I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3359 

To raise achievement in international education in elementary schools and 

secondary schools through grants to improve teacher competency and 

to support programs in international education that supplement core 

curricula in such schools, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 28, 2009 

Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California (for herself and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To raise achievement in international education in elementary 

schools and secondary schools through grants to improve 

teacher competency and to support programs in international education that supplement core curricula in such 

schools, 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 ‘‘US and the World 

5 Education Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) A host of growing challenges—international 

2 security, global markets, immigration, world health, 

3 the environment, and the emerging educational and 

4 material aspirations of the world’s poorest people— 

5 are fundamentally altering the international land6 scape. 

7 (2) Rapid technological advances and the infor8 mation age are shrinking the world, exponentially 

9 enlarging access of all peoples to essential knowl10 edge, concepts, and ideas, and connecting Americans 

11 to their counterparts across the globe. 

12 (3) The diversity of American workplaces, 

13 schools, and communities increasingly parallels the 

14 world’s diversity. 

15 (4) Americans, in the performance of their citi16 zenship roles, are required to make informed judg17 ments about the role of the United States in the 

18 world, as well as the impact of other nations and 

19 world regions on the United States. 

20 (5) The place of the United States in the world 

21 will depend on whether teachers, citizens, and policy22 makers of the United States understand how inter23 national events shape the lives, politics, economics, 

24 and security of the Nation. 


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1 (6) American-based multinational corporations, 

2 as well as small businesses, increasingly need em3 ployees with knowledge of foreign languages and cul4 tures to market products to customers domestically 

5 and around the globe, and to work effectively with 

6 foreign employees and partners in other countries. 

7 (7) It is the primary function of the Nation’s 

8 schools to prepare America’s students to meet the 

9 requirements of the workplace and to perform citi10 zenship roles in dynamic and rapidly changing do11 mestic and global communities. 

12 (8) Recent surveys consistently demonstrate the 

13 illiteracy of young Americans in geography, econom14 ics, and world history, as well as the low priority 

15 university students give to learning about other 

16 countries and cultures. 

17 (9) Only rarely do American high school or uni18 versity students elect to study geography, world his19 tory, international relations, or global issues, or to 

20 obtain fluency in a foreign language. 

21 (10) School curricula and university programs 

22 of study are not adequately aligned to new inter23 national and global realities. 

24 (11) State educational agencies and local edu25 cational agencies must be encouraged to include 


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1 international education competency as part of teach2 er credentialing and licensing. 

3 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 

4 (1) to raise student achievement in world his5 tory and cultures, international and global studies, 

6 and foreign languages by increasing the inter7 national education competence and literacy of ele8 mentary school and secondary school teachers; and 

9 (2) to support programs that supplement stu10 dent educational achievement in world history, inter11 national and global studies, and foreign languages. 

12 SEC. 3. DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR INTER13 NATIONAL AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDU14 CATION. 

15 Section 205 of the Department of Education Organi16 zation Act (20 U.S.C. 3415) is amended— 

17 (1) in subsection (b)— 

18 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

19 by inserting ‘‘elementary, secondary,’’ after ‘‘af20 fecting’’; 

21 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

22 the end; 

23 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe24 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘, national non25 profit educational organizations or consortiums 


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1 of nonprofit educational organizations, State 

2 educational agencies, local educational agencies, 

3 and other nonprofit organizations;’’ after 

4 ‘‘agencies’’; and 

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

6 ‘‘(4) assist the Secretary in administering the 

7 grant program under section 4 of the US and the 

8 World Education Act; and 

9 ‘‘(5) develop an international education re10 search repository and make available the information 

11 contained in such repository to any State edu12 cational agency and local educational agency.’’. 

13 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section— 

15 ‘‘(1) the term ‘institution of higher education’ 

16 has the meaning given such term in section 101 of 

17 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

18 1001); 

19 ‘‘(2) the term ‘international education’ means 

20 educational subject matter related to world history, 

21 regions, cultures, and geography, as well as foreign 

22 languages, contemporary world issues, international 

23 relations, international economics, humanitarian law, 

24 international and non-governmental organizations, 


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1 and the technology and communication mediums re2 lated to such subject matter; 

3 ‘‘(3) the term ‘international education research 

4 repository’ means a research repository containing 

5 scientifically valid education research, promising and 

6 exemplary practices related to international edu7 cation, including foreign language education, as well 

8 as any other information related to international 

9 education that the Secretary determines would be 

10 beneficial for State educational agencies and local 

11 educational agencies in— 

12 ‘‘(A) the professional development of 

13 teachers of international education, including 

14 foreign language education; 

15 ‘‘(B) the implementation of international 

16 education programs, including foreign language 

17 programs; and 

18 ‘‘(C) improving the international education 

19 competency, including foreign language com20 petency, of elementary school and secondary 

21 school students; 

22 ‘‘(4) the term ‘national nonprofit educational 

23 organizations or consortiums of nonprofit edu24 cational organizations’ means national nonprofit 

25 educational organizations or consortiums of nonVerDate Nov 24 2008 03:22 Jul 30, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3359.IH H3359

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1 profit educational organizations that have as their 

2 primary purpose the improvement of student com3 petency in international education, including foreign 

4 language competency, through effective international 

5 education instruction, including foreign language in6 struction, in elementary schools, secondary schools, 

7 and institutions of higher education; and 

8 ‘‘(5) the terms ‘local educational agency’, ‘ele9 mentary school’, ‘secondary school’, and ‘State edu10 cational agency’ have the meanings given such terms 

11 in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary 

12 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).’’. 

13 SEC. 4. INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION GRANTS. 

14 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—From the funds appro15 priated under section 6, the Secretary, acting through the 

16 Deputy Assistant Secretary, shall award grants on a com17 petitive basis to eligible entities to promote international 

18 education instruction in elementary schools and secondary 

19 schools in accordance with subsection (c) by— 

20 (1) increasing teacher competency with respect 

21 to international education subject matter; and 

22 (2) implementing supplemental international 

23 education services. 

24 (b) GRANT ELIGIBILITY.— 


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1 (1) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

2 grant under this section, an eligible entity shall sub3 mit an application to the Secretary at such time, in 

4 such manner, and containing such information as 

5 the Secretary may require. 

6 (2) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall give pri7 ority to eligible entities that— 

8 (A) are eligible for assistance under part A 

9 of title I of the Elementary and Secondary 

10 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et 

11 seq.); 

12 (B) offer professional development in inter13 national education to all teachers and encour14 age the inclusion of international education in 

15 core elementary school and secondary school 

16 curricula; and 

17 (C) the Secretary determines are most in 

18 need of receiving assistance in the area of inter19 national education. 

20 (c) USES OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity awarded a 

21 grant under this section shall use— 

22 (1) 50 percent of such grant funds to develop, 

23 implement, and strengthen programs to teach inter24 national education within core elementary school and 

25 secondary school curricula, which shall include proVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:29 Jul 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3359.IH H3359

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1 grams with respect to international education sub2 ject matter that— 

3 (A) improve the quality of instruction; and 

4 (B) provide professional development and 

5 teacher education activities; and 

6 (2) 50 percent of such grant funds to supple7 ment core academic subjects through supplemental 

8 international education services outside of normal in9 struction hours, such as— 

10 (A) Model United Nations; 

11 (B) geography bees; and 

12 (C) any other service or program deemed 

13 beneficial to the development of student inter14 national education competency by the Sec15 retary. 

16 SEC. 5. EVALUATION AND REPORT. 

17 (a) EVALUATION.—From the funds appropriated 

18 under section 6, the Secretary shall conduct, through 

19 grant or by contract, a biennial independent evaluation of 

20 the international education programs administered by eli21 gible entities under section 4 that— 

22 (1) quantifies student academic achievement in 

23 international education; and 

24 (2) describes promising and exemplary practices 

25 of preparing teachers to teach international eduVerDate Nov 24 2008 23:29 Jul 29, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3359.IH H3359

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1 cation topics and providing international education 

2 to students. 

3 (b) REPORT.—From the funds appropriated under 

4 section 6, the Secretary shall prepare, through grant or 

5 by contract, and submit to each House of Congress, an 

6 annual independent report that includes— 

7 (1) the total amount of grant funds awarded 

8 under section 4, and the geographic distribution of 

9 such awards; 

10 (2) the results of the evaluation conducted 

11 under subsection (a); and 

12 (3) any other information deemed appropriate 

13 by the Deputy Assistant Secretary or the Secretary. 

14 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 There are authorized to be appropriated 

16 $200,000,000 to carry out this Act for fiscal year 2010 

17 and such sums as may be necessary for each fiscal year 

18 thereafter. 

19 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

20 The following definitions apply to this Act: 

21 (1) DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term 

22 ‘‘Deputy Assistant Secretary’’ means the Deputy As23 sistant Secretary for International and Foreign Lan24 guage Education in the Office of Postsecondary 

25 Education of the Department of Education. 


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1 (2) ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘elemen2 tary school’’ has the meaning given such term in 

3 section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu4 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

5 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—The term eligible en6 tity means— 

7 (A) a local educational agency; or 

8 (B) a partnership consisting of— 

9 (i) a local educational agency; and 

10 (ii) a private organization or institu11 tion of higher education that provides such 

12 local educational agency with funding to 

13 carry out the activities described in section 

14 4(c). 

15 (4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

16 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

17 meaning given such term in section 101 of the High18 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 

19 (5) INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION.—The term 

20 ‘‘international education’’ means educational subject 

21 matter related to world history, regions, cultures, 

22 and geography, as well as foreign languages, con23 temporary world issues, international relations, 

24 international economics, humanitarian law, inter25 national and non-governmental organizations, and 


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1 the technology and communication mediums related 

2 to such subject matter. 

3 (6) INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH RE4 POSITORY.—The term ‘‘international education re5 search repository’’ means a research repository con6 taining scientifically valid education research, prom7 ising and exemplary practices related to inter8 national education, including foreign language edu9 cation, as well as any other information related to 

10 international education that the Secretary deter11 mines would be beneficial for State educational 

12 agencies and local educational agencies in— 

13 (A) the professional development of teach14 ers of international education, including foreign 

15 language education; 

16 (B) the implementation of international 

17 education programs, including foreign language 

18 programs; and 

19 (C) improving the international education 

20 competency, including foreign language com21 petency, of elementary school and secondary 

22 school students. 

23 (7) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The term 

24 ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the meaning given 


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1 such term in section 9101 of the Elementary and 

2 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

3 (8) NATIONAL NONPROFIT EDUCATIONAL ORGA4 NIZATIONS OR CONSORTIUMS OF NONPROFIT EDU5 CATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.—The term ‘‘national 

6 nonprofit educational organizations or consortiums 

7 of nonprofit educational organizations’’ means na8 tional nonprofit educational organizations or consor9 tiums of nonprofit educational organizations that 

10 have as their primary purpose the improvement of 

11 student competency in international education, in12 cluding foreign language competency, through effec13 tive international education instruction, including 

14 foreign language instruction, in elementary schools, 

15 secondary schools, and institutions of higher edu16 cation. 

17 (9) SECONDARY SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘sec18 ondary school’’ has the meaning given such term in 

19 section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu20 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

21 (10) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 

22 means the Secretary of Education. 

Æ 


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