I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 678 
To promote the use of blended learning in classrooms across America. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 3, 2015 
Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To promote the use of blended learning in classrooms across 
America. 
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 ‘‘21st Century Class-
room Innovation Act’’. 
SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 
this Act an amendment is expressed in terms of an amend-
ment to a section or other provision, the reference shall 
be considered to be made to a section or other provision 
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of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.). 
SEC. 3. ENCOURAGING STATE AND LOCAL BLENDED 
LEARNING PROJECTS. 
(a) STATE APPLICATIONS.—Section 2112(b) (20 
U.S.C. 6612(b)) is amended by inserting at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(13) In the case of a State that will carry out 
a program to award grants under section 2121(b), 
a description of the program, which shall include— 
‘‘(A) the criteria the State will use to 
award grants under such section to eligible enti-
ties to carry out blended learning projects; 
‘‘(B) the State policies and procedures to 
be waived by the State, consistent with Federal 
law, for such eligible entities to carry out such 
projects, which may include waivers with re-
spect to— 
‘‘(i) restrictions on class sizes; 
‘‘(ii) 
restrictions 
on 
licensing 
or 
credentialing of personnel supervising stu-
dent work in such projects; 
‘‘(iii) restrictions on the use of State 
funding for instructional materials for the 
purchase of digital instructional resources; 
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‘‘(iv) restrictions on advancing stu-
dents based on demonstrated mastery of 
learning outcomes, rather than seat-time 
requirements; and 
‘‘(v) restrictions on secondary school 
students in the State enrolling in online 
coursework; 
‘‘(C) how the State will inform eligible en-
tities of the availability of the waivers described 
in subparagraph (B); and 
‘‘(D) how the State will provide the non- 
Federal 
match 
required 
under 
section 
2121(b)(2)(D).’’. 
(b) RESERVATION
OF
SUBGRANT
FUNDS
FOR 
BLENDED LEARNING.—Section 2121 of the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6621) 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) RESERVATION FOR BLENDED LEARNING.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of this part, a State that receives a grant 
under subpart 1 may reserve not more than 5 per-
cent of the amount reserved to carry out this part 
under section 2113(a)(1) to make grants to local 
educational agencies to enable the agencies to carry 
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out blended learning projects described in paragraph 
(2). 
‘‘(2) BLENDED LEARNING PROJECTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The State edu-
cational agency may use the funds de-
scribed in paragraph (1) to carry out a 
program to award grants on a competitive 
basis to eligible entities in the State to 
carry out blended learning projects de-
scribed in this paragraph. 
‘‘(ii) 
RESERVATION
FOR
RURAL 
AREAS.—In awarding grants under this 
paragraph, a State educational agency 
shall reserve 5 percent of the funds avail-
able to carry out this paragraph for eligible 
entities that will serve rural areas. 
‘‘(B) APPLICATION.—An eligible entity de-
siring to receive a grant under this paragraph 
shall submit an application to the State edu-
cational agency at such time and in such man-
ner as the agency may require, and which de-
scribes— 
‘‘(i) the blended learning project to be 
carried out by the eligible entity, including 
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the design of the instructional model to be 
carried out by the eligible entity and how 
such eligible entity will use funds provided 
under this paragraph to carry out the 
project; 
‘‘(ii) in the case of an eligible entity 
described in subclause (I) or (III) of sub-
paragraph (E)(iii), the schools that will 
participate in the project; 
‘‘(iii) the expected impact on student 
academic achievement; 
‘‘(iv) how the eligible entity will en-
sure sufficient information technology is 
available to carry out the project; 
‘‘(v) how the eligible entity will ensure 
sufficient digital instructional resources are 
available to students participating in the 
project; 
‘‘(vi) the ongoing professional develop-
ment to be provided for teachers, school 
leaders, and other personnel carrying out 
the project; 
‘‘(vii) the State policies and proce-
dures for which the eligible entity requests 
waivers from the State to carry out the 
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project, which may include requests for the 
waivers 
described 
in 
section 
2112(b)(13)(B); 
‘‘(viii) as appropriate, how the eligible 
entity will use the blended learning project 
to improve instruction and access to the 
curriculum for diverse groups of students, 
including students with disabilities and 
students who are limited English pro-
ficient; 
‘‘(ix) how the eligible entity will evalu-
ate the project in terms of student aca-
demic achievement and publicly report the 
results of such evaluation; and 
‘‘(x) how the eligible entity will sus-
tain the project beyond the grant period. 
‘‘(C) USES OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity 
receiving a grant under this paragraph shall use 
such grant to carry out a blended learning 
project, which shall include at least 1 of the fol-
lowing activities: 
‘‘(i) Planning activities, which may in-
clude development of new instructional 
models (including blended learning tech-
nology software and platforms), the pur-
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chase of digital instructional resources, ini-
tial professional development activities, and 
one-time information technology purchases, 
except that such expenditures may not in-
clude expenditures related to significant 
construction or renovation of facilities. 
‘‘(ii) Ongoing professional develop-
ment for teachers, school leaders, or other 
personnel involved in the project that is de-
signed to support the implementation and 
academic success of the project. 
‘‘(D) NON-FEDERAL
MATCH.—A State 
educational agency that carries out a grant pro-
gram under this paragraph shall provide non- 
Federal matching funds equal to not less than 
10 percent of the grant funds awarded by the 
State educational agency to eligible entities 
under this paragraph. 
‘‘(E) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 
‘‘(i) BLENDED LEARNING PROJECT.— 
The term ‘blended learning project’ means 
a formal education program— 
‘‘(I) that includes an element of 
online learning, and instructional time 
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