[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2268 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2268

    To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to 
authorize a national elementary and secondary service-learning program 
  that promotes student academic achievement, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 5, 2013

Mr. Loebsack (for himself and Mr. Polis) introduced the following bill; 
   which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to 
authorize a national elementary and secondary service-learning program 
  that promotes student academic achievement, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Engaging Students Through Service 
Learning Act''.

SEC. 2. K-12 SERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--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:

``PART E--ENHANCING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF K-12 EDUCATION THROUGH SERVICE 
                                LEARNING

``SEC. 2501. FINDINGS.

    ``The Congress finds as follows:
            ``(1) Students learn best when they are actively engaged in 
        meaningful and challenging learning experiences that encourage 
        higher order skills development, critical thinking, and problem 
        solving.
            ``(2) Service learning is a pedagogy that encompasses key 
        elements of effective teaching and learning, including active 
        learning, authentic experiences, opportunities for peer 
        collaboration, problem solving, student leadership and 
        empowerment, and cognitively challenging academic activities.
            ``(3) Students invest themselves in learning when their 
        educational experiences have personal meaning to them and are 
        connected to authentic, real issues in their everyday lives.
            ``(4) In service learning, students apply their knowledge 
        and skills to solve actual community problems and experience 
        the real-world value of what they are learning in school. 
        Service learning can therefore have a powerful effect on 
        students, increasing their academic engagement, their civic 
        engagement and their social and emotional development.
            ``(5) Service learning can have a powerful effect on 
        students, helping them to increase their academic engagement 
        and performance, their civic engagement and desire to help 
        others, and their social-emotional learning in areas related to 
        21st century skill acquisition, such as task persistence, 
        intellectual curiosity, and ability to work in teams.
            ``(6) In service learning, students connect to the 
        community and to their classmates in ways that are far more 
        powerful than simple cooperative learning.
            ``(7) Service learning has been found to promote behavioral 
        and dispositional factors that mediate students' educational 
        success such as greater motivation for school, engagement in 
        learning tasks, building of self-efficacy and self-esteem, and 
        propensity to engage in pro-social behaviors.
            ``(8) Research has demonstrated that test scores of 
        students who participated in service learning are higher in 
        reading, writing, mathematics, social studies, and science than 
        those of non-participants.
            ``(9) High-quality service learning will improve student 
        achievement and our schools because it employs effective, 
        experiential learning strategies associated with student 
        engagement in academic work and preparation for success in 
        college and the workplace, engages students in solving complex 
        problems, probes for deeper learning, and seeks opportunities 
        for students to transfer knowledge from one context to another.
            ``(10) Principals report that service learning has a 
        positive impact on teacher satisfaction, school climate, 
        academic achievement, and school engagement.
            ``(11) Teachers who use service learning in the classroom 
        as a type of positive teaching strategy achieve better results 
        in a variety of academic and behavioral categories than those 
        who don't, are more effective, challenged, and energized, and 
        are more likely to remain within their chosen profession.
            ``(12) Only an estimated 24 percent of the approximately 
        53,300,000 K-12 youth in the United States are given the 
        opportunity to engage in any kind of service-learning 
        experience, a decline from 32 percent in 1999.
            ``(13) Schools in high-poverty areas are less likely to 
        employ service learning as a teaching strategy, yet research 
        has shown this is a particularly effective pedagogy for use in 
        such schools. Service learning can significantly reduce the 
        achievement gap between affluent and low-income students. Low-
        income students who participated in service opportunities have 
        better school attendance and grades than low-income students 
        who do not participate.
            ``(14) There is a need for a rigorous and focused 
        initiative to demonstrate and broadly promote high-quality 
        service learning that enhances teacher effectiveness, improves 
        student learning and educational success, and positively 
        affects school climate.
            ``(15) State educational agencies are the only entities 
        with comprehensive, statewide responsibility for the quality of 
        learning within a State.

``SEC. 2502. PURPOSE.

    ``The purpose of this part is to authorize a national service-
learning program that will expand opportunities for students in 
elementary and secondary schools to engage in high-quality service 
learning that--
            ``(1) promotes student achievement in academic subjects, 
        including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics;
            ``(2) incorporates 21st century skills, such as critical 
        thinking, problem solving and collaboration;
            ``(3) integrates content knowledge and use of technology;
            ``(4) enhances school climate and civic engagement; and
            ``(5) prepares students for college or a career.

``SEC. 2503. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.

    ``The Secretary shall reserve funds for national activities as 
follows:
            ``(1) The Secretary shall reserve not more than 10 percent 
        of the appropriation for this program in any fiscal year to 
        establish a National Center for K-12 Service Learning--
                    ``(A) to provide technical assistance to State 
                educational agencies to develop and expand the capacity 
                of local educational agencies to improve teacher 
                quality, school climate, and educational outcomes by 
                providing an infrastructure for sustainable service-
                learning efforts through vision and leadership, 
                professional development, curriculum and assessment, 
                school-community collaborations, and continuous 
                improvement; and
                    ``(B) to provide oversight, coordinate with key 
                Federal education initiatives, foster sustainability, 
                provide evidence for the strengths and limitations of 
                service-learning practices, and disseminate study 
                findings.
            ``(2) The Secretary shall reserve not more than 10 of the 
        appropriation for this program in any fiscal year percent for 
        research and evaluation activities, including a study, 
        conducted by the Institute of Education Sciences using data 
        culled from the State longitudinal data systems authorized 
        under title II of the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 
        2002, on the effects of academic service learning on 
        instructional quality and the academic success of students in 
        low-performing schools. The study shall include the following 
        elements:
                    ``(A) A comprehensive, rigorous research design 
                that builds on prior studies on effective pedagogies, 
                service learning, and student success.
                    ``(B) Gathering qualitative and quantitative data 
                to comprehensively assess the impact service learning 
                has on students' academic, civic, and behavioral 
                performance, including student engagement.
                    ``(C) Identifying, tracking, and measuring the 
                success of systemic, district-level change based on 
                exemplary service-learning policies and practices.
                    ``(D) Measuring the effectiveness of a high-quality 
                professional development leadership system, including 
                the effect the professional development provided under 
                this section has on teaching and pedagogy, including 
                the impact on teachers likelihood of providing students 
                with real-world problem-solving opportunities, 
                opportunities for deeper learning and tying academic 
                concepts to real-world contexts, opportunities for 
                leadership, and opportunities for peer collaboration.
                    ``(E) Systematically measuring the influence of 
                service-learning participation on students' academic 
                achievement within and across States.
                    ``(F) Reporting annually to the public and the 
                Congress.
            ``(3) The Secretary shall reserve not more than 5 percent 
        of the appropriation for this program in any fiscal year for 
        training and technical assistance for State-level program 
        development consistent with the purposes of this Act. The 
        Secretary shall contract with an entity, or entities, with a 
        demonstrated record of achievement in promoting and 
        disseminating best practices in service learning--
                    ``(A) to continually scan the field and build an 
                ever-expanding knowledge base of exemplary service-
                learning models;
                    ``(B) to help ensure the dissemination, adoption, 
                and continuous improvement of these exemplary practices 
                at the State and local level; and
                    ``(C) to conduct specific activities, including--
                            ``(i) developing and disseminating 
                        exemplary program models that demonstrate how 
                        high-quality service-learning programs can be 
                        replicated and can become sustainable at the 
                        State and local level by advancing the use of 
                        service learning as a high-quality 
                        instructional pedagogy;
                            ``(ii) providing resources to support 
                        effective policy development at the State and 
                        local level to advance efforts with respect to 
                        high-quality teachers and the equitable 
                        distribution of high-quality teachers; and
                            ``(iii) providing exemplary professional 
                        development models and technical assistance 
                        materials to any interested party.

``SEC. 2504. STATE ACTIVITIES.

    ``(a) Grants.--A State educational agency desiring a grant under 
this part shall submit an application to the Secretary that includes an 
assurance that, not later than 90 days after receiving a grant--
            ``(1) all local educational agencies in the State will have 
        access to high-quality professional development and peer 
        mentoring through a cascade model, including resources and 
        ongoing support to transform instructional practices;
            ``(2) the State educational agency will implement 
        strategies for improvement in the lowest performing geographic 
        areas utilizing service-learning policies and practices, 
        National School Climate Standards, and exemplary practices for 
        enhancing teacher quality;
            ``(3) the State educational agency will establish State 
        policies and support systems that are designed to result in 
        effective programs; and
            ``(4) the State educational agency will establish 
        partnerships with entities, such as institutions of higher 
        education, institutions of teacher training, and nonprofit 
        organizations with a demonstrated record of experience in 
        school-based service learning, to develop systemic 
        implementation of service learning in teacher preparation and 
        professional development.
    ``(b) Service-Learning Specialist.--Of the funds made available to 
a State educational agency under this part, the agency shall reserve a 
portion of those funds appropriated to support a service-learning 
specialist who acts as a conduit of information between the State and 
local level, provides training and technical assistance, program 
improvement, and progress monitoring.
    ``(c) State-Level Activities.--Of the funds made available to a 
State educational agency under this part, the agency shall reserve 30 
percent to support the following:
            ``(1) Collaboration and mentoring to increase consistency 
        in implementation across States to ensure high-quality practice 
        and sustainability.
            ``(2) Implementation of a statewide cascade professional 
        development model.
            ``(3) On-site support and mentoring of local educational 
        agencies.
            ``(4) Dissemination of resources to support implementation, 
        capacity building, and sustainability of local efforts, 
        including through grants or contracts with qualified national 
        intermediaries or community-based organizations.

``SEC. 2505. SUBGRANTS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.

    ``(a) In General.--A State educational agency that receives funds 
under this part shall use the funds remaining after the application of 
section 2504 to make subgrants to local educational agencies that use--
            ``(1) the service-learning model to strengthen the content 
        area disciplines and implementation of key educational 
        innovations in schools with a high percentage of 
        underperforming youth; and
            ``(2) a cascade professional development model to bring 
        practice to scale.
    ``(b) Competitive Subgrants.--Subgrants under subsection (a) shall 
be made on a competitive basis with consideration for geographic 
diversity, including distribution between urban and rural local 
educational agencies. In making awards, the State educational agency 
must give priority to local educational agencies with high proportions 
of students living in poverty or performing below grade level.
    ``(c) Application.--A local educational agency applying for a 
subgrant under this section shall submit an application to the State 
educational agency that includes information on how--
            ``(1) funds will be used to participate in the cascade 
        professional development model, ensure sustainability, and 
        replicate the service-learning model to increase academic 
        engagement and performance in content area courses, increase 
        civic skills and engagement, and enable students in low-
        performing schools to help their own communities by giving them 
        the knowledge, skills, and opportunities necessary to 
        participate in high-quality service-learning experiences;
            ``(2) educators will--
                    ``(A) receive support in using instructional 
                practices that incorporate the application of academic 
                knowledge and skills to address relevant needs in their 
                community; and
                    ``(B) identify current data, set measurable goals 
                for their instructional activities, and measure impact 
                on both students and the community; and
            ``(3) partnerships will be established to create a 
        community-wide expectation that service learning is an 
        essential part of a high-quality education.

``SEC. 2506. DEFINITION OF CASCADE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL.

    ``In this part, the term `cascade professional development model' 
means a professional development model in which specialists are trained 
in high-quality practice and delivery of professional development. 
These experts then train educators, who are responsible for training, 
mentoring, and supporting their peers. This model allows for 
replication of effective practice and increased consistency in quality 
among all States.

``SEC. 2507. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part 
such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2014 and for each of the 
5 succeeding fiscal years.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents for the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is amended by inserting after the 
item relating to section 2441 the following:

``Part E--Enhancing the Effectiveness of K-12 Education Through Service 
                                Learning

``Sec. 2501. Findings.
``Sec. 2502. Purposes.
``Sec. 2503. National activities.
``Sec. 2504. State activities.
``Sec. 2505. Subgrants to local educational agencies.
``Sec. 2506. Definition of cascade professional development model.
``Sec. 2507. Authorization of appropriations.''.
                                 <all>