I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4181 
To provide grants to States to improve high schools and raise graduation 
rates while ensuring rigorous standards, to develop and implement effec-
tive school models for struggling students and dropouts, and to improve 
State policies to raise graduation rates, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 2, 2009 
Mr. HINOJOSA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To provide grants to States to improve high schools and 
raise graduation rates while ensuring rigorous standards, 
to develop and implement effective school models for 
struggling students and dropouts, and to improve State 
policies to raise graduation rates, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Graduation Promise Act of 2009’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions. 
TITLE I—HIGH SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT AND DROPOUT 
REDUCTION FUND 
Sec. 101. Findings. 
Sec. 102. Purposes. 
Sec. 103. Definitions. 
Sec. 104. Grants authorized. 
Sec. 105. Secretarial peer review and approval. 
Sec. 106. State plan to develop differentiated high school improvement system. 
Sec. 107. Use of grant funds. 
Sec. 108. Statewide differentiated high school improvement system. 
Sec. 109. Subgrants to local educational agencies. 
Sec. 110. Local educational agency implementation of school improvement sys-
tem. 
Sec. 111. School improvement activities. 
Sec. 112. Evaluation and reporting. 
Sec. 113. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE II—DEVELOPMENT OF EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MODELS 
Sec. 201. Purposes. 
Sec. 202. Definitions. 
Sec. 203. Grants authorized. 
Sec. 204. Application. 
Sec. 205. Secretarial peer review and approval. 
Sec. 206. Use of funds. 
Sec. 207. Evaluation and reporting. 
Sec. 208. Authorization of appropriations. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The terms ‘‘distance learn-
ing’’, ‘‘educational service agency’’, ‘‘highly quali-
fied’’, 
‘‘local 
educational 
agency’’, 
‘‘secondary 
school’’, and ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the 
meanings given the terms in section 9101 of the Ele-
mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 7801). 
(2) GRADUATION RATE.—The term ‘‘graduation 
rate’’ has the meaning given the term in section 
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1111(b)(2)(C)(vi) of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education 
Act 
of 
1965 
(20 
U.S.C. 
6311(b)(2)(C)(vi)), 
as 
clarified 
in 
section 
200.19(b)(1) of title 34, Code of Federal Regula-
tions. 
(3) HIGH
SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘high school’’ 
means a secondary school in which the— 
(A) entering grade of the school is not 
lower than grade 6; and 
(B) highest grade of the school is— 
(i) grade 12; or 
(ii) in the case of a secondary school 
approved by a State to issue a regular di-
ploma concurrently with a postsecondary 
degree or with not more than 2 years’ 
worth of postsecondary academic credit, 
grade 13. 
(4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 
meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 
(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Education. 
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(6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the several States of the United States, the District 
of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 
TITLE 
I—HIGH 
SCHOOL 
IM-
PROVEMENT AND DROPOUT 
REDUCTION FUND 
SEC. 101. FINDINGS. 
The Senate finds the following: 
(1) About a third of our Nation’s high school 
students fail to graduate in 4 years, and another 
third graduate without the skills and knowledge 
needed to succeed in college or the workplace. The 
outcomes for minority students are even worse: only 
50 percent of American-Indian, 51 percent of Black, 
and about 55 percent of Hispanic students graduate 
on time, compared to 76 percent of White students. 
(2) Approximately half of the Nation’s dropouts 
attend a school where 40 percent or more of the 
freshman class has dropped out by the time the stu-
dents reach their senior year. These schools, which 
are located in nearly every State, disproportionately 
serve minority and poor students, and have fewer re-
sources and less qualified teachers than schools in 
more affluent neighborhoods. Almost half of African- 
American students and nearly 40 percent of Latino 
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students—compared to only 11 percent of White 
students—attend high schools in which graduation is 
not the norm. 
(3) A high school diploma is increasingly impor-
tant for success in the 21st century economy. In 
fact, nearly 90 percent of the fastest-growing, high-
est-paying jobs require some sort of education be-
yond high school. 
(4) For decades, Federal funding has largely 
been spent on prekindergarten through grade 6 edu-
cation and higher education, with dramatically less 
given the middle and high school grades. While chil-
dren in their early years must build a strong founda-
tion for learning, research also clearly demonstrates 
the need to continue the investment at each stage of 
the education process or risk losing much of the ben-
efit of the early effort. 
(5) High schools receive only 10 percent of 
funds under title I of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), 
leaving millions of title I eligible, high school stu-
dents in low-performing schools without the focused 
support, external assistance, and resources for im-
provement that title I was created to provide. Be-
cause title I funds serve as the trigger for school im-
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provement requirements in the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965, this also means that 
most low-income, low-performing high schools are 
not required to (or supported to) implement school 
improvement activities. 
(6) While the Elementary and Secondary Edu-
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) includes 
a strong focus on identifying low-performing schools, 
America still needs a comprehensive strategy to sup-
port and improve chronically low-performing schools 
and local educational agencies. School improvement 
strategies should be tailored based on a variety of 
indicators and data, so that educators can create 
and implement successful school improvement strate-
gies to address the needs of the individual schools. 
(7) Most local educational agencies and State 
educational agencies do not necessarily have the ca-
pacity or infrastructure to guide, support, and fund 
school improvement strategies where they are need-
ed, but good models for turning around low-per-
forming high schools do exist. Federal support 
should be used to build this capacity based on evi-
dence from successful high schools. 
(8) If the Nation is to maintain and increase its 
competitiveness in the global economy, it must invest 
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in a systemic approach to improving its high schools 
so that every child graduates from high school pre-
pared for success. 
SEC. 102. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this title are to— 
(1) improve high school student academic 
achievement and graduation rates and prepare all 
students for postsecondary education and the work-
force; 
(2) help States and local educational agencies 
develop high school improvement systems to deliver 
support and technical assistance to high schools 
identified for whole school reform or replacement, as 
described in clause (ii) and (iii) of section 
106(b)(2)(B); 
(3) ensure students graduate from high school 
with the education and skills necessary to compete 
in a global economy; and 
(4) help build the capacity to develop and im-
plement research-based, sustainable, and replicable 
high school improvement models and interventions 
that are for high schools in whole school reform and 
replacement and that engage the whole community. 
SEC. 103. DEFINITIONS. 
In this title: 
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