jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2014-09-18 00:00:00

Tackling Excessive Standardized Testing Act of 2014 or the TEST Act of 2014 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to alter the frequency with which students must take the tests used in determining whether they are making adequate yearly progress (AYP) toward state academic achievement standards in mathematics and reading or language arts. (Currently, students must take those tests in each of grades 3 through 8.) Authorizes a public school to administer the academic assessments in mathematics: (1) in each of grades 4, 6, and 8; or (2) in each of grades 4 and 8 if the school is at the 15th percentile or above for mathematics in the state or its students are making appropriate progress, as determined by the Secretary of Education, toward state mathematics achievement standards. Authorizes a public school to administer the academic assessments in reading or language arts: (1) in each of grades 3, 5, and 7; or (2) in each of grades 3 and 7 if the school is at the 15th percentile or above for reading or language arts or its students are making appropriate progress toward state reading or language arts achievement standards.

Excludes limited English proficient students who are in their first 12 months of enrollment in a public school from the determination as to whether students are making AYP toward state academic achievement standards.

Prohibits the Secretary from waiving the application of any of this Act's provisions.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2014-09-19 00:00:00

ZZZ's to A's Act - Directs the Secretary of Education to conduct a study examining the relationship between school start times and adolescent health, well-being, and performance that:

 comprehensively reviews the scientific evidence relating to that relationship; compares adolescent health, well-being, and performance among local educational agencies with different school start times; and evaluates factors that contribute to or affect school start times. Requires the Secretary to report the study's findings to Congress, including any recommendations the Secretary has that are based on those findings.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2014-12-02 00:00:00

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individual taxpayers a tax deduction for the qualified expenses, up to $10,000 in a taxable year, of attending a private school. Includes within the definition of "qualified expenses" expenses for tuition, fees, books, supplies, and other equipment in connection with the enrollment or attendance of an individual at an elementary or secondary school at a private institutional day or residential school, including a parochial school, or a home school, that provides elementary or secondary education. Disallows any amount claimed as home school tuition.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2014-12-08 00:00:00

Support Making Assessments Reliable and Timely Act or the SMART Act - Amends subpart 1 (Accountability) of part A of title VI of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to revise the program allotting grants to states to develop and administer state academic content and achievement standards and assessments of student progress toward those standards.

Requires each state to use such grant to:

 develop and administer such assessments and further align them with the state's academic content standards, ensure that students with limited English proficiency and disabled students are provided with appropriate accommodations to improve their inclusion in the assessments, develop state assessment systems aligned to content standards that support systems of continuous improvement, support local educational agencies (LEAs) in identifying uses of assessment data, and carry out certain other activities to improve the quality and use of state assessments. Revises the program awarding competitive grants to states to enhance assessment instruments.

Requires each grantee that has not yet received a grant under such program to use the grant to:

 carry out audits of the state assessment system and ensure that LEAs carry out audits of local assessments; prepare and carry out a state plan, in coordination with LEAs, to improve and streamline state and local assessment systems; and award subgrants to LEAs to improve the quality and use of local assessments and their alignment with state academic content standards. Requires a state that has previously received such a grant to use a new grant to:

 carry out a state plan, in coordination with LEAs, to improve and streamline state and local assessment systems; and award subgrants to LEAs to improve the quality and use of local assessments and their alignment with state academic content standards. Directs the Secretary to provide technical assistance to states to improve their understanding of existing flexibility in the design and implementation of high-quality, streamlined state assessment systems to measure student progress toward state academic achievement standards.

Reauthorizes appropriations for the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the revised subpart 1 grant programs.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2014-12-10 00:00:00

Grow Your Own Teacher Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to establish a Grow Your Own Teacher program making competitive grants to eligible entities to train and employ certain individuals in hard-to-staff schools or teaching positions.

Defines an "eligible entity" as a consortium consisting of a local educational agency (LEA) that receives school improvement funds under part A of title I of the Act and an institution of higher education that offers a state-accredited teacher certificate program.

Requires the grant to be used to: (1) train certain individuals who received a high school diploma from a participating LEA to be teachers, including by having them observe and work with a veteran teacher in a classroom for at least one year; (2) employ such individuals in hard-to-staff schools and teaching positions in such LEA, with priority given to teaching positions in mathematics, science, special education, world languages, and English as a second language; and (3) employ such individuals in a manner that reduces the divergence between the racial diversity of teachers and of students.

Authorizes the Secretary to forgive the student loans incurred by training program participants who have been employed as teachers in hard-to-staff schools or teaching positions.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Health
Date: 2014-12-10 00:00:00

School Protection Act of 2014 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants and enter contracts to train elementary and secondary school nurses to serve as first responders and crisis managers in the event of a biological or chemical attack at a school or an outbreak of pandemic influenza among individuals under their care.

Requires this training to prepare school nurses to: (1) protect and preserve life; (2) notify public health authorities to help contain or mitigate the effects of an attack or outbreak; and (3) take other appropriate and feasible actions, such as preserve evidence of an attack.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-01-22 00:00:00

Strengthen our Schools and Students Act - Expresses the sense of the Senate that Congress should:

 strengthen early learning programs to better prepare children for success in school; ensure that all students have equitable access to a high-quality, well-rounded education that prepares them to succeed in college and a career; continue efforts to make higher education more affordable and to improve access and success for all students; provide all teachers with the support they need to ensure student success, including by creating a national Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Master Teacher Corps; and support states and local educational agencies to ensure that schools have safe and successful learning conditions.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-01-23 00:00:00

21st Century Charter School Act - Amends the Charter School program of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

Makes public and private nonprofit entities eligible for program grants. (Currently, state educational entities are eligible for such grants.)

Allows grantees to award subgrants to charter school developers or nonprofit charter support organizations and award them multiple grants to support multiple campuses of a public charter school.

Sets forth additional factors that are to work in favor of grant applicants, including that their state gives public charter schools funding commensurate with that provided to other public schools, has no cap on such schools, and gives the schools a high degree of autonomy.

Authorizes the use of subgrants to plan and implement, or expand existing, public charter schools.

Authorizes grantees to use a portion of the grant funds reserved for administrative expenses to improve public charter school authorizing policies and practices in their area.

Expands the portion of funds grantees may use in establishing revolving loan funds for loans to subgrantees for planning and operating a public charter school.

Requires each public charter school participating in the program to have an independent governing board that enters into a performance-based agreement with an authorized public chartering agency that describes: (1) how student performance will be measured pursuant to the state assessments required of other schools, and (2) the criteria for renewal or revocation of their charter. Prohibits such schools from giving admissions preference to any student on the basis of prior academic achievement.

Establishes two new grant programs awarding grants to: (1) public charter schools, public and private nonprofit entities, charter school developers, and nonprofit charter support organizations to disseminate charter school innovations to other schools and states; and (2) public and private nonprofit entities to demonstrate innovative credit enhancement initiatives that assist public charter schools in covering the cost of acquiring, constructing, and renovating facilities.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-01-23 00:00:00

Safety for Our Schoolchildren Act of 2013 - Requires states and local educational agencies (LEAs): (1) to obtain an FBI background check on individuals prior to offering them employment as school employees; and (2) if the check identifies them as sexual predators, to report their application to local law enforcement.

Prohibits states or LEAs from hiring individuals as: (1) school employees if they have been convicted of a crime of violence or other felony; or (2) school bus drivers if they have been convicted of, or pled guilty to, drunk driving or a serious moving violation.

Withholds funds available to states for planning and administration and to LEAs as subgrants under part A of title II (Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High Quality Teachers and Principals) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, if they violate such prohibitions or fail to take such actions.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Date: 2013-01-24 00:00:00

Save Our Students Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to provide funds to states submitting specified plans for using National Guard personnel to: (1) perform administrative functions normally performed by state and local law enforcement personnel in order to enable such law enforcement personnel to be dispatched to keep schools and students safe from violence, (2) help conduct school security assessments and safety plans, and (3) conduct capital improvements related to enhancing school and student safety.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
Date: 2013-01-24 00:00:00

Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize the Director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to make grants to local governments and Indian tribes to provide for school resource and safety officers at schools. Defines a "school resource and safety officer" as a career law enforcement officer who is assigned by the employing police department to protect schools and who works in and around schools for not less than 75% of the time the officer is on duty.

Requires the Director to: (1) establish guidelines for programs that train school resource and safety officers, and (2) ensure an equitable geographic distribution of grants among regions of the United States and among urban, suburban, and rural areas.

Limits grants to: (1) $200,000 for each officer proposed to be hired or each training program proposed to be funded, subject to a waiver; and (2) three fiscal years. Authorizes the Director to make available additional funds if the funds were used in the manner required and the recipient demonstrates significant financial need.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-02-04 00:00:00

High School Data Transparency Act of 2013 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require the Secretary of Education to collect the following information annually from each coeducational elementary and secondary school that receives federal financial assistance and has an interscholastic athletic program: (1) the number, gender, and race or ethnicity of students that attended the school; and (2) for each team that competed in athletic competition, the number, gender, and race or ethnicity of participants, the total expenditures, the number, gender, and employment status of trainers, medical personnel, and coaches, the number of competitions, and postseason record.

Requires such schools to: (1) make such information available to students, potential students, and their parents, upon request, and to the public by October 15 of each school year; (2) ensure that all students and parents at the school are informed of their right to request such information; and (3) annually provide such information to the Secretary.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) ensure that such information is posted on the Department of Education's website, (2) notify all elementary and secondary schools regarding the availability of the information, and (3) issue guidance to the schools on how to collect and report the information required under this Act.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-02-11 00:00:00

Children Eating Well Act or the CHEW Act - Requires each local educational agency (LEA) participating in the school improvement program under part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to: (1) develop and implement healthy eating and nutrition education programs in its schools, and (2) periodically monitor schools' efforts to improve students' healthy eating and nutritive knowledge.

Requires LEAs to consult multiple viewpoints in developing and implementing the healthy eating and nutrition education programs.

Includes professional development for teachers, school staff, and food service workers as part of those programs.

Directs the Secretary of Education, Secretary of Agriculture, and Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish an inter-agency task force to review nutrition education curricula and recommend effective nutrition education programs for elementary and secondary schools.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-02-12 00:00:00

Counseling for Career Choice Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to award competitive establishment grants to states to develop and implement comprehensive school counseling programs that provide students with effective postsecondary education planning and career guidance services.

Requires each program to be aligned with a statewide counseling framework that: (1) encompasses grades 6 through 12 and postsecondary education; and (2) is developed in consultation with, or exists with the support of, at least five stakeholders that include at least one business or industry and at least one local educational agency (LEA) or secondary school.

Requires establishment grant funds to be used to: (1) train and hire school counselors; (2) identify regional workforce trends and postsecondary options available in the state; (3) establish, improve, or coordinate postsecondary opportunities; and (4) recommend curricular improvements to better align curricula with workforce trends and available postsecondary opportunities.

Allows states to carry out program activities directly or through competitive subgrants to LEAs, or consortia of LEAs, educational service agencies, tribal organizations, or nonprofit organizations with expertise in counseling or career and technical education.

Directs the Secretary to reserve at least 10%, but no more than 20%, of the amount appropriated for this Act's counseling program to award competitive capacity-building grants to states that do not receive an establishment grant.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-02-12 00:00:00

Investing in Innovation for Education Act of 2013 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to award competitive grants to local educational agencies (LEAs), educational service agencies, and nonprofit organizations to support the school innovation efforts of public schools and LEAs.

Requires at least 25% of the grant funds to be awarded for projects in rural areas.

Requires each grant applicant to demonstrate that it has partnered with at least one private, nonprofit, or community-based organization that will provide matching funds. Allows the Secretary to waive the matching funds requirement upon a showing of exceptional circumstances.

Requires each grant to be used to address at least one of the following areas of school innovation: (1) improving the effectiveness of teachers and school leaders and promoting their equitable distribution, (2) strengthening the use of data to improve education, (3) providing high-quality instruction that is based on rigorous standards and measuring students' proficiency using high-quality assessments that are aligned to those standards, (4) turning around the lowest-performing schools, and (5) any other area of school innovation the Secretary chooses.

Directs the Secretary to establish performance measures for tracking each grantee's progress in: (1) improving the academic performance of public elementary and secondary school students, and specified subgroups of those students; and (2) implementing its project in rural schools, as applicable. Requires grantees to use grant funds to develop or expand strategies to improve high-need students' showing on those performance measures.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Taxation
Date: 2013-02-13 00:00:00

Educational Opportunities Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individual taxpayers a tax credit for charitable contributions to a scholarship granting organization. Allows a maximum credit amount of $4,500 ($2,250 for a married individual filing a separate return). Defines "scholarship granting organization" as a tax-exempt entity whose exclusive purpose is to provide scholarships for the tuition and other expenses of elementary and secondary school students from low income households (i.e., household income not exceeding 250% of federal poverty guidelines).

Allows corporate taxpayers a tax credit, up to $100,000, for contributions to a scholarship granting organization.

Imposes a penalty on scholarship granting organizations that fail to distribute at least 90% of their total receipts for elementary and secondary school expenses in a taxable year.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-02-13 00:00:00

Ready to Learn Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Education to award competitive matching grants to states and, through them, subgrants to schools, child care entities, Head Start programs, or other community-based prekindergarten providers for high-quality full day voluntary prekindergarten programs that prepare four-year olds for school.

Requires that such programs: (1) first serve children whose family income is no higher than 200% of the poverty level or who are limited English proficient; (2) ensure that, within two years of grant receipt, each classroom is taught by a teacher who has at least a baccalaureate degree in early childhood education or such a degree and specialized training in early childhood development; (3) use curricula that are aligned with state early learning standards; and (4) have teacher-child ratios of no more than 1 to 10 and group sizes of no more than 20.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-02-14 00:00:00

Teaching Geography is Fundamental Act - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish a geography education grant program under title II (Teacher Quality Enhancement).

Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award a grant to a national nonprofit education organization or consortium, with 75% to be used for matching subgrants to institutions of higher education associated with state geographic alliances, nonprofit educational organizations, or state or local educational agencies.

Requires program participants to use their grants and subgrants to enhance the geographic literacy of students in kindergarten through grade 12 by supporting specified activities, including: (1) educational research; (2) teacher training; (3) the development of effective teaching tools and learning materials; (4) the application of rigorous academic standards and assessment techniques; (5) comparative studies of world cultures, economies, and environments; and (6) the exchange of information regarding the state of geographic literacy and strategies for its improvement.
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-02-27 00:00:00

Promoting Health as Youth Skills In Classrooms And Life Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to include health education and physical education in the definition of "core academic subjects."
Topic: Education — Elementary & Secondary
Subject: Education
Date: 2013-02-28 00:00:00

Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2013 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require states to direct their local educational agencies (LEAs) to establish policies that prevent and prohibit conduct, including bullying and harassment, that is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive to: (1) limit students' ability to participate in, or benefit from, school programs; or (2) create a hostile or abusive educational environment that adversely affects their education.

Requires LEAs to also provide: (1) students, parents, and educational professionals with annual notice of the conduct prohibited in their discipline policies; (2) students and parents with grievance procedures that target such conduct; and (3) the public with annual data on the incidence and frequency of that conduct at the school and LEA level.

Requires: (1) the Secretary of Education to conduct, and report on, an independent biennial evaluation of programs and policies to combat bullying and harassment in elementary and secondary schools; and (2) the Commissioner for Education Statistics to collect state data, that are subject to independent review, to determine the incidence and frequency of the conduct prohibited by LEA discipline policies.