I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3676
To strengthen the national security through the expansion and improvement 
of foreign language study, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 8, 2003
Mr. HOLT (for himself, Mr. HYDE, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Ms. 
HARMAN, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs. DAVIS of Cali-
fornia, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. CASE, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. HASTINGS of 
Florida, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. REYES, Mr. BOSWELL, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. 
RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. SIMMONS, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. SNYDER, Mrs. 
TAUSCHER, Mr. COOPER, Mr. FROST, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Ms. 
DELAURO, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 
FARR, Mr. FORD, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. NADLER, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. 
ACKERMAN, and Mr. BELL) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition 
to the Select Committees on Intelligence (Permanent Select) and Armed 
Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To strengthen the national security through the expansion 
and improvement of foreign language study, 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 ‘‘National Security Lan-
guage Act’’. 
SEC. 2. ENCOURAGING EARLY FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN-
STRUCTION. 
Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1121 et seq.) is amended—
(1) by redesignating part D as part E; 
(2) by redesignating section 631 (20 U.S.C. 
1132) as section 641; and 
(3) by inserting after section 628 the following 
new part: 
‘‘PART D—EARLY FOREIGN LANGUAGE 
INSTRUCTION 
‘‘SEC. 631. EARLY FOREIGN LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIP.—The term ‘eligi-
ble partnership’ means a partnership that—
‘‘(A) shall include—
‘‘(i) a foreign language department of 
an institution of higher education; and 
‘‘(ii) a local educational agency; and 
‘‘(B) may include—
‘‘(i) another foreign language or 
teacher training department of an institu-
tion of higher education;
‘‘(ii) another local educational agency, 
or an elementary or secondary school; 
‘‘(iii) a business; 
‘‘(iv) a nonprofit organization of dem-
onstrated effectiveness, including a mu-
seum; 
‘‘(v) heritage or community centers 
for language study; 
‘‘(vi) language resource centers; or 
‘‘(vii) the State foreign language coor-
dinator or State educational agency. 
‘‘(2) HIGH-NEED LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN-
CY.—The term ‘high-need local educational agency’ 
has the meaning given the term in section 2102 of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 6602). 
‘‘(3) LESS-COMMONLY TAUGHT FOREIGN LAN-
GUAGES.—The term ‘less-commonly taught foreign 
languages’ includes the languages of Arabic, Korean, 
Chinese, Pashto, Persian-Farsi, Serbian-Croatian, 
Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, and any other lan-
guage identified by the Secretary of Education, in 
consultation with the Defense Language Institute, 
the Foreign Service Institute, and the National Se-
curity Education Program, as a foreign language 
critical to the national security of the United States. 
‘‘(4) SUMMER WORKSHOP OR INSTITUTE.—The 
term ‘summer workshop or institute’ means a work-
shop or institute, conducted during the summer, 
that—
‘‘(A) is conducted for a period of not less 
than 2 weeks; 
‘‘(B) provides for a program that provides 
direct interaction between students and faculty; 
and 
‘‘(C) provides for follow-up training during 
the academic year that—
‘‘(i) except as provided in clause (ii) 
or (iii), shall be conducted in the classroom 
for a period of not less than 3 days, which 
may or may not be consecutive; 
‘‘(ii) if the program described in sub-
paragraph (B) is for a period of not more 
than 2 weeks, shall be conducted for a pe-
riod of more than 3 days; or 
‘‘(iii) if the program is for teachers in 
rural school districts, may be conducted 
through distance education.
‘‘(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to im-
prove the performance of students in the study of foreign 
languages by encouraging States, institutions of higher 
education, elementary schools, and secondary schools to 
participate in programs that—
‘‘(1) upgrade the status and stature of foreign 
language teaching by encouraging institutions of 
higher education to assume greater responsibility for 
improving 
foreign 
language 
teacher 
education 
through the establishment of a comprehensive, inte-
grated system of recruiting and advising such teach-
ers; 
‘‘(2) focus on education of foreign language 
teachers as a career-long process that should con-
tinuously stimulate teachers’ intellectual growth and 
upgrade teachers’ knowledge and skills; 
‘‘(3) bring foreign language teachers in elemen-
tary schools and secondary schools together with lin-
guists or higher education foreign language profes-
sionals to increase the subject matter knowledge and 
improve the teaching skills of teachers through the 
use of more sophisticated resources that institutions 
of higher education are better able to provide than 
the schools; and
‘‘(4) develop more rigorous foreign language 
curricula that are aligned with—
‘‘(A) professionally accepted standards for 
elementary and secondary education instruction; 
and
‘‘(B) the standards expected for post-sec-
ondary study in foreign language. 
‘‘(c) GRANTS TO PARTNERSHIPS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award 
grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible partner-
ships to enable the eligible partnerships to pay the 
Federal share of the costs of carrying out the au-
thorized activities described in this section. 
‘‘(2) DURATION.—The Secretary shall award 
grants under this section for a period of 5 years. 
‘‘(3) FEDERAL SHARE.—The Federal share of 
the costs of the activities assisted under this section 
shall be—
‘‘(A) 75 percent of the costs for the first 
year that an eligible partnership receives a 
grant payment under this section; 
‘‘(B) 65 percent of such costs for the sec-
ond such year; and 
‘‘(C) 50 percent of such costs for each of 
the third, fourth, and fifth such years.
‘‘(4) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The non-Federal 
share of the costs of carrying out the authorized ac-
tivities described in this section may be provided in 
cash or in kind, fairly evaluated. 
‘‘(5) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 
section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible 
partnerships—
‘‘(A) that include high-need local edu-
cational agencies; or 
‘‘(B) that emphasize the teaching of the 
less-commonly taught foreign languages. 
‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each eligible partnership 
desiring a grant under this section shall submit an 
application to the Secretary at such time, in such 
manner, and accompanied by such information as 
the Secretary may require. 
‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—An application under para-
graph (1) shall include—
‘‘(A) an assessment of the teacher quality 
and professional development needs of all the 
schools and agencies participating in the eligible 
partnership with respect to the teaching and 
learning of foreign languages;
‘‘(B) a description of how the activities to 
be carried out by the eligible partnership will be 
based on a review of relevant research, and an 
explanation of why the activities are expected to 
improve student performance and to strengthen 
the quality of foreign language instruction; and 
‘‘(C) a description of—
‘‘(i) how the eligible partnership will 
carry out the authorized activities de-
scribed in subsection (e); and 
‘‘(ii) the eligible partnership’s evalua-
tion and accountability plan as described 
in subsection (f). 
‘‘(e) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—An eligible partner-
ship shall use the grant funds provided under this section 
for 1 or more of the following activities related to elemen-
tary schools or secondary schools: 
‘‘(1) Creating opportunities for enhanced and 
ongoing professional development that improves the 
subject matter knowledge of foreign language teach-
ers. 
‘‘(2) Recruiting university students with foreign 
language majors for teaching. 
‘‘(3) Promoting strong teaching skills for for-
eign language teachers and teacher educators.
‘‘(4) Establishing foreign language summer 
workshops or institutes (including follow-up train-
ing) for teachers. 
‘‘(5) Establishing distance learning programs 
for foreign language teachers. 
‘‘(6) Designing programs to prepare a teacher 
at a school to provide professional development to 
other teachers at the school and to assist novice 
teachers at such school, including (if applicable) a 
mechanism to integrate experiences from a summer 
workshop or institute. 
‘‘(7) Developing instruction materials. 
‘‘(f) EVALUATION
AND ACCOUNTABILITY PLAN.—
Each eligible partnership receiving a grant under this sec-
tion shall develop an evaluation and accountability plan 
for activities assisted under this section that includes 
strong performance objectives. The plan shall include ob-
jectives and measures for—
‘‘(1) increased participation by students in ad-
vanced courses in foreign language; 
‘‘(2) increased percentages of secondary school 
classes in foreign language taught by teachers with 
academic majors in foreign language, respectively; 
and