113 HR 1854 IH: Partnerships for Achieving Student Success Act
U.S. House of Representatives
2013-05-07
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as the
Partnerships for Achieving Student
Success Act
or the PASS Act
.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)Research shows that low socioeconomic
status and certain family risk factors, such as low maternal education level
and being from a single parent household, are highly correlated with poor
educational outcomes, with a concentration of low-performing schools in
low-income and under-served communities.
(2)Research shows that teachers cite poor
working conditions, student behavior, lack of student motivation, and lack of
administrative support as key reasons why they choose to leave the teaching
profession. It is essential to student achievement that we address these issues
inside and outside of the classroom in order to support both our students and
their educators.
(3)Teachers and principals working for
low-income local educational agencies are increasingly tasked with addressing
not only the academic needs of a child, but also the social, emotional, and
behavioral needs of a child that require the services of a school counselor,
school social worker, school psychologist, and other qualified psychologists,
and these needs often interfere with delivering quality instruction and raising
student achievement.
(4)Expanded school mental health services in
elementary schools have been found to improve aspects of school climate.
(5)Only 16 percent of
children who need mental health services receive such services. Seventy to
eighty percent of these children access mental health services at
school.
(6)Students are more
likely to seek help when they need it if school-based mental health services
are available.
(7)Rates of maltreatment and neglect of young
children in military families have shown dramatic increases during the parental
deployments that have accompanied the increased military involvement of the
United States abroad since October 2002. Likewise, adolescents with deployed
parents report increased perceptions of uncertainty and loss, role ambiguity,
negative changes in mental and behavioral health, and increased relationship
conflict; children exhibit increases in behavior disorders, stress disorders,
and emotional difficulties, and decreases in achievement in most academic
subjects. These trends raise concerns about the impact of deployment on
military personnel and their families and whether schools that serve a large
number of children with deployed parents have sufficient staff and expertise to
meet these challenges.
(8)Children of
military families in rural communities are often geographically isolated, and
schools that were already experiencing understaffing of school counselors,
school social workers, school psychologists, and other qualified psychologists
face even greater challenges meeting the increased needs of students enduring
the stress that comes along with having a deployed parent or parents.
(9)Schools served by low-income local
educational agencies suffer disproportionately from a lack of services, with
many schools sharing a single school counselor, school social worker, school
psychologist, or other qualified psychologist with neighboring schools.
(10)Too few school counselors, school social
workers, school psychologists, and other qualified psychologists per student
means that such personnel are often unable to effectively address the needs of
students.
(11)) The American School Counselor Association
and American Counseling Association recommend having at least 1 school
counselor for every 250 students.
(12)The School Social
Work Association of America recommends having at least 1 school social worker
for every 400 students.
(13)The National
Association of School Psychologists recommends having at least 1 psychologist
for every 500–700 students.
(14)Recent research of victimization of
children ages 2 to 17 suggests that more than one-half of the children
experienced a physical assault in the study year. More than 1 in 4 experienced
a property offense, more than 1 in 8 experienced a form of child maltreatment,
1 in 12 experienced a sexual victimization, and more than 1 in 3 had been a
witness to violence or experienced another form of indirect victimization. Only
29 percent of the children had no direct or indirect victimization.
(15)Principals and
teachers see signs of trauma-related stress in many students including hostile
outbursts, sliding grades, poor test performance, and the inability to pay
attention.
(16)There were more
than 423,000 children in foster care in 2009, and studies have revealed these
children to have higher rates of placement in special education, dropping out
of school, and discipline problems, and poorer academic skills than their
nonfoster care peers.
3.The purpose of this Act is to increase the
recruitment and retention of school counselors, school social workers, school
psychologists, and other qualified psychologists by low-income local
educational agencies to—
(1)support all students who are at risk of
negative educational outcomes;
(2)improve student achievement, which may be
measured by growth in academic achievement on tests required by the applicable
State educational agency, persistence rates, graduation rates, and other
appropriate measures;
(3)increase and improve outreach and
collaboration among school counselors, school social workers, school
psychologists, and other qualified psychologists, and parents and families
served by low-income local educational agencies;
(4)increase and improve collaboration among
teachers, principals, school counselors, school social workers, school
psychologists, and other qualified psychologists and improve professional
development opportunities for teachers and principals in the area of strategies
related to improving classroom climate and classroom management; and
(5)improve working
conditions for all school personnel.
4.Grant program to
increase the number of school counselors, school social workers, school
psychologists, and other psychologists qualified to work in schools employed by
low-income local educational agencies
(a)The Secretary
shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible partnerships to conduct
demonstration research projects to increase the number of and effectiveness of
school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and other
qualified psychologists served by low-income local educational agencies by
carrying out any of the activities described in subsection (g).
(b)A grant awarded under
this section shall be for a 5-year period and may be renewed for additional
5-year periods upon a showing of adequate progress, as the Secretary determines
appropriate.
(c)To
be eligible to receive a grant under this section, an eligible graduate
institution, on behalf of an eligible partnership, shall submit a grant
application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such
information as the Secretary may require, including—
(1)an assessment of the existing ratios of
school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and other
qualified psychologists to students enrolled in schools in each low-income
local educational agency that is part of the eligible partnership; and
(2)a detailed description of—
(A)a plan to carry
out a pipeline program to train, place, and retain school counselors, school
social workers, school psychologists, or other qualified psychologists, or any
combination thereof, as applicable, in low-income local educational agencies;
and
(B)the proposed
allocation and use of grant funds to carry out activities described in
subsection (g).
(d)
(1)The Secretary shall establish a peer review panel to
evaluate applications for grants submitted under
subsection (c) and make recommendations to
the Secretary regarding such applications.
(2)Evaluation of
ApplicationsIn making its
recommendations, the peer review panel shall take into account the purpose of
this Act and the application requirements under
subsection (c), including the quality of the
proposed pipeline program.
(3)The Secretary may award grants under this section only
to eligible partnerships whose applications receive a recommendation from the
peer review panel.
(4)The members of panel
established under this section shall be school mental health professionals and
administrators selected by the Secretary.
(e)From among the
applications receiving a recommendation by the peer review panel, the Secretary
shall—
(1)award the first 5
grants to eligible partnerships from 5 different States;
(2)to the extent
practicable, distribute grants equitably among eligible partnerships that
propose to train graduate students in each of the professions of school
counseling, school social work, or school psychology, or as other qualified
psychologists; and
(3)to the extent
practicable, equitably distribute the grants among eligible partnerships that
include an urban low-income local educational agency and eligible partnerships
that include a rural low-income local educational agency, with, at a minimum, a
percentage of the funds, equal to the percentage of low-income children in the
United States who are served by rural local educational agencies (based on the
Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates of the Bureau of Census, for the most
recent year such information is available), awarded to eligible partnerships
that include a rural low-income local educational agency.
(f)The
Secretary shall give priority to eligible partnerships that—
(1)propose to use the grant funds to carry out
the activities described under paragraphs (1) through (3) of subsection (g) in
schools that have higher numbers or percentages of low-income students and
students not meeting the proficient level of achievement (as described by
section 1111 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
6311)) in comparison to other schools that are served by the low-income local
educational agency that is part of the eligible partnership;
(2)include a low-income local educational
agency that has fewer school counselors, school social workers, school
psychologists, and other qualified psychologists per student than other
eligible partnerships;
(3)include one or more eligible graduate
institutions that offer graduate programs in the greatest number of the
following areas:
(A)school
counseling;
(B)school social
work;
(C)school psychology;
and
(D)programs that
train graduate students as other qualified psychologists; and
(4)propose to collaborate with other
institutions of higher education with similar programs, including sharing
facilities, faculty members, and administrative costs.
(g)Grant funds awarded
under this section shall be used—
(1)to pay the
administrative costs (including supplies, office and classroom space,
supervision, mentoring, and stipends as necessary and appropriate) related
to—
(A)having graduate students of school
counseling, school social work, school psychology, and programs that train
graduate students as other qualified psychologists placed in schools served by
participating low-income local educational agencies to complete required field
work, credit hours, internships, or related training as applicable for the
degree, license, or credential program of each such student; and
(B)offering required graduate course work for
graduate students of school counseling, school social work, and school
psychology, and programs that train graduate students as other qualified
psychologists on the site of a participating low-income local educational
agency or its schools;
(2)for not more than the first 3 years after
participating graduates receive a masters or other graduate degree or obtain a
State license or credential in school counseling, school social work, school
psychology or as other qualified psychologists, to hire and pay all or part of
the salaries of such participating graduates to work as school counselors,
school social workers, school psychologists, and other qualified psychologists
in schools served by participating low-income local educational
agencies;
(3)to increase the number of school
counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and other qualified
psychologists per student in schools served by participating low-income local
educational agencies to work towards the student support personnel target
ratios;
(4)to recruit, hire, and retain culturally or
linguistically under-represented graduate students in school counseling, school
social work, or school psychology, or from programs that train graduate
students as other qualified psychologists for placement in schools served by
participating low-income educational agencies;
(5)to recruit, hire, and pay faculty as
necessary to increase the capacity of a participating eligible graduate
institution—
(A)to train graduate
students in the fields of school counseling, school social work, and school
psychology; and
(B)to increase the
capacity of programs that train graduate students as other qualified
psychologists;
(6)to develop coursework that will—
(A)encourage a commitment by graduate students
in school counseling, school social work, or school psychology, or programs
that train graduate students as other qualified psychologists to work for
low-income local educational agencies;
(B)give participating
graduates the knowledge and skill sets necessary to meet the needs of—
(i)students and
families served by low-income local educational agencies; and
(ii)teachers,
administrators, and other staff who work for low-income local educational
agencies;
(C)enable
participating graduates to meet the unique needs of students at risk of
negative educational outcomes, including students who—
(i)are
English language learners;
(ii)have a parent or
caregiver who is a migrant worker;
(iii)have a parent or
caregiver who is a member of the Armed Forces or National Guard who has been
deployed or returned from deployment;
(iv)are
homeless, including unaccompanied youth;
(v)have come into
contact with the juvenile justice system or adult criminal justice system,
including students currently or previously held in juvenile detention
facilities or adult jails and students currently or previously held in juvenile
correctional facilities or adult prisons;
(vi)have been
identified as eligible for services under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.) or the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29
U.S.C. 701 et seq.);
(vii)have been a victim to or witnessed domestic
violence or violence in their community; and
(viii)are foster care
youth, youth aging out of foster care, or former foster youth; and
(D)utilize, subject to approval by the
Secretary—
(i)peer-reviewed best
practices and best evidence from the fields of school counseling, school social
work, and school psychology; or
(ii)other best
practices that have been published through a peer review process;
(7)to provide tuition credits to graduate
students participating in the program;
(8)for student loan forgiveness for
participating graduates who are employed as school counselors, school social
workers, school psychologists, or other qualified psychologists by
participating low-income local educational agencies for a minimum of 5
consecutive years; and
(9)for similar
activities to fulfill the purpose of this Act, as the Secretary determines
appropriate.
(h)Funds made available
under this section shall be used to supplement, not supplant, other Federal,
State, or local funds for the activities described in subsection (g).
(i)Each eligible
partnership that receives a grant under this section shall submit an annual
report to the Secretary on the progress of such partnership in carrying out the
purpose of this Act. Such report shall include a description of—
(1)actual service
delivery provided through grant funds, including—
(A)characteristics of
each participating eligible graduate institution, including descriptive
information on the model used and actual program performance;
(B)characteristics of
graduate students participating in the program, including performance on any
tests required by the State educational agency for credentialing or licensing,
demographic characteristics, and graduate student retention rates;
(C)characteristics of
students of the participating low-income local educational agency, such as
performance on any tests required by the State educational agency, demographic
characteristics, and promotion, persistence, and graduation rates, as
appropriate;
(D)an estimate of the
annual implementation costs of the program; and
(E)the numbers of
students, schools, and graduate students participating in the program;
(2)outcomes that are
consistent with the purpose of the grant program, including—
(A)internship and
post-graduation placement;
(B)graduation and
professional career readiness indicators; and
(C)characteristics of the participating
low-income local educational agency, including changes in hiring and retention
of highly qualified teachers and school counselors, school psychologists,
school social workers, and other qualified psychologists;
(3)the instruction,
materials, and activities being funded under the grant program; and
(4)the effectiveness
of any training and ongoing professional development provided—
(A)to students and
faculty in the appropriate departments or schools of the participating eligible
graduate institution;
(B)to the faculty,
administration, and staff of the participating low-income local educational
agency; and
(C)to the broader
community of providers of social, emotional, behavioral, and related support to
students and to those who train such providers.
(j)
(1)The Secretary may
conduct interim evaluations to determine whether each eligible partnership
receiving a grant is making adequate progress as the Secretary considers
appropriate. The contents of the annual report submitted to the Secretary under
subsection (i) may be used by the Secretary to determine whether an eligible
partnership receiving a grant is demonstrating adequate progress.
(2)The Secretary shall conduct a final evaluation
to—
(A)determine the
effectiveness of the grant program in carrying out the purpose of this Act;
and
(B)compare the
relative effectiveness of each of the various activities described by
subsection (g) for which grant funds may be used.
(k)Not sooner than 5 years nor later than 6
years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to
Congress a report containing the findings of the evaluation conducted under
subsection (j)(2), and such recommendations as the Secretary considers
appropriate.
(l)Authorization of
appropriations
(1)There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this
section such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2014 through
2024.
(2)Reservation for
evaluationsFrom the total
amount appropriated to carry out this section each fiscal year, the Secretary
shall reserve not more than 3 percent of that appropriation for evaluations
under subsection (j).
5.Student loan
forgiveness for individuals who are employed for 5 or more consecutive school
years as school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, or
other qualified psychologists by low-income local educational agencies
(a)The Secretary shall
establish a program to provide student loan forgiveness to individuals who are
not and have never been participants in the grant program established under
section 4 and who have been employed for 5 or more consecutive school years as
school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, or other
qualified psychologists by low-income local educational agencies.
(b)Authorization of
appropriationsThere are
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such sums as may be necessary to
carry out the program under this section.
6.
(a)The Secretary shall
conduct a study to identify a formula for future designation of regions with a
shortage of school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and
other qualified psychologists to use in implementing grant programs and other
programs such as the programs established under this Act or for other purposes
related to any such designation, based on the latest available data on—
(1)the number of
residents under the age of 18 in an area served by a low-income local
educational agency;
(2)the percentage of
the population of an area served by a low-income local educational agency with
incomes below the poverty line;
(3)the percentage of residents age 18 or older
of an area served by a low-income local educational agency who have earned
secondary school diplomas;
(4)the percentage of students identified as
eligible for special education services in an area served by a low-income local
educational agency;
(5)the youth crime rate in an area served by a
low-income local educational agency;
(6)the current number
of full-time-equivalent and active school counselors, school social workers,
school psychologists, and other qualified psychologists employed by a
low-income local educational agency;
(7)the number of students in an area served by
a low-income local educational agency in military families (active duty and
reserve duty) with parents who have been alerted for deployment, are currently
deployed, or have returned from a deployment in the previous school year;
and
(8)such other criteria as the Secretary
considers appropriate.
(b)Not
later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall
submit to Congress a report containing the findings of the study conducted
under subsection (a).
7.In this Act:
(1)School
counseling program definitionsThe terms school counselor,
school psychologist, and school social worker have
the meanings given the terms in section 5421 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7245).
(2)Other qualified
psychologistThe term
other qualified psychologist has the meaning given the term in
section 5421(e)(2) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 7245(e)(2)), except that such term also includes individuals who—
(A)meet the
requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of such section 5421(e)(2);
and
(B)in lieu of
demonstrated competence in counseling children in a school setting, have
practical experience and demonstrated competence in providing psychological
services to children in such a setting.
(3)The terms highly qualified, local
educational agency, and State educational agency have the
meanings given the terms in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
(4)The term best practices means a technique
or methodology that, through experience and research related to the practice of
school counseling, school psychology, or school social work, has proven to
reliably lead to a desired result.
(5)Eligible
graduate institutionThe term
eligible graduate institution means an institution of higher
education that offers a program of study that leads to a masters or other
graduate degree—
(A)in school psychology that is accredited or
nationally recognized by the National Association of School Psychologists
Program Approval Board and that prepares students in such program for the State
licensing or certification examination in school psychology;
(B)in school counseling that prepares students
in such program for the State licensing or certification examination in school
counseling;
(C)in school social work that is accredited by
the Council on Social Work Education and that prepares students in such program
for the State licensing or certification exam in school social work;
(D)in psychology that is accredited by the
American Psychological Association and that prepares students in such program
for the State licensing examination for psychologists; or
(E)in any combination
of the fields described in subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (D).
(6)The term
eligible partnership means—
(A)a partnership between one or more
low-income local educational agencies and one or more eligible graduate
institutions; or
(B)in regions in
which local educational agencies may not have a sufficient elementary and
secondary school student population to support the placement of all
participating graduate students, a partnership between a State educational
agency, on behalf of one or more low-income local educational agencies, and one
or more eligible graduate institutions.
(7)Institution of
higher educationThe term
institution of higher education has the meaning given such term in
section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002), but excludes
any institution of higher education described in section 102(a)(1)(C) of such
Act.
(8)Low-income local
educational agencyThe term low-income local educational
agency means a local educational agency—
(A)in which not less than 20 percent of the
students served by such agency are from families with incomes below the poverty
line, as determined by the Bureau of the Census on the basis of the most recent
satisfactory data available;
(B)that has existing ratios of school
counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and other qualified
psychologists to students served by the participating low-income local
educational agency that fall at least 10 percent below the student support
personnel target ratios, meaning such low-income local educational agency has
no more than one counselor per 277 students, no more than one school
psychologist per 1,111 students, and no more than one school social worker per
444 students; and
(C)that has been
identified for improvement or corrective action (as described in section
1116(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
6316(c))) or that includes at least one school that has been identified for
school improvement, corrective action, or restructuring (as described in
section 1116(b) of such Act).
(9)Participating
eligible graduate institutionThe term participating
eligible graduate institution means an eligible graduate institution
that is part of an eligible partnership awarded a grant under section 4.
(10)The term participating graduate means an
individual who—
(A)has—
(i)received a masters
or other graduate degree from a participating eligible graduate institution in
elementary or secondary school counseling, school social work, school
psychology, or from a program that trains students as other qualified
psychologists; and
(ii)obtained a State
license or credential in school counseling, school social work, school
psychology, or psychology; and
(B)as a graduate student of school counseling,
school social work, or school psychology, or a program that trains graduate
students as other qualified psychologists was placed in a school served by a
participating low-income local educational agency to complete required field
work, credit hours, internships, or related training, as applicable.
(11)Participating
low-income local educational agencyThe term participating
low-income local educational agency means a low-income local educational
agency that is part of an eligible partnership awarded a grant under section
4.
(12)The
term Secretary means the Secretary of Education.
(13)Student support
personnel target ratiosThe
term student support personnel target ratios means the ratios of
school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and other
qualified psychologists to students recommended to enable such personnel to
effectively address the needs of students, including—
(A)at least 1 school counselor for every 250
students (as recommended by the American School Counselors Association and
American Counseling Association);
(B)at least 1 school psychologist for every
500 to 700 students (as recommended by the National Association of School
Psychologists); and
(C)at least 1 school social worker for every
400 students (as recommended by the School Social Work Association of
America).
(14)The term unaccompanied youth has the meaning
given such term in section 725 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act
(42 U.S.C. 11434a).