I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 847 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to invest 
in innovation for education. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 10, 2015 
Mr. POLIS (for himself and Mr. SABLAN) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 to invest in innovation for education. 
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 ‘‘Investing in Innovation 
for Education Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. INVESTING IN INNOVATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘PART D—INVESTING IN INNOVATION 
‘‘SEC. 4401. PURPOSES. 
‘‘The purposes of this part are to— 
‘‘(1) fund the identification, development, eval-
uation, and expansion of innovative, evidence-based 
practices, programs, and strategies in order to sig-
nificantly— 
‘‘(A) increase student academic achieve-
ment and decrease achievement gaps; 
‘‘(B) increase secondary school graduation 
rates; 
‘‘(C) increase college enrollment rates, 
rates of college persistence, and rates of attain-
ment of other post-secondary credentials; 
‘‘(D) improve teacher and principal effec-
tiveness or retention of highly effective teachers 
or principals; and 
‘‘(E) increase the identification and dis-
semination of innovative educational strategies 
in rural areas; and 
‘‘(2) support the rapid development, expansion, 
and adoption of tools and resources that improve the 
efficiency, effectiveness, or pace of adoption of such 
educational practices, programs, and strategies. 
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‘‘SEC. 4402. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), from 
the amounts appropriated under section 4408, the Sec-
retary shall reserve not more than 10 percent for each fis-
cal year to carry out activities of national significance, 
which may include— 
‘‘(1) technical assistance, including to appli-
cants from rural areas; 
‘‘(2) pre-application workshops or web-based 
seminars for potential applicants, including appli-
cants from rural areas; 
‘‘(3) the recruitment of peer reviewers, includ-
ing individuals with a background in rural education 
and individuals with expertise in education tech-
nology, to participate in the review of applications 
submitted under section 4404; 
‘‘(4) dissemination of best practices, in con-
sultation with the regional educational laboratories 
established under part D of the Education Sciences 
Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9561 et seq.) and 
comprehensive centers established under section 203 
of the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 
(20 U.S.C. 9602), developed with grant funds pro-
vided under this part, including best practices devel-
oped with grant funds in rural areas; 
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‘‘(5) entering into partnerships with other agen-
cies, nonprofits, and the private sector to carry out 
advanced research and development activities, in-
cluding research and activities in rural areas; and 
‘‘(6) carrying out prize awards, in a manner 
consistent with section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler 
Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 
3719). 
‘‘(b) RESERVATION
OF FUNDS
FOR DISSEMINA-
TION.—The Secretary shall reserve not less than 50 per-
cent of the funds reserved under this section to carry out 
the dissemination activities described in subsection (a)(4). 
‘‘SEC. 4403. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED; LENGTH OF GRANTS; 
PRIORITIES. 
‘‘(a) 
PROGRAM
AUTHORIZATION.—From 
the 
amounts appropriated under section 4408 and not re-
served under section 4402, the Secretary shall award 
grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities to carry 
out the activities described in section 4405. 
‘‘(b) DURATION OF GRANTS.—The Secretary shall 
award grants to eligible entities under this section for a 
period of not more than 3 years, and may extend such 
grants for an additional 2-year period if the eligible entity 
demonstrates to the Secretary that it is making significant 
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progress on the program performance measures identified 
in section 4406. 
‘‘(c) RURAL AREAS.—The Secretary shall ensure that 
not less than 25 percent of the funds awarded under this 
section for any fiscal year are for projects that meet both 
of the following requirements: 
‘‘(1) The eligible entity is— 
‘‘(A) a local educational agency with an 
urban-centric district locale code of 32, 33, 41, 
42, or 43, as determined by the Secretary; 
‘‘(B) a consortium of such local edu-
cational agencies; or 
‘‘(C) an educational service agency or a 
nonprofit organization with demonstrated ex-
pertise in serving students from rural areas. 
‘‘(2) A majority of the schools to be served by 
the project are designated with a school locale code 
of 41, 42, or 43, or a combination of such codes, as 
determined by the Secretary. 
‘‘(d) SUPPORT FOR NEW PRACTICES, STRATEGIES, 
OR PROGRAMS.—The Secretary shall ensure that not less 
than one-half of the funds awarded under this section for 
any fiscal year are for projects that— 
‘‘(1) meet an evidence standard described in 
paragraph (2) or (3) of subsection (f); and 
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‘‘(2) do not meet the evidence standard de-
scribed in paragraph (1) of subsection (f). 
‘‘(e) PRIORITIES.—In awarding grants under this 
section, the Secretary may give priority to an eligible enti-
ty that includes, in its application under section 4404, a 
plan to— 
‘‘(1) improve early learning outcomes and aca-
demic connections between early learning and ele-
mentary school; 
‘‘(2) support college access, persistence, and 
success; 
‘‘(3) support family and community engage-
ment; 
‘‘(4) address the unique learning needs of stu-
dents with disabilities or English language learners; 
‘‘(5) support the effective use of education tech-
nology to improve teaching and learning; 
‘‘(6) improve the teaching and learning of 
science, technology, engineering, computing, or 
mathematics; 
‘‘(7) serve schools in rural local educational 
agencies; 
‘‘(8) train teachers or principals to adopt and 
implement college and career ready standards; 
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‘‘(9) develop alternative career pathways or dif-
ferentiated school staffing models for effective teach-
ers or principals to expand their impact on student 
learning; 
‘‘(10) train or support principals or teacher 
leaders, including teacher leaders preparing for prin-
cipal roles; 
‘‘(11) support, improve, or develop any other 
area of school innovation, as determined by the Sec-
retary; and 
‘‘(12) address the learning needs of Indian, Na-
tive American, Alaska Native, or migrant children in 
school. 
‘‘(f) STANDARDS OF EVIDENCE.—The Secretary shall 
set standards for the quality of evidence that an eligible 
entity shall provide to demonstrate that the activities the 
eligible entity proposes to carry out with grant funds 
under this section are likely to succeed in improving stu-
dent outcomes or outcomes on other performance meas-
ures. These standards may include any of the following: 
‘‘(1) Strong evidence that the activities pro-
posed by the eligible entity will have a statistically 
significant effect on student academic achievement, 
student growth, graduation rates, or outcomes on 
other performance measures. 
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‘‘(2) Moderate evidence that the activities pro-
posed by the eligible entity will improve student aca-
demic achievement, student growth, graduation 
rates, or outcomes on other performance measures. 
‘‘(3) Evidence of promise or a strong theory 
that the activities proposed by the eligible entity will 
improve student academic achievement, student 
growth, graduation rates, or outcomes on other per-
formance measures. 
‘‘SEC. 4404. APPLICATIONS. 
‘‘(a) APPLICATIONS.—An eligible entity that desires 
to receive a grant under section 4403 shall submit an ap-
plication to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, 
and containing such information as the Secretary may rea-
sonably require. 
‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted by an 
eligible entity under subsection (a) shall— 
‘‘(1) describe the project for which the eligible 
entity is seeking a grant and how the evidence sup-
porting that project meets the standards of evidence 
established by the Secretary under section 4403(f); 
‘‘(2) describe how the eligible entity will address 
at least one of the areas described in section 
4405(a)(1); 
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‘‘(3) provide an estimate of the number of stu-
dents that the eligible entity plans to serve under 
the proposed project, including the percentage of 
those students who are from low-income families, 
and the number of students to be served through ad-
ditional expansion after the grant ends; 
‘‘(4) demonstrate that the eligible entity has es-
tablished one or more partnerships with the private 
sector, which may include philanthropic organiza-
tions, and that the partner or partners will provide 
matching funds, except that the Secretary may 
waive, on a case-by-case basis, the matching funds 
requirement under this paragraph upon a showing of 
exceptional circumstances, such as the difficulty of 
raising matching funds for a project to serve a rural 
area; 
‘‘(5) describe the eligible entity’s plan for con-
tinuing the proposed project after the grant funding 
under section 4403 ends, including a plan for dis-
semination of best practices and collaboration with 
other local educational agencies; 
‘‘(6) demonstrate that the proposed project has 
incorporated input and feedback from educators 
working in the area to be served; 
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‘‘(7) if the eligible entity is a local educational 
agency— 
‘‘(A) document the local educational agen-
cy’s record in— 
‘‘(i) increasing student achievement, 
including achievement for each subgroup 
described in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); or 
‘‘(ii) decreasing achievement gaps; 
and 
‘‘(B) demonstrate how the local edu-
cational agency has made significant improve-
ments in other outcomes, as applicable, on the 
performance measures described in section 
4406; 
‘‘(8) if the eligible entity is a nonprofit organi-
zation— 
‘‘(A) provide evidence that the nonprofit 
organization has helped at least one high-need 
school or high-need local educational agency 
significantly— 
‘‘(i) increase student achievement, in-
cluding achievement for each subgroup de-
scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); 
‘‘(ii) reduce achievement gaps; or 
‘‘(iii) increase graduation rates; and 
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‘‘(11) provide an assurance that the eligible en-
tity will— 
‘‘(A) cooperate with cross-cutting evalua-
tions; 
‘‘(B) make evaluation data available to 
third parties for validation and further study 
consistent with protections established by appli-
cable Federal, State, and local privacy require-
ments and other on provisions on the protection 
of personally identifiable information; and 
‘‘(C) participate in communities of prac-
tice; and 
‘‘(12) if the eligible entity is a nonprofit organi-
zation that intends to make subgrants, consistent 
with section 4405(b), provide an assurance that the 
eligible entity will apply paragraphs (1) through 
(10), as appropriate, in the eligible entity’s selection 
of subgrantees and in the oversight of such sub-
grants. 
‘‘(c) CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING APPLICATIONS.— 
The Secretary shall award grants under section 4403 on 
a competitive basis, based on the quality of the applica-
tions under this section submitted and, consistent with the 
standards established under section 4403(f), each eligible 
entity’s likelihood of achieving success in improving stu-
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dent outcomes or outcomes on other performance meas-
ures. 
‘‘SEC. 4405. USES OF FUNDS. 
‘‘(a) USES OF FUNDS.—Each eligible entity that re-
ceives a grant under section 4403— 
‘‘(1) shall use the grant funds to address, at a 
minimum, one of the following areas of school inno-
vations: 
‘‘(A) Improving the effectiveness and dis-
tribution of teachers or principals. 
‘‘(B) Strengthening the use of data to im-
prove teaching and learning. 
‘‘(C) Providing high-quality instruction 
based on rigorous standards that build toward 
college and career readiness and measuring stu-
dents’ mastery using high-quality assessments 
aligned to those standards. 
‘‘(D) Turning around the lowest-per-
forming schools. 
‘‘(E) Supporting the effective use of tech-
nology to improve teaching or principals and 
learning, including training teachers or prin-
cipals in the innovative use of technology. 
‘‘(F) Any other area of school innovation, 
as determined by the Secretary.; 
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‘‘(2) shall use those funds to develop or expand 
strategies to improve the performance of high-need 
students on the performance measures described in 
section 4406; and 
‘‘(3) may use the grant funds for an inde-
pendent 
evaluation, 
as 
required 
by 
section 
4404(b)(9), of the innovative practices carried out 
with the grant. 
‘‘(b) AUTHORITY TO SUBGRANT.—In the case of an 
eligible entity receiving a grant under section 4403 that 
is nonprofit organization such eligible entity may use the 
grant funds to make subgrants to other entities to provide 
support to one or more high-need schools or high-need 
local educational agencies. Any entity receiving a subgrant 
under this subsection shall comply with the requirements 
of this part for eligible entities, as appropriate. 
‘‘SEC. 4406. PERFORMANCE MEASURES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 
performance measures for the projects carried out under 
this part. These measures, at a minimum, shall track an 
eligible entity’s progress in— 
‘‘(1) improving outcomes for each subgroup de-
scribed in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v) that is served by 
the grantee on measures, including, as applicable, 
by— 
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‘‘(A) increasing student achievement and 
decreasing achievement gaps; 
‘‘(B) increasing secondary school gradua-
tion rates; 
‘‘(C) increasing college enrollment rates 
and rates of college persistence; 
‘‘(D) improving teacher and principal ef-
fectiveness or the retention of highly effective 
teachers or principals; 
‘‘(E) improving school readiness; or 
‘‘(F) any other indicator as the Secretary 
or grantee may determine; and 
‘‘(2) implementing the eligible entity’s project 
in rural schools, as applicable. 
‘‘(b) 
DATA
COLLECTION
PERIOD.—From 
the 
amounts appropriated under section 4408, the Secretary 
may— 
‘‘(1) approve, for an eligible entity receiving a 
grant under section 4403, a data collection period of 
not more than 72 months beginning after the end of 
the eligible entity’s grant period; and 
‘‘(2) provide the eligible entity with funding 
during such period for the sole purpose of collecting, 
analyzing, and reporting performance information 
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under this subsection on the project carried out dur-
ing the grant period. 
‘‘SEC. 4407. ANNUAL REPORT. 
‘‘An eligible entity that receives a grant under section 
4403 shall submit to the Secretary, at such time and in 
such manner as the Secretary may require, an annual re-
port that includes information on— 
‘‘(1) the eligible entity’s progress on the per-
formance measures established under section 4406; 
and 
‘‘(2) the data supporting such progress. 
‘‘SEC. 4408. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this part $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2016 and such sums 
as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal 
years. 
‘‘SEC. 4409. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this part: 
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-
tity’ means— 
‘‘(A) a local educational agency; 
‘‘(B) an educational service agencies; or 
‘‘(C) a nonprofit organization in partner-
ship with a local educational agency or consor-
tium of schools. 
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‘‘(2) HIGH-NEED LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN-
CY.—The term ‘high-need local educational agency’ 
means a local educational agency— 
‘‘(A) that serves not fewer than 10,000 
children from families with incomes below the 
poverty line; 
‘‘(B) for which not less than 20 percent of 
the children served by the agency are from fam-
ilies with incomes below the poverty line; or 
‘‘(C) that is in the highest quartile of local 
educational agencies in the State, based on stu-
dent poverty. 
‘‘(3) HIGH-NEED
SCHOOL.—The term ‘high- 
need school’’ means— 
‘‘(A) an elementary school or middle school 
in which not less than 50 percent of the en-
rolled students are children eligible for free or 
reduced price lunch under the Richard B. Rus-
sell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 
1751 et seq.); and 
‘‘(B) a high school in which not less than 
40 percent of the enrolled students are children 
eligible for free or reduced price lunch under 
the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.), which may be cal-
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culated using comparable data from feeder 
schools. 
‘‘(4) PRINCIPAL.—The term ‘principal’ includes 
an assistant principal. 
‘‘(5) TEACHER.—The term ‘teacher’ includes 
teacher leaders. 
‘‘(6) TEACHER
LEADER.—The term ‘teacher 
leader’ means a teacher who has demonstrated effec-
tiveness and assumes leadership responsibilities to 
work with other teachers to raise student achieve-
ment in multiple classrooms.’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 
section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating 
to section 4304 the following: 
‘‘PART D—INVESTING IN INNOVATION 
‘‘Sec. 4401. Purposes. 
‘‘Sec. 4402. National activities. 
‘‘Sec. 4403. Program authorized; length of grants; priorities. 
‘‘Sec. 4404. Applications. 
‘‘Sec. 4405. Uses of funds. 
‘‘Sec. 4406. Performance measures. 
‘‘Sec. 4407. Reporting; annual report. 
‘‘Sec. 4408. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 
Æ 
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