[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2903 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2903

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide 
           grants for innovative teacher retention programs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 28, 2007

 Mr. Price of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. Etheridge, Ms. Corrine 
    Brown of Florida, Mr. Miller of North Carolina, Mr. Cohen, Mr. 
 McIntyre, Mr. Donnelly, Mr. Walz of Minnesota, Ms. Carson, Mr. Watt, 
and Mr. Butterfield) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                to the Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide 
           grants for innovative teacher retention programs.

    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 ``Keep Teachers Teaching Act of 
2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The United States faces an increasing need for high-
        quality educators.
            (2) Approximately \1/3\ of teachers leave the profession 
        within 5 years of being hired because of poor working 
        conditions, low pay, low morale, or lack of a pathway for 
        professional advancement. In some schools, the five-year 
        attrition rate reaches 50 percent.
            (3) Effective teacher retention programs to address this 
        problem are already at work in school districts around the 
        country, and many more innovative programs could be advanced if 
        additional resources were available.
            (4) Efforts to address the teacher shortage demands a 
        national strategy to support the development and implementation 
        of innovative teacher retention programs.
            (5) The United States Department of Education can play an 
        important role in facilitating the identification of the most 
        promising teacher retention approaches and disseminating 
        information about them to States and local educational 
        agencies.

SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR INNOVATIVE TEACHER RETENTION PROGRAMS.

    Section 2151 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 6651) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(g) Teacher Retention Activities.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish and carry 
        out a teacher retention program to assist State educational 
        agencies and local educational agencies in developing and 
        implementing innovative teacher retention programs. The program 
        shall support the development of model programs and best 
        practices in retaining quality teachers in the classroom and 
        shall facilitate the dissemination of innovative teacher 
        retention programs to local educational agencies throughout the 
        United States.
            ``(2) Grants.--The Secretary shall carry out paragraph (1) 
        by making grants to eligible entities to develop and implement 
        innovative teacher retention programs, including activities 
        such as--
                    ``(A) professional development programs;
                    ``(B) teacher mentoring programs;
                    ``(C) advanced certification or advanced 
                credentialing;
                    ``(D) research, travel, or fellowship 
                opportunities; and
                    ``(E) pairing of teachers with professionals in 
                research or industry.
            ``(3) Eligible entities.--In this subsection, the term 
        `eligible entity' includes--
                    ``(A) local educational agencies;
                    ``(B) State educational agencies; and
                    ``(C) partnerships of local educational agencies, 
                nonprofit organizations, and institutions of higher 
                education.
            ``(4) Grant terms.--Grants under this subsection shall be 
        awarded for periods of not more than 5 years and on a 
        competitive basis. Grants awarded under this subsection may be 
        renewed.
            ``(5) Secretary's duty to identify most promising teacher 
        retention approaches.--The Secretary shall identify the most 
        promising teacher retention approaches, including those already 
        working and those developed through grants funded under this 
        subsection, and disseminate information about those approaches 
        to States and local educational agencies around the country. 
        The Secretary shall transmit to the Committee on Education and 
        Labor of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
        Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, not later 
        than 9 months after the date of the enactment of this 
        subsection, and annually thereafter, a report that describes 
        the methodology by which the most promising teacher retention 
        programs are identified and the Secretary's efforts to 
        disseminate information regarding such programs to State 
        departments of education and local educational agencies 
        throughout the United States.''.
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