1.Teachers professional development
institutes
(a)Part A of 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:
6Teachers professional development
institutes
2161.This subpart may be cited as the
Teachers Professional Development Institutes Act
.
2162.
(a)Congress makes the following
findings:
(1)Teaching is central to the educational
process and the ongoing professional development of teachers in the subjects
they teach is essential for improved student learning.
(2)Attaining the goal of the No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107–110)—having a classroom teacher who is
highly effective in every academic subject the teacher teaches—will require
innovative approaches to improve the effectiveness of teachers in the
classroom.
(3)The Teachers Institute Model focuses on the
continuing academic preparation of schoolteachers and the application of what
the teachers study to their classrooms and potentially to the classrooms of
other teachers.
(4)The Teachers Institute Model was developed
initially by the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute and has successfully
operated in New Haven, Connecticut, for more than 30 years.
(5)The Teachers Institute Model has also been
successfully implemented in cities larger than New Haven.
(6)In the spring of 2009, a report entitled
An Evaluation of Teachers Institute Experiences
concluded
that—
(A)Teachers Institutes enhance precisely those
teacher qualities known to improve student achievement;
(B)Teachers Institutes exemplify the crucial
characteristics of high-quality teacher professional development; and
(C)Teachers Institute participation is
strongly related to teacher retention in high-poverty schools.
(b)The purpose of this subpart is to provide
Federal assistance to support the establishment and operation of Teachers
Institutes for local educational agencies that serve significant low-income
student populations in States throughout the Nation, in order to—
(1)improve student learning; and
(2)enhance the quality and effectiveness of
teaching and strengthen the subject matter mastery and the pedagogical skills
of current teachers through continuing teacher preparation.
2163.In this subpart:
(1)Significant low-income student
populationThe term
significant low-income student population means a student
population of which not less than 40 percent of the students included are
eligible for free or reduced price lunches under the Richard B. Russell
National School Lunch Act.
(2)The term Teachers Institute
means a partnership or joint venture—
(A)between or among—
(i)1 or more institutions of higher education;
and
(ii)1 or more local educational agencies that
serve 1 or more schools with significant low-income student populations;
and
(B)that improves the effectiveness of teachers
in the classroom, and the quality of teaching and learning, through
collaborative seminars designed to enhance both the subject matter and the
pedagogical resources of the seminar participants.
2164.
(a)The Secretary is authorized to award grants
under this subpart in order to encourage the establishment and operation of
Teachers Institutes.
(b)The Secretary may reserve not more than 50
percent of the funds appropriated to carry out this subpart to provide
technical assistance to facilitate the establishment and operation of Teachers
Institutes. The Secretary may contract with the Yale-New Haven Teachers
Institute to provide all or part of the technical assistance under this
subsection.
(c)In selecting Teachers Institutes to support
through grants under this subpart, the Secretary shall consider—
(1)the extent to which a proposed Teachers
Institute will serve schools that have significant low-income student
populations;
(2)the extent to which a proposed Teachers
Institute will follow the understandings and necessary procedures described in
section 2166;
(3)the extent to which each local educational
agency participating in the Teachers Institute has a high percentage of
teachers who are unprepared or underprepared to teach the core academic
subjects the teachers are assigned to teach; and
(4)the extent to which a proposed Teachers
Institute will receive a level of support from the community and other sources
that will ensure the requisite long-term commitment for the success of a
Teachers Institute.
(d)
(1)In evaluating applications using the
criteria under subsection (c), the Secretary may request the advice and
assistance of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute or other Teachers
Institutes.
(2)If the Secretary
receives 2 or more applications for grants under this subpart from local
educational agencies within the same State, the Secretary shall consult with
the State educational agency regarding the applications.
(e)The fiscal agent for the receipt of grant
funds under this subpart shall be an institution of higher education
participating in the partnership or joint venture, as described in section
2163(2)(A), that is establishing or operating the Teachers Institute.
(f)A grant under this subpart—
(1)shall provide grant funds for a period of
not more than 5 years; and
(2)shall be in an amount that is not more than
50 percent of the total costs of the eligible activities supported under the
grant, as determined by the Secretary.
2165.Grant funds under this subpart may be
used—
(1)for the planning, development,
establishment, and operation of a Teachers Institute;
(2)for additional assistance to an established
Teachers Institute for its further development and for its support of the
planning, development, establishment, and operation of a Teachers Institute
under paragraph (1);
(3)for the salary and necessary expenses of a
full-time director for a Teachers Institute to plan and manage the Teachers
Institute and to act as a liaison between all local educational agencies and
institutions of higher education participating in the Teachers
Institute;
(4)to provide suitable office space, staff,
equipment, and supplies, and to pay other operating expenses, for the Teachers
Institute;
(5)to provide a stipend for teachers
participating in the collaborative seminars conducted by the Institute in the
sciences and humanities and to provide remuneration for members of the faculty
of the participating institution of higher education leading the seminars;
and
(6)to provide for the dissemination, through
print and electronic means, of curriculum units prepared in the seminars
conducted by the Teachers Institute.
2166.Understandings and proceduresA grantee receiving a grant under this
subpart shall abide by the following understandings and procedures:
(1)The essential relationship of a Teachers
Institute is a partnership between a local educational agency and an
institution of higher education. A grantee shall demonstrate a long-term
commitment on behalf of the participating local educational agency and
institution of higher education to the support, including the financial
support, of the work of the Teachers Institute.
(2)A Teachers Institute sponsors seminars led
by faculty of the institution of higher education partner and attended by
teachers from the local educational agency partner. A grantee shall provide
participating teachers the ability to play an essential role in planning,
organizing, conducting, and evaluating the seminars and in encouraging the
future participation of other teachers.
(3)A seminar described in paragraph (2) uses a
collaborative process, in a collegial environment, to develop a curriculum unit
for use by participating teachers that sets forth the subject matter to be
presented and the pedagogical strategies to be employed. A grantee shall enable
participating teachers to develop a curriculum unit, based on the subject
matter presented, for use in the teachers' classrooms.
(4)Eligibility and remunerationSeminars are open to all partnership
teachers with teaching assignments relevant to the seminar topics. Seminar
leaders receive remuneration for their work and participating teachers receive
an honorarium or stipend upon the successful completion of the seminar. A
grantee shall provide seminar leaders and participating teachers with
remuneration to allow them to participate in the Teachers Institute.
(5)The operations of a Teachers Institute are
managed by a full-time director who reports to both partners but is accountable
to the institution of higher education partner. A grantee shall appoint a
director to manage and coordinate the work of the Teachers Institute.
(6)A grantee shall annually review the
activities of the Teachers Institute and disseminate the results to members of
the Teachers Institute’s partnership community.
2167.Application, approval, and
agreement
(a)To receive a grant under this subpart, a
Teachers Institute, or a partnership or joint venture described in section
2163(2)(A) that is proposing to establish a Teachers Institute, shall submit an
application to the Secretary that—
(1)meets the requirement of this subpart and
any regulations under this subpart;
(2)includes a description of how the applicant
intends to use funds provided under the grant;
(3)includes such information as the Secretary
may require to apply the criteria described in section 2164(c);
(4)includes measurable objectives for the use
of the funds provided under the grant; and
(5)contains such other information and
assurances as the Secretary may require.
(b)The Secretary shall—
(1)promptly evaluate an application received
for a grant under this subpart; and
(2)notify the applicant, within 90 days of the
receipt of a completed application, of the Secretary’s determination.
(c)Upon approval of an application, the
Secretary and the applicant shall enter into a comprehensive agreement covering
the entire period of the grant.
2168.
(a)Each grantee under this subpart shall
report annually to the Secretary on the progress of the Teachers Institute in
achieving the purpose of this subpart.
(b)Evaluation and disseminationThe Secretary shall evaluate the activities
funded under this subpart and submit an annual report regarding the activities
assisted under this subpart to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the
House of Representatives. The Secretary shall broadly disseminate successful
practices developed by Teachers Institutes.
(c)If the Secretary determines that a grantee
is not making substantial progress in meeting the purposes of the grant by the
end of the second year of the grant under this subpart, the Secretary may take
appropriate action, including revocation of further payments under the grant,
to ensure that the funds available under this subpart are used in the most
effective manner.
2169.Authorization of
appropriationsThere are
authorized to be appropriated, for grants (including planning grants) and
technical assistance under this subpart, such sums as may be necessary for
fiscal year 2012 and each of the 4 succeeding fiscal
years.
.
(b)The table of contents of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item relating
to section 2151 the following:
SUBPART 6—Teachers
professional development institutes
Sec. 2161. Short
title.
Sec. 2162. Findings
and purpose.
Sec. 2163.
Definitions.
Sec. 2164. Program
authorized.
Sec. 2165. Eligible
activities.
Sec. 2166.
Understandings and procedures.
Sec. 2167.
Application, approval, and agreement.
Sec. 2168. Reports
and
evaluations.
.