[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 403 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 403
To improve the National Writing Project.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 27, 2001
Mr. Cochran introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Health, Education Labor and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To improve the National Writing Project.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIONAL WRITING PROJECT.
(a) Findings and Purposes.--Section 10991 of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8331) is amended to read as
follows:
``SEC. 10991. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
``(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
``(1) the United States faces a continuing crisis in
writing in schools and in the workplace;
``(2) the writing problem has been magnified by the rapidly
changing student population, the growing number of at-risk
students due to limited English proficiency, the shortage of
adequately trained teachers, and the specialized knowledge
required of teachers to teach students with special needs who
are now part of mainstream classrooms;
``(3) nationwide reports from universities and colleges
show that entering students are unable to meet the demands of
college level writing, almost all 2-year institutions of higher
education offer remedial writing courses, and three-quarters of
public 4-year institutions of higher education and half of all
private 4-year institutions of higher education must provide
remedial courses in writing;
``(4) American businesses and corporations are concerned
about the limited writing skills of both entry-level workers
and executives whose promotions are denied due to inadequate
writing abilities;
``(5) writing is fundamental to learning, including
learning to read, yet writing has been neglected historically
in schools and in teacher training institutions;
``(6) writing is a central feature in State and school
district education standards in all disciplines;
``(7) since 1973, the only national program to address the
writing problem in the Nation's schools has been the National
Writing Project, a network of collaborative university-school
programs, the goals of which are to improve student achievement
in writing and student learning through improving the teaching
and uses of writing at all grade levels and in all disciplines;
``(8) the National Writing Project is a nationally
recognized and honored nonprofit organization that improves the
quality of teaching and teachers through developing teacher-
leaders who teach other teachers in summer and school year
programs;
``(9) evaluations of the National Writing Project document
the positive impact the project has had on improving the
teaching of writing, student performance in writing, and
student learning;
``(10) the National Writing Project has become a model for
programs to improve teaching in such other fields as
mathematics, science, history, reading and literature,
performing arts, and foreign languages;
``(11) each year, over 150,000 participants benefit from
National Writing Project programs in 1 of 156 United States
sites located in 46 States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico;
and
``(12) the National Writing Project is a cost-effective
program and leverages over 6 dollars for every 1 Federal
dollar.
``(b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this part--
``(1) to support and promote the expansion of the National
Writing Project network of sites so that teachers in every
region of the United States will have access to a National
Writing Project program;
``(2) to ensure the consistent high quality of the sites
through ongoing review, evaluation and technical assistance;
``(3) to support and promote the establishment of programs
to disseminate effective practices and research findings about
the teaching of writing; and
``(4) to coordinate activities assisted under this part
with activities assisted under this Act.''.
(b) Authorization.--Subsection (a) of section 10992 of such Act (20
U.S.C. 8332(a)) is amended to read as follows:
``(a) Authorization.--The Secretary is authorized to award a grant
to the National Writing Project, a nonprofit educational organization
that has as its primary purpose the improvement of the quality of
student writing and learning (hereafter in this section referred to as
the `grantee') to improve the teaching of writing and the use of
writing as a part of the learning process in our Nation's
classrooms.''.
(c) Federal Share.--Paragraph (3) of section 10992(d) of such Act
(20 U.S.C. 8332(d)) is amended to read as follows:
``(3) Maximum.--The Federal share of the costs of teacher
training programs conducted pursuant to subsection (a) may not
exceed $100,000 for any one contractor, or $200,000 for a
statewide program administered by any one contractor in at
least five sites throughout the State.
(d) Repeal of Classroom Teacher Grants.--Section 10992 of such Act
(20 U.S.C. 8332) is amended--
(1) by repealing subsection (e);
(2) by redesignating subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i) as
subsections (e), (f), (g), and (h), respectively; and
(3) in subsection (d)(2), by striking ``subsection (f)''
and inserting ``subsection (e)''; and
(4) in subsection (f)(2) (as redesignated by paragraph
(2)), by striking ``subsection (i)'' and inserting ``subsection
(h)''.
(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--Subsection (h) of section
10992 of such Act (as redesignated by subsection (d)(2)) (20 U.S.C.
8332) is amended by striking ``$4,000,000 for fiscal year 1995'' and
inserting ``$15,000,000 for fiscal year 2002''.
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