IIB 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1709 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES June 9, 2009 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation AN ACT To establish a committee under the National Science and Technology Council with the responsibility to coordinate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education activities and programs of all Federal agencies, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the STEM Education Coordination Act of 2009.

2.

Definition

In this Act, the term STEM means science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

3.

Coordination of Federal STEM education

(a)

Establishment

The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall establish a committee under the National Science and Technology Council with the responsibility to coordinate Federal programs and activities in support of STEM education, including at the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Education, and all other Federal agencies that have programs and activities in support of STEM education. (b)

Responsibilities of the Committee

The committee established under subsection (a) shall— (1)coordinate the STEM education activities and programs of the Federal agencies; (2)develop, implement through the participating agencies, and update once every 5 years a 5-year STEM education strategic plan, which shall— (A)specify and prioritize annual and long-term objectives; (B)specify the common metrics that will be used to assess progress toward achieving the objectives; (C)describe the approaches that will be taken by each participating agency to assess the effectiveness of its STEM education programs and activities; and (D)with respect to subparagraph (A), describe the role of each agency in supporting programs and activities designed to achieve the objectives; and (3)establish, periodically update, and maintain an inventory of federally sponsored STEM education programs and activities, including documentation of assessments of the effectiveness of such programs and activities and rates of participation by underrepresented minorities in such programs and activities. (c)

Responsibilities of OSTP

The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall encourage and monitor the efforts of the participating agencies to ensure that the strategic plan under subsection (b)(2) is developed and executed effectively and that the objectives of the strategic plan are met. (d)

Report

The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall transmit a report annually to Congress at the time of the President’s budget request describing the plan required under subsection (b)(2). The annual report shall include— (1)a description of the STEM education programs and activities for the previous and current fiscal years, and the proposed programs and activities under the President’s budget request, of each participating Federal agency; (2)the levels of funding for each participating Federal agency for the programs and activities described under paragraph (1) for the previous fiscal year and under the President’s budget request; (3)except for the initial annual report, a description of the progress made in carrying out the implementation plan, including a description of the outcome of any program assessments completed in the previous year, and any changes made to that plan since the previous annual report; and (4)a description of how the participating Federal agencies will disseminate information about federally supported resources for STEM education practitioners, including teacher professional development programs, to States and to STEM education practitioners, including to teachers and administrators in schools that meet the criteria described in subsection (c)(1) (A) and (B) of section 3175 of the Department of Energy Science Education Enhancement Act (42 U.S.C. 7381j(c)(1) (A) and (B)).

Passed the House of Representatives June 8, 2009. Lorraine C. Miller, Clerk.