[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 847 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 847

 To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to invest 
                      in innovation for education.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 10, 2015

 Mr. Polis (for himself and Mr. Sablan) 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 invest 
                      in innovation for 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 ``Investing in Innovation for 
Education Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. INVESTING IN INNOVATION.

    (a) In General.--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:

                   ``PART D--INVESTING IN INNOVATION

``SEC. 4401. PURPOSES.

    ``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 secondary school graduation rates;
                    ``(C) increase college enrollment rates, rates of 
                college persistence, and rates of attainment of other 
                post-secondary credentials;
                    ``(D) improve teacher and principal effectiveness 
                or retention of highly effective teachers or 
                principals; and
                    ``(E) increase the identification and dissemination 
                of innovative educational strategies in rural areas; 
                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.

``SEC. 4402. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.

    ``(a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), from the amounts 
appropriated under section 4408, the Secretary shall reserve not more 
than 10 percent for each fiscal year to carry out activities of 
national significance, which may include--
            ``(1) technical assistance, including to applicants from 
        rural areas;
            ``(2) pre-application workshops or web-based seminars for 
        potential applicants, including applicants from rural areas;
            ``(3) the recruitment of peer reviewers, including 
        individuals with a background in rural education and 
        individuals with expertise in education technology, to 
        participate in the review of applications submitted under 
        section 4404;
            ``(4) dissemination of best practices, in consultation with 
        the regional educational laboratories established under part D 
        of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9561 et 
        seq.) and comprehensive centers established under section 203 
        of the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 
        9602), developed with grant funds provided under this part, 
        including best practices developed with grant funds in rural 
        areas;
            ``(5) entering into partnerships with other agencies, 
        nonprofits, and the private sector to carry out advanced 
        research and development activities, including research and 
        activities in rural areas; and
            ``(6) carrying out prize awards, in a manner consistent 
        with section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation 
        Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719).
    ``(b) Reservation of Funds for Dissemination.--The Secretary shall 
reserve not less than 50 percent of the funds reserved under this 
section to carry out the dissemination activities described in 
subsection (a)(4).

``SEC. 4403. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED; LENGTH OF GRANTS; PRIORITIES.

    ``(a) Program Authorization.--From the amounts appropriated under 
section 4408 and not reserved under section 4402, the Secretary shall 
award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities to carry out 
the activities described in section 4405.
    ``(b) Duration of Grants.--The Secretary shall award grants to 
eligible entities under this section for a period of not more than 3 
years, and may extend such grants for an additional 2-year period if 
the eligible entity demonstrates to the Secretary that it is making 
significant progress on the program performance measures identified in 
section 4406.
    ``(c) Rural Areas.--The Secretary shall ensure that not less than 
25 percent of the funds awarded under this section for any fiscal year 
are for projects that meet both of the following requirements:
            ``(1) The eligible entity is--
                    ``(A) a local educational agency with an urban-
                centric district locale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, 
                as determined by the Secretary;
                    ``(B) a consortium of such local educational 
                agencies; or
                    ``(C) an educational service agency or a nonprofit 
                organization with demonstrated expertise in serving 
                students from rural areas.
            ``(2) A majority of the schools to be served by the project 
        are designated with a school locale code of 41, 42, or 43, or a 
        combination of such codes, as determined by the Secretary.
    ``(d) Support for New Practices, Strategies, or Programs.--The 
Secretary shall ensure that not less than one-half of the funds awarded 
under this section for any fiscal year are for projects that--
            ``(1) meet an evidence standard described in paragraph (2) 
        or (3) of subsection (f); and
            ``(2) do not meet the evidence standard described in 
        paragraph (1) of subsection (f).
    ``(e) Priorities.--In awarding grants under this section, 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 and academic 
        connections between early learning and elementary school;
            ``(2) support college access, persistence, and success;
            ``(3) support family and community engagement;
            ``(4) address the unique learning needs of students with 
        disabilities or English language learners;
            ``(5) support the effective use of education technology to 
        improve teaching and learning;
            ``(6) improve the teaching and learning of science, 
        technology, engineering, computing, or mathematics;
            ``(7) serve schools in rural local educational agencies;
            ``(8) train teachers or principals to adopt and implement 
        college and career ready standards;
            ``(9) develop alternative career pathways or differentiated 
        school staffing models for effective teachers or principals to 
        expand their impact on student learning;
            ``(10) train or support principals or teacher leaders, 
        including teacher leaders preparing for principal roles;
            ``(11) support, improve, or develop any other area of 
        school innovation, as determined by the Secretary; and
            ``(12) address the learning needs of Indian, Native 
        American, Alaska Native, or migrant children in school.
    ``(f) Standards of Evidence.--The Secretary shall set standards for 
the quality of evidence that an eligible entity shall provide to 
demonstrate that the activities the eligible entity proposes to carry 
out with grant funds under this section 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 
        eligible entity will have a statistically significant effect on 
        student academic achievement, student growth, graduation rates, 
        or outcomes on other performance measures.
            ``(2) Moderate evidence that the activities proposed by the 
        eligible entity will improve student academic achievement, 
        student growth, graduation rates, or outcomes on other 
        performance measures.
            ``(3) Evidence of promise or a strong theory that the 
        activities proposed by the eligible entity will improve student 
        academic achievement, student growth, graduation rates, or 
        outcomes on other performance measures.

``SEC. 4404. APPLICATIONS.

    ``(a) Applications.--An eligible entity that desires to receive a 
grant under section 4403 shall submit an application to the Secretary 
at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the 
Secretary may reasonably require.
    ``(b) Contents.--Each application submitted by an eligible entity 
under subsection (a) shall--
            ``(1) describe the project for which the eligible entity is 
        seeking a grant and how the evidence supporting that project 
        meets the standards of evidence established by the Secretary 
        under section 4403(f);
            ``(2) describe how the eligible entity will address at 
        least one of the areas described in section 4405(a)(1);
            ``(3) provide an estimate of the number of students that 
        the eligible entity 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 eligible entity has established 
        one or more partnerships with the private sector, which may 
        include philanthropic organizations, and that the partner or 
        partners will provide matching funds, except that the Secretary 
        may waive, on a case-by-case basis, the matching funds 
        requirement under this paragraph upon a showing of exceptional 
        circumstances, such as the difficulty of raising matching funds 
        for a project to serve a rural area;
            ``(5) describe the eligible entity's plan for continuing 
        the proposed project after the grant funding under section 4403 
        ends, including a plan for dissemination of best practices and 
        collaboration with other local educational agencies;
            ``(6) demonstrate that the proposed project has 
        incorporated input and feedback from educators working in the 
        area to be served;
            ``(7) if the eligible entity is a local educational 
        agency--
                    ``(A) document the local educational agency's 
                record in--
                            ``(i) increasing student achievement, 
                        including achievement for each subgroup 
                        described in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v); or
                            ``(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;
            ``(8) if the eligible entity is a nonprofit organization--
                    ``(A) provide evidence that the nonprofit 
                organization has helped at least one high-need school 
                or high-need local educational agency significantly--
                            ``(i) increase student achievement, 
                        including achievement for each subgroup 
                        described in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v);
                            ``(ii) reduce achievement gaps; or
                            ``(iii) increase graduation rates; 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;
            ``(9) if the eligible entity is an educational service 
        agency--
                    ``(A) provide evidence that the agency has helped 
                at least one high-need school or high-need local 
                educational agency significantly--
                            ``(i) increase student achievement, 
                        including achievement for each subgroup 
                        described in section 1111(b)(2)(C)(v);
                            ``(ii) reduce achievement gaps; or
                            ``(iii) increase graduation rates; and
                    ``(B) describe how the agency 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;
            ``(10) provide a description of the eligible entity's plan 
        for independently evaluating the effectiveness of activities 
        carried out with funds under section 4403;
            ``(11) provide an assurance that the eligible entity will--
                    ``(A) cooperate with cross-cutting evaluations;
                    ``(B) make evaluation data available to third 
                parties for validation and further study consistent 
                with protections established by applicable Federal, 
                State, and local privacy requirements and other on 
                provisions on the protection of personally identifiable 
                information; and
                    ``(C) participate in communities of practice; and
            ``(12) if the eligible entity is a nonprofit organization 
        that intends to make subgrants, consistent with section 
        4405(b), provide an assurance that the eligible entity will 
        apply paragraphs (1) through (10), as appropriate, in the 
        eligible entity's selection of subgrantees and in the oversight 
        of such subgrants.
    ``(c) Criteria for Evaluating Applications.--The Secretary shall 
award grants under section 4403 on a competitive basis, based on the 
quality of the applications under this section submitted and, 
consistent with the standards established under section 4403(f), each 
eligible entity's likelihood of achieving success in improving student 
outcomes or outcomes on other performance measures.

``SEC. 4405. USES OF FUNDS.

    ``(a) Uses of Funds.--Each eligible entity that receives a grant 
under section 4403--
            ``(1) shall use the grant funds to address, at a minimum, 
        one of the following areas of school innovations:
                    ``(A) Improving the effectiveness and distribution 
                of teachers or principals.
                    ``(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) Supporting the effective use of technology to 
                improve teaching or principals and learning, including 
                training teachers or principals in the innovative use 
                of technology.
                    ``(F) Any other area of school innovation, 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(b)(9), of the 
        innovative practices carried out with the grant.
    ``(b) Authority to Subgrant.--In the case of an eligible entity 
receiving a grant under section 4403 that is nonprofit organization 
such eligible entity may use the grant funds to make subgrants to other 
entities to provide support to one or more high-need schools or high-
need local educational agencies. Any entity receiving a subgrant under 
this subsection shall comply with the requirements of this part for 
eligible entities, as appropriate.

``SEC. 4406. PERFORMANCE MEASURES.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish performance 
measures for the projects carried out under this part. These measures, 
at a minimum, shall track an eligible entity's progress in--
            ``(1) 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--
                    ``(A) increasing student achievement and decreasing 
                achievement gaps;
                    ``(B) increasing secondary school graduation rates;
                    ``(C) increasing college enrollment rates and rates 
                of college persistence;
                    ``(D) improving teacher and principal effectiveness 
                or the retention of highly effective teachers or 
                principals;
                    ``(E) improving school readiness; or
                    ``(F) any other indicator as the Secretary or 
                grantee may determine; and
            ``(2) implementing the eligible entity's project in rural 
        schools, as applicable.
    ``(b) Data Collection Period.--From the amounts appropriated under 
section 4408, the Secretary may--
            ``(1) approve, for an eligible entity receiving a grant 
        under section 4403, a data collection period of not more than 
        72 months beginning after the end of the eligible entity's 
        grant period; and
            ``(2) provide the eligible entity with funding during such 
        period for the sole purpose of collecting, analyzing, and 
        reporting performance information under this subsection on the 
        project carried out during the grant period.

``SEC. 4407. ANNUAL REPORT.

    ``An eligible entity that receives a grant under section 4403 shall 
submit to the Secretary, at such time and in such manner as the 
Secretary may require, an annual report that includes information on--
            ``(1) the eligible entity's progress on the performance 
        measures established under section 4406; and
            ``(2) the data supporting such progress.

``SEC. 4408. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part 
$500,000,000 for fiscal year 2016 and such sums as may be necessary for 
each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years.

``SEC. 4409. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this part:
            ``(1) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity' means--
                    ``(A) a local educational agency;
                    ``(B) an educational service agencies; or
                    ``(C) a nonprofit organization in partnership with 
                a local educational agency or consortium of schools.
            ``(2) High-need local educational agency.--The term `high-
        need local educational agency' means a local educational 
        agency--
                    ``(A) that serves not fewer than 10,000 children 
                from families with incomes below the poverty line;
                    ``(B) for which not less than 20 percent of the 
                children served by the agency are from families with 
                incomes below the poverty line; or
                    ``(C) that is in the highest quartile of local 
                educational agencies in the State, based on student 
                poverty.
            ``(3) High-need school.--The term `high-need school'' 
        means--
                    ``(A) an elementary school or middle school in 
                which not less than 50 percent of the enrolled students 
                are children eligible for free or reduced price lunch 
                under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 
                (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.); and
                    ``(B) a high school in which not less than 40 
                percent of the enrolled students are children eligible 
                for free or reduced price lunch under the Richard B. 
                Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et 
                seq.), which may be calculated using comparable data 
                from feeder schools.
            ``(4) Principal.--The term `principal' includes an 
        assistant principal.
            ``(5) Teacher.--The term `teacher' includes teacher 
        leaders.
            ``(6) Teacher leader.--The term `teacher leader' means a 
        teacher who has demonstrated effectiveness and assumes 
        leadership responsibilities to work with other teachers to 
        raise student achievement in multiple classrooms.''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--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.''.
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