the Board for 10 consecutive years shall thereafter
be ineligible for appointment during the 5-year pe-
riod beginning on the date of the expiration of the
10th year.
‘‘(o) MEETINGS OF BOARD.—
‘‘(1) INITIAL
MEETING.—The Secretary shall
ensure that the first meeting of the Board is held
not later than May 15, 1994.
‘‘(2) SUBSEQUENT
MEETINGS.—The Board
shall meet quarterly, at the call of the Chair, and
when at least one-third of the members of the Board
make a written request to meet.
‘‘(3) QUORUM.—A majority of the Board shall
constitute a quorum.
‘‘(4) OPEN MEETINGS.—The Government in the
Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b) shall apply to meet-
ings of the Board.’’.
TITLE III—NATIONAL RESEARCH
INSTITUTES
SEC. 
301. 
ESTABLISHMENT 
WITHIN 
OFFICE 
OF 
EDU-
CATIONAL RESEARCH AND IMPROVEMENT.
Part A of the General Education Provisions Act, as
amended by section 201 of this Act, is amended by insert-
ing after section 405A the following new section:
‘‘NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES
‘‘SEC. 405B. (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF INSTITUTES.—
In order to fulfill the research and development purposes
of the Office, and to carry out, in accordance with the
standards established by the Board, a program of high-
quality and rigorously evaluated research and development
that is capable of improving Federal, State, Indian tribal,
and local education policies and practices, there are estab-
lished within the Office the following institutes:
‘‘(1) The National Institute for the Education
of At-Risk Students.
‘‘(2) The National Institute for Innovation in
Educational Governance, Finance, Policy-Making,
and Management.
‘‘(3) The National Institute for Early Childhood
Development and Education.
‘‘(4) 
The 
National 
Institute 
on 
Student
Achievement.
‘‘(5) The National Institute on Postsecondary
Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Education.
‘‘(b) DIRECTORS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each Institute established
by subsection (a) shall be headed by a Director who
shall be appointed by the Assistant Secretary from
among persons who have significant experience and
expertise in the disciplines relevant to the purposes
of such Institute. Prior to making such appointment,
the Assistant Secretary shall solicit and give due
consideration to recommendations made by the
Board of persons qualfied to fulfill the position.
‘‘(2) TERM OF OFFICE.—The Director of each
Institute shall serve for a renewable term of 3 years.
‘‘(3) REPORTING.—Each Director shall report
directly to the Assistant Secretary regarding the ac-
tivities of the Institute and shall work with the other
directors to promote research syntheses across the
Institutes.
‘‘(c) AUTHORITIES AND DUTIES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Secretary is
authorized to conduct research, development, dem-
onstration, and evaluation activities to carry out the
purposes for which such Institute was established—
‘‘(A) directly;
‘‘(B) through grants, contracts, and coop-
erative agreements with institutions of higher
education, regional educational laboratories,
public and private organizations, institutions,
agencies, and individuals, which may include—
‘‘(i) grants to support research and
development centers which are—
‘‘(I) awarded competitively for a
period of not less than 6 and not
more than 10 years;
‘‘(II) funded at not less than
$2,000,000 annually in order to sup-
port a full range of basic research, ap-
plied research and dissemination ac-
tivities, which may also include devel-
opment activities; and
‘‘(III) established by institutions
of higher education, by institutions of
higher education in consortium with
public agencies or private nonprofit
organizations, or by interstate agen-
cies established by compact which op-
erate subsidiary bodies established to
conduct postsecondary educational re-
search and development;
‘‘(ii) public-private research partner-
ships established by a State or local edu-
cation agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs-
funded school, or tribal department of edu-
cation, in concert with a private organiza-
tion and a team of educational researchers,
for which the Federal share shall be lim-
ited to not more than 50 percent of the
total costs of the project;
‘‘(iii) meritorious unsolicited proposals
for educational research and related activi-
ties;
‘‘(iv) proposals that are specifically in-
vited or requested by the Assistant Sec-
retary, on a competitive basis; and
‘‘(v) dissertation grants, awarded for
a period of not more than 2 years and in
a total amount not to exceed $20,000 to
graduate students in the sciences, human-
ities, and the arts to support research by
such scholars in the field of education;
‘‘(C) through the provision of technical as-
sistance; and
‘‘(D) through the award of fellowships to
support graduate study in educational research
by qualified African-American, Hispanic, Amer-
ican Indian and Alaska Native, and other indi-
viduals from groups which have been tradition-
ally underrepresented in the field of educational
research which shall—
‘‘(i) be awarded on the basis of merit
for a period of 3 years; and
‘‘(ii) provide stipends to each fellow in
an amount which shall be set at a level of
support comparable to that provided by the
National Science Foundation Graduate
Fellowships, except that such amounts
shall be adjusted as necessary so as not to
exceed each fellow’s demonstrated level of
need.
‘‘(2) SCOPE
AND
FOCUS
OF
ACTIVITIES.—In
carrying out the purposes for which each Institute is
established, the Assistant Secretary shall—
‘‘(A) maintain an appropriate balance be-
tween applied and basic research;
‘‘(B) significantly expand the role of field-
initiated research in meeting the Nation’s edu-
cation research and development needs by re-
serving not less than 15 percent of the amounts
available to each Institute in any fiscal year to
support field-initiated research described in
clauses (iii) through (v) of paragraph (1);
‘‘(C) provide for and maintain a stable
foundation of long-term research and develop-
ment on core issues and concerns conducted
through university-based research and develop-
ment centers by reserving not less than one-
third of the amounts available to each Institute
in any fiscal year to support such research and
development centers;
‘‘(D) support and provide research infor-
mation that leads to policy formation for State
legislatures, State and local boards of education
and other policy and governing bodies, to assist
such entities in identifying and developing effec-
tive policies to promote student achievement
and school improvement; and
‘‘(E) coordinate the Institute’s activities
with the activities of the regional educational
laboratories and with other educational service
organizations in designing the Institute’s re-
search agenda and projects in order to increase
the responsiveness of such Institute to the
needs of teachers and the educational field and
to bring research findings directly into schools
to ensure greatest access at the local level to
the latest research developments.
‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS
REGARDING
FINANCIAL
ASSISTANCE.—No grant, contract, or cooperative
agreement may be made under this section unless—
‘‘(A) sufficient notice of the availability of,
and opportunity to compete for, assistance has
first been provided to potential applicants
through notice published in the Federal Reg-
ister or other appropriate means;
‘‘(B) it has been evaluated through peer
review in accordance with the standards devel-
oped pursuant to subsection (h) of section 405;
‘‘(C) it will be evaluated in accordance with
the standards developed pursuant to subsection
(h) of section 405;
‘‘(D) in the case of a grant, contract, or
cooperative agreement which exceeds $500,000
for a single fiscal year or $1,000,000 for more
than one fiscal year, the Secretary has complied
with the requirements of paragraph (4); and
‘‘(E) in the case of a grant, contract, or
cooperative agreement to support a research
and development center, all applications for
such assistance have been evaluated by inde-
pendent experts according to standards and cri-
teria which include—
‘‘(i) whether applicants have assem-
bled a critical mass of high quality re-
searchers sufficient to achieve the mission
of the center;
‘‘(ii) whether the proposed organiza-
tional structure and arrangements will fa-
cilitate achievement of the mission of the
center;
‘‘(iii) whether there is a substantial
staff commitment to the work of the cen-
ter;
‘‘(iv) whether the directors and staff
will devote adequate time to center activi-
ties; and
‘‘(v) review of the contributions of pri-
mary researchers (other than researchers
at the proposed center) to evaluate the ap-
propriateness of such primary researcher’s
experiences and expertise in the context of
the proposed center activities, and the ade-
quacy of such primary researcher’s time
commitment to achievement of the mission
of the center.
‘‘(4) BOARD
REVIEW
OF
CERTAIN
PROPOSED
GRANT
AND
CONTRACT
ACTIONS.—The Assistant
Secretary may not solicit any contract bid or issue
a request for proposals or applications for any grant
or cooperative agreement the amount of which ex-
ceeds $500,000 in any single fiscal year or which ex-
ceeds an aggregate amount of $1,000,000 for more
than one fiscal year unless the Board has had an op-
portunity to review such proposed grant, contract, or
cooperative agreement action and to provide written
comments to the Assistant Secretary with respect to
whether—
‘‘(A) the purposes and scope of the pro-
posed action are consistent with the Research
Priorities Plan; and
‘‘(B) the methodology and approach of the
proposed action are sound and adequate to
achieve its stated objectives.
‘‘(5) 
HISTORICALLY
UNDERUTILIZED
RE-
SEARCHERS
AND
INSTITUTIONS.—The Assistant
Secretary shall establish and maintain initiatives and
programs to increase the participation in the activi-
ties of each Institute of groups of researchers and
institutions that have been historically underutilized
in Federal educational research activities, includ-
ing—
‘‘(A) researchers who are women, African-
American, Hispanic, American Indian and Alas-
ka Native, or other ethnic minorities;
‘‘(B) promising young or new researchers
in the field, such as postdoctoral students and
recently appointed assistant or associate profes-
sors;
‘‘(C) historically black colleges and univer-
sities, tribally controlled community colleges,
and other institutions of higher education with
large numbers of minority students;
‘‘(D) institutions of higher education lo-
cated in rural areas; and
‘‘(E) institutions and researchers located
in States and regions of the Nation which have
historically received the least Federal support
for educational research and development.
‘‘(6) ADDITIONAL
AUTHORITIES.—The Assist-
ant Secretary—
‘‘(A) may obtain (in accordance with sec-
tion 3109 of title 5 but without regard to the
limitation in such section on the period of serv-
ice) the services of experts or consultants with
scientific or professional qualifications in the
disciplines relevant to the purposes of such In-
stitute;
‘‘(B) may use, with their consent, the serv-
ices, equipment, personnel, information, and fa-
cilities of other Federal, State, or local public
agencies, with or without reimbursement there-
for;
‘‘(C) may accept voluntary and uncompen-
sated services; and
‘‘(D) may accept unconditional gifts made
to the Office to support its activities.
‘‘(d) NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR THE EDUCATION OF
AT-RISK STUDENTS.—
‘‘(1) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as fol-
lows:
‘‘(A) The rate of decline in our urban
schools is escalating at a rapid pace. Student
performance in most inner city schools grows
worse each year. At least half of all students
entering ninth grade fail to graduate 4 years
later and many more students from high-pov-
erty backgrounds leave school with skills that
are inadequate for today’s workplace. In 1988
the average National Assessment of Edu-
cational Progress (NAEP) reading score of
white 17 year-olds was approximately 20 points
higher than that of African-American 17 year-
olds and 25 points higher than that of Hispanic
17 year-olds. None of the existing Federal edu-
cational research and development programs