[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3710 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3710
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to improve
retention of public elementary and secondary school teachers, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 20, 2006
Mr. Kennedy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to improve
retention of public elementary and secondary school teachers, 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 ``Teacher Center Act of 2006''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds as follows:
(1) There are not enough qualified teachers in the Nation's
classrooms, and an unprecedented number of teachers will retire
over the next 5 years. Over the next decade, the Nation will
need to bring 2,000,000 new teachers into public schools.
(2) Too many teachers do not receive adequate preparation
for their jobs.
(3) More than one-third of children in grades 7 through 12
are taught by a teacher who lacks both a college major and
certification in the subject being taught. Rates of ``out-of-
field teaching'' are especially high in high-poverty schools.
(4) Teacher turnover is a serious problem, particularly in
urban and rural areas. Over one-third of new teachers leave the
profession within their first 3 years of teaching, and 14
percent of new teachers leave the field within the first year.
After 5 years--the average time it takes for teachers to
maximize students' learning--half of all new teachers will have
exited the profession. Rates of teacher attrition are highest
in high-poverty schools. Between 2000 and 2001, 1 out of 5
teachers in the Nation's high-poverty schools either left to
teach in another school or dropped out of teaching altogether.
(5) African-American, Latino, and low-income students are
much less likely than other students to have highly-qualified
teachers.
(6) Research shows that individual teachers have a great
impact on how well their students learn. The most effective
teachers have been shown to be able to boost their pupils'
learning by a full grade level relative to students taught by
less effective teachers.
(7) Only 16 States finance new teacher induction programs,
and fewer still require inductees to be matched with mentors
who teach the same subject.
(8) Large-scale studies of effective professional
development have documented that student achievement and
teacher learning increases when professional development is
teacher-led, ongoing, and collaborative.
(9) Research shows that the characteristics of successful
professional development include a focus on concrete classroom
applications and practice, and opportunities for teacher
observation, critique, reflection, group support, and
collaboration.
(10) Data on school reform shows that teachers are
attracted to and continue to teach in academically challenged
schools when appropriate supports are in place to help them
succeed. Appropriate supports include high-quality induction
programs, job-embedded professional development, and small
classes which allow teachers to tailor instruction to meet the
needs of individual students.
SEC. 3. IMPROVING RETENTION OF AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR PUBLIC
ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS.
(a) In General.--Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end
the following:
``PART E--TEACHER RETENTION
``SEC. 2501. IMPROVING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH
TEACHER CENTERS.
``(a) Grants.--The Secretary may make grants to eligible entities
for the establishment and operation of new teacher centers or the
support of existing teacher centers.
``(b) Special Consideration.--In making grants under this section,
the Secretary shall give special consideration to any application
submitted by an eligible entity that is--
``(1) a high-need local educational agency; or
``(2) a consortium that includes at least one high-need
local educational agency.
``(c) Duration.--Each grant under this section shall be for a
period of 3 years.
``(d) Required Activities.--A teacher center receiving assistance
under this section shall carry out each of the following activities:
``(1) Providing high-quality professional development to
teachers to assist the teachers in improving their knowledge,
skills, and teaching practices in order to help students to
improve the students' achievement and meet State academic
standards.
``(2) Providing teachers with information on developments
in curricula, assessments, and educational research, including
the manner in which the research and data can be used to
improve teaching skills and practice.
``(3) Providing training and support for new teachers.
``(e) Permissible Activities.--A teacher center may use assistance
under this section for any of the following:
``(1) Assessing the professional development needs of the
teachers and other instructional school employees, such as
librarians, counselors, and paraprofessionals, to be served by
the center.
``(2) Providing intensive support to staff to improve
instruction in literacy, mathematics, science, and other
curricular areas necessary to provide a well-rounded education
to students.
``(3) Providing support to mentors working with new
teachers.
``(4) Providing training in effective instructional
services and classroom management strategies for mainstream
teachers serving students with disabilities and students with
limited English proficiency.
``(5) Enabling teachers to engage in study groups and other
collaborative activities and collegial interactions regarding
instruction.
``(6) Paying for release time and substitute teachers in
order to enable teachers to participate in the activities of
the teacher center.
``(7) Creating libraries of professional materials and
educational technology.
``(8) Providing high-quality professional development for
other instructional staff, such as paraprofessionals,
librarians, and counselors.
``(9) Assisting teachers to become highly qualified and
paraprofessionals to become teachers.
``(10) Assisting paraprofessionals to meet the requirements
of section 1119.
``(11) Developing curricula.
``(12) Incorporating additional on-line professional
development resources for participants.
``(13) Providing funding for individual- or group-initiated
classroom projects.
``(14) Developing partnerships with businesses and
community-based organizations.
``(15) Establishing a teacher center site.
``(f) Teacher Center Policy Board.--
``(1) In general.--A teacher center receiving assistance
under this section shall be operated under the supervision of a
teacher center policy board.
``(2) Membership.--
``(A) Teacher representatives.--The majority of the
members of a teacher center policy board shall be
representatives of, and selected by, the elementary and
secondary school teachers to be served by the teacher
center. Such representatives shall be selected through
the teacher organization, or if there is no teacher
organization, by the teachers directly.
``(B) Other representatives.--The members of a
teacher center policy board--
``(i) shall include at least 2 members who
are representatives of, or designated by, the
school board of the local educational agency to
be served by the teacher center;
``(ii) shall include at least 1 member who
is a representative of, and is designated by,
the institutions of higher education (with
departments or schools of education) located in
the area; and
``(iii) may include paraprofessionals.
``(g) Application.--
``(1) In general.--To seek a grant under this section, an
eligible entity shall submit an application at such time, in
such manner, and accompanied by such information as the
Secretary may reasonably require.
``(2) Assurance of compliance.--An application under
paragraph (1) shall include an assurance that the eligible
entity will require any teacher center receiving assistance
through the grant to comply with the requirements of this
section.
``(3) Teacher center policy board.--An application under
paragraph (1) shall include the following:
``(A) An assurance that--
``(i) the eligible entity has established a
teacher center policy board;
``(ii) the board participated fully in the
preparation of the application; and
``(iii) the board approved the application
as submitted.
``(B) A description of the membership of the board
and the method of selection of the membership.
``(h) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) The term `eligible entity' means a local educational
agency or a consortium of 2 or more local educational agencies.
``(2) The term `high-need' means, with respect to an
elementary school or a secondary school, a school--
``(A) that serves an eligible school attendance
area (as defined in section 1113) in which not less
than 65 percent of the children are from low-income
families, based on the number of children eligible for
free and reduced priced lunches under the Richard B.
Russell National School Lunch Act; or
``(B) in which not less than 65 percent of the
children enrolled are from such families.
``(3) The term `high-need local educational agency' means a
local educational agency--
``(A) that serves not fewer than 10,000 children
from families with incomes below the poverty line, or
for which not less than 20 percent of the children
served by the agency are from families with incomes
below the poverty line; and
``(B) that is having or expected to have difficulty
filling teacher vacancies or hiring new teachers who
are highly qualified.
``(4) The term `teacher center policy board' means a
teacher center policy board described in subsection (f).
``(i) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this section,
there are authorized to be appropriated $100,000,000 for fiscal year
2007 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding
fiscal years.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents at section 2 of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et
seq.) is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 2441
of such Act the following new items:
``Part E--Teacher Retention
``Sec. 2501. Improving professional development opportunities.''.
<all>