1.This Act may be cited as
the Investing in Innovation for
Education Act of 2010
.
2.
(a)Title IV of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
D
4401.The purposes of this part are to—
(1)fund the
identification, development, evaluation, and expansion of innovative,
evidence-based practices, programs, and strategies in order to
significantly—
(A)increase student
academic achievement and decrease achievement gaps;
(B)increase high
school graduation rates;
(C)increase college
enrollment rates and rates of college persistence; and
(D)improve teacher
and school leader effectiveness; and
(2)support the rapid
development, expansion, and adoption of tools and resources that improve the
efficiency, effectiveness, or pace of adoption of such educational practices,
programs, and strategies.
4402.The Secretary may
reserve not more than 15 percent of the funds appropriated under section 4408
for each fiscal year to carry out activities of national significance, which
activities may include capacity building, technical assistance, dissemination,
and prize awards.
4403.Program
authorized; length of grants; priorities
(a)The Secretary
shall use funds made available to carry out this part for a fiscal year to
award grants, on a competitive basis, to local educational agencies and
nonprofit organizations that propose to provide support to 1 or more public
schools or local educational agencies, or both, consistent with section
4404(b).
(b)The Secretary shall award grants under this part for a
period of not more than 3 years, and may extend such grants for an additional
2-year period if the grantee demonstrates to the Secretary that it is making
significant progress on the program performance measures identified in section
4406.
(c)In
awarding grants under this part, the Secretary may give priority to an eligible
entity that includes, in its application under section 4404, a plan to—
(1)improve early
learning outcomes;
(2)support college
access and success;
(3)support family
and community engagement;
(4)address the
unique learning needs of students with disabilities or English language
learners;
(5)serve schools in
rural local educational agencies;
(6)support the
effective use of education technology to improve teaching and learning;
or
(7)improve the
teaching and learning of science, technology, engineering, or
mathematics.
(d)The Secretary shall set standards for the quality of
evidence that an applicant shall provide in order to demonstrate that the
activities the applicant proposes to carry out with funds under this part are
likely to succeed in improving student outcomes or outcomes on other
performance measures. These standards may include any of the following:
(1)Strong evidence
that the activities proposed by the applicant will have a statistically
significant effect on student academic achievement, student growth, or outcomes
on other performance measures.
(2)Moderate evidence
that the activities proposed by the applicant will improve student academic
achievement, student growth, or outcomes on other performance measures.
(3)A rationale based
on research findings or a reasonable hypothesis that the activities proposed by
the applicant will improve student academic achievement, student growth, or
outcomes on other performance measures.
4404.
(a)Each
local educational agency or nonprofit organization that desires to receive a
grant under this part shall submit an application to the Secretary at such
time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may
reasonably require. At a minimum, each application shall—
(1)describe the
project for which the applicant is seeking a grant and how the evidence
supporting that project meets the standards of evidence established by the
Secretary under section 4403(d);
(2)describe how the
applicant will address at least 1 of the areas described in section
4405(a)(1);
(3)provide an
estimate of the number of students that the applicant plans to serve under the
proposed project, including the percentage of those students who are from
low-income families, and the number of students to be served through additional
expansion after the grant ends;
(4)demonstrate that
the applicant has established 1 or more partnerships with private organizations
and that the partner or partners will provide matching funds;
(5)describe the
applicant’s plan for continuing the proposed project after funding under this
part ends;
(6)if the applicant
is a local educational agency—
(A)document the
local educational agency’s record during the previous 3 years in—
(i)increasing
student achievement, including achievement for each subgroup described in
section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); and
(ii)decreasing
achievement gaps; and
(B)demonstrate how
the local educational agency has made significant improvements in other
outcomes, as applicable, on the performance measures described in section
4406;
(7)if the applicant
is a nonprofit organization—
(A)provide evidence
that the nonprofit organization has helped at least 1 school or local
educational agency, during the previous 3 years, significantly—
(i)increase student
achievement, including achievement for each subgroup described in section
1111(b)(2)(C)(v); and
(ii)reduce
achievement gaps; and
(B)describe how the
nonprofit organization has helped at least 1 school or local educational agency
make a significant improvement, as applicable, in other outcomes on the
performance measures described in section 4406;
(8)provide a
description of the applicant’s plan for independently evaluating the
effectiveness of activities carried out with funds under this part;
(9)provide an
assurance that the applicant will—
(A)cooperate with
cross-cutting evaluations;
(B)make evaluation
data available to third parties for validation and further study; and
(C)participate in
communities of practice; and
(10)if the applicant
is a nonprofit organization that intends to make subgrants, consistent with
section 4405(b), provide an assurance that the applicant will apply paragraphs
(1) through (9), as appropriate, in the applicant's selection of subgrantees
and in its oversight of those subgrants.
(b)Criteria for
evaluating applicationsThe Secretary shall award grants under
this part on a competitive basis, based on the quality of the applications
submitted and, consistent with the standards established under section 4403(d),
each applicant’s likelihood of achieving success in improving student outcomes
or outcomes on other performance measures.
4405.
(a)Each local educational agency or nonprofit organization
that receives a grant under this part—
(1)shall use the
grant funds to address, at a minimum, 1 of the following areas of school
reform:
(A)Improving the
effectiveness of teachers and school leaders and promoting equity in the
distribution of effective teachers and school leaders.
(B)Strengthening the
use of data to improve teaching and learning.
(C)Providing
high-quality instruction based on rigorous standards that build toward college
and career readiness and measuring students’ mastery using high-quality
assessments aligned to those standards.
(D)Turning around
the lowest-performing schools.
(E)Any other area of
school reform, as determined by the Secretary.
(2)shall use those
funds to develop or expand strategies to improve the performance of high-need
students on the performance measures described in section 4406; and
(3)may use the grant
funds for an independent evaluation, as required by section 4404(a)(8), of the
innovative practices carried out with the grant.
(b)A nonprofit organization that receives a grant under
this part may use the grant funds to make subgrants to other entities to
provide support to 1 or more schools or local educational agencies. Any such
entity shall comply with the requirements of this part relating to grantees, as
appropriate.
4406.The Secretary shall
establish performance measures for the programs and activities carried out
under this part. These measures, at a minimum, shall track the grantee’s
progress in improving outcomes for each subgroup described in section
1111(b)(2)(C)(v) that is served by the grantee on measures, including, as
applicable, by—
(1)increasing
student achievement and decreasing achievement gaps;
(2)increasing high
school graduation rates;
(3)increasing
college enrollment rates and rates of college persistence;
(4)improving teacher
and school leader effectiveness;
(5)improving school
readiness; and
(6)any other
indicator as the Secretary or grantee may determine.
4407.A local
educational agency or nonprofit organization that receives a grant under this
part shall submit to the Secretary, at such time and in such manner as the
Secretary may require, an annual report that includes, among other things,
information on the applicant’s progress on the performance measures established
under section 4406, and the data supporting that progress.
4408.Authorization
of appropriationsThere are
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part $500,000,000 for fiscal
year 2011 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal
years.
.
(b)The table of contents in section 2 of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating
to section 4304 the following:
PART D—Investing in Innovation
Sec. 4401. Purposes.
Sec. 4402. National activities.
Sec. 4403. Program authorized; length of grants;
priorities.
Sec. 4404. Applications.
Sec. 4405. Uses of funds.
Sec. 4406. Performance measures.
Sec. 4407. Reporting; Annual report.
Sec. 4408. Authorization of
appropriations.
.