I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 565 
To stimulate collaboration with respect to, and provide for coordination and 
coherence of, the Nation’s science, technology, engineering, and mathe-
matics education initiatives, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 27, 2015 
Mr. HONDA (for himself, Ms. CHU of California, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. LEE, 
Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. POCAN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. 
RYAN of Ohio, Mr. SABLAN, Ms. SPEIER, and Mr. TAKANO) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
the Workforce 
A BILL 
To stimulate collaboration with respect to, and provide for 
coordination and coherence of, the Nation’s science, tech-
nology, engineering, and mathematics education initia-
tives, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stepping Up to STEM 
Education Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Technology and the Internet have trans-
formed nearly every aspect of both the global econ-
omy and our daily lives. In a technology-rich world, 
no amount of memorizing information will make a 
student competitive in the global labor market. 
America needs an education system that supports 
students from all walks of life in becoming inquisi-
tive, resourceful thinkers who use technology to pur-
sue knowledge, collaborate across geographic and 
cultural boundaries, acquire new skills, and solve 
complex problems. 
(2) Equality and equity of access is more than 
access to the same hardware, software, and 
broadband connections. It includes access to the best 
digital learning resources and access to teachers who 
know how to orchestrate the use of these resources 
in ways that inspire students and produce better 
learning outcomes. 
(3) Technology by itself will not improve stu-
dent outcomes. What is needed are carefully de-
signed innovations that include not just technology 
but also good learning content, effective instructional 
strategies, supports for teachers and school systems 
figuring out how to use the new approach, and the 
capacity to collect, analyze and reflect on data that 
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will show whether or not the innovation is having the 
intended effects. 
(4) Effective learning technology implementa-
tions addressing the challenging aspects of language 
arts, mathematics and science that all students are 
expected to master. This will require partnerships 
among education agencies, education researchers, 
and technology developers with the common goal of 
harnessing technology to provide opportunities for 
deeper learning to students who would not otherwise 
experience them. 
SEC. 3. ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY FOR 
EDUCATION. 
Title II of the Department of Education Organization 
Act (20 U.S.C. 3411 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 221. ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY FOR 
EDUCATION. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There shall be in the De-
partment an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Edu-
cation (referred to in this section as ‘ARPA–ED’). 
‘‘(b) PURPOSES.—ARPA–ED is established under 
this section for the purposes of pursuing breakthrough re-
search and development in educational technology and 
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providing the effective use of the technology to improve 
achievement for all students, by— 
‘‘(1) integrating STEM related content areas 
including science, technology, computer science, en-
gineering design, mathematics and computational 
thinking; 
‘‘(2) identifying and promoting revolutionary 
advances in fundamental and applied sciences and 
engineering that could be translated into new learn-
ing technologies; 
‘‘(3) developing novel learning technologies, and 
the enabling processes and contexts for effective use 
of those technologies; 
‘‘(4) developing, testing, and evaluating the im-
pact and efficacy of those technologies; 
‘‘(5) developing educational technology innova-
tions including data analytic tools that help State 
educational agencies and local educational agencies 
with reporting required under Federal accountability 
mandates; 
‘‘(6) accelerating transformational technological 
advances in areas in which the private sector, by 
itself, is not likely to accelerate such advances be-
cause of difficulties in implementation or adoption, 
or technical and market uncertainty; 
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‘‘(7) coordinating activities with nongovern-
mental entities to demonstrate technologies and re-
search applications to facilitate technology transfer; 
and 
‘‘(8) encouraging educational research using 
new technologies and the data produced by the tech-
nologies. 
‘‘(c) COORDINATION.— 
‘‘(1) The Agency shall work closely and collabo-
ratively between agencies in order to maximize the 
Federal effort and investment to the Project. 
‘‘(2) The Agency shall work with the National 
Science Foundation’s Cyber Learning Program. 
‘‘(d) AUTHORITIES OF SECRETARY.—The Secretary 
is authorized to— 
‘‘(1) appoint a Director, who shall be respon-
sible for carrying out the purposes of ARPA–ED, as 
described in subsection (b), and such additional 
functions as the Secretary may prescribe; 
‘‘(2) establish processes for the development 
and execution of projects and the solicitation of enti-
ties to carry out the projects in a manner that is— 
‘‘(A) tailored to the purposes of ARPA– 
ED and not constrained by other Department- 
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