[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1367 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1367

   To provide for recruiting, selecting, training, and supporting a 
           national teacher corps in underserved communities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                July 1 (legislative day, June 30), 2005

  Mr. Alexander (for himself, Mr. Reid, Mr. DeWine, and Mrs. Clinton) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
          Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for recruiting, selecting, training, and supporting a 
           national teacher corps in underserved communities.

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

SECTION 1. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are as follows:
            (1) To grow the number of highly accomplished recent 
        college graduates teaching in underserved urban and rural 
        communities in the United States.
            (2) To increase the number of school districts and 
        communities served by a nationally recruited corps of 
        outstanding new teachers.
            (3) To build a broader pipeline of talented and experienced 
        future leaders in public education and education reform.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) In general.--The terms ``highly qualified'', ``local 
        educational agency'', and ``Secretary'' have the meanings given 
        the terms in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
            (2) Grantee.--The term ``grantee'' means Teach For America, 
        Inc.
            (3) High need.--The term ``high need'', when used with 
        respect to a local educational agency, means a local 
        educational agency experiencing a shortage of highly qualified 
        teachers.

SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

    The Secretary is authorized to award a grant to Teach For America, 
Inc., the national teacher corps of outstanding recent college 
graduates who commit to teach for 2 years in underserved communities in 
the United States, to implement and expand its program of recruiting, 
selecting, training, and supporting new teachers.

SEC. 4. GRANT REQUIREMENTS.

    In carrying out the grant program under section 3, the Secretary 
shall enter into an agreement with the grantee under which the grantee 
agrees to use the grant funds provided under this Act--
            (1) to provide highly qualified teachers to high need local 
        educational agencies in urban and rural communities;
            (2) to pay the cost of recruiting, selecting, training, and 
        supporting new teachers; and
            (3) to serve a substantial number and percentage of 
        underserved students.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.

    (a) In General.--Grant funds provided under this Act shall be used 
by the grantee to carry out each of the following activities:
            (1) Recruiting and selecting teachers through a highly 
        selective national process.
            (2) Providing preservice training to the teachers through a 
        rigorous summer institute that includes hands-on teaching 
        experience and significant exposure to education coursework and 
        theory.
            (3) Placing the teachers in schools and positions 
        designated by partner local educational agencies as high need 
        placements serving underserved students.
            (4) Providing ongoing professional development activities 
        for the teachers' first 2 years in the classroom, including 
        regular classroom observations and feedback, and ongoing 
        training and support.
    (b) Limitation.--The grantee shall use all grant funds received 
under this Act to support activities related directly to the 
recruitment, selection, training, and support of teachers as described 
in subsection (a).

SEC. 6. EVALUATION.

    (a) Annual Report.--The grantee shall provide to the Secretary an 
annual report that includes--
            (1) data on the number and quality of the teachers provided 
        to local educational agencies through a grant under this Act;
            (2) an externally conducted analysis of the satisfaction of 
        local educational agencies and principals with the teachers so 
        provided; and
            (3) comprehensive data on the background of the teachers 
        chosen, the training the teachers received, the placement sites 
        of the teachers, the professional development of the teachers, 
        and the retention of the teachers.
    (b) Study.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall provide for a study 
        that examines the achievement levels of the students taught by 
        the teachers assisted under this Act.
            (2) Achievement gains compared.--The study shall compare, 
        within the same schools, the achievement gains made by students 
        taught by teachers who are assisted under this Act with the 
        achievement gains made by students taught by teachers who are 
        not assisted under this Act.
            (3) Requirements.--The Secretary shall provide for such a 
        study not less than once every 3 years, and each such study 
        shall include multiple placement sites and multiple schools 
        within placement sites.
            (4) Peer review standards.--Each such study shall meet the 
        peer review standards of the education research community.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act such 
sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006 and an amount not to 
exceed $25,000,000 for each succeeding fiscal year.
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