graph (1)(B) shall consult with the Governor, State 
board of education, State educational agency, or 
State agency for higher education, as appropriate, 
with respect to the activities assisted under this sec-
tion. 
‘‘(3) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sub-
section shall be construed to negate or supersede the 
legal authority under State law of any State agency, 
State entity, or State public official over programs 
that are under the jurisdiction of the agency, entity, 
or official. 
‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under this section, an eligible State shall submit an appli-
cation to the Secretary that—
‘‘(1) meets the requirement of this section; 
‘‘(2) demonstrates that the State is in full com-
pliance with sections 207 and 208; 
‘‘(3) includes a description of how the eligible 
State intends to use funds provided under this sec-
tion; 
‘‘(4) includes measurable objectives for the use 
of the funds provided under the grant; 
‘‘(5) demonstrates the State has submitted and 
is actively implementing a plan that meets the re-
quirements of sections 1111(h)(1)(C)(viii) and 1119
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(h)(1)(C)(viii) and 6319); and 
‘‘(6) contains such other information and assur-
ances as the Secretary may require. 
‘‘(d) USES OF FUNDS.—An eligible State that re-
ceives a grant under this section shall use the grant funds 
to reform teacher preparation requirements, to coordinate 
with State activities under section 2113(c) of the Elemen-
tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
6613(c)), and to ensure that current and future teachers 
are highly qualified, by carrying out one or more of the 
following activities: 
‘‘(1) REFORMS.—Ensuring that all teacher 
preparation programs in the State are preparing 
teachers who are highly qualified, are able to under-
stand scientifically based research and its applica-
bility, and are able to use advanced technology effec-
tively in the classroom, including use for instruc-
tional techniques to improve student academic 
achievement, by assisting such programs—
‘‘(A) to retrain faculty; and 
‘‘(B) to design (or redesign) teacher prepa-
ration programs so they—
‘‘(i) are based on rigorous academic 
content, scientifically based research (in-
cluding scientifically based reading re-
search), and challenging State student aca-
demic content standards; and 
‘‘(ii) promote strong teaching skills. 
‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION OR LICENSURE REQUIRE-
MENTS.—Reforming teacher certification (including 
recertification) or licensing requirements to ensure 
that—
‘‘(A) teachers have the subject matter 
knowledge and teaching skills in the academic 
subjects that the teachers teach that are nec-
essary to help students meet challenging State 
student academic achievement standards; and 
‘‘(B) such requirements are aligned with 
challenging State academic content standards. 
‘‘(3) ALTERNATIVES TO TRADITIONAL TEACHER 
PREPARATION
AND
STATE
CERTIFICATION.—Pro-
viding prospective teachers with alternative routes to 
State certification and traditional preparation to be-
come highly qualified teachers through—
‘‘(A) innovative approaches that reduce un-
necessary barriers to State certification while 
producing highly qualified teachers;
‘‘(B) programs that provide support to 
teachers during their initial years in the profes-
sion; and 
‘‘(C) alternative routes to State certifi-
cation of teachers for qualified individuals, in-
cluding mid-career professionals from other oc-
cupations, former military personnel, and recent 
college graduates with records of academic dis-
tinction. 
‘‘(4) INNOVATIVE
PROGRAMS.—Planning and 
implementing innovative programs to enhance the 
ability of institutions of higher education to prepare 
highly qualified teachers, such as charter colleges of 
education or university and local educational agency 
partnership schools, that—
‘‘(A) permit flexibility in meeting State re-
quirements as long as graduates, during their 
initial years in the profession, increase student 
academic achievement; 
‘‘(B) provide long-term data gathered from 
teachers’ performance over multiple years in the 
classroom on the ability to increase student aca-
demic achievement; 
‘‘(C) ensure high-quality preparation of 
teachers from underrepresented groups; and
‘‘(D) create performance measures that 
can be used to document the effectiveness of in-
novative methods for preparing highly qualified 
teachers. 
‘‘(5) MERIT
PAY.—Developing, or assisting 
local educational agencies in developing—
‘‘(A) merit-based performance systems that 
reward teachers who increase student academic 
achievement; and 
‘‘(B) strategies that provide differential 
and bonus pay in high-need local educational 
agencies to retain—
‘‘(i) principals; 
‘‘(ii) highly qualified teachers who 
teach in high-need academic subjects, such 
as reading, mathematics, and science; 
‘‘(iii) highly qualified teachers who 
teach in schools identified for school im-
provement under section 1116(b) of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6316(b)); 
‘‘(iv) special education teachers; 
‘‘(v) teachers specializing in teaching 
limited English proficient children; and
‘‘(vi) highly qualified teachers in 
urban and rural schools or districts. 
‘‘(6) TEACHER ADVANCEMENT.—Developing, or 
assisting local educational agencies in developing, 
teacher advancement and retention initiatives that 
promote professional growth and emphasize multiple 
career paths (such as paths to becoming a highly 
qualified mentor teacher or exemplary teacher) and 
pay differentiation. 
‘‘(7) TEACHER REMOVAL.—Developing and im-
plementing effective mechanisms to ensure that local 
educational agencies and schools are able to remove 
expeditiously incompetent or unqualified teachers 
consistent with procedures to ensure due process for 
the teachers. 
‘‘(8) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Providing tech-
nical assistance to low-performing teacher prepara-
tion programs within institutions of higher education 
identified under section 208(a). 
‘‘(9) TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS.—Developing—
‘‘(A) systems to measure the effectiveness 
of teacher preparation programs and profes-
sional development programs; and 
‘‘(B) strategies to document gains in stu-
dent academic achievement or increases in
teacher mastery of the academic subjects the 
teachers teach as a result of such programs. 
‘‘(10) TEACHER
RECRUITMENT
AND
RETEN-
TION.—Undertaking activities that—
‘‘(A) develop and implement effective 
mechanisms to ensure that local educational 
agencies and schools are able effectively to re-
cruit and retain highly qualified teachers; or 
‘‘(B) are described in section 204(d). 
‘‘(11) 
PRESCHOOL
TEACHERS.—Developing 
strategies—
‘‘(A) to improve the qualifications of pre-
school teachers, which may include State certifi-
cation for such teachers; and 
‘‘(B) to improve and expand preschool 
teacher preparation programs. 
‘‘(e) EVALUATION.—
‘‘(1) EVALUATION SYSTEM.—An eligible State 
that receives a grant under this section shall develop 
and utilize a system to evaluate annually the effec-
tiveness of teacher preparation programs and profes-
sional development activities within the State in pro-
ducing gains in—
‘‘(A) the teacher’s annual contribution to 
improving student academic achievement, as
measured by State academic assessments re-
quired under section 1111(b)(3) of the Elemen-
tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 6311(b)(3)); and 
‘‘(B) teacher mastery of the academic sub-
jects they teach, as measured by pre- and post-
participation tests of teacher knowledge, as ap-
propriate. 
‘‘(2) USE OF EVALUATION SYSTEM.—Such eval-
uation system shall be used by the State to evalu-
ate—
‘‘(A) activities carried out using funds pro-
vided under this section; and 
‘‘(B) the quality of its teacher education 
programs. 
‘‘(3) PUBLIC
REPORTING.—The State shall 
make the information described in paragraph (1) 
widely available through public means, such as post-
ing on the Internet, distribution to the media, and 
distribution through public agencies. 
‘‘SEC. 203. PARTNERSHIP GRANTS. 
‘‘(a) GRANTS.—From amounts made available under 
section 210(2) for a fiscal year, the Secretary is author-
ized to award grants under this section, on a competitive 
basis, to eligible partnerships to enable the eligible part-
nerships to carry out the activities described in subsections 
(d) and (e). 
‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIPS.—In this part, 
the term ‘eligible partnership’ means an entity 
that—
‘‘(A) shall include—
‘‘(i) a partner institution; 
‘‘(ii) a school of arts and sciences; 
‘‘(iii) a high-need local educational 
agency; and 
‘‘(iv) a public or private educational 
organization; and 
‘‘(B) may include a Governor, State edu-
cational agency, the State board of education, 
the State agency for higher education, an insti-
tution of higher education not described in sub-
paragraph (A), a public charter school, a public 
or private elementary school or secondary 
school, a public or private educational organiza-
tion, a business, a science-, mathematics-, or 
technology-oriented entity, a faith-based or 
community organization, a prekindergarten pro-
gram, a teacher organization, an education 
service agency, a consortia of local educational
agencies, or a nonprofit telecommunications en-
tity. 
‘‘(2) PARTNER INSTITUTION.—In this section, 
the term ‘partner institution’ means an institution of 
higher education, the teacher training program of 
which demonstrates that—
‘‘(A) graduates from the teacher training 
program exhibit strong performance on State-
determined qualifying assessments for new 
teachers through—
‘‘(i) demonstrating that the graduates 
of the program who intend to enter the 
field of teaching have passed all of the ap-
plicable State qualification assessments for 
new teachers, which shall include an as-
sessment of each prospective teacher’s sub-
ject matter knowledge in the content area 
or areas in which the teacher intends to 
teach; or 
‘‘(ii) being ranked among the highest-
performing teacher preparation programs 
in the State as determined by the State—
‘‘(I) using criteria consistent with 
the requirements for the State report 
card under section 207(a); and
‘‘(II) using the State report card 
on teacher preparation required under 
section 207(a); or 
‘‘(B) the teacher training program requires 
all the students of the program to participate in 
intensive clinical experience, to meet high aca-
demic standards, and—
‘‘(i) in the case of secondary school 
candidates, to successfully complete an 
academic major in the subject area in 
which the candidate intends to teach or to 
demonstrate competence through a high 
level of performance in relevant content 
areas; and 
‘‘(ii) in the case of elementary school 
candidates, to successfully complete an 
academic major in the arts and sciences or 
to demonstrate competence through a high 
level of performance in core academic sub-
ject areas. 
‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—Each eligible partnership desir-
ing a grant under this section shall submit an application 
to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and accom-
panied by such information as the Secretary may require. 
Each such application shall—
‘‘(1) contain a needs assessment of all the part-
ners with respect to teaching and learning and a de-
scription of how the partnership will coordinate with 
other teacher training or professional development 
programs, and how the activities of the partnership 
will be consistent with State, local, and other edu-
cation reform activities that promote student aca-
demic achievement; 
‘‘(2) contain a resource assessment that de-
scribes the resources available to the partnership, 
the intended use of the grant funds, including a de-
scription of how the grant funds will be used in ac-
cordance with subsection (f), and the commitment of 
the resources of the partnership to the activities as-
sisted under this part, including financial support, 
faculty participation, time commitments, and con-
tinuation of the activities when the grant ends; 
‘‘(3) contain a description of—
‘‘(A) how the partnership will meet the 
purposes of this part; 
‘‘(B) how the partnership will carry out 
the activities required under subsection (d) and 
any permissible activities under subsection (e); 
‘‘(C) the partnership’s evaluation plan pur-
suant to section 206(b);
‘‘(D) how faculty of the teacher prepara-
tion program at the partner institution will 
serve, over the term of the grant, with highly 
qualified teachers in the classrooms of the high-
need local educational agency included in the 
partnership; 
‘‘(E) how the partnership will ensure that 
teachers, principals, and superintendents in pri-
vate elementary and secondary schools located 
in the geographic areas served by an eligible 
partnership under this section will participate 
equitably in accordance with section 9501 of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7881); 
‘‘(F) how the partnership will design and 
implement a clinical program component that 
includes close supervision of student teachers by 
faculty of the teacher preparation program at 
the partner institution and mentor teachers; 
‘‘(G) how the partnership will design and 
implement an induction program to support all 
new teachers through the first 3 years of teach-
ing that includes mentors who are trained and 
compensated by the partnership for their work 
with new teachers; and