I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3373 
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 
NOVEMBER 4, 2011 
Mr. HONDA (for himself, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CARNAHAN, 
Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HIN-
CHEY, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. MEEKS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, 
Mr. POLIS, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Ms. RICHARDSON, Mr. ROTH-
MAN of New Jersey, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. 
SIRES) 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 ‘‘STEM Education In-
novation Act of 2011’’. 
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SEC. 2. OFFICE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, 
AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION WITHIN THE 
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. 
(a) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—Section 202 of the De-
partment of Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3412) 
is amended in subsection (b)(1)— 
(1) in subparagraph (E) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
(2) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as (G); 
and 
(3) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(F) an Assistant Secretary for Science, 
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics 
Education (in this Act referred to as the ‘As-
sistant Secretary for STEM Education’); and’’. 
(b) OFFICE.—Title II of the Department of Edu-
cation Organization Act is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘SEC. 221. OFFICE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEER-
ING, AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There shall be in the Depart-
ment of Education an Office of Science, Technology, Engi-
neering, and Mathematics Education (in this section re-
ferred to as the ‘Office of STEM Education’), to be ad-
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ministered by the Assistant Secretary for STEM Edu-
cation appointed under section 202(b). 
‘‘(b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—The Assistant Secretary of 
STEM Education, acting through the Office, shall serve 
as the principal advisor to the Secretary on matters affect-
ing science, technology, engineering, and math education, 
and shall administer such functions representing STEM 
education, including the coordination of STEM activities 
and programs across Federal agencies. 
‘‘(c) EVALUATION AND REPORT.—The Assistant Sec-
retary for STEM Education shall conduct an independent 
evaluation, through grant or by contract, of the STEM 
education programs administered by the Department, at 
least every 5 years, which shall include— 
‘‘(1) conducting an assessment of STEM edu-
cation activities within the Department by using the 
evaluations and reports of these programs to deter-
mine these programs’ impact on— 
‘‘(A) the quantity of students taking ad-
vanced placement in STEM areas and seeking 
STEM degrees; 
‘‘(B) student academic achievement in 
mathematics and science; and 
‘‘(C) the increased number of highly quali-
fied STEM teachers; and 
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‘‘(2) the preparation and submission of a report 
on the results of the evaluation described in para-
graph (1) to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions and the Committee on Science 
of the Senate, the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce and the Committee on Science and Tech-
nology of the House of Representatives, and the 
Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and the 
House of Representatives. 
‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated $1,500,000 to carry out 
this section for fiscal year 2013 and such sums as may 
be necessary for each fiscal year thereafter.’’. 
SEC. 3. EDUCATION INNOVATION PROJECT. 
Title II of the Department of Education Organization 
Act is further amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 221. EDUCATION INNOVATION PROJECT. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There shall be in the De-
partment an Education Innovation Project (referred to in 
this section as ‘EIP’). 
‘‘(b) PURPOSES.—EIP is established under this sec-
tion for the purposes of pursuing breakthrough research 
and development in educational technology and providing 
the effective use of the technology to improve achievement 
for all students, by— 
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‘‘(1) identifying and promoting revolutionary 
advances in fundamental and applied sciences and 
engineering that could be translated into new learn-
ing technologies; 
‘‘(2) developing novel learning technologies, and 
the enabling processes and contexts for effective use 
of those technologies; 
‘‘(3) developing, testing, and evaluating the im-
pact and efficacy of those technologies; 
‘‘(4) 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; 
‘‘(5) coordinating activities with nongovern-
mental entities to demonstrate technologies and re-
search applications to facilitate technology transfer; 
and 
‘‘(6) encouraging educational research using 
new technologies and the data produced by the tech-
nologies. 
‘‘(c) AUTHORITIES OF SECRETARY.—The Secretary 
is authorized to— 
‘‘(1) appoint a Director, who shall be respon-
sible for carrying out the purposes of EIP, as de-
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scribed in subsection (b), and such additional func-
tions 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 EIP and 
not constrained by other Department-wide ad-
ministrative requirements that could detract 
from achieving program results; and 
‘‘(B) designed to heighten transparency, 
and public- and private-sector involvement, to 
ensure that investments are made in the most 
promising areas; 
‘‘(3) award grants, contracts, cooperative agree-
ments, and cash prizes, and enter into other trans-
actions (in accordance with such regulations as the 
Secretary may establish regarding other trans-
actions); 
‘‘(4) make appointments of up to 20 scientific, 
engineering, professional, and other mission-related 
employees, for periods of up to 4 years (which ap-
pointments may not be renewed) without regard to 
the provisions of title 5, United States Code, gov-
erning appointments in the competitive service; 
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‘‘(5)(A) prescribe the rates of basic pay for the 
personnel described in paragraph (4) at rates not in 
excess of the maximum rate of basic pay authorized 
for senior-level positions under section 5376 of title 
5, United States Code, notwithstanding any provi-
sion of that title governing the rates of basic pay or 
classification of employees in the executive branch, 
but those personnel shall not receive any payment 
for service (such as an award, premium payment, in-
centive payment or bonus, allowance, or other simi-
lar payment) under any other provision of that title; 
and 
‘‘(B) pay any employee appointed pursuant to 
paragraph (4) payments in addition to that basic 
pay, except that the total amount of those payments 
for any calendar year shall not exceed the lesser 
of— 
‘‘(i) $25,000; or 
‘‘(ii) the difference between the employee’s 
annual rate of basic pay under paragraph (4) 
and the annual rate for level I of the Executive 
Schedule under section 5312 of title 5, United 
States Code, based on the rates in effect at the 
end of the applicable calendar year (or, if the 
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employee separated during that year, on the 
date of separation); 
‘‘(6) obtain independent, periodic, rigorous eval-
uations, as appropriate, of— 
‘‘(A) the effectiveness of the processes EIP 
is using to achieve its purposes; and 
‘‘(B) the effectiveness of individual projects 
assisted by EIP, using evidence standards de-
veloped in consultation with the Institute of 
Education Sciences, and the suitability of ongo-
ing projects assisted by EIP for further invest-
ment or increased scale; and 
‘‘(7) disseminate, through the comprehensive 
centers established under section 203 of the Edu-
cational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 
U.S.C. 9602), the regional educational laboratories 
system established under section 174 of the Edu-
cation Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 
9564), or such other means as the Secretary deter-
mines to be appropriate, information on effective 
practices and technologies developed with EIP sup-
port. 
‘‘(d) EVALUATION FUNDS.—The Secretary may use 
funds made available for EIP to pay the cost of the eval-
uations under subsection (c)(6). 
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‘‘(e) FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT.—Not-
withstanding any other provision of law, any advisory com-
mittee convened by the Secretary to provide advice with 
respect to this section shall be exempt from the require-
ments of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 
App.) and the definition of ‘employee’ in section 2105 of 
title 5, United States Code, shall not be considered to in-
clude any appointee to such a committee. 
‘‘(f) NONDUPLICATION.—To the maximum extent 
practicable, the Secretary shall ensure that grants, con-
tracts, cooperative agreements, cash prizes, or other as-
sistance or arrangements awarded or entered into pursu-
ant to this section that are designed to carry out the pur-
poses of EIP do not duplicate activities under programs 
carried out under Federal law other than this section by 
the Department or other Federal agencies.’’. 
SEC. 4. STATE CONSORTIUM ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, 
ENGINEERING, 
AND 
MATHEMATICS 
EDU-
CATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available to 
carry out this section, the Secretary of Education, acting 
through the Office of STEM Education, shall award com-
petitive grants to eligible consortia to enable each such 
eligible consortium to establish a State Consortium on 
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Edu-
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