‘‘(8) if the applicant is a nonprofit organiza2 tion— 

3 ‘‘(A) provide evidence that the nonprofit 

4 organization has helped at least 1 school or 

5 local educational agency, during the previous 3 

6 years, significantly— 

7 ‘‘(i) increase student academic 

8 achievement, including achievement for 

9 each group described in section 

10 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); and 

11 ‘‘(ii) reduce achievement gaps; and 

12 ‘‘(B) describe how the nonprofit organiza13 tion has helped at least 1 school or local edu14 cational agency make a significant improve15 ment, as applicable, in other outcomes on the 

16 performance measures described in section 

17 4406; 

18 ‘‘(9) if the applicant is an educational service 

19 agency— 

20 ‘‘(A) provide evidence that the agency has 

21 helped at least 1 school or local educational 

22 agency, during the previous 3 years, signifi23 cantly— 

24 ‘‘(i) increase student academic 

25 achievement, including achievement for 


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1 each subgroup described in section 

2 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); and 

3 ‘‘(ii) reduce achievement gaps; and 

4 ‘‘(B) describe how the agency has helped 

5 at least 1 school or local educational agency 

6 make a significant improvement, as applicable, 

7 in other outcomes on the performance measures 

8 described in section 4406; 

9 ‘‘(10) provide a description of the applicant’s 

10 plan for independently evaluating the effectiveness of 

11 activities carried out with funds under this part; 

12 ‘‘(11) provide an assurance that the applicant 

13 will— 

14 ‘‘(A) cooperate with cross-cutting evalua15 tions; 

16 ‘‘(B) make evaluation data available to 

17 third parties for validation and further study, 

18 consistent with protections established by appli19 cable privacy requirements and provisions on 

20 the protection of personally identifiable infor21 mation; and 

22 ‘‘(C) participate in communities of prac23 tice; and 

24 ‘‘(12) if the applicant is a nonprofit organiza25 tion that intends to make subgrants, consistent with 


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1 section 4405(b), provide an assurance that the appli2 cant will apply paragraphs (1) through (10), as ap3 propriate, in the applicant’s selection of subgrantees 

4 and in its oversight of those subgrants. 

5 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING APPLICATIONS.— 

6 The Secretary shall award grants under this part in ac7 cordance with subsections (c) and (d) of section 4403 and 

8 on a competitive basis, based on— 

9 ‘‘(1) the quality of the applications submitted; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(2) consistent with the standards established 

12 under section 4403(e), each applicant’s likelihood of 

13 achieving success in improving student outcomes for 

14 high-needs students or outcomes for high-needs stu15 dents on other performance measures. 

16 ‘‘SEC. 4405. USES OF FUNDS. 

17 ‘‘(a) USES OF FUNDS.—Each local educational agen18 cy (including an educational service agency) or nonprofit 

19 organization that receives a grant under this part— 

20 ‘‘(1) shall use the grant funds to address, at a 

21 minimum, 1 of the areas of school innovation, which 

22 are— 

23 ‘‘(A) improving the effectiveness of teach24 ers and school leaders and promoting equity in 


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1 the distribution of effective teachers and school 

2 leaders; 

3 ‘‘(B) strengthening the use of data to im4 prove teaching and learning; 

5 ‘‘(C) providing high-quality instruction 

6 based on rigorous academic content standards 

7 that build toward college and career readiness 

8 and measuring students’ mastery using high9 quality assessments aligned to those standards; 

10 ‘‘(D) turning around the lowest-performing 

11 schools; and 

12 ‘‘(E) any other area of school innovation, 

13 as determined by the Secretary; 

14 ‘‘(2) shall use the grant funds to develop or ex15 pand strategies to improve the performance of high16 need students on the performance measures de17 scribed in section 4406; and 

18 ‘‘(3) may use the grant funds for an inde19 pendent evaluation, as required by section 

20 4404(b)(9), of the innovative practices carried out 

21 with the grant. 

22 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY TO SUBGRANT.—A nonprofit orga23 nization that receives a grant under this part may use the 

24 grant funds to make subgrants to other entities to provide 

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1 cies. Any such entity shall comply with the requirements 

2 of this part relating to grantees, as appropriate. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 4406. PERFORMANCE MEASURES. 

4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

5 performance measures for the programs and activities car6 ried out through a grant under this part. These measures, 

7 at a minimum, shall track the grantee’s progress in— 

8 ‘‘(1) improving outcomes for each group de9 scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) that is served by 

10 the grantee on measures, including, as applicable, 

11 by— 

12 ‘‘(A) increasing student academic achieve13 ment and decreasing achievement gaps; 

14 ‘‘(B) increasing secondary school gradua15 tion rates; 

16 ‘‘(C) increasing postsecondary education 

17 enrollment rates and persistence rates; 

18 ‘‘(D) improving teacher and school leader 

19 effectiveness; 

20 ‘‘(E) improving school readiness; and 

21 ‘‘(F) any other indicator as the Secretary 

22 or grantee may determine; and 

23 ‘‘(2) implementing its project in rural schools, 

24 as applicable. 


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1 ‘‘(b) DATA COLLECTION PERIOD.—From the 

2 amounts appropriated under section 4408 for a fiscal year, 

3 the Secretary may— 

4 ‘‘(1) approve, for an entity receiving a grant 

5 under section 4403, a data collection period of not 

6 more than 72 months beginning after the end of the 

7 entity’s grant period; and 

8 ‘‘(2) provide the entity with funding during 

9 such period for the sole purpose of collecting, ana10 lyzing, and reporting performance information under 

11 this subsection on the project carried out during the 

12 grant period. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 4407. REPORTING; ANNUAL REPORT. 

14 ‘‘A local educational agency (including an educational 

15 service agency) or nonprofit organization that receives a 

16 grant under this part shall submit to the Secretary, at 

17 such time and in such manner as the Secretary may re18 quire, an annual report that includes, information on the 

19 applicant’s progress on the performance measures estab20 lished under section 4406, and the data supporting that 

21 progress, and other information. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 4408. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

23 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

24 this part $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2016 and such sums 


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

2 years.’’. 

3 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

4 section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

5 of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 

6 to section 4304 the following: 

‘‘PART D—INVESTING IN INNOVATION

‘‘Sec. 4401. Purposes. 

‘‘Sec. 4402. National activities. 

‘‘Sec. 4403. Program authorized; length of grants; priorities. 

‘‘Sec. 4404. Applications. 

‘‘Sec. 4405. Uses of funds. 

‘‘Sec. 4406. Performance measures. 

‘‘Sec. 4407. Reporting; annual report. 

‘‘Sec. 4408. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 

Æ 


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