[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3611 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3611

To establish the Bringing Success to Scale program in the Department of 
                               Education.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 20, 2007

 Ms. Shea-Porter (for herself and Mr. Hodes) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish the Bringing Success to Scale program in the Department of 
                               Education.

    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 ``Bringing Success to Scale Act''.

SEC. 2. BRINGING SUCCESS TO SCALE PROGRAM.

    (a) Academic Achievement Awards Program.--The Secretary is 
authorized to establish a Bringing Success to Scale program for making 
academic achievement awards that recognize local educational agencies 
and schools that meet the requirements described in subsection (b). The 
Bringing Success to Scale program shall--
            (1) award grants that designate and reward as Distinguished 
        School Districts such local educational agencies that have made 
        the greatest gains in closing the achievement gap as described 
        in subsection (b)(1), in order that such local educational 
        agencies may serve as models for and provide support to other 
        school districts;
            (2) award grants that designate and reward--
                    (A) as Distinguished Schools such schools that meet 
                the criteria described in subsection (b)(1); and
                    (B) as Distinguished School Support Organizations, 
                school management or support organizations, nonprofit 
                organizations and human capital providers in order to 
                allow them to work in partnerships with the private 
                sector and philanthropic community in order to--
                            (i) ensure their sustainability and growth;
                            (ii) sustain and expand innovative programs 
                        that produce results; and
                            (iii) identify and document the best 
                        practices that can be shared with schools and 
                        local educational agencies in communities 
                        across the country.
    (b) Requirements.--To receive an award under subsection (a), a 
local educational agency or school shall--
            (1) have significantly closed the achievement gap between 
        the groups of students described in section 1111(b)(2) of the 
        Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;
            (2) exceeded the State's Annual Measurable Objectives 
        consistent with such section 1111(b)(2) for two or more 
        consecutive years;
            (3) have made significant improvement on other meaningful 
        data such as graduation rates and increased recruitment and 
        placement of high quality teachers and principals; and
            (4) demonstrate that they have established partnerships 
        with the private sector, which may include philanthropic 
        organizations, and will provide matching funds in order to help 
        bring results to scale.
    (c) Criteria.--The Secretary shall select, for awards under 
subsection (a), local educational agencies and schools based on the 
following criteria:
            (1) Demonstrated impact in realizing significant gains in 
        student achievement.
            (2) Demonstrated improvement in at least one of the 
        following indicators:
                    (A) Increased graduation rates.
                    (B) Increased recruitment and placement of 
                outstanding teachers and principals.
                    (C) Increase in the quality of professional 
                development including facilitating use of formative 
                assessments and use of data to improve instruction and 
                the implementation of these practices into classrooms.
                    (D) Increased parental and community involvement.
            (3) Demonstrate a clear strategy for taking the 
        implications of their work to scale and a sound organizational 
        and growth plan to expand the impact of the organization or 
        program.
            (4) Demonstrate the establishment of clear measures of 
        success that will be used in the ongoing evaluation and 
        management of the program.
    (d) Authorized Activities.--Grant funds provided under this section 
may be used to carry out the following activities:
            (1) Expansion of highly successful school management 
        organizations.
            (2) Supporting the growth of human capital organizations, 
        which could include--
                    (A) supporting teacher training programs in order 
                to expand the number of teachers they prepare or the 
                number of sites in which they place teachers; and
                    (B) supporting principal training programs in order 
                to expand the number of principals they prepare or the 
                number of sites in which they place principals; 
                including
                    (C) expanding support for residency based training 
                models in order to host more residents through funding 
                more mentors.
            (3) Supporting the replication of highly successful 
        practices within local educational agencies, which may 
        include--
                    (A) expanding teacher recruitment, training and 
                development strategies;
                    (B) expanding innovative teacher compensation 
                strategies;
                    (C) supporting principals to become more effective 
                leaders; and
                    (D) supporting and training teachers to be more 
                effective grade level and school leaders and to be more 
                effective in identifying and meeting the specific needs 
                of each child.
            (4) Promoting more effective parent and community 
        involvement in schools, which could include programs that 
        systematically engage networks of parents to support student 
        learning.
            (5) Supporting the building and dissemination of 
        educational tools that improve student learning and which could 
        include--
                    (A) high quality assessment systems that teachers 
                can use to modify instruction;
                    (B) classroom technology aids that help target the 
                learning needs of individual students based on past 
                performance; and
                    (C) supporting technical assistance and training 
                which improves: principals' ability to manage change, 
                teachers' ability to improve achievement, and district 
                teams' ability to implement instructional reform at the 
                school or network level.
            (6) Supporting nonprofit organizations or local educational 
        agencies working with networks of schools with site-based 
        decisionmaking authority, including supporting guidance, 
        technical assistance, and training for implementing a site-
        based decisionmaking model and scaling up the best and proven 
        practices from these schools across a school network.
            (7) Supporting educational support organizations that 
        provide high quality before school, after school, or in school 
        academic, emotional, and behavioral supports that may include--
                    (A) high quality exposure to arts, athletic, and 
                service opportunities for students;
                    (B) mentoring programs that provide instructional 
                and behavioral support; and
                    (C) wrap-around service programs that provide 
                social, emotional, or behavioral support to students 
                and parents through school or community-based 
                programming.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act such 
sums as may be necessary.
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