103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1804

AN ACT

To improve learning and teaching by providing a

purposes.skill standards and certifications; and for otherand adoption of a voluntary national system ofeducation programs; to promote the developmenta framework for reauthorization of all Federalcational achievement for all students; to providecational opportunities and high levels of edutemic changes needed to ensure equitable edumote the research, consensus building, and sysnational framework for education reform; to pro-
103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1804

AN ACT

To improve learning and teaching by providing a national

framework for education reform; to promote the research,

consensus building, and systemic changes needed to ensure equitable educational opportunities and high levels

of educational achievement for all students; to provide

a framework for reauthorization of all Federal education

programs; to promote the development and adoption of

a voluntary national system of skill standards and certifications; 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 ‘‘Goals 2000: Educate

5 America Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

7 The purpose of this Act is to provide a framework

8 for meeting the National Education Goals established by

9 title I of this Act by—

10 (1) promoting coherent, nationwide, systemic

11 education reform;
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1 (2) improving the quality of learning and teach2 ing in the classroom and in the workplace;

3 (3) defining appropriate and coherent Federal,

4 State, and local roles and responsibilities for edu5 cation reform and lifelong learning;

6 (4) establishing valid, reliable, and fair mecha7 nisms for—

8 (A) building a broad national consensus on

9 American education reform;

10 (B) assisting in the development and cer11 tification of high-quality, internationally com12 petitive content and student performance stand13 ards;

14 (C) assisting in the development and cer15 tification of opportunity-to-learn standards; and

16 (D) assisting in the development and cer17 tification of high-quality assessment measures

18 that reflect the internationally competitive con19 tent and student performance standards;

20 (5) supporting new initiatives at the Federal,

21 State, local, and school levels to provide equal edu22 cational opportunity for all students to meet high

23 standards and to succeed in the world of employ24 ment and civic participation;
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1 (6) providing a framework for the reauthoriza2 tion of all Federal education programs by—

3 (A) creating a vision of excellence and eq4 uity that will guide all Federal education and

5 related programs;

6 (B) providing for the establishment of

7 high-quality, internationally competitive content

8 and student performance standards that all stu9 dents will be expected to achieve;

10 (C) providing for the establishment of high

11 quality, internationally competitive opportunity12 to-learn standards that all States, local edu13 cational agencies, and schools should achieve;

14 (D) encouraging and enabling all State

15 educational agencies and local educational agen16 cies to develop comprehensive improvement

17 plans that will provide a coherent framework

18 for the implementation of reauthorized Federal

19 education and related programs in an inte20 grated fashion that effectively educates all chil21 dren enabling them to participate fully as work22 ers, parents, and citizens; and

23 (E) providing resources to help individual

24 schools, including those serving students with
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1 high needs, develop and implement comprehen2 sive improvement plans;

3 (7) stimulating the development and adoption

4 of a voluntary national system of skill standards and

5 certification to serve as a cornerstone of the national

6 strategy to enhance workforce skills; and

7 (8) assisting every elementary and secondary

8 school that receives funds under this Act to actively

9 involve parents and families in supporting the aca10 demic work of their children at home and in provid11 ing parents with skills to advocate for their children

12 at school.

13 TITLE I—NATIONAL EDUCATION

14 GOALS

15 SEC. 101. PURPOSE.

16 The purpose of this title is to establish national edu17 cation goals.

18 SEC. 102. NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS.

19 The Congress declares that the National Education

20 Goals are the following:

21 (1) SCHOOL READINESS.—(A) By the year

22 2000, all children in America will start school ready

23 to learn.

24 (B) The objectives for this goal are that—
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1 (i) all children will have access to high2 quality and developmentally appropriate pre3 school programs that help prepare children for

4 school;

5 (ii) every parent in America will be a

6 child’s first teacher and devote time each day to

7 helping his or her preschool child learn, and

8 parents will have access to the training and

9 support they need; and

10 (iii) all children will receive the nutrition

11 and health care needed to arrive at school with

12 healthy minds and bodies, and to maintain the

13 mental alertness necessary to be prepared to

14 learn, and the number of low-birthweight babies

15 will be significantly reduced through enhanced

16 prenatal health systems.

17 (2) SCHOOL COMPLETION.—(A) By the year

18 2000, the high school graduation rate will increase

19 to at least 90 percent.

20 (B) The objectives for this goal are that—

21 (i) the Nation must dramatically reduce its

22 dropout rate, and 75 percent of those students

23 who do drop out will successfully complete a

24 high school degree or its equivalent; and
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1 (ii) the gap in high school graduation rates

2 between American students from minority back3 grounds and their non-minority counterparts

4 will be eliminated.

5 (3) STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND CITIZEN6 SHIP.—(A) By the year 2000, all students will leave

7 grades 4, 8, and 12 having demonstrated com8 petency over challenging subject matter including

9 English, mathematics, science, foreign languages,

10 civics and government, arts, history, and geography,

11 and every school in America will ensure that all stu12 dents learn to use their minds well, so they may be

13 prepared for responsible citizenship, further learn14 ing, and productive employment in our modern econ15 omy.

16 (B) The objectives for this goal are that—

17 (i) the academic performance of all stu18 dents at the elementary and secondary level will

19 increase significantly in every quartile, and the

20 distribution of minority students in each level

21 will more closely reflect the student population

22 as a whole;

23 (ii) the percentage of all students who

24 demonstrate the ability to reason, solve prob-
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1 lems, apply knowledge, and write and commu2 nicate effectively will increase substantially;

3 (iii) all students will be involved in activi4 ties that promote and demonstrate good citizen5 ship, community service, and personal respon6 sibility;

7 (iv) all students will have access to phys8 ical education and health education to ensure

9 they are healthy and fit;

10 (v) the percentage of all students who are

11 competent in more than one language will sub12 stantially increase; and

13 (vi) all students will be knowledgeable

14 about the diverse cultural heritage of this Na15 tion and about the world community.

16 (4) TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL

17 DEVELOPMENT.—(A) By the year 2000, the Na18 tion’s teaching force will have access to programs for

19 the continued improvement of their professional

20 skills and the opportunity to acquire the knowledge

21 and skills needed to instruct and prepare all Amer22 ican students for the next century.

23 (B) The objectives of this goal are that—

24 (i) every State will establish opportunity25 to-learn standards and create an integrated
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1 strategy to attract, recruit, prepare, retrain,

2 and support the continued professional develop3 ment of teachers, administrators, and other

4 educators, so that there is a highly talented

5 workforce of professional educators to teach

6 challenging standards;

7 (ii) subgrants for preservice teacher edu8 cation and professional development activity will

9 be made to local educational agencies, institu10 tions of higher education, private nonprofit or11 ganizations, or consortia of such organizations,

12 to support continuing, sustained, professional

13 development activities for all educators; and

14 (iii) partnerships shall be established,

15 whenever possible, between local educational

16 agencies, institutions of higher education, local

17 labor, business, and professional associations to

18 provide and support programs for the profes19 sional development of educators, particularly in

20 the area of emerging new technologies in edu21 cation.

22 (5) MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE.—(A) By the

23 year 2000, United States students will be first in the

24 world in mathematics and science achievement.

25 (B) The objectives for this goal are that—
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1 (i) math and science education, including

2 the metric system of measurement, will be

3 strengthened throughout the system, especially

4 in the early grades;

5 (ii) the number of teachers with a sub6 stantive background in mathematics and

7 science, including the metric system of meas8 urement, will increase by 50 percent; and

9 (iii) the number of United States under10 graduate and graduate students, especially

11 women and minorities, who complete degrees in

12 mathematics, science, and engineering will in13 crease significantly.

14 (6) ADULT LITERACY AND LIFELONG LEARN15 ING.—(A) By the year 2000, every adult American

16 will be literate and will possess the knowledge and

17 skills necessary to compete in a global economy and

18 exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

19 (B) The objectives for this goal are that—

20 (i) every major American business will be

21 involved in strengthening the connection be22 tween education and work;

23 (ii) all workers will have the opportunity to

24 acquire the knowledge and skills, from basic to

25 highly technical, needed to adapt to emerging
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1 new technologies, work methods, and markets

2 through public and private educational, voca3 tional, technical, workplace, or other programs;

4 (iii) the number of quality programs, in5 cluding those at libraries, that are designed to

6 serve more effectively the needs of the growing

7 number of part-time and midcareer students

8 will increase substantially;

9 (iv) the proportion of those qualified stu10 dents, especially minorities, who enter college,

11 who complete at least two years, and who com12 plete their degree programs will increase sub13 stantially;

14 (v) the proportion of college graduates who

15 demonstrate an advanced ability to think criti16 cally, communicate effectively, and solve prob17 lems will increase substantially; and

18 (vi) schools, in implementing comprehen19 sive parent involvement programs, will offer

20 more adult literacy, parent training and life21 long learning opportunities to improve the ties

22 between home and school, and enhance parents’

23 work and home lives.

24 (7) SAFE, DISCIPLINED, AND DRUG-FREE

25 SCHOOLS.—(A) By the year 2000, every school in
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1 America will be free of drugs and violence and will

2 offer a disciplined environment conducive to learn3 ing.

4 (B) The objectives for this goal are that—

5 (i) every school will implement a firm and

6 fair policy on use, possession, and distribution

7 of drugs and alcohol;

8 (ii) parents, businesses, and community or9 ganizations will work together to ensure the

10 rights of students to study in a safe and secure

11 environment that is free of drugs and crime;

12 (iii) every school district will develop a

13 comprehensive K–12 drug and alcohol preven14 tion education program. Drug and alcohol cur15 ricula should be taught as an integral part of

16 health education. In addition, community-based

17 teams should be organized to provide all stu18 dents and teachers with needed support; and

19 (iv) every school district will develop and

20 implement a policy to ensure that all schools

21 are free of weapons and violence.

22 (8) SCHOOL AND HOME PARTNERSHIP.—(A) By

23 the year 2000, every school and home will engage in

24 partnerships that will increase parental involvement
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1 and participation in promoting the social, emotional,

2 and academic growth of children.

3 (B) The objectives for this goal are that—

4 (i) every State will develop policies to as5 sist local schools and local educational agencies

6 to establish programs for increasing partner7 ships that respond to the varying needs of par8 ents and the home, including parents of chil9 dren who are disadvantaged, bilingual, or dis10 abled;

11 (ii) every school will actively engage par12 ents and families in a partnership which sup13 ports the academic work of children at home

14 and shared educational decision making at

15 school;

16 (iii) every home will be responsible for cre17 ating an environment of respect for education

18 and providing the physical and emotional sup19 port needed for learning; and

20 (iv) parents and families will help to en21 sure that schools are adequately supported and

22 will hold schools and teachers to high standards

23 of accountability.
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1 TITLE II—NATIONAL EDUCATION

2 REFORM, LEADERSHIP,

3 STANDARDS, AND ASSESS4 MENTS

5 PART A—NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS PANEL

6 SEC. 201. PURPOSE.

7 It is the purpose of this part to establish a bipartisan

8 mechanism for—

9 (1) building a national consensus for education

10 improvement;

11 (2) reporting on progress toward achieving the

12 National Education Goals; and

13 (3) reviewing the voluntary national content

14 and student performance standards and opportunity15 to-learn standards certified by the National Edu16 cation Standards and Improvement Council, as well

17 as the criteria for their certification, and the criteria

18 for the certification of State assessments by the Na19 tional Education Standards and Improvement Coun20 cil with the option of disapproving such standards

21 and criteria not later than 60 days after receipt

22 from such Council.

23 SEC. 202. NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS PANEL.

24 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the ex25 ecutive branch a National Education Goals Panel (referred
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1 to in this Act as the ‘‘Goals Panel’’) to advise the Presi2 dent, the Secretary, and the Congress.

3 (b) COMPOSITION.—The Goals Panel shall be com4 posed of eighteen members (referred to in this part as

5 ‘‘members’’), including—

6 (1) two members appointed by the President;

7 (2) eight members who are Governors, three of

8 whom shall be from the same political party as the

9 President and five of whom shall be of the opposite

10 political party of the President, appointed by the

11 Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the National

12 Governors’ Association, with each appointing rep13 resentatives of his or her respective political party,

14 in consultation with each other;

15 (3) four Members of Congress appointed as fol16 lows—

17 (A) one member appointed by the majority

18 leader of the Senate from among the Members

19 of the Senate;

20 (B) one member appointed by the minority

21 leader of the Senate from among the Members

22 of the Senate;

23 (C) one member appointed by the majority

24 leader of the House of Representatives from
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1 among the Members of the House of Represent2 atives; and

3 (D) one member appointed by the minority

4 leader of the House of Representatives from

5 among the Members of the House of Represent6 atives; and

7 (4) four members of State legislatures ap8 pointed by the President of the National Conference

9 of State Legislatures, of whom not more than two

10 may be of the same political party as the President

11 of the United States.

12 (c) SPECIAL APPOINTMENT RULES.—(1) The mem13 bers appointed pursuant to subsection (b)(2) shall be ap14 pointed as follows:

15 (A) If the Chairperson of the National Gov16 ernors’ Association is from the same political party

17 as the President, the Chairperson shall appoint three

18 individuals and the Vice Chairperson shall appoint

19 five individuals.

20 (B) If the Chairperson of the National Gov21 ernors’ Association is from the opposite political

22 party as the President, the Chairperson shall ap23 point five individuals and the Vice Chairperson shall

24 appoint three individuals.
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1 (2) If the National Governors’ Association has ap2 pointed a panel that meets the requirements of subsections

3 (b) and (c), except for the requirements of subsection

4 (b)(4), prior to the date of enactment of this title, then

5 the members serving on such panel shall be deemed to be

6 in compliance with subsections (b) and (c) and shall not

7 be required to be reappointed pursuant to such sub8 sections.

9 (3) To the extent feasible, the membership of the

10 Goals Panel shall be geographically representative and re11 flect the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity of the United

12 States.

13 (d) TERMS.—The terms of service of members shall

14 be as follows:

15 (1) Members appointed under subsection (b)(1)

16 shall serve at the pleasure of the President.

17 (2) Members appointed under subsection (b)(2)

18 shall serve a two-year term, except that the initial

19 appointments under such paragraph shall be made

20 to ensure staggered terms with one-half of such

21 members’ terms concluding every two years.

22 (3) Members appointed under subsection (b) (3)

23 and (4) shall serve a term of two years.
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1 (e) DATE OF APPOINTMENT.—The initial members

2 shall be appointed not later than sixty days after the date

3 of enactment of this Act.

4 (f) INITIATION.—The Goals Panel may begin to carry

5 out its duties under this part when ten members of the

6 Goals Panel have been appointed.

7 (g) VACANCIES.—A vacancy on the Goals Panel shall

8 not affect the powers of the Goals Panel, but shall be filled

9 in the same manner as the original appointment.

10 (h) TRAVEL.—Each member may be allowed travel

11 expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as au12 thorized by section 5703 of title 5, United States Code,

13 for each day the member is engaged in the performance

14 of duties away from the home or regular place of business

15 of the member.

16 (i) CHAIRPERSON.—From among the members, the

17 President shall appoint the Chairperson who shall serve

18 a one-year term and shall alternate between political par19 ties.

20 (j) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—A member of the Goals

21 Panel who is an elected official of a State which has devel22 oped content, student performance, or opportunity-to23 learn standards may not participate in Goals Panel consid24 eration of such standards.
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1 (k) EX OFFICIO MEMBER.—If the President has not

2 appointed the Secretary of Education as 1 of the 2 mem3 bers he appoints pursuant to subsection (b)(1), then the

4 Secretary shall serve as a nonvoting ex officio member of

5 the Goals Panel.

6 SEC. 203. DUTIES.

7 (a) DUTIES.—The Goals Panel shall—

8 (1) report to the President, the Secretary, and

9 the Congress regarding the progress the Nation and

10 the States are making toward achieving the National

11 Education Goals established under title I of this Act,

12 including issuing an annual report;

13 (2) report on State opportunity-to-learn stand14 ards and the progress of States in meeting such

15 standards;

16 (3) review, after taking into consideration the

17 public comments received pursuant to section 216,

18 with the option of disapproving by a two-thirds ma19 jority vote of the full membership not later than 60

20 days after receipt of the—

21 (A) criteria developed by the National

22 Education Standards and Improvement Council

23 for the certification of content and student per24 formance standards, assessments, and oppor25 tunity-to-learn standards; and
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1 (B) voluntary national content and student

2 performance standards and opportunity-to-learn

3 standards certified by the National Education

4 Standards and Improvement Council;

5 (4) report on promising or effective actions

6 being taken at the national, State, and local levels,

7 in the public and private sectors, to achieve the Na8 tional Education Goals; and

9 (5) help build a nationwide, bipartisan consen10 sus for the reforms necessary to achieve the Na11 tional Education Goals.

12 (b) REPORT.—(1) The Goals Panel shall annually

13 prepare and submit to the President, the Secretary, the

14 appropriate committees of Congress, and the Governor of

15 each State a report that shall—

16 (A) report on the progress of the United States

17 toward achieving the National Education Goals;

18 (B) identify actions that should be taken by

19 Federal, State, and local governments to enhance

20 progress toward achieving the National Education

21 Goals and State opportunity-to-learn standards; and

22 (C) report on State opportunity-to-learn stand23 ards and the progress of States in meeting such

24 standards.
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1 (2) Reports shall be presented in a form, and include

2 data, that is understandable to parents and the general

3 public.

4 SEC. 204. POWERS OF THE GOALS PANEL.

5 (a) HEARINGS.—(1) The Goals Panel shall, for the

6 purpose of carrying out this part, conduct such hearings,

7 sit and act at such times and places, take such testimony,

8 and receive such evidence, as the Goals Panel considers

9 appropriate.

10 (2) In carrying out this part, the Goals Panel shall

11 conduct hearings to receive reports, views, and analyses

12 of a broad spectrum of experts and the public on the es13 tablishment of voluntary national content and student per14 formance standards, assessments, and opportunity-to15 learn standards.

16 (b) INFORMATION.—The Goals Panel may secure di17 rectly from any department or agency of the United States

18 information necessary to enable the Goals Panel to carry

19 out this part. Upon request of the Chairperson of the

20 Goals Panel, the head of a department or agency shall

21 furnish such information to the Goals Panel to the extent

22 permitted by law.

23 (c) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Goals Panel may use

24 the United States mail in the same manner and under the
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1 same conditions as other departments and agencies of the

2 United States.

3 (d) USE OF FACILITIES.—The Goals Panel may, with

4 consent, use the research, equipment, services, and facili5 ties of any agency or instrumentality of the United States,

6 or of any State or political subdivision thereof.

7 (e) ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS AND SUP8 PORT.—(1) The Secretary shall provide to the Goals

9 Panel, on a reimbursable basis, such administrative sup10 port services as the Goals Panel may request.

11 (2) The Secretary shall, to the extent appropriate,

12 and on a reimbursable basis, make contracts and other

13 arrangements that are requested by the Goals Panel to

14 help it compile and analyze data or carry out other func15 tions necessary to the performance of such responsibilities.

16 SEC. 205. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.

17 (a) MEETINGS.—The Goals Panel shall meet on a

18 regular basis, as necessary, at the call of the Chairperson

19 of the Goals Panel or a majority of its members.

20 (b) QUORUM.—A majority of the members shall con21 stitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

22 (c) VOTING.—No individual may vote, or exercise any

23 of the powers of a member, by proxy.

24 (d) PUBLIC ACCESS.—The Goals Panel shall ensure

25 public access to its proceedings (other than proceedings,
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1 or portions of proceedings, relating to internal personnel

2 and management matters) and make available to the pub3 lic, at reasonable cost, transcripts of such proceedings.

4 SEC. 206. DIRECTOR AND STAFF; EXPERTS AND CONSULT5 ANTS.

6 (a) DIRECTOR.—The Chairperson of the Goals Panel

7 shall, without regard to the provisions of title 5, United

8 States Code, relating to the appointment and compensa9 tion of officers or employees of the United States, appoint

10 a Director to be paid at a rate not to exceed the rate of

11 basic pay payable for level V of the Executive Schedule.

12 (b) APPOINTMENT AND PAY OF EMPLOYEES.—

13 (1)(A) The Director may appoint not more than four addi14 tional employees to serve as staff to the Goals Panel with15 out regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code,

16 governing appointments in the competitive service.

17 (B) The employees appointed under paragraph (1)(A)

18 may be paid without regard to the provisions of chapter

19 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of that title relating

20 to classification and General Schedule pay rates, but shall

21 not be paid a rate that exceeds the maximum rate of basic

22 pay payable for GS–15 of the General Schedule.

23 (2) The Director may appoint additional employees

24 to serve as staff to the Goals Panel consistent with title

25 5, United States Code.
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1 (c) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—The Goals Panel

2 may procure temporary and intermittent services of ex3 perts and consultants under section 3109(b) of title 5,

4 United States Code.

5 (d) STAFF OF FEDERAL AGENCIES.—Upon the re6 quest of the Goals Panel, the head of any department or

7 agency of the United States may detail any of the person8 nel of such agency to the Goals Panel to assist the Goals

9 Panel in its duties under this part.

10 SEC. 207. EARLY CHILDHOOD ASSESSMENT.

11 (a) GENERAL.—(1) The Goals Panel shall support

12 the work of its Resource and Technical Planning Groups

13 on School Readiness (referred to in this section as the

14 Groups) to improve the methods of assessing the readiness

15 of children for school that would lead to alternatives to

16 currently used norm-referenced early childhood assess17 ments.

18 (2) The Groups shall—

19 (A) create clear guidelines regarding the na20 ture, functions, and uses of early childhood assess21 ments, including a model of school readiness that

22 addresses a broad range of early childhood devel23 opmental needs;

24 (B) monitor and evaluate early childhood as25 sessments, including the ability of existing assess-
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1 ments to provide valid information on the readiness

2 of children for school; and

3 (C) monitor and report on the long-term collec4 tion of data on the status of young children to im5 prove policy and practice, including the need for new

6 sources of data necessary to assess the broad range

7 of early childhood developmental needs.

8 (b) ADVICE.—The Groups shall advise and assist the

9 Congress, the Secretary, the Goals Panel, and others re10 garding how to improve the assessment of young children

11 and how such assessments can improve services to chil12 dren.

13 (c) REPORT.—The Goals Panel shall provide reports

14 on the work of the Groups to the Congress, the Secretary,

15 and the public.

16 PART B—NATIONAL EDUCATION STANDARDS

17 AND IMPROVEMENT COUNCIL

18 SEC. 211. PURPOSE.

19 The purpose of this part is to establish a mechanism

20 to—

21 (1) certify and regularly review voluntary na22 tional content and student performance standards

23 that define what all students should know and be

24 able to do;
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1 (2) certify content and student performance

2 standards submitted by States on a voluntary basis,

3 if such standards are of equal or higher quality to

4 the voluntary national content and student perform5 ance standards certified by the National Education

6 Standards and Improvement Council;

7 (3) certify and regularly review voluntary na8 tional opportunity-to-learn standards that describe

9 the conditions of teaching and learning necessary for

10 all students to have a fair opportunity to achieve the

11 knowledge and skills described in the voluntary na12 tional content and student performance standards

13 certified by the National Education Standards and

14 Improvement Council;

15 (4) certify opportunity-to-learn standards sub16 mitted by States on a voluntary basis, if such stand17 ards are of equal or higher quality as compared with

18 the voluntary national opportunity-to-learn stand19 ards; and

20 (5) certify assessment systems submitted by

21 States on a voluntary basis, if such systems are

22 aligned with State content standards certified by the

23 National Education Standards and Improvement

24 Council and if such systems are valid, reliable, and

25 consistent with relevant, nationally recognized, pro-
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1 fessional and technical standards for assessment

2 when used for their intended purposes.

3 SEC. 212. NATIONAL EDUCATION STANDARDS AND IM4 PROVEMENT COUNCIL.

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the ex6 ecutive branch a National Education Standards and Im7 provement Council (referred to in this title as the

8 ‘‘Council’’).

9 (b) COMPOSITION.—The Council shall be composed

10 of twenty members (referred to in this part as ‘‘mem11 bers’’) who shall be appointed as follows:

12 (1) 8 members (2 from each of subparagraphs

13 (A) through (D) of subsection (c)(1)) shall be ap14 pointed by the President;

15 (2) 4 members (1 from each of subparagraphs

16 (A) through (D) of subsection (c)(1)) shall be ap17 pointed by the Speaker of the House of Representa18 tives, in consultation with the majority and minority

19 leaders of the House;

20 (3) 4 members (1 from each of subparagraphs

21 (A) through (D) of subsection (c)(1)) shall be ap22 pointed by the majority leader of the Senate, in con23 sultation with the minority leader of the Senate; and
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1 (4) 4 members (1 from each of subparagraphs

2 (A) through (D) of subsection (c)(1)) shall be ap3 pointed by the National Education Goals Panel.

4 (c) QUALIFICATIONS.—(1) The members of the

5 Council shall include—

6 (A) 5 professional educators, including elemen7 tary and secondary classroom teachers, preschool

8 educators and other school-based professionals, local

9 district or State administrators, related service per10 sonnel, and other educators;

11 (B) 5 representatives of business and industry,

12 organized labor, and postsecondary educational insti13 tutions, including at least 1 representative of post14 secondary educational institutions, at least 1 rep15 resentative of organized labor, and at least 1 rep16 resentative of business who is also a member of the

17 National Skill Standards Board;

18 (C) 5 representatives of the public, including

19 representatives of advocacy, civil rights and disabil20 ity groups, parents, civic leaders, and local and State

21 education policymakers (including State, local, or

22 tribal school boards); and

23 (D) 5 education experts, including experts in

24 measurement and assessment, curriculum, school fi25 nance and equity, and school reform.
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1 (2) To the extent feasible, the membership of the

2 Council shall be geographically representative of the

3 United States and reflect the diversity of the United

4 States with regard to race, ethnicity, gender, and disability

5 characteristics.

6 (3) One-third of the Council shall consist of individ7 uals with expertise in the educational needs of children

8 who are from low-income families, minority backgrounds,

9 have limited-English proficiency, or have disabilities.

10 (d) TERMS.—(1) Members shall be appointed for 3-

11 year terms, with no member serving more than 2 consecu12 tive terms.

13 (2) The Council shall establish by lot initial terms

14 for individuals of one, two, or three years in order to es15 tablish a rotation in which one-third of the members are

16 selected each year.

17 (e) DATE OF APPOINTMENT.—The initial members

18 shall be appointed not later than 120 days after the date

19 of enactment of this Act.

20 (f) INITIATION.—The Council shall begin to carry out

21 the duties of the Council under this part when all 20 mem22 bers have been appointed.

23 (g) RETENTION.—In order to retain an appointment

24 to the Council, a member must attend at least two-thirds

25 of the scheduled meetings of the Council in any given year.
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1 (h) VACANCY.—A vacancy on the Council shall not

2 affect the powers of the Council, but shall be filled in the

3 same manner as the original appointment.

4 (i) COMPENSATION.—Members of the Council who

5 are not regular full-time employees of the United States

6 may, while attending meetings or hearings of the Council,

7 be provided compensation at a rate fixed by the Secretary,

8 but not exceeding the maximum rate of basic pay payable

9 for GS–15 of the General Schedule.

10 (j) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—(1) A member of the

11 Council may not concurrently serve as a member of the

12 Goals Panel.

13 (2) Section 208 of title 18 of the United States Code

14 shall apply to members of the Council except that, for the

15 purposes of making written determinations under sub16 section (b)(1), the Government official responsible for the

17 appointment of any member of the Council is deemed to

18 be the Director of the Office of Government Ethics.

19 (3) A member of the Council who resides in a State

20 which has developed standards and assessments may not

21 participate in Council consideration of such standards and

22 assessments.

23 (k) TRAVEL.—Each member of the Council may be

24 allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of sub25 sistence, as authorized by section 5703 of title 5, United
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1 States Code, for each day the member is engaged in the

2 performance of duties away from the home or regular

3 place of business of the member.

4 (l) OFFICERS.—The members of the Council shall se5 lect officers from among its members. The officers of the

6 Council shall serve for one-year terms.

7 SEC. 213. DUTIES.

8 (a) VOLUNTARY NATIONAL CONTENT STANDARDS.—

9 (1) The Council shall—

10 (A) identify areas in which voluntary national

11 content standards need to be developed;

12 (B) certify voluntary national content and stu13 dent performance standards using the criteria devel14 oped under paragraph (2)(A)(i), that define what all

15 students should know and be able to do;

16 (C) forward such voluntary national content

17 and student performance standards to the Goals

18 Panel for review, except that the Goals Panel shall

19 have the option of disapproving such standards by a

20 two-thirds majority vote of the full membership not

21 later than 60 days after receipt of such standards;

22 and

23 (D) develop a process for regularly reviewing

24 any national voluntary content, student perform-
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1 ance, and opportunity-to-learn standards that have

2 been certified.

3 (2)(A) The Council shall—

4 (i) identify and develop criteria to be used for

5 certifying the voluntary national content and student

6 performance standards; and

7 (ii) before applying such criteria, forward them

8 to the Goals Panel for review, except that the Goals

9 Panel shall have the option of disapproving such cri10 teria by a two-thirds majority vote of the full mem11 bership not later than 60 days after receipt of such

12 criteria.

13 (B) The criteria developed by the Council shall ad14 dress—

15 (i) the extent to which the proposed standards

16 are internationally competitive and comparable to

17 the best in the world;

18 (ii) the extent to which the proposed content

19 and student performance standards reflect the best

20 available knowledge about how all students learn and

21 about how the content area can be most effectively

22 taught;

23 (iii) the extent to which the proposed content

24 and student performance standards have been devel25 oped through an open and public process that pro-
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1 vides for input and involvement of all relevant par2 ties, including teachers, related services personnel,

3 and other professional educators, employers and

4 postsecondary education institutions, curriculum and

5 subject matter specialists, parents, advocacy groups,

6 and the public; and

7 (iv) other factors that the Council deems appro8 priate.

9 (C) In developing the criteria, the Council shall work

10 with entities that are developing, or have already devel11 oped, content and student performance standards, and

12 any other entities that the Council deems appropriate, to

13 identify appropriate certification criteria.

14 (b) VOLUNTARY STATE CONTENT STANDARDS.—The

15 Council may certify content and student performance

16 standards presented on a voluntary basis by States, using

17 the criteria developed under subsection (a)(2)(A)(i), if

18 such standards are of equal or higher quality to the vol19 untary national content and student performance stand20 ards certified by the Council.

21 (c) VOLUNTARY NATIONAL OPPORTUNITY-TO-LEARN

22 STANDARDS.—(1) The Council shall certify exemplary,

23 voluntary national opportunity-to-learn standards that will

24 establish a basis for providing all students a fair oppor25 tunity to achieve the knowledge and skills set out in the
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1 voluntary national content standards certified by the

2 Council.

3 (2) The voluntary national opportunity-to-learn

4 standards certified by the Council shall address—

5 (A) the quality and availability of curricula, in6 structional materials, and technologies, including

7 distance learning, to all students;

8 (B) the capability of teachers to provide high9 quality instruction to meet diverse learning needs in

10 each content area to all students;

11 (C) the extent to which teachers, principals,

12 and administrators have ready and continuing access

13 to professional development, including the best

14 knowledge about teaching, learning, and school im15 provement;

16 (D) the extent to which curriculum, instruc17 tional practices, and assessments are aligned to con18 tent standards;

19 (E) the extent to which school facilities provide

20 a safe and secure environment for learning and in21 struction and have the requisite libraries, labora22 tories, and other resources necessary to provide an

23 opportunity to learn;
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•HR 1804 EH

1 (F) the extent to which schools utilize policies,

2 curricula, and instructional practices which ensure

3 nondiscrimination on the basis of gender; and

4 (G) other factors that the Council deems appro5 priate to ensure the students receive a fair oppor6 tunity to achieve the knowledge and skills described

7 in the voluntary content and student performance

8 standards certified by the Council.

9 (3) In carrying out this subsection, the Council

10 shall—

11 (A) identify what countries with rigorous con12 tent standards do to—

13 (i) provide their children with opportunities

14 to learn;

15 (ii) prepare their teachers; and

16 (iii) provide continuing professional devel17 opment opportunities for their teachers; and

18 (B) develop criteria to be used for certifying the

19 voluntary national and State opportunity-to-learn

20 standards and, before applying such criteria, for21 ward them to the Goals Panel for review, except that

22 the Goals Panel shall have the option of disapprov23 ing such standards by a two-thirds majority vote of

24 the full membership not later than 60 days after re25 ceipt of such criteria.
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1 (4) The Council shall assist in the development of the

2 voluntary national opportunity-to-learn standards devel3 oped by the consortium under section 219 by—

4 (A) making recommendations to the Secretary

5 regarding priorities and selection criteria for the

6 award made under section 219; and

7 (B) coordinating with the consortium receiving

8 an award under section 219 to ensure that the op9 portunity-to-learn standards the consortium develops

10 are appropriate for the needs of all students, are of

11 high quality, and are consistent with the criteria de12 veloped by the Council for the certification of such

13 standards.

14 (5) The Council shall forward the voluntary national

15 opportunity-to-learn standards it certifies to the Goals

16 Panel for review, except that the Goals Panel shall have

17 the option of disapproving such standards by a two-thirds

18 majority vote of the full membership not later than 60

19 days after receipt of such standards.

20 (d) VOLUNTARY STATE OPPORTUNITY-TO-LEARN

21 STANDARDS.—The Council may certify opportunity-to22 learn standards submitted voluntarily by a State, using

23 the criteria developed under subsection (c)(3)(B), if such

24 standards are of equal or higher quality as compared to

25 the voluntary national opportunity-to-learn standards.
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1 (e) GENERAL PROVISION REGARDING VOLUNTARY

2 NATIONAL STANDARDS.—The Council may certify vol3 untary national content, student performance, and oppor4 tunity-to-learn standards if such standards are sufficiently

5 general to be used by any State without restricting State

6 and local control of curriculum and prerogatives regarding

7 instructional methods to be employed.

8 (f) ASSESSMENTS.—(1)(A) The Council may certify

9 an assessment system that is submitted voluntarily by a

10 State, using the criteria developed under paragraph

11 (2)(A), if such system is aligned with the State’s content

12 standards certified by the Council.

13 (B) Assessment systems shall be certified by the

14 Council for the purposes of—

15 (i) informing students, parents, teachers, and

16 related services personnel about the progress of all

17 students toward the standards;

18 (ii) improving classroom instruction and im19 proving the learning outcomes for all students;

20 (iii) exemplifying for students, parents, and

21 teachers the kinds and levels of achievement that

22 should be expected of all students, including the

23 identification of student performance standards;
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•HR 1804 EH

1 (iv) measuring and motivating individual stu2 dents, schools, districts, States, and the Nation to

3 improve educational performance; and

4 (v) assisting education policymakers in making

5 decisions about education programs.

6 (C) The Council shall certify an assessment system

7 only if—

8 (i) the State has established or adopted oppor9 tunity-to-learn standards;

10 (ii) such system will not be used to make deci11 sions regarding graduation, grade promotion, or re12 tention of students for a period of five years from

13 the date of enactment of this Act; and

14 (iii) the State has submitted—

15 (I) a description of the purposes for which

16 the assessment system has been designed;

17 (II) the methodologies and process used to

18 develop, select, validate, and use such assess19 ment systems;

20 (III) a copy of the test instrument and, as

21 appropriate, other measures that will make up

22 the system; and

23 (IV) evidence that the test or tests which

24 are part of the assessment system are valid, re25 liable measures of their intended purposes, are
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1 aligned with the State content standards, are

2 capable of assessing the progress of all students

3 toward learning the material in the State con4 tent standards, and are consistent with relevant

5 nationally recognized professional and technical

6 standards.

7 (D) The Council shall, at the request of a State prior

8 to developing an assessment system for a proposed use,

9 review and provide guidance to such State on a proposed

10 package of measures, including tests that would be in11 cluded in such a system.

12 (2)(A) The Council shall develop and, no sooner than

13 three years or later than four years after the enactment

14 of this Act, begin utilizing criteria for the certification of

15 assessment systems for the purposes indicated in para16 graph (1)(B). Before using such criteria, the Council shall

17 forward the criteria to the Goals Panel for review, except

18 that the Goals Panel shall have the option of disapproving

19 such criteria by a two-thirds majority vote of the full mem20 bership not later than 60 days after receipt of such cri21 teria.

22 (B) The certification criteria developed by the Coun23 cil shall address the extent to which the assessment sys24 tem—
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•HR 1804 EH

1 (i) is aligned with State content standards cer2 tified by the Council; and

3 (ii) is to be used for a purpose for which it is

4 valid, reliable, free of discrimination, and is consist5 ent with relevant, nationally recognized professional

6 and technical standards for assessment.

7 (C) In determining appropriate certification criteria,

8 the Council shall—

9 (i) consider standards and criteria being devel10 oped by other national organizations, research on as11 sessment, and emerging new State and local assess12 ments;

13 (ii) recommend needed research;

14 (iii) encourage the development and field testing

15 of assessment systems; and

16 (iv) provide a public forum for discussing, de17 bating, and building consensus for the criteria to be

18 used for the certification of assessment systems.

19 (D) Prior to determining the certification criteria, the

20 Council shall seek public comment regarding the proposed

21 criteria.

22 (E) The Council shall certify an assessment system

23 only if such system includes all students.

24 (g) PERFORMANCE OF DUTIES.—In carrying out its

25 responsibilities under this title, the Council shall—
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1 (1) provide for a process of broad public input

2 as part of the process of developing criteria for

3 standards and assessments;

4 (2) work with Federal and non-Federal agencies

5 and organizations which are conducting research,

6 studies, or demonstration projects to determine

7 internationally competitive standards and assess8 ments, and may establish subject matter and other

9 panels to advise it on particular content, student

10 performance, and opportunity-to-learn standards and

11 on assessments;

12 (3) establish cooperative arrangements with the

13 National Skill Standards Board to promote the co14 ordination of the development of content and stu15 dent performance standards under this title with the

16 development of skill standards under title IV of this

17 Act;

18 (4) recommend studies to the Secretary that

19 are necessary to carry out the Council’s responsibil20 ities;

21 (5) inform the public about what constitutes

22 high quality, internationally competitive, content,

23 student performance, and opportunity-to-learn

24 standards, and assessment systems;
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•HR 1804 EH

1 (6) on a regular basis, review and update cri2 teria for certifying content, student performance,

3 and opportunity-to-learn standards, and assessment

4 systems; and

5 (7) periodically recertify, as appropriate, the

6 voluntary national content and student performance

7 standards, and the voluntary national opportunity8 to-learn standards and the assessments that it cer9 tifies under this section.

10 (h) UNCONDITIONED STATE PARTICIPATION.—No

11 State shall be required to obtain certification of standards

12 or assessments developed under subsection (b), (d), or (f)

13 of this section or to participate in programs under title

14 III of this Act, as a condition of participating in any Fed15 eral education program under this or any other Act.

16 SEC. 214. ANNUAL REPORTS.

17 Not later than one year after the date the Council

18 concludes its first meeting, and in each succeeding year,

19 the Council shall prepare and submit a report to the Presi20 dent, the Secretary, the appropriate committees of Con21 gress, the Governor of each State, and the Goals Panel

22 regarding its work.

23 SEC. 215. POWERS OF THE COUNCIL.

24 (a) HEARINGS.—(1) The Council shall, for the pur25 pose of carrying out its responsibilities, conduct such hear-
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•HR 1804 EH

1 ings, sit and act at such times and places, take such testi2 mony, and receive such evidence, as the Council considers

3 appropriate.

4 (2) In carrying out this part, the Council shall con5 duct public hearings in different geographic areas of the

6 United States, both urban and rural, to receive the re7 ports, views, and analyses of a broad spectrum of experts

8 and the public on the establishment of voluntary national

9 content, student performance, and opportunity-to-learn

10 standards, and assessment systems.

11 (b) INFORMATION.—The Council may secure directly

12 from any department or agency of the United States infor13 mation necessary to enable the Council to carry out this

14 part. Upon request of the Chairperson of the Council, the

15 head of a department or agency shall furnish such infor16 mation to the Council to the extent permitted by law.

17 (c) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Council may use the

18 United States mail in the same manner and under the

19 same conditions as other departments and agencies of the

20 United States.

21 (d) USE OF FACILITIES.—The Council may, with

22 their consent, use the research, equipment, services, and

23 facilities of any agency or instrumentality of the United

24 States, or of any State or political subdivision thereof.
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1 (e) ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS AND SUP2 PORT.—(1) The Secretary shall provide to the Council, on

3 a reimbursable basis, such administrative support services

4 as the Council may request.

5 (2) The Secretary shall, to the extent appropriate,

6 and on a reimbursable basis, make contracts and other

7 arrangements that are requested by the Council to help

8 it compile and analyze data or carry out other functions

9 necessary to the performance of its responsibilities.

10 SEC. 216. PUBLICATION FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.

11 (a) TRANSMITTAL.—For the purpose of obtaining

12 public comment through publication in the Federal Reg13 ister, the Council shall transmit to the Secretary—

14 (1) proposed criteria for certifying national and

15 State content and performance standards;

16 (2) proposed criteria for certifying national and

17 State opportunity-to-learn standards;

18 (3) proposed criteria for certifying State assess19 ment systems; and

20 (4) proposed national content, performance, and

21 opportunity-to-learn standards.

22 (b) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall publish such

23 proposed procedures, standards, and criteria in the Fed24 eral Register.
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1 SEC. 217. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.

2 (a) MEETINGS.—The Council shall meet on a regular

3 basis, as necessary, at the call of the Chairperson of the

4 Council, or a majority of its members.

5 (b) QUORUM.—A majority of the members shall con6 stitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

7 (c) VOTING.—The Council shall take all action of the

8 Council by a majority vote of the total membership of the

9 Council, ensuring the right of the minority to issue written

10 views. No individual may vote or exercise any of the pow11 ers of a member by proxy.

12 (d) PUBLIC ACCESS.—The Council shall ensure pub13 lic access to its proceedings (other than proceedings, or

14 portions of proceedings, relating to internal personnel and

15 management matters) and make available to the public,

16 at reasonable cost, transcripts of such proceedings.

17 SEC. 218. DIRECTOR AND STAFF; EXPERTS AND CONSULT18 ANTS.

19 (a) DIRECTOR.—The Chairperson of the Council

20 shall, without regard to the provisions of title 5, United

21 States Code, relating to the appointment and compensa22 tion of officers or employees of the United States, appoint

23 a Director to be paid at a rate not to exceed the rate of

24 basic pay payable for level V of the Executive Schedule.

25 (b) APPOINTMENT AND PAY OF EMPLOYEES.—

26 (1)(A) The Director may appoint not more than four addi-
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1 tional employees to serve as staff to the Council without

2 regard to the provisions of title 5, United States Code,

3 governing appointments in the competitive service.

4 (B) The employees appointed under subparagraph

5 (A) may be paid without regard to the provisions of chap6 ter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of that title relat7 ing to classification and General Schedule pay rates, but

8 shall not be paid a rate that exceeds the maximum rate

9 of basic pay payable for GS–15 of the General Schedule.

10 (2) The Director may appoint additional employees

11 to serve as staff of the Council consistent with title 5,

12 United States Code.

13 (c) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—The Council may

14 procure temporary and intermittent services under section

15 3019(b) of title 5, United States Code.

16 (d) STAFF OF FEDERAL AGENCIES.—Upon the re17 quest of the Council, the head of any department or agen18 cy of the United States may detail any of the personnel

19 of such department or agency to the Council to assist the

20 Council in its duties under this part.

21 SEC. 219. OPPORTUNITY-TO-LEARN DEVELOPMENT GRANT.

22 (a) OPPORTUNITY-TO-LEARN DEVELOPMENT

23 GRANT.—(1) The Secretary is authorized to make a grant,

24 on a competitive basis, to a consortium of individuals and

25 organizations to develop voluntary national opportunity-
46

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1 to-learn standards consistent with the provisions of section

2 213(c).

3 (2) To the extent possible, such consortium shall in4 clude the participation of—

5 (A) State-level policymakers, such as Governors,

6 State legislators, chief State school officers, and

7 State school board members;

8 (B) local policymakers and administrators, such

9 as local school board members, superintendents, and

10 principals;

11 (C) teachers (especially teachers involved in the

12 development of content standards);

13 (D) parents and individuals with experience in

14 promoting parental involvement in education;

15 (E) representatives of business;

16 (F) experts in vocational-technical education;

17 (G) representatives of regional accrediting asso18 ciations;

19 (H) individuals with expertise in school finance

20 and equity, the education of at-risk students, and

21 the preparation and training of teachers and school

22 administrators;

23 (I) curriculum and school reform experts;

24 (J) student and civil rights advocacy groups;

25 (K) representatives of higher education; and
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1 (L) secondary school students.

2 (3) In developing voluntary national opportunity-to3 learn standards, such consortium shall—

4 (A) draw upon current research about student

5 achievement and the necessary conditions for effec6 tive teaching and learning; and

7 (B) provide for the development of several con8 secutive drafts of standards which incorporate the

9 comments and recommendations of educators and

10 other knowledgeable individuals across the Nation.

11 (4) One-third of the consortium shall consist of indi12 viduals with expertise in the educational needs and assess13 ment of children who are from low-income families, minor14 ity backgrounds, have limited-English proficiency, or have

15 disabilities.

16 (5) The membership of the consortium shall be geo17 graphically representative and reflect the racial, ethnic,

18 and gender diversity of the United States.

19 (b) APPLICATIONS.—(1) Any consortium that desires

20 to receive a grant under this subsection shall submit an

21 application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner,

22 and containing such information and assurances as the

23 Secretary may require.

24 (2) In awarding such grant, the Secretary shall give

25 priority to applications from consortia which involve indi-
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1 viduals and organizations with the greatest diversity of

2 perspectives and points of view.

3 (3) In establishing additional priorities and selection

4 criteria for such grant, the Secretary shall give serious

5 consideration to the recommendations made by the Coun6 cil pursuant to section 213(c)(4)(A).

7 (c) REPORT.—After the development of the voluntary

8 national opportunity-to-learn standards, the consortium

9 funded under this section shall submit a report to the Sec10 retary which discusses the background, important issues,

11 and rationale regarding such standards.

12 SEC. 220. ASSESSMENT DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION

13 GRANTS.

14 (a) GENERAL.—(1) The Secretary is authorized to

15 make grants to States and local educational agencies or

16 consortia of such agencies to help defray the cost of devel17 oping, field testing, and evaluating assessment systems, to

18 be used for some or all of the purposes indicated in section

19 213(f)(1)(B), that are aligned to State content standards

20 certified by the Council.

21 (2) The Secretary shall reserve a portion of the funds

22 authorized under section 231(d) for grants to State edu23 cational agencies and local educational agencies for pur24 poses of developing such assessments in languages other

25 than English.
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1 (b) APPLICATIONS.—A State, local educational agen2 cy, or consortium of such agencies that desires to receive

3 a grant under subsection (a)(1) shall submit an applica4 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and

5 containing such information and assurances as the Sec6 retary may require.

7 (c) REQUIREMENTS.—(1) A recipient of a grant

8 under this section shall—

9 (A) examine the validity and reliability of an as10 sessment system for the particular purposes for

11 which such assessment system was developed;

12 (B) ensure that an assessment system is con13 sistent with relevant, nationally recognized profes14 sional and technical standards for assessments; and

15 (C) devote special attention to how an assess16 ment system, treats all students, especially with re17 gard to the race, gender, ethnicity, disability, and

18 language proficiency.

19 (2) An assessment system developed and evaluated

20 with funds under this section may not be used for deci21 sions about individual students relating to program place22 ment, promotion, or retention, graduation, or employment

23 for a period of five years from the date of enactment of

24 this Act.
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1 SEC. 221. EVALUATION.

2 (a) GRANT.—From funds reserved under section

3 304(a)(2), the Secretary annually shall make a grant, in

4 an amount not to exceed $500,000, to the Commission on

5 Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the Na6 tional Academy of Sciences or to the National Academy

7 of Education to—

8 (1) evaluate—

9 (A) the technical quality of the work per10 formed by the Goals Panel and the Council;

11 (B) the process the Council uses to develop

12 criteria for certification of standards and as13 sessments;

14 (C) the process the Council uses to certify

15 voluntary national standards as well as stand16 ards and assessments voluntarily submitted by

17 States; and

18 (D) the process the Goals Panel uses to

19 approve certification criteria and voluntary na20 tional standards;

21 (2) periodically provide to the Goals Panel and

22 the Council, as appropriate, information from the

23 evaluation under paragraph (1); and

24 (3) report on the activities authorized under

25 sections 219 and 220.
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1 (b) REPORT.—The grant recipient shall periodically

2 report to the Congress, the Secretary, and the public re3 garding findings and shall make a final report not later

4 than January 1, 1998.

5 PART C—AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

6 SEC. 231. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

7 (a) NATIONAL EDUCATION GOALS PANEL.—There

8 are authorized to be appropriated $3,000,000 for fiscal

9 year 1994 and such sums as may be necessary for each

10 of the four succeeding fiscal years to carry out part A of

11 this title.

12 (b) NATIONAL EDUCATION STANDARDS AND IM13 PROVEMENT COUNCIL.—There are authorized to be ap14 propriated $3,000,000 for fiscal year 1994 and such sums

15 as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1995

16 through 1998 to carry out part B of this title.

17 (c) OPPORTUNITY-TO-LEARN DEVELOPMENT

18 GRANT.—There are authorized to be appropriated

19 $3,000,000 for fiscal year 1994 and such sums as may

20 be necessary for fiscal year 1995 to carry out the Oppor21 tunity-to-Learn Development Grant Program established

22 under section 219 of this title.

23 (d) ASSESSMENT DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION

24 GRANTS.—There are authorized to be appropriated

25 $5,000,000 for fiscal year 1994 and such sums as may
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1 be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1995 through

2 1998 to carry out the Assessment Development and Eval3 uation Grants Program established under section 220 of

4 this title.

5 TITLE III—STATE AND LOCAL

6 EDUCATION SYSTEMIC IM7 PROVEMENT

8 SEC. 301. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

9 The Congress finds that—

10 (1) all students can learn and achieve high

11 standards and must realize their potential if the

12 United States is to prosper;

13 (2) the reforms in education of the last 15

14 years have achieved some good results, but these ef15 forts often have been limited to a few schools or to

16 a single part of the educational system;

17 (3) leadership must come both from teachers,

18 related services personnel, principals, and parents in

19 individual schools and from policymakers at the

20 local, State, tribal, and national levels, in order for

21 lasting improvements in student performance to

22 occur;

23 (4) simultaneous top-down and bottom-up edu24 cation reform is necessary to spur creative and inno25 vative approaches by individual schools to help all
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1 students achieve internationally competitive stand2 ards;

3 (5) strategies must be developed by commu4 nities and States to support the revitalization of all

5 local public schools by fundamentally changing the

6 entire system of public education through com7 prehensive, coherent, and coordinated improvement

8 in order to increase student learning;

9 (6) parents, teachers, and other local educators,

10 and business, community, and tribal leaders must be

11 involved in developing systemwide improvement

12 strategies that reflect the needs of their individual

13 communities;

14 (7) State and local education improvement ef15 forts must incorporate strategies for providing all

16 students and families with coordinated access to ap17 propriate social services, health care, nutrition, and

18 child care to remove preventable barriers to learning

19 and enhance school readiness for all students;

20 (8) States and local educational agencies, work21 ing together, must immediately set about developing

22 and implementing such systemwide improvement

23 strategies if the Nation is to educate all children to

24 meet their full potential and achieve the National

25 Education Goals listed in title I of this Act;
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1 (9) State and local systemic improvement strat2 egies must provide all students with effective mecha3 nisms and appropriate paths to the workforce as well

4 as to higher education;

5 (10) business should be encouraged to enter

6 into partnerships with schools, provide information

7 and guidance to schools on the needs of area busi8 ness for properly educated graduates in general and

9 on the need for particular workplace skills, that the

10 schools may provide necessary material and support,

11 and continue the lifelong learning process through12 out the employment years of an individual, and

13 schools should provide information to business re14 garding how the business community can assist

15 schools in meeting the goals of this Act;

16 (11) institutions of higher education should be

17 encouraged to enter into partnerships with schools

18 to provide information and guidance to schools on

19 the skills and knowledge graduates need in order to

20 enter and successfully complete postsecondary edu21 cation, and schools should provide information and

22 guidance to institutions of higher education on the

23 skills, knowledge, and preservice training teachers

24 need, and the types of professional development edu25 cators need in order to meet the goals of this Act;
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1 (12) the appropriate and innovative use of tech2 nology, including distance learning, can be very ef3 fective in helping to bring all students the oppor4 tunity to learn and meet high standards; and

5 (13) Federal funds should be targeted to sup6 port local and State initiatives, and to leverage State

7 and local resources for designing and implementing

8 system-wide improvement plans.

9 SEC. 302. PURPOSE.

10 The purpose of this title is to improve the quality of

11 education for all students by improving student learning

12 through a long-term, broad-based effort to promote coher13 ent and coordinated improvements in the system of edu14 cation throughout the Nation at the local and State levels.

15 This title provides new authorities and funding for the Na16 tion’s school systems without replacing or reducing fund17 ing for existing Federal education programs. It is the in18 tention of the Congress that no State or local educational

19 agency will reduce its funding for education or for edu20 cation reform on account of receiving any funds under this

21 title.

22 SEC. 303. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

23 For the purpose of carrying out this title, there are

24 authorized to be appropriated $393,000,000 for the fiscal
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1 year 1994, and such sums as may be necessary for each

2 of the fiscal years 1995 through 1998.

3 SEC. 304. ALLOTMENT OF FUNDS.

4 (a) RESERVATIONS OF FUNDS.—From funds appro5 priated under section 303, the Secretary—

6 (1) shall reserve a total of one percent to pro7 vide assistance, in amounts determined by the Sec8 retary—

9 (A) to the outlying areas; and

10 (B) to the Secretary of the Interior to ben11 efit Indian students in schools operated or

12 funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (re13 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Bureau’’); and

14 (2) may reserve a total of up to 6 percent for—

15 (A) national leadership activities under

16 section 313;

17 (B) the costs of peer review of State im18 provement plans and applications under this

19 title; and

20 (C) evaluation activities under section 221.

21 (b) STATE ALLOTMENTS.—The Secretary shall allot

22 the remaining amount appropriated under section 303 for

23 each fiscal year to the States (which for the purposes of

24 this subsection does not include the outlying areas) as fol25 lows:
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1 (1) 50 percent of such remaining amount shall

2 be allocated in accordance with the relative amounts

3 such State received under chapter 1 of title I of the

4 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

5 for the preceding fiscal year.

6 (2) 50 percent of such remaining amount shall

7 be allocated in accordance with the relative amounts

8 each such State received under part A of chapter 2

9 of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Edu10 cation Act of 1965 for the preceding fiscal year.

11 (c) REALLOTMENTS.—If the Secretary determines

12 that any amount of a State’s allotment for any fiscal year

13 under subsection (b) will not be needed for such fiscal year

14 by the State, the Secretary shall reallot such amount to

15 other States that need additional funds, in such manner

16 as the Secretary determines is appropriate.

17 SEC. 305. STATE APPLICATIONS.

18 (a) GENERAL.—(1) If a State desires to receive a

19 grant under this title, the State educational agency shall

20 submit an application to the Secretary at such time and

21 in such manner as the Secretary may determine.

22 (2) In addition to the information described in sub23 sections (b) and (c), each such application shall include—

24 (A) an assurance that the State educational

25 agency will cooperate with the Secretary in carrying
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1 out the Secretary’s responsibilities under section

2 312, and will comply with reasonable requests of the

3 Secretary for data related to the State’s progress in

4 developing and implementing its State improvement

5 plan under this title;

6 (B) an assurance that State law provides ade7 quate authority to carry out each component of the

8 State’s improvement plan developed, or to be devel9 oped under section 306, or that such authority will

10 be sought;

11 (C) an assurance that the standards developed

12 for student achievement are not less rigorous than

13 student achievement standards used prior to the

14 date of enactment of this Act;

15 (D) an assurance that the State will provide for

16 broad public participation in the planning process;

17 and

18 (E) such other assurances and information as

19 the Secretary may require.

20 (b) FIRST YEAR.—A State’s application for the first

21 year of assistance under this title shall—

22 (1) describe the process by which the State will

23 develop a school improvement plan that meets the

24 requirements of section 306; and
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1 (2) describe how the State educational agency

2 will use funds received under this title for such year,

3 including how the State educational agency will

4 make subgrants to local educational agencies and for

5 teacher training.

6 (c) SUBSEQUENT YEARS.—A State’s second applica7 tion under this title shall—

8 (1) cover the second through fifth years of its

9 participation;

10 (2) include a copy of the State’s improvement

11 plan that meets the requirements of section 306 or,

12 if the State plan is not complete, a statement of the

13 steps it will take to complete the plan and a schedule

14 for doing so; and

15 (3) include an explanation of how the State will

16 use funds received under this title, including how it

17 will make subgrants to local educational agencies

18 and for teacher training under section 309(b)(1).

19 SEC. 306. STATE IMPROVEMENT PLANS.

20 (a) BASIC SCOPE OF PLAN.—Any State educational

21 agency that wishes to receive a grant under this title after

22 its first year of participation shall develop and implement

23 a plan for the fundamental restructuring and improvement

24 of elementary and secondary education in the State. This

25 plan must address—
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1 (1) in accordance with subsection (c), the estab2 lishment or adoption of challenging content and stu3 dent performance standards for all students and the

4 use of curricula, instructional practices, assessments,

5 technology, parental involvement programs, and pro6 fessional preparation and development approaches

7 appropriate to help all students reach such stand8 ards;

9 (2) in accordance with subsection (d), the es10 tablishment or adoption of opportunity-to-learn

11 standards that will define the conditions of teaching

12 and learning that provide all students the oppor13 tunity to meet the challenging content and student

14 performance standards;

15 (3) in accordance with subsection (e), needed

16 changes in the governance and management of the

17 education system in order to effectively focus schools

18 on, and assist them in, preparing all students to

19 meet the challenging State standards;

20 (4) in accordance with subsection (f), com21 prehensive strategies to involve communities, includ22 ing parents, businesses, libraries, institutions of

23 higher education, employment and training agencies,

24 health and human service agencies, advocacy groups,

25 cultural institutions, and other public and private
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1 agencies that provide social services, health care,

2 child care, early childhood education, and nutrition

3 to students, in helping all students meet the chal4 lenging State standards;

5 (5) in accordance with subsection (g), strategies

6 for ensuring that all local educational agencies and

7 schools within the State are involved in developing

8 and implementing needed improvements within a

9 specified period of time;

10 (6) in accordance with subsection (h), strategies

11 for ensuring that comprehensive, systemic reform is

12 promoted from the bottom up in communities, local

13 educational agencies, and schools; and

14 (7) the needs of the children, ages 5 through

15 18, who are out of school and the extent to which

16 such children can be brought back into the education

17 system and meet the standards set forth in this Act.

18 (b) PLAN DEVELOPMENT.—(1) A State improvement

19 plan under this title must be developed by a broad-based

20 panel (referred to in this title as the ‘‘panel’’) in coopera21 tion with the State educational agency and the Governor.

22 The panel shall include—

23 (A) the Governor and the chief State school of24 ficer, or their designees;
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1 (B) the chairman of the State board of edu2 cation and the chairmen of the appropriate authoriz3 ing committees of the State legislature, or their des4 ignees;

5 (C) teachers, principals, and administrators

6 who have successfully improved student performance

7 and deans of colleges of education;

8 (D) representatives of teacher organizations,

9 parents, institutions of higher education, business

10 and labor leaders, community-based organizations,

11 Indian tribes, local boards of education, State and

12 local officials responsible for health, social services,

13 and other related services, and others, as appro14 priate;

15 (E) representatives from rural and urban local

16 educational agencies in the State; and

17 (F) experts in educational measurement and as18 sessment.

19 (2) The Governor and the chief State school officer

20 shall each appoint half the members of the State panel.

21 The full panel shall establish the procedures regarding the

22 operation of the panel, including the designation of the

23 panel chairperson.

24 (3) To the extent feasible, the membership of the

25 panel shall be geographically representative of the State
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1 and reflect the diversity of the population of the State with

2 regard to race, ethnicity, gender, and disability character3 istics.

4 (4) One-third of the panel members shall be individ5 uals with expertise in the educational needs and assess6 ments of children who are from low-income families, mi7 nority group backgrounds, have limited-English pro8 ficiency, or have disabilities.

9 (5) The panel shall consult the Governor, the chief

10 State school officer, the State board of education, and rel11 evant committees of the State legislature in developing the

12 plan.

13 (6) The panel shall be responsible for conducting a

14 statewide, grassroots outreach process, including conduct15 ing public hearings, to involve educators, related services

16 personnel, parents, secondary school students, local offi17 cials, private nonprofit elementary and secondary schools,

18 community and business leaders, Indian tribes, citizens,

19 children’s advocates, and others with a stake in the suc20 cess of students and their education system, and who are

21 representative of the diversity of the State and its student

22 population, in the development of the State plan and in

23 a continuing dialog regarding the need for and nature of

24 challenging standards for all students and local and State

25 responsibilities for helping all students achieve them.
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1 (7) The panel shall develop a continuing process for

2 interacting with local educational agencies and individual

3 schools engaged in systemic reform, especially including

4 local educational agencies and schools which receive

5 subgrants under section 309 of this Act, to ensure that

6 the development and implementation of the State plan re7 flects their needs and experiences.

8 (8) The panel shall develop a State plan, provide op9 portunity for public comment, and submit the State plan

10 to the State educational agency for approval.

11 (9) The State educational agency shall submit the

12 original State improvement plan developed by the panel

13 and the State improvement plan if modified by such agen14 cy, together with an explanation of any changes made by

15 such agency to the plan developed by the panel, to the

16 Secretary for approval.

17 (10) If any portion of the State plan addresses mat18 ters that, under State or other applicable law, are not

19 under the authority of the State educational agency, the

20 State educational agency shall obtain the approval of, or

21 changes to, such portion, with an explanation from the

22 Governor or other official responsible for that portion be23 fore submitting the plan to the Secretary.

24 (11) After approval of the State plan by the Sec25 retary, the panel, in close consultation with teachers, prin-
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1 cipals, administrators, school boards, advocacy groups, ad2 vocates of children with disabilities and parents in local

3 educational agencies and schools receiving funds under

4 this title, shall monitor the implementation and effective5 ness of the State plan to determine if revisions are appro6 priate, and shall periodically report its findings to the pub7 lic.

8 (c) TEACHING, LEARNING, STANDARDS, AND AS9 SESSMENTS.—Each State plan shall establish strategies

10 and a timetable for improving teaching and learning, in11 cluding—

12 (1) a process for developing or adopting chal13 lenging content and student performance standards

14 for all students which includes coordinating the

15 standards developed pursuant to section 115 of the

16 Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology

17 Education Act of 1990;

18 (2) a process for providing assistance and sup19 port to local educational agencies and schools to give

20 them the capacity and responsibility to provide all

21 students the opportunity to increase education

22 achievement and meet challenging State content and

23 student performance standards;

24 (3) assessing the effectiveness and equity of the

25 school finance program of the State to identify dis-
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1 parities in the resources available to each local edu2 cational agency and school in such State and how

3 such disparities affect the ability of the State edu4 cational agency and local educational agencies to de5 velop and implement plans under this title;

6 (4) a process for developing, adopting, or rec7 ommending instructional materials, including gender

8 equitable and multicultural materials, and tech9 nology to support and assist local educational agen10 cies and schools to provide all students the oppor11 tunity to meet the challenging State content and

12 student performance standards;

13 (5) a process for developing and implementing

14 a valid and nondiscriminatory assessment system or

15 set of locally-based assessment systems which are

16 consistent with relevant, nationally recognized, pro17 fessional and technical standards for assessment,

18 and are capable of providing coherent information

19 about student attainments relative to the State con20 tent standards;

21 (6) a process for monitoring the implementation

22 of such system or systems and the impact on im23 proved instruction for all students;

24 (7) a process for improving the State’s system

25 of teacher and school administrator preparation, li-
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1 censure, and continuing professional development so

2 that all teachers, related services personnel, and ad3 ministrators develop the subject matter and peda4 gogical expertise needed to prepare all students to

5 meet the challenging standards under paragraph (1);

6 (8) a process for providing appropriate and ef7 fective professional development, including the use of

8 technology, distance learning, and gender-equitable

9 methods, necessary for teachers, school administra10 tors, and others to help all students meet the chal11 lenging standards under paragraph (1); and

12 (9) a process to ensure widespread participation

13 of classroom teachers in developing the portions of

14 the plan described in this subsection.

15 (d) OPPORTUNITY-TO-LEARN STANDARDS.—Each

16 State plan shall establish a strategy and timetable for—

17 (1) adopting or establishing opportunity-to18 learn standards that are consistent with the chal19 lenging content and student performance standards

20 that have been adopted or established;

21 (2) ensuring that every school in the State is

22 making demonstrable progress toward meeting the

23 State’s opportunity-to-learn standards;

24 (3) ensuring that the State’s opportunity-to25 learn standards address the need of all students;
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1 (4) providing for periodic assessments of the ex2 tent to which opportunity-to-learn standards are

3 being met throughout the State; and

4 (5) periodically reporting to the public on the

5 extent of the State’s improvement in achieving such

6 standards and providing all students with a fair op7 portunity to achieve the knowledge and skill levels

8 that meet the State’s content and student perform9 ance standards.

10 (e) GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT.—Each State

11 plan shall establish strategies for improved governance

12 and management of its education system, such as—

13 (1) aligning responsibility, authority, and ac14 countability throughout the education system, so

15 that decisions regarding content and student per16 formance standards are coordinated and decisions

17 regarding the means for achieving such standards

18 are made closest to the learners;

19 (2) creating an integrated and coherent ap20 proach to attracting, recruiting, preparing and li21 censing, appraising, rewarding, retaining, and sup22 porting the continued professional development of

23 teachers (including vocational teachers), administra24 tors, and other educators, including bilingual edu25 cators and special education providers, so that there
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1 is a highly talented workforce of professional edu2 cators capable of preparing all students to reach

3 challenging standards, with special attention to the

4 recruitment, training, and retention of qualified mi5 norities into the education profession within the

6 State to ensure that the profession reflects the racial

7 and ethnic diversity of the student population;

8 (3) providing incentives for high performance,

9 such as—

10 (A) working with employers and institu11 tions of higher education to devise strategies to

12 reward student achievement;

13 (B) incentives for classroom teachers, prin14 cipals, and other professional educators to par15 ticipate in professional development activities;

16 and

17 (C) school-based incentives for schools and

18 local educational agencies to improve student

19 performance;

20 (4) increasing the proportion of State and local

21 funds allocated to direct instructional purposes; and

22 (5) increasing flexibility for local educational

23 agencies and schools by, for example—
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1 (A) waiving State regulations and other re2 quirements that impede educational improve3 ment;

4 (B) focusing accountability on educational

5 outcomes rather than monitoring compliance

6 with input requirements; and

7 (C) fostering conditions that allow teach8 ers, principals, and parents in the school com9 munity to be creative in helping all students

10 meet challenging standards.

11 (f) PARENTAL AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT AND IN12 VOLVEMENT.—Each State plan shall describe strategies

13 for how the State will involve parents and other commu14 nity members in planning, designing, and implementing

15 its plan, including such strategies as—

16 (1) educating the public about the need for

17 higher standards, systemic improvement, and aware18 ness of diverse learning needs;

19 (2) involving parents, communities, and advo20 cacy groups in the standard-setting and improve21 ment process;

22 (3) linking the family and school in supporting

23 students to meet the challenging student content

24 and performance standards established;
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1 (4) reporting, on an ongoing basis, to parents,

2 educators, and the public on the progress in imple3 menting the plan and improving student perform4 ance;

5 (5) focusing public and private community re6 sources and public school resources on prevention

7 and early intervention to address the needs of all

8 students by—

9 (A) identifying and removing unnecessary

10 regulations and obstacles to coordination;

11 (B) improving communication and infor12 mation exchange; and

13 (C) providing appropriate training to agen14 cy personnel; and

15 (6) increasing the access of all students to so16 cial services, health care, nutrition, related services,

17 and child care services, and locating such services in

18 schools, cooperating service agencies, community19 based centers, or other convenient sites designed to

20 provide ‘‘one-stop shopping’’ for parents and stu21 dents.

22 (g) MAKING THE IMPROVEMENTS SYSTEMWIDE.—To

23 help provide all students throughout the State the oppor24 tunity to meet challenging State standards, each State

25 plan shall describe strategies such as—
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1 (1) ensuring that the improvement efforts ex2 pand from the initial local educational agencies,

3 schools, and educators involved to all local edu4 cational agencies, schools, and educators in the

5 State education system through such approaches as

6 teacher and administrator professional development,

7 technical assistance, whole school projects, intensive

8 summer training, and networking of teachers and

9 other educators, consortia of schools, and local edu10 cational agencies undertaking similar improvements;

11 (2) developing partnerships among preschools,

12 elementary and secondary schools, institutions of

13 higher education, cultural institutions, health and

14 social service providers, and employers to improve

15 teaching and learning at all levels of the education

16 system for all students and to foster collaboration

17 and continuous improvement;

18 (3) strategies to provide for the close coordina19 tion of standards development and improvement ef20 forts among institutions of higher education and sec21 ondary, and elementary schools;

22 (4) conducting parental involvement activities

23 and outreach programs aimed at parents whose lan24 guage is a language other than English, individuals

25 with disabilities, and other special populations, in-
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1 cluding American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and Na2 tive Hawaiians, to involve all segments of the com3 munity in the development of the State plan;

4 (5) developing partnerships with Indian tribes

5 and schools funded by the Bureau, where appro6 priate, to improve consistency and compatibility in

7 curriculum among public and such schools funded by

8 the Bureau at all grade levels;

9 (6) allocating all available local, State, and Fed10 eral resources to achieve system-wide improvement;

11 (7) providing for the development of objective

12 criteria and measures against which the success of

13 local plans will be evaluated;

14 (8) providing for the availability of curricular

15 materials, learning technologies, including distance

16 learning, and professional development in a manner

17 ensuring equal access by all local educational agen18 cies in the State;

19 (9) taking steps to ensure that all local edu20 cational agencies, schools, and educators in the

21 State benefit from successful programs and practices

22 supported by funds made available to local edu23 cational agencies and schools under this title; and

24 (10) providing assistance to students, teachers,

25 schools, and local educational agencies that are iden-
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1 tified through the assessment system developed

2 under subsection (c)(5) as needing such assistance.

3 (h) PROMOTING BOTTOM-UP REFORM.—Each State

4 plan shall include strategies for ensuring that comprehen5 sive, systemic reform is promoted from the bottom up in

6 communities, local educational agencies, and schools, as

7 well as guided by coordination and facilitation from State

8 leaders, including strategies such as—

9 (1) ensuring that the State plan is responsive to

10 the needs and experiences of local educational agen11 cies, schools, teachers, the community, and parents;

12 (2) establishing mechanisms for continuous

13 input from local schools, communities, advocacy

14 groups, institutions of higher education, and local

15 educational agencies into, and feedback on, the im16 plementation of the State plan;

17 (3) providing discretionary resources that en18 able teachers and schools to purchase needed profes19 sional development and other forms of assistance

20 consistent with their improvement plan from high21 quality providers of their choice;

22 (4) establishing collaborative networks of teach23 ers centered on content standards and assessments

24 for the purpose of improving teaching and learning;
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1 (5) providing flexibility to individual schools

2 and local educational agencies to enable them to

3 adapt and integrate State content standards into

4 courses of study appropriate for individual schools

5 and communities;

6 (6) facilitating the provision of waivers from

7 State rules and regulations that impede the ability

8 of local educational agencies or schools to carry out

9 local education improvement plans; and

10 (7) facilitating communication among educators

11 within and between local educational agencies for the

12 purpose of sharing innovative and effective practices,

13 including, through the use of telecommunications,

14 distance learning, site visits, and other means.

15 (i) COORDINATION WITH SCHOOL-TO-WORK PRO16 GRAMS.—If a State has received Federal assistance for the

17 purpose of planing for, expanding, or establishing a

18 school-to-work program, then a State shall include in the

19 State plan a description of how such school-to-work pro20 gram will be incorporated into the school reform efforts

21 of the State. In particular, the State plan shall include

22 a description of how secondary schools will be modified

23 in order to provide career guidance, the integration of aca24 demic and vocational education, and work-based learning,
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1 if such programs are proposed in the State’s school-to2 work plan.

3 (j) BENCHMARKS AND TIMELINES.—Each State plan

4 shall include specific benchmarks of improved student per5 formance and of progress in implementing the improve6 ment plan, and timelines against which the progress of

7 the State in carrying out its plan, including the elements

8 described in subsections (c) through (h), can be measured.

9 (k) COORDINATING STRATEGIES.—Each State plan

10 shall include strategies for coordinating the integration of

11 academic and vocational instruction pursuant to the Carl

12 D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education

13 Act.

14 (l) PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT AND ACCOUNTABIL15 ITY.—Each State shall describe—

16 (1) how the State will monitor progress towards

17 implementing the State and local plans; and

18 (2) procedures the State will use to ensure

19 schools and school districts meet State opportunity20 to-learn and content standards within the estab21 lished time lines.

22 (m) PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL MANDATES, DIREC23 TION, AND CONTROL.—Nothing in this section shall be

24 construed to authorize an officer or employee of the Fed25 eral Government to mandate, direct, or control a State,
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1 local educational agency, or school’s curriculum, program

2 of instruction, or allocation of State and local resources.

3 (n) PEER REVIEW AND SECRETARIAL APPROVAL.—

4 (1) The Secretary shall review each State improvement

5 plan prepared under this section, and each application

6 submitted under section 305, with the assistance and ad7 vice of State and local education policymakers, educators,

8 classroom teachers, related services personnel, experts on

9 educational innovation and improvement, parents, advo10 cates for children with disabilities, representatives of other

11 advocacy groups, and other appropriate individuals. The

12 peer review process shall be performed by individuals rep13 resentative of the diversity of the United States with re14 gard to geography, race, ethnicity, gender, and disability.

15 The review of each State plan shall include at least one

16 site visit to each State.

17 (2) The Secretary shall approve a State’s plan when

18 the Secretary determines, after considering the peer re19 viewers’ comment, that it—

20 (A) reflects a widespread commitment within

21 the State;

22 (B) holds reasonable promise of enabling all

23 students to achieve at the high levels called for by

24 this Act;
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1 (C) meets the requirements of subsections (a)

2 through (k); and

3 (D) allows local schools, local educational agen4 cies and communities the flexibility to implement

5 local improvement plans in a manner which reflects

6 local needs and requirements in order to promote a

7 ‘bottom up’ system of school reform.

8 (3) The Secretary shall not decline to approve a

9 State’s plan, or any State application submitted under sec10 tion 305, before offering the State—

11 (A) an opportunity to revise its plan or applica12 tion; and

13 (B) a hearing.

14 (o) REGULAR REVIEW.—Each State plan shall in15 clude a process for regularly reviewing and updating any

16 State content, student performance, and opportunity-to17 learn standards and assessment systems.

18 (p) AMENDMENTS TO PLAN.—(1) Each State shall

19 periodically review its plan and revise it, as appropriate,

20 in accordance with the process described in subsection (b).

21 (2) The Secretary shall review major amendments to

22 a State’s plan through the same process, described in sub23 section (j), used to review the original plan.

24 (q) PREEXISTING STATE PLANS AND PANELS.—(1)

25 If a State has developed a comprehensive and systemic
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1 improvement plan to help all students meet challenging

2 standards, or any component of such a plan, that other3 wise meets the requirements of this section, the Secretary

4 may approve such plan or component notwithstanding that

5 it was not developed in accordance with subsection (b),

6 if the Secretary determines that such approval would fur7 ther the purposes of State systemic education improve8 ment.

9 (2) If, before the enactment of this Act, a State has

10 made substantial progress in developing a plan that other11 wise meets, or is likely to meet, the requirements of this

12 section, but was developed by a panel that does not meet

13 the requirements of paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of sub14 section (b), the Secretary may, at the request of the Gov15 ernor and the State educational agency, treat such panel

16 as meeting the requirements of this title if the Secretary

17 determines that there has been statewide involvement of

18 educators, parents, students, advocacy groups, other inter19 ested members of the public in the development of the

20 plan.

21 SEC. 307. SECRETARY’S REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS; PAY22 MENTS.

23 (a) FIRST YEAR.—The Secretary shall approve the

24 initial year application of a State educational agency

25 under section 305(b) if the Secretary determines that—
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1 (1) such application meets the requirements of

2 this title; and

3 (2) there is a substantial likelihood that the re4 newal application of the State will be able to develop

5 and implement an education improvement plan that

6 complies with section 306.

7 (b) SECOND THROUGH FIFTH YEARS.—The Sec8 retary shall approve a renewal application of a State edu9 cational agency under section 305(c) for the second

10 through fifth years only if—

11 (1)(A) the Secretary has approved the State’s

12 improvement plan under section 306(l); or

13 (B) the Secretary determines that the State has

14 made substantial progress in developing such plan;

15 and

16 (2) such application meets the other require17 ments of this title.

18 (c) PAYMENTS.—For any fiscal year for which a

19 State has an approved application under this title, the Sec20 retary shall make a grant to the State educational agency

21 in the amount determined under section 304(b).

22 SEC. 308. STATE USE OF FUNDS.

23 (a) FIRST YEAR.—In the first year for which a State

24 educational agency receives a grant under this title, the

25 State—
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1 (1) shall use at least 75 percent of such funds

2 to make subgrants, in accordance with section

3 309(a), to local educational agencies for the develop4 ment or implementation of local improvement plans

5 and to make subgrants, in accordance with section

6 309(b), to improve educator preservice programs

7 and for professional development activities consistent

8 with the State plan, if the amount allocated to

9 States under section 304(b) for such year is at least

10 $50,000,000. The State may use such funds for

11 such subgrants if such amount is less than

12 $50,000,000; and

13 (2) shall use the remainder of such funds to de14 velop, revise, expand, or implement an education im15 provement plan described in section 306.

16 (b) SUCCEEDING YEARS.—A State that receives as17 sistance under this title for any year after the first year

18 of participation shall—

19 (1) use at least 90 percent of such assistance

20 in each succeeding year to make subgrants—

21 (A) to local educational agencies, in ac22 cordance with section 309(a), for the implemen23 tation of the State improvement plan and of

24 local improvement plans; and
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1 (B) in accordance with section 309(b), to

2 improve educator preservice programs and for

3 professional development activities that are con4 sistent with the State improvement plan; and

5 (2) use the remainder of such assistance for

6 State activities designed to implement its improve7 ment plan, such as—

8 (A) supporting the development or adop9 tion of State content and student performance

10 standards, State opportunity-to-learn standards,

11 and assessments linked to the standards, in12 cluding through consortia of States, and in con13 junction with the National Education Standards

14 and Improvement Council established under

15 part B of title II of this Act;

16 (B) supporting the implementation of high17 performance management and organizational

18 strategies, such as site-based management,

19 shared decisionmaking, or quality management

20 principles, to promote effective implementation

21 of such plan;

22 (C) supporting the development and imple23 mentation, at the local educational agency and

24 school building level, of improved human re25 source development systems for recruiting, se-
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1 lecting, mentoring, supporting, evaluating, and

2 rewarding educators;

3 (D) providing special attention to the

4 needs of minority, limited-English proficient,

5 disabled, and female students, including in6 structional programs and activities that encour7 age such students in elementary and secondary

8 schools to aspire to enter post secondary edu9 cation or training;

10 (E) supporting the development, at the

11 State or local level, of performance-based ac12 countability and incentive systems for schools;

13 (F) outreach related to education improve14 ment to parents, Indian tribal officials, class15 room teachers, related services personnel, and

16 other educators, and the public;

17 (G) providing technical assistance and

18 other services to increase the capacity of local

19 educational agencies and schools to develop and

20 implement local systemic improvement plans,

21 implement new assessments, and develop curric22 ula consistent with the content and student per23 formance standards of the State;
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1 (H) promoting public magnet schools, pub2 lic ‘‘charter schools’’, and other mechanisms for

3 increasing choice among public schools; and

4 (I) collecting and analyzing data.

5 (c) LIMIT ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—In each

6 year, a State may use not more than four percent of its

7 annual allotment under this title, or $100,000, whichever

8 is greater, for administrative expenses, not including the

9 activities of the panel established under section 306(b)(1).

10 SEC. 309. SUBGRANTS FOR LOCAL REFORM AND PROFES11 SIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

12 (a) SUBGRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN13 CIES.—(1)(A) Each State educational agency shall make

14 subgrants to local educational agencies (or consortia of

15 such agencies) consistent with subsections (a)(1) and

16 (b)(1)(A) of section 308 through a competitive process.

17 (B) In making such subgrants, the State educational

18 agency shall award not less than 1 subgrant in each fiscal

19 year to an urban local educational agency and not less

20 than 1 subgrant in each fiscal year to a rural local edu21 cational agency, except that this provision shall not apply

22 to the District of Columbia. Rural local educational agen23 cies may include or be represented as a fiscal agent by

24 an education service agency.
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1 (C) Each subgrant shall be for a project of sufficient

2 duration and of sufficient size, scope, and quality to carry

3 out the purpose of this title effectively.

4 (2) A local educational agency wishing to receive a

5 subgrant under this title for the purpose of developing a

6 comprehensive local plan shall submit an application to the

7 State educational agency. Such application shall contain

8 assurances that the local educational agency intends to de9 velop a plan that meets the requirements of this section.

10 (3) Each local educational agency wishing to receive

11 a subgrant for the purpose of implementing a plan under

12 this subsection shall submit a local plan to the State edu13 cational agency which—

14 (A) is developed by a broad-based panel that—

15 (i) is appointed by the local educational

16 agency and is representative of the diversity of

17 students and community with regard to race,

18 language, ethnicity, gender, disability, and so19 cioeconomic characteristics and includes teach20 ers, parents, advocacy groups, school adminis21 trators, business representatives, and others, as

22 appropriate; and

23 (ii) shall, following the selection of its

24 members, establish the procedures regarding
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1 the operation of the panel, including the des2 ignation of the chairperson;

3 (B) includes a comprehensive local plan for dis4 trictwide education improvement, directed at ena5 bling all students to meet the challenging content

6 and student performance standards of the State, in7 cluding specific goals and benchmarks, consistent

8 with the State improvement plan (either approved or

9 under development) and includes a strategy for—

10 (i) implementing opportunity-to-learn

11 standards;

12 (ii) improving teaching and learning;

13 (iii) improving governance and manage14 ment;

15 (iv) generating and strengthening parental

16 and community involvement; and

17 (v) expanding improvements throughout

18 the local educational agency;

19 (C) promotes the flexibility of local schools in

20 developing plans which address the particular needs

21 of their school and community and are consistent

22 with the local plan;

23 (D) describes a process of broad-based commu24 nity participation in the development, implementa25 tion, and evaluation of the local plan;
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1 (E) describes how the local educational agency

2 will encourage and assist schools to develop com3 prehensive school improvement plans that focus on

4 helping all students reach challenging content and

5 student performance standards and that address rel6 evant elements of the improvement plan of the local

7 educational agency identified in subparagraph (B);

8 (F) describes how the local educational agency

9 will implement specific programs aimed at ensuring

10 improvements in school readiness and the ability of

11 students to learn effectively at all grade levels by

12 identifying the most pressing needs facing students

13 and their families with regard to social services,

14 health care, nutrition, and child care, and by enter15 ing into partnerships with public and private agen16 cies to increase the access of students and families

17 to coordinated services in a school setting or at a

18 nearby site;

19 (G) describes how the subgrant will be used by

20 the local educational agency, and the procedures to

21 be used to make funds available to schools in accord22 ance with paragraph (6)(A);

23 (H) identifies, with an explanation, any State

24 or Federal requirements that the local educational

25 agency believes impede educational improvement and
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1 that such local educational agency requests be

2 waived in accordance with section 311 (such re3 quests shall promptly be transmitted to the Sec4 retary by the State educational agency); and

5 (I) contains such other information as the State

6 educational agency may reasonably require.

7 (4) A local educational agency which has approved

8 a local plan shall submit such plan to the State for ap9 proval together with a description of modifications to such

10 plan and any comments from the local panel regarding

11 such plan.

12 (5) The panel appointed under paragraph (3)(A)

13 shall, after approval by the State educational agency of

14 the application of the local educational agency, monitor

15 the implementation and effectiveness of the local improve16 ment plan in close consultation with teachers, related serv17 ices personnel, principals, administrators, community

18 members, and parents from schools receiving funds under

19 this title, to determine if revisions to the local plan should

20 be recommended to the local educational agency. The

21 panel shall make public its findings.

22 (6)(A) A local educational agency that receives a

23 subgrant under this subsection shall—

24 (i) in the first year, use not more than 25 per25 cent of subgrant funds to develop a local improve-
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1 ment plan or to implement any local educational ac2 tivities approved by the State educational agency

3 which are reasonably related to carrying out the

4 State or local improvement plans, and not less than

5 75 percent of such funds to support individual

6 school improvement initiatives directly related to

7 providing all students in the school the opportunity

8 to meet challenging State content and student per9 formance standards; and

10 (ii) in subsequent years, use subgrant funds for

11 any activities approved by the State educational

12 agency which are reasonably related to carrying out

13 the State or local improvement plans, except that at

14 least 85 percent of such funds shall be made avail15 able to individual schools to develop and implement

16 comprehensive school improvement plans which are

17 tailored to meet the needs of their particular student

18 populations and are designed to help all students

19 meet challenging State content standards.

20 (B) At least 50 percent of the funds made available

21 by a local educational agency to individual schools under

22 this section in any fiscal year shall be made available to

23 schools with a special need for such assistance, as indi24 cated by a high number or percentage of students from
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1 low-income families, low student achievement, or other

2 similar criteria developed by the local educational agency.

3 (C) A local educational agency may not use more

4 than five percent of its annual allotment under this Act

5 for administrative expenses.

6 (7) The State educational agency shall give priority

7 in awarding a subgrant to—

8 (A) a consortium of local educational agencies;

9 or

10 (B) a local educational agency that makes as11 surances that funds will be used to assist a consor12 tium of schools that has developed a plan for school

13 improvement.

14 (b) SUBGRANTS FOR PRESERVICE TEACHER EDU15 CATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVI16 TIES.—(1)(A) Each State educational agency shall make

17 subgrants to consortia of local educational agencies, insti18 tutions of higher education, private nonprofit organiza19 tions, or combinations thereof, consistent with subsections

20 (a)(1) and (b)(1) of section 308 through a competitive,

21 peer-reviewed process to—

22 (i) improve preservice teacher education pro23 grams consistent with the State plan, including how

24 to work effectively with parents and the community;

25 and
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1 (ii) support continuing, sustained professional

2 development activities for educators which will in3 crease student learning and are consistent with the

4 State plan.

5 (B)(i) In order to apply for a subgrant described in

6 subparagraph (A)(i), a consortium must include at least

7 one local educational agency and at least one institution

8 of higher education.

9 (ii) In order to apply for a subgrant described in sub10 paragraph (A)(ii), a consortium must include at least one

11 local educational agency.

12 (2) A consortium that wishes to receive a subgrant

13 under this subsection shall submit an application to the

14 State educational agency which—

15 (A) describes how the applicant will use the

16 subgrant to improve teacher preservice and school

17 administrator education programs or to implement

18 educator professional development activities consist19 ent with the State plan;

20 (B) identifies the criteria to be used by the ap21 plicant to judge improvements in preservice edu22 cation or the effects of professional development ac23 tivities consistent with the State plan; and

24 (C) contains any other information that the

25 State educational agency determines is appropriate.
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1 (3) A recipient of a subgrant under this subsection

2 shall use the subgrant funds for activities supporting—

3 (A) the improvement of preservice teacher edu4 cation and school administrator programs so that

5 such programs equip educators with the subject

6 matter and pedagogical expertise necessary for pre7 paring all students to meet challenging standards; or

8 (B) the development and implementation of new

9 and improved forms of continuing and sustained

10 professional development opportunities for teachers,

11 principals, and other educators at the school or dis12 trict level that equip educators with such expertise,

13 and with other knowledge and skills necessary for

14 leading and participating in continuous education

15 improvement.

16 (4) A recipient may use the subgrant funds under

17 this subsection for costs related to release time for teach18 ers to participate in professional development activities.

19 (5) Professional development shall include related

20 services personnel as appropriate.

21 (6) In awarding subgrants under this subsection, the

22 State educational agency shall give priority to local edu23 cational agencies that form partnerships with collegiate

24 educators to establish professional development school

25 sites.
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1 (c) SPECIAL AWARD RULE.—(1) Each State edu2 cational agency shall award at least 50 percent of

3 subgrant funds under subsection (a) in each fiscal year

4 to local educational agencies that have a greater percent5 age or number of disadvantaged children than the state6 wide average percentage or number for all local edu7 cational agencies in the State.

8 (2) The State educational agency may waive the re9 quirement of paragraph (1) if such State does not receive

10 a sufficient number of applications to comply with such

11 requirement.

12 SEC. 310. AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION AND TRAINING.

13 (a) INFORMATION AND TRAINING.—Proportionate to

14 the number of children in a State or in a local educational

15 agency who are enrolled in private elementary or second16 ary schools—

17 (1) a State educational agency or local edu18 cational agency which uses funds under this title to

19 develop goals, content standards, curricular mate20 rials, and assessments shall, upon request, make in21 formation related to such goals, standards, mate22 rials, and assessments available to private schools;

23 and

24 (2) a State educational agency or local edu25 cational agency which uses funds under this title for
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1 teacher and administrator training shall provide in

2 its plan for the training of teachers and administra3 tors in private schools located in the geographical

4 area served by such agency.

5 (b) WAIVER.—If, by reason of any provision of law,

6 a State or local educational agency is prohibited from pro7 viding for the equitable participation of teachers and ad8 ministrators from private schools in training programs as9 sisted with Federal funds provided under this title, or if

10 the Secretary determines that a State or local educational

11 agency has substantially failed or is unwilling to provide

12 for such participation, the Secretary shall waive such re13 quirements and shall arrange for the provision of training

14 consistent with State goals and content standards for such

15 teachers and administrators. Such waivers shall be subject

16 to consultation, withholding, notice, and judicial review in

17 accordance with section 1017 of the Elementary and

18 Secondary Education Act of 1965.

19 SEC. 311. WAIVERS OF STATUTORY AND REGULATORY RE20 QUIREMENTS.

21 (a) GENERAL.—(1) Except as provided in subsection

22 (c), the Secretary may waive any requirement of any stat23 ute listed in subsection (b) or of the regulations issued

24 under such statute for a State educational agency, local
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1 educational agency, or school that requests such a waiv2 er—

3 (A) if, and only to the extent that, the Sec4 retary determines that such requirement impedes the

5 ability of the State, or of a local educational agency

6 or school in the State, to carry out the State or local

7 education improvement plan;

8 (B) if the State educational agency has waived,

9 or agrees to waive, similar requirements of State

10 law; and

11 (C) if, in the case of a Statewide waiver, the

12 State educational agency—

13 (i) provides all local educational agencies

14 and parent organizations in the State with no15 tice and an opportunity to comment on the pro16 posal of the State educational agency to seek a

17 waiver; and

18 (ii) submits the comments of such agencies

19 to the Secretary.

20 (2) To request a waiver, a State educational agency,

21 local educational agency, or school that receives funds

22 under this Act or a local educational agency that does not

23 receive funds under this Act but is undertaking school re24 form efforts that meet the objectives of the State plan,
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1 shall submit an application to the Secretary that in2 cludes—

3 (A) the identification of statutory or regulatory

4 requirements that are requested to be waived and

5 the goals that the State local educational agency or

6 school intends to achieve;

7 (B) a description of the action that the State

8 has undertaken to remove State statutory or regu9 latory barriers identified in the applications of local

10 educational agencies;

11 (C) a description of the goals of the waiver and

12 the expected programmatic outcomes if the request

13 is granted;

14 (D) the numbers and types of students to be

15 impacted by such waiver;

16 (E) a timetable for implementing a waiver; and

17 (F) the process the State will use to monitor,

18 on a biannual basis, the progress in implementing a

19 waiver.

20 (3) The Secretary shall act promptly on a waiver re21 quest and state in writing the reasons for granting or de22 nying such request. If a waiver is granted, the Secretary

23 must also include the expected outcome of granting such

24 waiver.

25 (4) The Secretary’s decision shall be—
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1 (A) published in the Federal Register; and

2 (B) disseminated by the State educational agen3 cy to interested parties, including educators, par4 ents, students, advocacy and civil rights organiza5 tions, other interested parties, and the public.

6 (5) Each such waiver shall be for a period not to ex7 ceed three years. The Secretary may extend such period

8 if the Secretary determines that the waiver has been effec9 tive in enabling the State or affected local educational

10 agencies to carry out reform plans.

11 (b) INCLUDED PROGRAMS.—The statutes subject to

12 the waiver authority of this section are as follows:

13 (1) Chapter 1 of title I of the Elementary and

14 Secondary Education Act of 1965.

15 (2) Part A of chapter 2 of title I of the Elemen16 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

17 (3) The Dwight D. Eisenhower Mathematics

18 and Science Education Act (part A of title II of the

19 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965).

20 (4) The Emergency Immigrant Education Act

21 of 1984 (part D of title IV of the Elementary and

22 Secondary Education Act of 1965).

23 (5) The Drug-Free Schools and Communities

24 Act of 1986 (title V of the Elementary and Second25 ary Education Act of 1965).
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1 (6) The Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied

2 Technology Education Act.

3 (c) WAIVERS NOT AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary

4 may not waive any statutory or regulatory requirement of

5 the programs listed in subsection (b) relating to—

6 (1) maintenance of effort;

7 (2) comparability of services;

8 (3) the equitable participation of students and

9 professional staff in private schools;

10 (4) parental participation and involvement; or

11 (5) the distribution of funds to State or to local

12 educational agencies.

13 (d) TERMINATION OF WAIVERS.—The Secretary

14 shall periodically review the performance of any State,

15 local educational agency, or school for which the Secretary

16 has granted a waiver and shall terminate the waiver if the

17 performance of the State, the local educational agency, or

18 the school in the area affected by the waiver has been in19 adequate to justify a continuation of the waiver.

20 SEC. 312. PROGRESS REPORTS.

21 (a) STATE REPORTS TO THE SECRETARY.—Each

22 State educational agency that receives funds under this

23 title shall annually report to the Secretary regarding—

24 (1) progress in meeting State goals and plans;
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1 (2) proposed State activities for the succeeding

2 year; and

3 (3) in summary form, the progress of local edu4 cational agencies in meeting local goals and plans

5 and increasing student learning.

6 (b) SECRETARY’S REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—By

7 April 30, 1996, and every two years thereafter, the Sec8 retary shall submit a report to the Committee on Edu9 cation and Labor of the House of Representatives and the

10 Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate

11 describing the activities and outcomes of grants under—

12 (1) section 220 of this Act, including—

13 (A) a description of the purpose, uses, and

14 technical merit of assessments evaluated with

15 funds under such section; and

16 (B) an analysis of the impact of such as17 sessments on the performance of all students,

18 particularly students of different racial, gender,

19 ethnic, language groups, or individuals with dis20 abilities; and

21 (2) this title, including a description of the ef22 fect of waivers granted under section 311.

23 SEC. 313. NATIONAL LEADERSHIP.

24 (a) ACTIVITIES AUTHORIZED.—From funds reserved

25 each year under section 304(a)(2)(A), the Secretary shall,
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1 through the Office of Educational Research and Improve2 ment in accordance with the provisions of sections 405 and

3 406 of the General Education Provisions Act, directly or

4 through grants or contracts—

5 (1) provide technical assistance to States and

6 local educational agencies developing or implement7 ing school improvement plans, in a manner that en8 sures that each such State has access to such assist9 ance;

10 (2) gather data on, conduct research on, and

11 evaluate systemic education improvement, including

12 the programs authorized by this title;

13 (3) disseminate research findings and other in14 formation on systemic education improvement and

15 how it affects student learning;

16 (4) provide grants to tribal divisions of edu17 cation for coordination efforts between school reform

18 plans developed for schools funded by the Bureau of

19 Indian Affairs and public schools described in sec20 tion 306(g)(5), including tribal activities in support

21 of plans; and

22 (5) support national demonstration projects

23 that unite local and State educational agencies, in24 stitutions of higher education, government, business,
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1 and labor in collaborative arrangements in order to

2 make educational improvements systemwide.

3 (b) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—(1) The Secretary

4 shall use at least 50 percent of the funds reserved each

5 year under section 304(a)(2)(A) to make grants, consist6 ent with the provisions of section 309(a) that the Sec7 retary finds appropriate, and provide technical and other

8 assistance to urban and rural local educational agencies

9 with large numbers or concentrations of students who are

10 economically disadvantaged or who have limited English

11 proficiency, to assist such agencies in developing and im12 plementing local school improvement plans.

13 (2) The Secretary shall use not less than $1,000,000

14 of the funds reserved the first year under section

15 304(a)(2)(A) to survey coordinated services programs that

16 have been found to be successful in helping students and

17 families and improving student outcomes, and shall dis18 seminate information about such programs to schools that

19 plan to develop coordinated services programs.

20 SEC. 314. ASSISTANCE TO THE OUTLYING AREAS AND TO

21 THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

22 (a) OUTLYING AREAS.—(1) Funds reserved for outly23 ing areas under section 304(a)(1)(A) shall be distributed

24 among such areas by the Secretary according to relative

25 need.
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1 (2) The provisions of Public Law 95–134, permitting

2 the consolidation of grants to the insular areas, shall not

3 apply to funds received by such areas under this title.

4 (b) SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The funds reserved to the

6 Secretary of the Interior under section 304 shall be

7 made in a payment which shall be pursuant to an

8 agreement between the Secretary and the Secretary

9 of the Interior containing such assurances and terms

10 as the Secretary determines shall best achieve the

11 provisions of this section and this Act. The agree12 ment shall, at a minimum, contain assurances

13 that—

14 (A) a panel, as set forth in paragraph (4)

15 of this subsection, shall be established;

16 (B) a reform and improvement plan, de17 signed to increase student learning and assist

18 students in meeting the National Education

19 Goals, meeting the requirements pertaining to

20 State improvement plans required in section

21 306 and providing for the fundamental restruc22 turing and improvement of elementary and sec23 ondary education in schools funded by the Bu24 reau, shall be developed by such panel; and
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1 (C) the provisions and activities required

2 under State improvement plans, including the

3 requirements for timetables for opportunity-to4 learn standards, shall be carried out in the

5 same time frames and under the same condi6 tions stipulated for the States in sections 305

7 and 306, provided that for these purposes, the

8 term ‘‘local educational agencies’’ shall be inter9 preted to mean ‘‘schools funded by the Bu10 reau’’.

11 (2) VOLUNTARY SUBMISSION.—The provisions

12 applicable to the States in section 213 of this Act

13 shall apply to the Bureau plan with regard to vol14 untary submission of standards and assessment sys15 tems to the National Education Standards and

16 Improvement Council for review and certification.

17 (3) PLAN SPECIFICS.—The reform and im18 provement plan shall include, in addition to the re19 quirements referenced above, specific provisions

20 for—

21 (A) opportunity to learn standards pertain22 ing to residential programs and transportation

23 costs associated with programs located on or

24 near reservations or serving students in off-res25 ervation residential boarding schools;
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1 (B) review and incorporation of the Na2 tional Education Goals and the voluntary na3 tional content, student performance, and oppor4 tunity-to-learn standards developed under part

5 B of title II of this Act, provided that such re6 view shall include the issues of cultural and lan7 guage differences; and

8 (C) provision for coordination of the efforts

9 of the Bureau with the efforts for school im10 provement of the States and local educational

11 agencies in which the schools funded by the Bu12 reau are located, to include, but not be limited

13 to, the development of the partnerships outlined

14 in section 306(g)(5) of the Act.

15 (4) PANEL.—To carry out the provisions of this

16 section, and to develop the plan for system-wide re17 form and improvement required under the agree18 ment required under paragraph (1), the Secretary of

19 the Interior shall establish a panel coordinated by

20 the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian

21 Affairs. Such panel shall consist of—

22 (A) the Director of the Office of Indian

23 Education Programs of the Bureau of Indian

24 Affairs and two heads of other divisions of such
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1 Bureau as the Assistant Secretary shall des2 ignate;

3 (B) a designee of the Secretary of Edu4 cation; and

5 (C) a representative nominated by each of

6 the following:

7 (i) The organization representing the

8 majority of teachers and professional per9 sonnel in schools operated by the Bureau.

10 (ii) The organization representing the

11 majority of nonteaching personnel in

12 schools operated by the Bureau, if not the

13 same organization as in clause (i).

14 (iii) School administrators of schools

15 operated by the Bureau.

16 (iv) Education line officers located in

17 Bureau area or agency offices serving

18 schools funded by the Bureau.

19 (v) The organization representing the

20 majority of contract or grant schools fund21 ed by the Bureau not serving students on

22 the Navajo reservation.

23 (vi) The organization representing the

24 majority of contract or grant schools fund-
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1 ed by the Bureau serving students on the

2 Navajo reservation.

3 (vii) The organization representing

4 the school boards required by statute for

5 schools operated by the Bureau not serving

6 students on the Navajo reservation.

7 (viii) The organization representing

8 the school boards required by statute for

9 schools funded by the Bureau serving stu10 dents on the Navajo reservation.

11 Including the additional members required by para12 graph (5), a majority of the members of such panel

13 shall be from the entities designated under subpara14 graph (C).

15 (5) ADDITIONAL MEMBERS.—In addition, the

16 members of the panel stipulated above shall des17 ignate for full membership four additional mem18 bers—

19 (A) one of whom shall be a representative

20 of a national organization which represents pri21 marily national Indian education concerns; and

22 (B) three of whom shall be chairpersons

23 (or their designees) of Indian tribes with

24 schools funded by the Bureau on their reserva25 tions (other than those specifically represented
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1 by organizations referred to in paragraph (4)),

2 provided that preference for no less than two of

3 these members shall be given to Indian tribes

4 with a significant number of schools funded by

5 the Bureau on their reservations, or with a sig6 nificant percentage of their children enrolled in

7 schools funded by the Bureau.

8 (c) BIA COST ANALYSIS.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—(A) The Secretary of the In10 terior shall reserve from the first allotment made to

11 the Department of the Interior pursuant to section

12 304 an amount not to exceed $500,000 to provide,

13 through the National Academy of Sciences, for an

14 analysis of the costs associated with meeting the

15 academic and home-living/residential standards of

16 the Bureau of Indian Affairs for each school funded

17 by such Bureau. The purpose of such analysis shall

18 be to provide the Bureau and the Panel with base19 line data regarding the current state of operations

20 funded by the Bureau and to provide a framework

21 for addressing the implementation of opportunity-to22 learn standards.

23 (B) The results of such analysis shall be re24 ported, in aggregate and school specific form, to the

25 chairpersons and ranking minority members of the
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1 Committees on Education and Labor and Appropria2 tions of the House of Representatives and the Select

3 Committee on Indian Affairs and the Committee on

4 Appropriations of the Senate, and to the Secretary

5 of the Interior, the Secretary of Education (who

6 shall transmit the report to the proper entities under

7 this Act), and the Assistant Secretary of the Interior

8 for Indian Affairs, not later than 6 months after the

9 date of enactment of this Act.

10 (2) CONTENT.—Such analysis shall evaluate the

11 costs of providing a program in each school for the

12 next succeeding academic year and shall be based

13 on—

14 (A) the standards either published in the

15 Federal Register as having effect in schools op16 erated by the Bureau on the date of enactment

17 of this Act or the standards incorporated into

18 each grant or contract in effect on such date

19 with a tribally controlled school funded under

20 section 1128 of Public Law 95–561 (as amend21 ed);

22 (B) the best projections of student counts

23 and demographics, as provided by the Bureau

24 and as independently reviewed by the Academy;

25 and
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1 (C) the pay and benefit schedules and

2 other personnel requirements for each school

3 operated by the Bureau, as existing on the date

4 of enactment.

5 (d) SECRETARY OF DEFENSE.—The Secretary shall

6 consult with the Secretary of Defense to ensure that, to

7 the extent practicable, the purposes of this title are applied

8 to the Department of Defense schools.

9 TITLE IV—NATIONAL SKILL

10 STANDARDS BOARD

11 SEC. 401. PURPOSE.

12 It is the purpose of this title to establish a National

13 Board to serve as a catalyst in stimulating the develop14 ment and adoption of a voluntary national system of skill

15 standards and certification that will serve as a cornerstone

16 of the national strategy to enhance workforce skills, and

17 that can be used, consistent with Federal civil rights

18 laws—

19 (1) by the Nation, to ensure the development of

20 a high skills, high quality, high performance

21 workforce, including the most skilled front-line

22 workforce in the world, and that will result in in23 creased productivity, economic growth and American

24 economic competitiveness;
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1 (2) by industries, as a vehicle for informing

2 training providers and prospective employees of

3 skills necessary for employment;

4 (3) by employers, to assist in evaluating the

5 skill levels of prospective employees and to assist in

6 the training of current employees;

7 (4) by labor organizations, to enhance the em8 ployment security of workers by providing portable

9 credentials and skills;

10 (5) by workers, to obtain certifications of their

11 skills to protect against dislocation, to pursue career

12 advancement, and to enhance their ability to reenter

13 the workforce;

14 (6) by students and entry level workers, to de15 termine the skill levels and competencies needed to

16 be obtained in order to compete effectively for high

17 wage jobs;

18 (7) by training providers and educators, to de19 termine appropriate training services to offer;

20 (8) by Government, to evaluate whether pub21 licly-funded training assists participants to meet

22 skill standards where they exist and thereby protect

23 the integrity of public expenditures;

24 (9) to facilitate the transition to high perform25 ance work organizations;
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1 (10) to increase opportunities for minorities

2 and women, including removing barriers to the entry

3 of women in non-traditional employment; and

4 (11) to facilitate linkages between other compo5 nents of the workforce investment strategy, includ6 ing school-to-work transition, secondary and post7 secondary vocational-technical education, and job

8 training programs.

9 SEC. 402. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL BOARD.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established a National

11 Skill Standards Board (in this title referred to as the

12 ‘‘National Board’’).

13 (b) COMPOSITION.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The National Board shall be

15 composed of 28 members, appointed in accordance

16 with paragraph (3), of whom—

17 (A) one member shall be the Secretary of

18 Labor;

19 (B) one member shall be the Secretary of

20 Education;

21 (C) one member shall be the Secretary of

22 Commerce;

23 (D) one member shall be the Chairperson

24 of the National Education Standards and Im-
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1 provement Council established pursuant to sec2 tion 212(a);

3 (E) eight members shall be representatives

4 of small and large business and industry se5 lected from among individuals recommended by

6 recognized national business organizations and

7 trade associations;

8 (F) eight members shall be representatives

9 of organized labor selected from among individ10 uals recommended by recognized national labor

11 federations; and

12 (G) eight members shall be representatives

13 from the following groups, with at least one

14 member from each group:

15 (i) Educational institutions.

16 (ii) Community-based organizations.

17 (iii) State and local governments.

18 (iv) Nongovernmental organizations

19 with a demonstrated history of successfully

20 protecting the rights of racial, ethnic and

21 religious minorities, women, persons with

22 disabilities or older persons.

23 (2) DIVERSITY REQUIREMENTS.—The members

24 described in subparagraph (G) of paragraph (1)

25 shall have expertise in the area of education and
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1 training. The members described in subparagraphs

2 (E), (F), and (G) of paragraph (1) shall—

3 (A) in the aggregate, represent a broad

4 cross-section of occupations and industries; and

5 (B) to the extent feasible, be geographi6 cally representative of the United States and re7 flect the racial, ethnic and gender diversity of

8 the United States.

9 (3) APPOINTMENT.—The membership of the

10 National Board shall be appointed as follows:

11 (A) Twelve members (four from each class

12 of members described in subparagraphs (E),

13 (F), and (G) of paragraph (1)) shall be ap14 pointed by the President.

15 (B) Six members (two from each class of

16 members described in subparagraphs (E), (F),

17 and (G) of paragraph (1)) shall be appointed by

18 the Speaker of the House of Representatives, of

19 whom three members (one from each class of

20 members described in subparagraphs (E), (F),

21 and (G) of paragraph (1)) shall be selected

22 from recommendations made by the Majority

23 Leader of the House of Representatives and

24 three members (one from each class of members

25 described in subparagraphs (E), (F), and (G) of
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1 paragraph (1)) shall be selected from rec2 ommendations made by the Minority Leader of

3 the House of Representatives.

4 (C) Six members (two from each class of

5 members described in subparagraphs (E), (F),

6 and (G) of paragraph (1)) shall be appointed by

7 the President pro tempore of the Senate, of

8 whom three members (one from each class of

9 members described in subparagraphs (E), (F),

10 and (G) of paragraph (1)) shall be selected

11 from recommendations made by the Majority

12 Leader of the Senate and three members (one

13 from each class of members described in sub14 paragraphs (E), (F), and (G) of paragraph (1))

15 shall be selected from recommendations made

16 by the Minority Leader of the Senate.

17 (4) TERM.—Each member of the National

18 Board appointed under subparagraphs (E), (F), and

19 (G) of paragraph (1) shall be appointed for a term

20 of 4 years, except that of the initial members of the

21 Board appointed under such paragraph—

22 (A) twelve members shall be appointed for

23 a term of 3 years (four from each class of mem24 bers described in subparagraphs (E), (F), and

25 (G) of paragraph (1)), of whom—
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1 (i) two from each class shall be ap2 pointed in accordance with paragraph

3 (3)(A);

4 (ii) one from each such class shall be

5 appointed in accordance with paragraph

6 (3)(B); and

7 (iii) one from each such class shall be

8 appointed in accordance with paragraph

9 (3)(C); and

10 (B) twelve members shall be appointed for

11 a term of 4 years (four from each class of mem12 bers described in subparagraphs (E), (F), and

13 (G) of paragraph (1)), of whom—

14 (i) two from each such class shall be

15 appointed in accordance with paragraph

16 (3)(A);

17 (ii) one from each such class shall be

18 appointed in accordance with paragraph

19 (3)(B); and

20 (iii) one from each such class shall be

21 appointed in accordance with paragraph

22 (3)(C).

23 (c) CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSONS.—

24 (1) CHAIRPERSON.—The National Board shall

25 biennially elect a Chairperson from among the mem-
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1 bers of the National Board by a majority vote of

2 such members.

3 (2) VICE CHAIRPERSONS.—The National Board

4 shall annually elect 3 Vice Chairpersons (each rep5 resenting a different class of the classes of members

6 described in subparagraphs (E), (F), and (G) of

7 subsection (b)(1)) from among its members ap8 pointed under subsection (b)(3) by a majority vote

9 of such members, each of whom shall serve for a

10 term of 1 year.

11 (d) COMPENSATION AND EXPENSES.—

12 (1) COMPENSATION.—Members of the National

13 Board who are not regular full-time employees or of14 ficers of the Federal Government shall serve without

15 compensation.

16 (2) EXPENSES.—The members of the National

17 Board shall receive travel expenses, including per

18 diem in lieu of subsistence, in accordance with sub19 chapter I of chapter 57, title 5, United States Code,

20 while away from their homes or regular places of

21 business in the performance of services for the Na22 tional Board.

23 (e) EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND STAFF.—The Chair24 person of the National Board shall appoint an Executive

25 Director, who shall be compensated at a rate determined
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1 by the National Board that shall not exceed the rate of

2 pay for level V of the Executive Schedule under section

3 5316 of title 5, United States Code, and who shall appoint

4 such staff as is necessary in accordance with title 5, Unit5 ed States Code. Such staff shall include at least one indi6 vidual with expertise in measurement and assessment.

7 (f) AGENCY SUPPORT.—

8 (1) USE OF FACILITIES.—The National Board

9 may use the research, equipment, services and facili10 ties of any agency or instrumentality of the United

11 States with the consent of such agency or instru12 mentality.

13 (2) STAFF OF FEDERAL AGENCIES.—Upon the

14 request of the National Board, the head of any de15 partment or agency of the United States may detail

16 to the National Board, on a reimbursable basis, any

17 of the personnel of such department or agency to as18 sist the National Board in carrying out this title.

19 (g) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—An individual who has

20 served as a member of the National Board may not have

21 any financial interest in an assessment and certification

22 system developed or endorsed under this title for a period

23 of three years after the termination of service of such indi24 vidual from the National Board.
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1 SEC. 403. FUNCTIONS OF THE NATIONAL BOARD.

2 (a) IDENTIFICATION OF OCCUPATIONAL CLUS3 TERS.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

5 the National Board, after extensive public review

6 and comment and study of the national labor mar7 ket, shall identify broad clusters of major occupa8 tions that involve one or more than one industry in

9 the United States.

10 (2) PROCEDURES FOR IDENTIFICATION.—Prior

11 to identifying broad clusters of major occupations

12 under paragraph (1), the National Board shall—

13 (A) develop procedures for the identifica14 tion of such clusters;

15 (B) publish such procedures in the Federal

16 Register; and

17 (C) allow for extensive public review of and

18 comment on such procedures.

19 (b) VOLUNTARY PARTNERSHIPS TO DEVELOP

20 STANDARDS.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—For each of the occupational

22 clusters identified pursuant to subsection (a), the

23 National Board shall encourage and facilitate the es24 tablishment of voluntary partnerships to develop a

25 skill standards system in accordance with subsection

26 (d).
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1 (2) REPRESENTATIVES.—Such voluntary part2 nerships shall include the full and balanced partici3 pation of—

4 (A) representatives of business and indus5 try who have expertise in the area of workforce

6 skill requirements, including representatives of

7 large and small employers, recommended by na8 tional business organizations and trade associa9 tions representing employers in the occupation

10 or industry for which a standard is being devel11 oped, and representatives of trade associations

12 that have received demonstration grants from

13 the Department of Labor or the Department of

14 Education to establish skill standards prior to

15 the enactment of this title;

16 (B) employee representatives who have ex17 pertise in the area of workforce skill require18 ments and who shall be—

19 (i) individuals recommended by recog20 nized national labor organizations rep21 resenting employees in the occupation or

22 industry for which a standard is being de23 veloped; and

24 (ii) such other individuals who are

25 nonmanagerial employees with significant
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1 experience and tenure in such occupation

2 or industry as are appropriate given the

3 nature and structure of employment in the

4 occupation or industry;

5 (C) representatives of—

6 (i) educational institutions;

7 (ii) community-based organizations;

8 (iii) State and local agencies with ad9 ministrative control or direction over edu10 cation, vocational-technical education, or

11 employment and training;

12 (iv) other policy development organi13 zations with expertise in the area of

14 workforce skill requirements; and

15 (v) non-governmental organizations

16 with a demonstrated history of successfully

17 protecting the rights of racial, ethnic, and

18 religious minorities, women, individuals

19 with disabilities, and older persons; and

20 (D) individuals with expertise in measure21 ment and assessment, including relevant experi22 ence in designing unbiased assessments and

23 performance-based assessments.

24 (3) EXPERTS.—The partnerships described in

25 paragraph (1) may also include such other individ-
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1 uals who are independent, qualified experts in their

2 fields.

3 (c) RESEARCH, DISSEMINATION, AND COORDINA4 TION.—In order to support the development of a skill

5 standards system in accordance with subsection (d), the

6 National Board shall—

7 (1) conduct workforce research relating to skill

8 standards (including research relating to how to use

9 skill standards in compliance with civil rights laws)

10 and make such research available to the public, in11 cluding the partnerships described in subsection (b);

12 (2) identify and maintain a catalog of skill

13 standards used by other countries and by States and

14 leading firms and industries in the United States;

15 (3) serve as a clearinghouse to facilitate the

16 sharing of information on the development of skill

17 standards and other relevant information among

18 representatives of occupations and industries identi19 fied pursuant to subsection (a), the voluntary part20 nerships recognized pursuant to subsection (b), and

21 among education and training providers through

22 such mechanisms as the Capacity Building and In23 formation and Dissemination Network established

24 under section 453(b) of the Job Training Partner25 ship Act;
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1 (4) develop a common nomenclature relating to

2 skill standards;

3 (5) encourage the development and adoption of

4 curricula and training materials for attaining the

5 skill standards developed pursuant to subsection (d)

6 that include structured work experiences and related

7 study programs leading to progressive levels of pro8 fessional and technical certification and postsecond9 ary education;

10 (6) provide appropriate technical assistance;

11 and

12 (7) facilitate coordination among voluntary

13 partnerships that meet the requirements of sub14 section (b) to promote the development of a coherent

15 national system of voluntary skill standards.

16 (d) ENDORSEMENT OF SKILL STANDARDS SYS17 TEMS.—

18 (1) DEVELOPMENT OF ENDORSEMENT CRI19 TERIA.—

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The National Board,

21 after extensive public consultation, shall develop

22 objective criteria for endorsing skills standards

23 systems relating to the occupational clusters

24 identified pursuant to subsection (a). Such cri25 teria shall, at a minimum, include the compo-
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1 nents of a skill standards system described in

2 subparagraph (B). The endorsement criteria

3 shall be published in the Federal Register, and

4 updated as appropriate.

5 (B) COMPONENTS OF SYSTEM.—The com6 ponents of a skill standards systems shall in7 clude the following:

8 (i) Voluntary skill standards, which at

9 a minimum—

10 (I) meet or exceed, to the extent

11 practicable, the highest standards

12 used in other countries and the high13 est international standards;

14 (II) meet or exceed the highest

15 applicable standards used in the

16 United States, including apprentice17 ship standards registered under the

18 National Apprenticeship Act;

19 (III) take into account content

20 and performance standards certified

21 pursuant to title II;

22 (IV) take into account the re23 quirements of high performance work

24 organizations;
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1 (V) are in a form that allows for

2 regular updating to take into account

3 advances in technology or other devel4 opments within the occupational clus5 ter;

6 (VI) are formulated in such a

7 manner that promotes the portability

8 of credentials and facilitates worker

9 mobility within an occupational clus10 ter or industry and among industries;

11 and

12 (VII) are not discriminatory with

13 respect to race, color, gender, age, re14 ligion, ethnicity, disability, or national

15 origin, consistent with Federal civil

16 rights laws.

17 (ii) A voluntary assessment system

18 and certification of the attainment of skill

19 standards developed pursuant to subpara20 graph (A), which at a minimum—

21 (I) takes into account, to the ex22 tent practicable, methods of assess23 ment and certification used in other

24 countries;
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1 (II) utilizes a variety of evalua2 tion techniques, including, where ap3 propriate, oral and written evalua4 tions, portfolio assessments and per5 formance tests; and

6 (III) includes methods for estab7 lishing that the assessment and cer8 tification system is not discriminatory

9 with respect to race, color, gender,

10 age, religion, ethnicity, disability, or

11 national origin, consistent with Fed12 eral civil rights laws.

13 (iii) A system to promote the use of

14 and to disseminate information relating to

15 skill standards, and assessment and certifi16 cation systems developed pursuant to this

17 paragraph (including dissemination of in18 formation relating to civil rights laws rel19 evant to the use of such standards and sys20 tems) to entities such as institutions of

21 postsecondary education offering profes22 sional and technical education, labor orga23 nizations, trade associations, employers

24 providing formalized training and other or-
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1 ganizations likely to benefit from such sys2 tems.

3 (iv) A system to evaluate the imple4 mentation of the skill standards, and as5 sessment and certification systems devel6 oped pursuant to this paragraph, and the

7 effectiveness of the information dissemi8 nated pursuant to subparagraph (C) for

9 informing the users of such standards and

10 systems of the requirements of relevant

11 civil rights laws.

12 (v) A system to periodically revise and

13 update the skill standards, and assessment

14 and certification systems developed pursu15 ant to this paragraph, which will take into

16 account changes in standards in other

17 countries.

18 (2) ENDORSEMENT.—The National Board,

19 after extensive public review and comment, shall en20 dorse those skill standards systems relating to the

21 occupational clusters identified pursuant to sub22 section (a) that—

23 (A) meet the objective endorsement criteria

24 that are developed pursuant to paragraph (1);

25 and
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1 (B) are submitted by partnerships that

2 meet the representation requirements of sub3 section (b)(2).

4 (e) RELATIONSHIP WITH ANTIDISCRIMINATION

5 LAWS.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this title shall be

7 construed to modify or affect any Federal or State

8 law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race,

9 religion, color, ethnicity, national origin, gender, age,

10 or disability.

11 (2) EVIDENCE.—The endorsement or absence

12 of an endorsement by the Board of a skill standard

13 or assessment and certification system under sub14 section (d) shall not be used in any action or pro15 ceeding to establish that the skill standard or assess16 ment and certification system conforms or does not

17 conform to the requirements of civil rights laws.

18 (f) COORDINATION WITH EDUCATION STANDARDS.—

19 The National Board shall establish cooperative arrange20 ments with the National Education Standards and Im21 provement Council to promote the coordination of the de22 velopment of skill standards under this title with the devel23 opment of content and performance standards under title

24 II.

25 (g) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—From funds appropriated

2 pursuant to section 406(a), the Secretary of Labor

3 may award grants (including grants to the voluntary

4 partnerships in accordance with paragraph (2)) and

5 enter into contracts and cooperative arrangements

6 that are requested by the National Board for the

7 purposes of carrying out this title.

8 (2) GRANT PROGRAMS FOR VOLUNTARY PART9 NERSHIPS.—

10 (A) ELIGIBILITY AND APPLICATION.—Vol11 untary partnerships that meet the requirements

12 of subsection (b) shall be eligible to apply for a

13 grant under this subsection. Each such vol14 untary partnership desiring a grant shall sub15 mit an application to the National Board at

16 such time, in such manner, and accompanied by

17 such information as the National Board may

18 reasonably require.

19 (B) REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION.—

20 The National Board shall review each applica21 tion submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) in

22 accordance with the objective criteria published

23 pursuant to subparagraph (C) and shall for24 ward each such application to the Secretary of

25 Labor accompanied by a recommendation for
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1 the approval or disapproval of each such appli2 cation by the Secretary.

3 (C) CRITERIA FOR REVIEW.—Prior to each

4 fiscal year, the National Board shall publish ob5 jective criteria to be used by the Board in re6 viewing applications under subparagraph (B).

7 (3) LIMITATION ON THE USE OF FUNDS.—

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not more than 20 per9 cent of the funds appropriated under section

10 406(a) for each fiscal year shall be used by the

11 National Board for the costs of administration.

12 (B) COSTS OF ADMINISTRATION DE13 FINED.—For purposes of this paragraph, the

14 term ‘‘costs of administration’’ means costs re15 lating to staff, supplies, equipment, space, trav16 el and per diem, costs of conducting meetings

17 and conferences, and other related costs.

18 SEC. 404. DEADLINES.

19 Not later than December 31, 1996, the National

20 Board shall—

21 (1) identify occupational clusters pursuant to

22 section 403(a) representing a substantial portion of

23 the workforce; and
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1 (2) promote the development of an initial set of

2 skill standards in accordance with section 403(d) for

3 such clusters.

4 SEC. 405. REPORTS.

5 The National Board shall submit to the President

6 and the Congress in each fiscal year a report on the activi7 ties conducted under this title, including the extent to

8 which skill standards have been adopted by employers,

9 training providers, and other entities and the effectiveness

10 of such standards in accomplishing the purposes described

11 in section 401.

12 SEC. 406. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro14 priated $15,000,000 for fiscal year 1994 and such sums

15 as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 1995

16 through 1998 to carry out this title.

17 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated pursuant

18 to subsection (a) shall remain available until expended.

19 SEC. 407. DEFINITIONS.

20 For purposes of this title, the following definitions

21 apply:

22 (1) COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS.—The

23 term ‘‘community-based organizations’’ means such

24 organizations as defined in section 4(5) of the Job

25 Training Partnership Act.
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1 (2) EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION.—The term

2 ‘‘educational institution’’ means a high school, a vo3 cational school, and an institution of higher edu4 cation.

5 (3) SKILL STANDARD.—The term ‘‘skill stand6 ard’’ means the level of knowledge and competence

7 required to successfully perform work-related func8 tions within an occupational cluster.

9 TITLE V—MISCELLANEOUS

10 SEC. 501. DEFINITIONS.

11 As used in this Act—

12 (1) the terms ‘‘all students’’ and ‘‘all children’’

13 mean students or children from a broad range of

14 backgrounds and circumstances, including disadvan15 taged students, students with diverse racial, ethnic,

16 and cultural backgrounds, American Indians, Alaska

17 Natives, Native Hawaiians, students with disabil18 ities, students with limited-English proficiency, mi19 grant children, school-aged children who have

20 dropped out, migrant children, and academically tal21 ented students;

22 (2) the term ‘‘assessment system’’ means meas23 ures of student performance which include at least

24 1 test, and may include other measures of student

25 performance, for a specific purpose and use which
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1 are intended to evaluate the progress of all students

2 in the State toward learning the material in State

3 content standards in 1 or more subject areas;

4 (3) the terms ‘‘community’’, ‘‘public’’, and ‘‘ad5 vocacy group’’ are to be interpreted to include rep6 resentatives of organizations advocating for the edu7 cation of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Na8 tive Hawaiian children and Indian tribes;

9 (4) the term ‘‘content standards’’ means broad

10 descriptions of the knowledge and skills students

11 should acquire in a particular subject area;

12 (5) the term ‘‘Governor’’ means the chief execu13 tive of the State;

14 (6) the terms ‘‘local educational agency’’ and

15 ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the meaning given

16 those terms in section 1471 of the Elementary and

17 Secondary Education Act of 1965;

18 (7) the term ‘‘opportunity-to-learn standards’’

19 means the criteria for, and the basis of, assessing

20 the sufficiency or quality of the resources, practices,

21 and conditions necessary at each level of the edu22 cation system (schools, local educational agencies,

23 and States) to provide all students with an oppor24 tunity to learn the material in national or State con25 tent standards;
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1 (8) the term ‘‘outlying areas’’ means Guam,

2 American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, the Common3 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau

4 (until the effective date of the Compact of Free As5 sociation with the Government of Palau);

6 (9) the term ‘‘performance standards’’ means

7 concrete examples and explicit definitions of what

8 students have to know and be able to do to dem9 onstrate that they are proficient in the skills and

10 knowledge framed by content standards;

11 (10) the term ‘‘related services’’ has the same

12 meaning given such term under section 602(17) of

13 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act;

14 (11) the term ‘‘school’’ means a school that is

15 under the authority of the State educational agency

16 and a local educational agency or, for the purpose of

17 carrying out section 314(b), a school that is oper18 ated or funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs;

19 (12) the term ‘‘Secretary’’, except where used

20 in title IV, means the Secretary of Education; and

21 (13) except as otherwise provided, the term

22 ‘‘State’’ means each of the 50 States, the District of

23 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and

24 each of the outlying areas.
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1 SEC. 502. LIMITATIONS.

2 (a) ASSESSMENTS.—No funds provided under titles

3 II or III of this Act shall be used to undertake assess4 ments that will be used to make decisions regarding the

5 graduation, grade promotion, or retention of students for

6 five years after the date of enactment of this Act.

7 (b) PUBLIC SCHOOL.—Nothing in this Act shall be

8 construed to authorize the use of funds under title III (ex9 cept as provided in section 310) to directly or indirectly

10 benefit any school other than a public school.

11 SEC. 503. ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS AC12 TIVITIES.

13 Section 421(h) of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and

14 Applied Technology Education Act (20 U.S.C. 2421(h))

15 is amended—

16 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(h)’’; and

17 (2) by inserting at the end the following:

18 ‘‘(2)(A) Notwithstanding any provision of section 406

19 of the General Education Provisions Act, the Commis20 sioner of Education Statistics may authorize a State edu21 cational agency or a consortium of such agencies to use

22 items and data from the National Assessment of Edu23 cational Progress for the purpose of evaluating a course

24 of study related to vocational education, if the Commis25 sioner has determined, in writing, that such use will not—
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1 ‘‘(i) result in the identification of characteristics

2 or performance of individual students or schools;

3 ‘‘(ii) result in the ranking or comparing of

4 schools or local educational agencies;

5 ‘‘(iii) be used to evaluate the performance of

6 teachers, principals, or other local educators for the

7 purpose of dispensing rewards or punishments; or

8 ‘‘(iv) corrupt or harm the use and value of data

9 collected for the National Assessment of Educational

10 Progress.

11 ‘‘(B) Not later than 60 days after making an author12 ization under subsection (a), the Commissioner shall sub13 mit to the Committee on Education and Labor of the

14 House of Representatives and to the Committee on Labor

15 and Human Resources of the Senate, a report which con16 tains—

17 ‘‘(i) a copy of the request for such authoriza18 tion;

19 ‘‘(ii) a copy of the written determination under

20 subsection (a); and

21 ‘‘(iii) a description of the details and duration

22 of such authorization.

23 ‘‘(C) The Commissioner may not grant more than one

24 such authorization in any fiscal year and shall ensure that

25 the authorized use of items or data from the National As-
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1 sessment is evaluated for technical merit and for its affect

2 on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The

3 results of such evaluations shall be promptly reported to

4 the committees specified in subparagraph (B).’’.

5 SEC. 504. COMPLIANCE WITH BUY AMERICAN ACT.

6 No funds appropriated pursuant to this Act may be

7 expended by an entity unless the entity agrees that in ex8 pending the assistance the entity will comply with sections

9 2 through 4 of the Act of March 3, 1993 (41 U.S.C. 10a–

10 10c, popularly known as the ‘‘Buy American Act’’).

11 SEC. 505. SENSE OF CONGRESS; REQUIREMENT REGARD12 ING NOTICE.

13 (a) PURCHASE OF AMERICAN-MADE EQUIPMENT

14 AND PRODUCTS.—In the case of any equipment or prod15 ucts that may be authorized to be purchased with financial

16 assistance provided under this Act, it is the sense of the

17 Congress that entities receiving such assistance should, in

18 expending the assistance, purchase only American-made

19 equipment and products.

20 (b) NOTICE TO RECIPIENTS OF ASSISTANCE.—In

21 providing financial assistance under this Act, the head of

22 each Federal agency shall provide to each recipient of the

23 assistance a notice describing the statement made in sub24 section (a) by the Congress.
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1 SEC. 506. PROHIBITION OF CONTRACTS.

2 If it has been finally determined by a court or Federal

3 agency that any person intentionally affixed a label bear4 ing a ‘‘Made in America’’ inscription, or any inscription

5 with the same meaning to any product sold in or shipped

6 to the United States that is not made in the United

7 States, such person shall be ineligible to receive any con8 tract or subcontract made with funds provided pursuant

9 to this Act, pursuant to the debarment, suspension, and

10 ineligibility procedures described in section 9.400 through

11 9.409 of title 48, Code of Federal Regulations.

12 TITLE VI—PARENTAL

13 INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

14 SEC. 601. PARENTAL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

15 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary of Education is

16 authorized to make grants each year to nonprofit organi17 zations for the purpose of providing training and informa18 tion to parents of children, aged birth to 5 years, and chil19 dren enrolled in participating schools and to individuals

20 who work with such parents to encourage a more effective

21 working relationship with professionals in meeting the

22 educational needs of children, aged birth to 5 years, and

23 children enrolled in participating schools.

24 (b) GRANTS.—Such grants shall—

25 (1) be designed to meet the unique training and

26 information needs of parents of children, aged birth
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1 to 5 years, and children enrolled in participating

2 schools, particularly parents who are severely dis3 advantaged educationally or economically;

4 (2) be distributed geographically to the greatest

5 extent possible throughout all the States and give

6 priority to grants which serve areas with high con7 centrations of low-income families;

8 (3) be targeted to parents of children, aged

9 birth to 5 years, and children enrolled in participat10 ing schools in rural, suburban, and urban areas;

11 (4) serve parents of low-income and minority

12 children, aged birth to 5 years, and children enrolled

13 in participating schools, including limited-English14 proficient children;

15 (5) be funded at a sufficient size, scope, and

16 quality to ensure that the program is adequate to

17 serve the parents in the area; and

18 (6) include funds to establish, expand, and op19 erate Teachers as Parents programs.

20 SEC. 602. ELIGIBILITY.

21 (a) REPRESENTATION.—To receive a grant under

22 section 601, a nonprofit organization shall meet the fol23 lowing requirements:

24 (1) Be governed by a board of directors in

25 which the membership includes, or be an organiza-
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1 tion that represents the interests of, parents and es2 tablish a special advisory committee in which the

3 membership includes—

4 (A) parents of children, aged birth to 5

5 years, and children enrolled in participating

6 schools; and

7 (B) representation of education profes8 sionals with expertise in improving services for

9 disadvantaged children.

10 (2) Provide that the parent and professional

11 membership of the board or special advisory commit12 tee is broadly representative of minority, low-income,

13 and other individuals and groups that have an inter14 est in compensatory education and family literacy.

15 (3) Demonstrate the capacity and expertise to

16 conduct effective training and information activities

17 for which a grant may be made.

18 (4) Network with clearinghouses, other organi19 zations and agencies, and with other established na20 tional, State, and local parent groups representing

21 the full range of parents of children, aged birth to

22 5 years, and children enrolled in participating

23 schools, especially parents of low-income and minor24 ity children.
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1 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The Board of Directors or spe2 cial governing committee of an organization receiving a

3 grant under this title shall meet at least once each cal4 endar quarter to review the parent training and informa5 tion activities for which the grant is made.

6 (c) GRANT RENEWAL.—Whenever an organization

7 requests the renewal of a grant under section 601 for a

8 fiscal year, the Board of Directors or the special advisory

9 committee shall submit to the Secretary a written review

10 of the parent training and information program conducted

11 by such organization during the preceding fiscal year.

12 SEC. 603. USES OF FUNDS.

13 Grants received under this title may be used—

14 (1) for parent training and information pro15 grams that assist parents to—

16 (A) better understand their children’s edu17 cational needs;

18 (B) provide follow up support for their

19 children’s educational achievement;

20 (C) communicate more effectively with

21 teachers, counselors, administrators, and other

22 professional educators and support staff;

23 (D) participate in the design and provision

24 of assistance to students who are not making

25 adequate progress;
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1 (E) obtain information about the range of

2 options, programs, services, and resources avail3 able at the national, State, and local levels to

4 assist parents of children, aged birth to 5 years,

5 and children enrolled in participating schools

6 and their parents;

7 (F) seek technical assistance regarding

8 compliance with the requirements of this Act

9 and of other Federal programs relevant to

10 achieving the goals of this Act;

11 (G) participate in State and local decision12 making;

13 (H) train other parents; and

14 (I) plan, implement, and fund activities

15 that coordinate the education of their children

16 with other Federal programs that serve such

17 children or their families;

18 (2) to include State or local educational person19 nel where such participation would further an objec20 tive of the program assisted by the grant; and

21 (3) to establish a parent training and informa22 tion center to carry out the activities in paragraphs

23 (1) and (2) and to represent parent interests at the

24 State level, including participation in the design of

25 the public outreach process described in section
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1 306(b)(6), submitting recommendations concerning

2 State standards and plans, and commenting on pro3 posed waivers under this Act.

4 SEC. 604. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.

5 The Secretary shall provide technical assistance, by

6 grant or contract, for the establishment, development, and

7 coordination of parent training and information programs

8 and centers.

9 SEC. 605. EXPERIMENTAL CENTERS.

10 After the establishment in each State of a parent

11 training and information center, the Secretary shall pro12 vide for the establishment of 5 additional experimental

13 centers, 3 to be located in urban areas and 2 in rural areas

14 where there are large concentrations of poverty.

15 SEC. 606. REPORTS.

16 Not later than June 30, 1995, and not later than

17 June 30 each succeeding year, the Secretary shall obtain

18 data concerning programs and centers assisted under this

19 title, including—

20 (1) the number of parents, including the num21 ber of minority and limited-English-proficient par22 ents, who receive information and training;

23 (2) the types and modes of information or

24 training provided; and
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1 (3) the strategies used to reach and serve par2 ents of minority and limited-English-proficient chil3 dren and parents with limited literacy skills.

4 SEC. 607. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

5 There are authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000

6 for fiscal year 1994 and such sums as may be necessary

7 for each of the fiscal years 1995 through 1998.

Passed the House of Representatives October 13,

1993

Attest:

Clerk.

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