IB 
Union Calendar No. 319 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4979 
[Report No. 116–397] 
To direct the Director of the National Science Foundation to support STEM 
education and workforce development research focused on rural areas, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 5, 2019 
Mr. LUCAS (for himself, Mr. MCADAMS, Mr. BAIRD, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, 
Mr. CONAWAY, Ms. KENDRA S. HORN of Oklahoma, Mr. WEBER of 
Texas, Mr. BALDERSON, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. MURPHY of North Carolina, 
Mr. COMER, Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio, and Mr. WALTZ) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and 
Technology 
FEBRUARY 13, 2020 
Additional sponsors: Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. HERRERA 
BEUTLER, Mr. LAMB, Mr. BABIN, Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. 
PETERSON, Mr. WITTMAN, Ms. WEXTON, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, 
Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. 
DELGADO, Mr. KIND, Mr. EMMER, Mr. HARDER of California, Ms. 
SPANBERGER, Mrs. HARTZLER, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of 
Georgia, Mr. HAGEDORN, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. COLE, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. 
LAMALFA, Mr. DUNN, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. COX of Cali-
fornia, Mrs. BUSTOS, and Ms. HOULAHAN 
FEBRUARY 13, 2020 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on November 5, 2019] 
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A BILL 
To direct the Director of the National Science Foundation 
to support STEM education and workforce development 
research focused on rural areas, and for other purposes. 
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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 ‘‘Rural STEM Education 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The supply of STEM workers is not keeping 
pace with the rapidly evolving needs of the public and 
private sector, resulting in a deficit often referred to 
as a STEM skills shortage. 
(2) According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
the United States will need one million additional 
STEM professionals than it is on track to produce in 
the coming decade. 
(3) Many STEM occupations offer higher wages, 
more opportunities for advancement, and a higher de-
gree of job security than non-STEM jobs. 
(4) The 60,000,000 individuals in the United 
States who live in rural settings are significantly 
under-represented in STEM. 
(5) According to the National Center for Edu-
cation Statistics, nine million students in the United 
States—nearly 20 percent of the total K–12 popu-
lation—attend rural schools, and for reasons ranging 
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from teacher quality to shortages of resources, these 
students often have fewer opportunities for high-qual-
ity STEM learning than their peers in the Nation’s 
urban and suburban schools. 
(6) Rural areas represent one of the most prom-
ising, yet underutilized, opportunities for STEM edu-
cation to impact workforce development and regional 
innovation, including agriculture. 
(7) The study of agriculture, food, and natural 
resources involves biology, engineering, physics, chem-
istry, math, geology, computer science, and other sci-
entific fields. 
(8) It is estimated that by 2020 that there will 
be a projected one million more computing jobs than 
applicants who can fill them. To meet this demand, 
rural students must acquire computing skills through 
exposure to computer science learning in grades PreK 
- 12 and in informal learning settings. 
(9) More than 293,000,000 individuals in the 
United States use high-speed broadband to work, 
learn, access healthcare, and operate their businesses, 
while 19,000,000 individuals in the United States 
still lack access to high-speed broadband. Rural areas 
are hardest hit, with over 26 percent of individuals 
in rural areas in the United States lacking access to 
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high-speed broadband compared to 1.7 percent of in-
dividuals in urban areas in the United States. 
SEC. 3. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION RURAL STEM AC-
TIVITIES. 
(a) PREPARING RURAL STEM EDUCATORS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Director shall provide 
grants on a merit-reviewed, competitive basis to insti-
tutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations 
(or a consortium thereof) for research and develop-
ment to advance innovative approaches to support 
and sustain high-quality STEM teaching in rural 
schools. 
(2) USE OF FUNDS.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Grants awarded under 
this section shall be used for the research and de-
velopment activities referred to in paragraph (1), 
which may include— 
(i) engaging rural educators of stu-
dents in grades Pre-K through 12 in profes-
sional learning opportunities to enhance 
STEM 
knowledge, 
including 
computer 
science, and develop best practices; 
(ii) supporting research on effective 
STEM teaching practices in rural settings, 
including the use of rubrics and mastery- 
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based grading practices to assess student 
performance 
when 
employing 
the 
transdisciplinary teaching approach for 
STEM disciplines; 
(iii) designing and developing pre-serv-
ice and in-service training resources to as-
sist such rural educators in adopting 
transdisciplinary teaching practices across 
STEM courses; 
(iv) coordinating with local partners to 
adapt STEM teaching practices to leverage 
local natural and community assets in 
order to support in-place learning in rural 
areas; 
(v) providing hands-on training and 
research opportunities for rural educators 
described in clause (i) at Federal Labora-
tories, institutions of higher education, or 
in industry; 
(vi) developing training and best prac-
tices for educators who teach multiple grade 
levels within a STEM discipline; 
(vii) designing and implementing pro-
fessional development courses and experi-
ences, including mentoring, for rural edu-
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cators described in clause (i) that combine 
face-to-face and online experiences; and 
(viii) any other activity the Director 
determines will accomplish the goals of this 
subsection. 
(B) RURAL
STEM
COLLABORATIVE.—The 
Director may establish a pilot program of re-
gional cohorts in rural areas that will provide 
peer support, mentoring, and hands-on research 
experiences for rural STEM educators of students 
in grades Pre-K through 12, in order to build an 
ecosystem of cooperation among educators, re-
searchers, academia, and local industry. 
(b) BROADENING PARTICIPATION
OF RURAL STU-
DENTS IN STEM.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Director shall provide 
grants on a merit-reviewed, competitive basis to insti-
tutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations 
(or a consortium thereof) for— 
(A) research and development of program-
ming to identify the barriers rural students face 
in accessing high-quality STEM education; and 
(B) development of innovative solutions to 
improve the participation and advancement of 
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