[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3655 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3655

    To require the Secretary of Education to review and revise the 
  guidelines relating to the ``Principles of Effectiveness'' criteria 
 developed pursuant to the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities 
   Act to improve State and local prevention programs and activities 
          carried out under such Act, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 6, 2005

   Mr. Baca introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require the Secretary of Education to review and revise the 
  guidelines relating to the ``Principles of Effectiveness'' criteria 
 developed pursuant to the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities 
   Act to improve State and local prevention programs and activities 
          carried out under such Act, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``School Violence Prevention Act of 
2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 1997, the Department of Education, in collaboration 
        with the National Institute of Justice of the Department of 
        Justice, conducted a Study on School Violence and Prevention, 
        to investigate the extent of problem behavior in schools 
        nationally. The study reported on several aspects of 
        delinquency prevention efforts in schools, such as types and 
        quality of prevention efforts, how schools plan and use 
        information about prevention options to improve their own 
        efforts and school management, and sources of funding for 
        school prevention activities.
            (2) In a follow up report prepared for the Department of 
        Education, entitled ``Wide Scope, Questionable Quality, Three 
        Reports from the Study on School Violence and Prevention'' 
        (2002), experts made a number of findings based on the 1997 
        Study on School Violence and Prevention.
            (3) A significant finding from the 2002 study is that 
        schools can improve the quality of violence prevention through 
        attention to needs assessment, planning, increased used of 
        research-based approaches, and monitoring of implementation.
            (4) The 2002 study also noted that middle school students 
        and teachers were more likely to be victimized than their high 
        school counterparts, suggesting that this is an area for 
        additional attention.
            (5) Additionally, while many students and teachers reported 
        feeling safe in their schools, about one-fourth of students and 
        teachers said they would avoid a specific place at school out 
        of fear that someone might hurt or bother them, and 27 percent 
        of teachers in middle and high schools reported that the 
        behavior of some students kept them from teaching a fair amount 
        or a great deal, indicating that school safety is still an 
        issue of concern.
            (6) The Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act (20 
        U.S.C. 7101 et seq.), which is part A of title IV of the 
        Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, is the most 
        common funding source for prevention activities in schools. 
        Effective July 1, 2002, the State grants program under the Safe 
        and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act authorizes a variety 
        of activities designed to prevent school violence and youth 
        drug use, and to help schools and communities create safe, 
        disciplined, and drug-free environments that support student 
        academic achievement.
            (7) Section 4115(a) of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and 
        Communities (20 U.S.C. 7115(a)) requires State and local 
        prevention programs and activities to meet the ``Principles of 
        Effectiveness'' criteria described in such section and the 
        guidelines relating to such criteria developed by the 
        Department of Education pursuant to such section. The 
        ``Principles of Effectiveness'' provide a framework for 
        recipients of State and local grant funds to improve the 
        quality of drug and violence prevention programming implemented 
        with such funds.
    (b) Statement of Policy.--In light of recent studies prepared for 
the Department of Education, which indicate that school violence and 
prevention programs funded by the Department of Education could be 
improved, Congress believes that it would be useful for the Department 
of Education to review and revise the guidelines relating to the 
``Principles of Effectiveness'' criteria developed pursuant to section 
4115(a) of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (20 U.S.C. 
7115(a)) with the objective of improving safe school programs.

SEC. 3. REVIEW AND REVISION OF GUIDELINES RELATING TO THE ``PRINCIPLES 
              OF EFFECTIVENESS'' CRITERIA UNDER THE SAFE AND DRUG-FREE 
              SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES ACT.

    (a) Review and Revision.--The Secretary of Education shall review 
and revise the guidelines relating to the ``Principles of 
Effectiveness'' criteria developed pursuant to section 4115(a) of the 
Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act (20 U.S.C. 7115(a)) to 
ensure that such guidelines meet the findings of the report prepared 
for the Department of Education, entitled ``Wide Scope, Questionable 
Quality, Three Reports from the Study on School Violence and 
Prevention'' (2002), with particular emphasis on the findings of such 
report described in subsection (b).
    (b) Findings of Report.--The findings of the report referred to in 
subsection (a) are the following:
            (1) Relatively higher rates of discipline problems in 
        middle schools suggest that greater attention to violence 
        prevention efforts in middle school may be warranted. Attention 
        to middle school violence problems may also aid in preventing 
        discipline problems in high school.
            (2) Strengthening needs assessments, including collecting 
        information on the prevalence of problem behavior, would assist 
        schools and districts in identifying problem areas to allow for 
        better targeting of violence prevention efforts.
            (3) Along with a greater focus on research, schools should 
        be encouraged to adopt a ``continuous improvement'' process, 
        whereby quality of implementation, results of activities, and 
        incidents of problem behavior are tracked to serve as a basis 
        for modifying activities and developing future plans.
            (4) Schools can improve the quality of their violence 
        prevention activities by strengthening efforts to adopt, 
        retain, or discard violence prevention programs based on 
        research evidence on program effectiveness.
            (5) Greater emphasis on monitoring the implementation of 
        violence prevention activities would help ensure that such 
        activities remain consistent with program models. Collecting 
        information on the results of activities is critical, to gauge 
        which activities are proving effective and which need to be 
        strengthened or discontinued.
            (6) Schools and districts should be encouraged to focus on 
        quality of training of staff that implement and supervise the 
        violence prevention activities.

SEC. 4. REPORTS.

    (a) Initial Report.--Not later than March 1, 2007, the Secretary of 
Education shall submit to Congress a report that contains a copy of the 
guidelines relating to the ``Principles of Effectiveness'' criteria 
developed pursuant to section 4115(a) of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools 
and Communities Act (20 U.S.C. 7115(a)) and revised pursuant to section 
3 of this Act.
    (b) Final Report.--Not later than January 1, 2010, the Secretary of 
Education shall submit to Congress a report on the implementation of 
the guidelines described in subsection (a), including any change in 
program efficacy, types of programs funded, or reduction in school 
violence, as a result of such guidelines.
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