I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2255 
To support the establishment and operation of Teachers Professional 
Development Institutes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 21, 2011 
Ms. DELAURO (for herself and Mr. FATTAH) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To support the establishment and operation of Teachers 
Professional Development Institutes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. TEACHERS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN-
STITUTES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part A of title II of the Elemen-
tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
6601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘Subpart 6—Teachers Professional Development 
Institutes 
‘‘SEC. 2161. SHORT TITLE. 
‘‘This subpart may be cited as the ‘Teachers Profes-
sional Development Institutes Act’. 
‘‘SEC. 2162. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
‘‘(1) Teaching is central to the educational 
process and the ongoing professional development of 
teachers in the subjects they teach is essential for 
improved student learning. 
‘‘(2) Attaining the goal of the No Child Left 
Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107–110)—having 
a classroom teacher who is highly effective in every 
academic subject the teacher teaches—will require 
innovative approaches to improve the effectiveness of 
teachers in the classroom. 
‘‘(3) The Teachers Institute Model focuses on 
the continuing academic preparation of school-
teachers and the application of what the teachers 
study to their classrooms and potentially to the 
classrooms of other teachers. 
‘‘(4) The Teachers Institute Model was devel-
oped initially by the Yale-New Haven Teachers In-
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stitute and has successfully operated in New Haven, 
Connecticut, for more than 30 years. 
‘‘(5) The Teachers Institute Model has also 
been successfully implemented in cities larger than 
New Haven. 
‘‘(6) In the spring of 2009, a report entitled 
‘An Evaluation of Teachers Institute Experiences’ 
concluded that— 
‘‘(A) Teachers Institutes enhance precisely 
those teacher qualities known to improve stu-
dent achievement; 
‘‘(B) Teachers Institutes exemplify the 
crucial characteristics of high-quality teacher 
professional development; and 
‘‘(C) Teachers Institute participation is 
strongly related to teacher retention in high- 
poverty schools. 
‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this subpart is to 
provide Federal assistance to support the establishment 
and operation of Teachers Institutes for local educational 
agencies that serve significant low-income student popu-
lations in States throughout the Nation, in order to— 
‘‘(1) improve student learning; and 
‘‘(2) enhance the quality and effectiveness of 
teaching and strengthen the subject matter mastery 
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and the pedagogical skills of current teachers 
through continuing teacher preparation. 
‘‘SEC. 2163. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this subpart: 
‘‘(1) SIGNIFICANT LOW-INCOME STUDENT POP-
ULATION.—The term ‘significant low-income student 
population’ means a student population of which not 
less than 40 percent of the students included are eli-
gible for free or reduced price lunches under the 
Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. 
‘‘(2) TEACHERS INSTITUTE.—The term ‘Teach-
ers Institute’ means a partnership or joint venture— 
‘‘(A) between or among— 
‘‘(i) 1 or more institutions of higher 
education; and 
‘‘(ii) 1 or more local educational agen-
cies that serve 1 or more schools with sig-
nificant low-income student populations; 
and 
‘‘(B) that improves the effectiveness of 
teachers in the classroom, and the quality of 
teaching and learning, through collaborative 
seminars designed to enhance both the subject 
matter and the pedagogical resources of the 
seminar participants. 
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‘‘SEC. 2164. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to 
award grants under this subpart in order to encourage the 
establishment and operation of Teachers Institutes. 
‘‘(b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may 
reserve not more than 50 percent of the funds appro-
priated to carry out this subpart to provide technical as-
sistance to facilitate the establishment and operation of 
Teachers Institutes. The Secretary may contract with the 
Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute to provide all or part 
of the technical assistance under this subsection. 
‘‘(c) SELECTION CRITERIA.—In selecting Teachers 
Institutes to support through grants under this subpart, 
the Secretary shall consider— 
‘‘(1) the extent to which a proposed Teachers 
Institute will serve schools that have significant low- 
income student populations; 
‘‘(2) the extent to which a proposed Teachers 
Institute will follow the understandings and nec-
essary procedures described in section 2166; 
‘‘(3) the extent to which each local educational 
agency participating in the Teachers Institute has a 
high percentage of teachers who are unprepared or 
underprepared to teach the core academic subjects 
the teachers are assigned to teach; and 
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