[House Report 107-134]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
107th Congress Rept. 107-134
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session Part 1
======================================================================
NATIONAL MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE PARTNERSHIPS ACT
_______
July 11, 2001.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Boehlert, from the Committee on Science, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 1858]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Science, to whom was referred the bill
(H.R. 1858) to make improvements in mathematics and science
education, and for other purposes, having considered the same,
report favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that
the bill as amended do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Amendment.......................................................2
II. Purpose of the Bill............................................16
III. Background and Need for the Legislation........................16
IV. Summary of Hearings............................................20
V. Committee Action...............................................21
VI. Summary of Major Provisions of the Bill........................22
VII. Section-By-Section Analysis (By Title and Section).............24
VIII. Committee Views................................................31
IX. Cost Estimate..................................................42
X. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate......................43
XI. Compliance with Public Law 104-4 (Unfunded Mandates)...........44
XII. Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations...............45
XIII. Constitutional Authority Statement.............................45
XIV. Federal Advisory Committee Statement...........................45
XV. Congressional Accountability Act...............................45
XVI. Statement on Preemption of State, Local, or Tribal Law.........45
XVII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, As Reported..........45
XVIII.Committee Recommendations......................................47
XIX. Statement on General Performance Goals and Objectives..........47
XX. Exchange of Committee Correspondence...........................49
XXI. Proceedings of Subcommittee Markup.............................51
XXII. Proceedings of Full Committee Markup..........................128
The amendment is as follows:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``National Mathematics and Science
Partnerships Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) 12 years ago the President of the United States convened
the Nation's Governors to establish common goals for the
improvement of elementary and secondary education.
(2) Among the National Education Goals established was the
goal that by the year 2000 United States students would be
first in the world in mathematics and science achievement.
(3) Despite these goals, 8th graders in the United States
showed just average performance in mathematics and science in
the Third International Mathematics and Science Study-Repeat
and demonstrated lower relative performance than the cohort of
4th graders 4 years earlier.
(4) The United States must redouble its efforts to provide
all of its students with a world-class education in
mathematics, science, engineering, and technology.
(5) The American economy has become the most robust in the
world, not through state planning and government intervention,
but through the hard work and innovation of its citizens. This
success is founded in our Constitutional tradition of respect
for individual liberty to pursue personal career objectives.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act--
(1) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the National
Science Foundation;
(2) the term ``institution of higher education'' has the
meaning given such term in section 101 of the Higher Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001);
(3) the term ``eligible nonprofit organization'' means a
nonprofit research institute or a nonprofit professional
association with demonstrated experience delivering mathematics
or science education as determined by the Director;
(4) the term ``local educational agency'' has the meaning
given such term in section 1401 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801(19));
(5) the term ``State educational agency'' has the meaning
given such term in section 1401 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801);
(6) the term ``elementary school'' has the meaning given that
term by section 14101(14) of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801(14)); and
(7) the term ``secondary school'' has the meaning given that
term by section 14101(25) of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801(25)).
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS.
Any authorization of appropriations in this Act shall be considered
to be in addition to amounts otherwise authorized or appropriated for
the National Science Foundation.
SEC. 5. MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.
The Director may establish matching fund requirements for any
programs authorized by this Act except those established in title IV.
TITLE I--MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS
Subtitle A--Mathematics and Science Education Partnerships
SEC. 101. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.
(a) In General.--(1) The Director shall establish a program to award
grants to institutions of higher education or eligible nonprofit
organizations (or consortia thereof) to establish mathematics and
science education partnership programs to improve the instruction of
elementary and secondary science education.
(2) Grants shall be awarded under this section on a merit-reviewed
competitive basis.
(b) Partnerships.--(1) In order to be eligible to receive a grant
under this section, an institution of higher education or eligible
nonprofit organization (or consortium thereof) shall enter into a
partnership with one or more local educational agencies that may also
include a State educational agency or one or more businesses, or both.
(2) A participating institution of higher education shall include
mathematics, science, or engineering departments in the programs
carried out through a partnership under this subsection.
(c) Uses of Funds.--Grants awarded under this section shall be used
for activities that draw upon the expertise of the partners to improve
elementary or secondary education, or both, in mathematics or science,
or both. Such activities may include--
(1) recruiting and preparing students for careers in
elementary or secondary mathematics or science education;
(2) offering professional development programs, including
summer or academic year institutes or workshops, designed to
strengthen the capabilities of existing mathematics and science
teachers;
(3) offering innovative programs that instruct teachers on
using technology more effectively in teaching mathematics and
science, including programs that recruit and train
undergraduate and graduate students to provide technical
support to teachers;
(4) developing distance learning programs for teachers or
students, including developing courses, curricular materials
and other resources for the in-service professional development
of teachers that are made available to teachers through the
Internet;
(5) offering teacher preparation and certification programs
for professional mathematicians, scientists, and engineers who
wish to begin a career in teaching;
(6) developing assessment tools to measure student mastery of
content and cognitive skills;
(7) developing or adapting elementary and secondary school
curricular materials, aligned to State standards, that
incorporate contemporary research on the science of learning;
(8) developing undergraduate mathematics and science courses
for education majors;
(9) using mathematicians, scientists, and engineers employed
by private businesses to help recruit and train mathematics and
science teachers;
(10) developing a cadre of master teachers who will promote
reform and improvement in schools;
(11) developing and offering mathematics or science
enrichment programs for students, including after-school and
summer programs;
(12) providing research opportunities in business or academia
for students and teachers;
(13) bringing mathematicians, scientists and engineers from
business and academia into elementary and secondary school
classrooms; and
(14) any other activities the Director determines will
accomplish the goals of this section.
(d) Science Enrichment Programs for Girls.--Activities carried out in
accordance with subsections (c)(11) and (12) shall include elementary
and secondary school programs to encourage the ongoing interest of
girls in science, mathematics, engineering and technology and to
prepare girls to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees and careers
in science, mathematics, engineering or technology. Funds made
available through awards to partnerships for the purposes of this
subsection may support programs for--
(1) encouraging girls to pursue studies in science,
mathematics, engineering and technology and to major in such
fields in postsecondary education;
(2) tutoring girls in science, mathematics, engineering and
technology;
(3) providing mentors for girls in person and through the
Internet to support such girls in pursuing studies in science,
mathematics, engineering and technology;
(4) educating the parents of girls about the difficulties
faced by girls to maintain an interest and desire to achieve in
science, mathematics, engineering and technology, and enlisting
the help of parents in overcoming these difficulties; and
(5) acquainting girls with careers in science, mathematics,
engineering and technology and encouraging girls to plan for
careers in such fields.
(e) Research in Secondary Schools.--Activities carried out in
accordance with subsection (c)(11) may include support for research
projects performed by students at secondary schools. Uses of funds made
available through awards to partnerships for purposes of this
subsection may include--
(1) training secondary school mathematics and science
teachers in the design of research projects for students;
(2) establishing a system for students and teachers involved
in research projects funded under this section to exchange
information about their projects and research results; and
(3) assessing the educational value of the student research
projects by such means as tracking the academic performance and
choice of academic majors of students conducting research.
(f) Stipends.--Grants awarded under this section may be used to
provide stipends for teachers or students participating in training or
research activities that would not be part of their typical classroom
activities.
SEC. 102. SELECTION PROCESS.
(a) Application.--An institution of higher education or an eligible
nonprofit organization (or a consortium thereof) seeking funding under
section 101 shall submit an application to the Director at such time,
in such manner, and containing such information as the Director may
require. The application shall include, at a minimum--
(1) a description of the partnership and the role that each
member will play in implementing the proposal;
(2) a description of each of the activities to be carried
out, including--
(A) how such activities will be aligned with State
and local standards and with other activities that
promote student achievement in mathematics and science;
and
(B) how such activities will be based on a review of
relevant research, how such activities will encourage
the interest of women and minorities in science,
mathematics, engineering and technology and will help
prepare women and minorities to pursue postsecondary
studies in these fields, and why such activities are
expected to improve student performance and strengthen
the quality of mathematics and science instruction;
(3) a description of the number, size and nature of any
stipends that will be provided to students or teachers and the
reasons such stipends are needed;
(4) how the partnership will serve as a catalyst for reform
of mathematics and science education programs; and
(5) how the partnership will assess its success.
(b) Review of Applications.--In evaluating the applications submitted
under subsection (a), the Director shall consider, at a minimum--
(1) the ability of the partnership to effectively carry out
the proposed programs;
(2) the extent to which the members of the partnership are
committed to making the partnership a central organizational
focus;
(3) the degree to which activities carried out by the
partnership are based on relevant research and likely to result
in increased student achievement;
(4) the degree to which such activities are aligned with
State or local standards; and
(5) the likelihood that the partnership will demonstrate
activities that can be widely implemented as part of larger
scale reform efforts.
(c) Awards.--(1) The Director shall ensure, to the extent
practicable, that partnership grants be awarded under section 101 in a
wide range of geographic areas and that the partnership program include
rural, suburban, and urban local educational agencies.
(2) Not less than 50 percent of the partnerships funded under section
101 shall include businesses.
(3) The Director shall award grants under this subtitle for a period
not to exceed 5 years.
SEC. 103. ACCOUNTABILITY AND DISSEMINATION.
(a) Assessment Required.--The Director shall evaluate the
partnerships program established under section 101. At a minimum, such
evaluations shall--
(1) use a common set of benchmarks and assessment tools to
identify best practices and materials developed and
demonstrated by the partnerships; and
(2) to the extent practicable, compare the effectiveness of
practices and materials developed and demonstrated by the
partnerships authorized under this subtitle with those of
partnerships funded by other State or Federal agencies.
(b) Dissemination of Results.--(1) The results of the evaluations
required under subsection (a) shall be made available to the public,
including through the National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and
Technology Education Digital Library, and shall be provided to the
Committee on Science of the House of Representatives and the Committee
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Committee on
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
(2) Materials developed under the program established under section
101 that are demonstrated to be effective shall be made available
through the National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology
Education Digital Library.
(c) Annual Meeting.--The Director shall convene an annual meeting of
the partnerships participating under this subtitle to foster greater
national collaboration.
SEC. 104. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the National Science
Foundation to carry out this subtitle $200,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2002 through 2006.
Subtitle B--Teacher Research Scholarship Program
SEC. 111. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.
(a) In General.--(1) The Director shall establish a program to award
grants to institutions of higher education or eligible nonprofit
organizations (or consortia thereof) to provide research opportunities
in mathematics, science, and engineering for elementary or secondary
school teachers of mathematics or science. Such institutions of higher
education or eligible nonprofit organizations may include one or more
businesses or Federal or State laboratories as partners under the
program.
(2) Grants shall be awarded under this section on a merit-reviewed
competitive basis.
(b) Program Components.--Grant recipients under this section--
(1) shall recruit and select teachers and provide such
teachers with opportunities to conduct research in academic,
business, or government laboratories;
(2) shall ensure that the teachers have mentors and other
programming support to ensure that their research experience
will contribute to their understanding of mathematics, science,
and engineering and improve their performance in the classroom;
(3) shall provide teachers with a scholarship stipend; and
(4) may provide room and board for residential programs.
(c) Use of Funds.--(1) Not more than 25 percent of the funds provided
under a grant under this section may be used for programming support
for teachers.
(2) The Director shall issue guidelines specifying the minimum and
maximum amounts of stipends recipients may provide to teachers under
this section.
(d) Duration.--A teacher may participate in research under the
program under this section for up to 1 calendar year or 2 sequential
summers.
SEC. 112. SELECTION PROCESS.
(a) Application.--An institution of higher education or an eligible
nonprofit organization (or a consortium thereof) seeking funding under
section 111 shall submit an application to the Director at such time,
in such manner, and containing such information as the Director may
require. The application shall include, at a minimum--
(1) a description of the research opportunities that will be
made available to elementary or secondary school teachers, or
both, by the applicant;
(2) a description of how the applicant will recruit teachers
to participate in the program and the criteria that will be
used to select the participants;
(3) a description of the number, types, and amounts of the
scholarships that the applicant intends to offer to
participating teachers; and
(4) a description of the programming support that will be
provided to participating teachers.
(b) Review of Applications.--In evaluating the applications submitted
under subsection (a), the Director shall consider, at a minimum--
(1) the ability of the applicant to effectively carry out the
proposed program;
(2) the extent to which the applicant is committed to making
the program a central organizational focus; and
(3) the likelihood that the research experiences and
programming to be offered by the applicant will improve
elementary and secondary education.
(c) Awards.--(1) The Director shall ensure, to the extent
practicable, that grants be awarded under this subtitle in a wide range
of geographic areas and to assist teachers from rural, suburban, and
urban local educational agencies.
(2) The Director shall award grants under this subtitle for a period
not to exceed 5 years.
SEC. 113. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated for the National Science
Foundation to carry out this subtitle $15,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2002 through 2006.
TITLE II--NATIONAL SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, ENGINEERING, AND TECHNOLOGY
EDUCATION DIGITAL LIBRARY
SEC. 201. IN GENERAL.
The Director shall establish a program to expand the National
Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Digital
Library (hereinafter in this Act referred to as the ``Digital
Library'') program to enable timely and continuous dissemination of
elementary and secondary science, math, engineering, and technology
educational resources, materials, practices, and policies through the
Internet and other digital technologies. The expanded Digital Library
shall--
(1) contain an Internet-based repository of curricular
materials, practices, and teaching modules;
(2) contain, to the extent practicable, an Internet-based
repository of information about national and regional
conferences related to the improvement of elementary and
secondary mathematics, science, engineering and technology
education, including, if appropriate, links to materials
generated by those conferences.
(3) provide users of the Digital Library with access to all
materials in the Digital Library through a single entry point;
(4) contain only materials that have been peer-reviewed and
tested to ensure factual accuracy and effectiveness and that
are aligned with recognized State and national mathematics and
science standards;
(5) present materials in a format that is consistent,
facilitates ease of comparison and use by classroom teachers,
and contains appropriate links to other Federal educational
clearinghouses; and
(6) provide materials related to mathematics and science
partnership programs, including--
(A) links to all of the programs developed through
the mathematics and science partnerships established
under subtitle A of title I;
(B) data related to assessment and evaluation and
final program reports developed under subtitle A of
title I, including both positive and negative outcomes
of the program;
(C) materials developed by the partnerships under
subtitle A of title I that have been demonstrated to be
effective; and
(D) a mechanism for users to make comments or
suggestions regarding the use and effectiveness of
posted materials.
SEC. 202. GRANTS AND CONTRACT.
(a) Grants.--The Director may award grants to institutions of higher
education or other qualified entities--
(1) to design all or parts of the Digital Library;
(2) to provide assistance to schools in the selection and
adaptation of curricular materials, practices and teaching
methods made available through the Digital Library; or
(3) to carry out the activities described in both paragraphs
(1) and (2).
Grants awarded under this subsection may cover the costs of acquiring
and reviewing educational materials for dissemination through the
Digital Library.
(b) Operation.--The Director may contract out the operation and
management of the Digital Library.
(c) Competitive Awards.--Grants and contracts shall be awarded under
this section on a competitive basis.
SEC. 203. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated for the National Science
Foundation to carry out this title $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years
2002 through 2006.
TITLE III--STRATEGIC EDUCATION RESEARCH PROGRAM
Subtitle A--Centers
SEC. 301. ESTABLISHMENT OF CENTERS FOR RESEARCH ON LEARNING AND
EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT.
(a) In General.--(1) The Director shall award grants to institutions
of higher education (or consortia thereof) to establish 4
multidisciplinary Centers for Research on Learning and Education
Improvement.
(2) Grants shall be awarded under this subsection on a merit-reviewed
competitive basis.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of the Centers shall be to conduct and
evaluate research in cognitive science, education and related fields
and to develop ways in which the results of such research can be
applied in elementary and secondary classrooms to improve the teaching
of mathematics and science.
(c) Focus.--(1) Each Center shall be focused on a different challenge
faced by elementary or secondary school teachers of mathematics and
science. In determining the research focus of the Centers, the Director
shall consult with the National Academy of Sciences and take into
account the extent to which other Federal programs support research on
similar questions.
(2) The proposal solicitation issued by the Director shall state the
focus of each Center and applicants shall apply for designation as a
specific Center.
SEC. 302. SELECTION PROCESS.
(a) Application.--An institution of higher education (or a consortium
thereof) seeking funding under this title shall submit an application
to the Director at such time, in such manner, and containing such
information as the Director may require. The application shall include,
at a minimum a description of--
(1) the initial research projects that will be undertaken by
the Center and the process by which new projects will be
identified;
(2) how the Center will work with other research institutions
and schools to broaden the national research agenda on learning
and teaching;
(3) how the Center will promote active collaboration among
physical, biological, and social science researchers;
(4) how the Center will promote active participation by
elementary and secondary mathematics and science teachers and
administrators; and
(5) how the Center will reduce the results of its research to
educational practice and assess the success of new practices.
(b) Review of Applications.--In evaluating the applications submitted
under subsection (a), the Director shall consider, at a minimum--
(1) the ability of the applicant to effectively carry out the
research program and reduce its results to effective
educational practice;
(2) the experience of the applicant in conducting research on
the science of teaching and learning and the capacity of the
applicant to foster new multidisciplinary collaborations;
(3) the capacity of the applicant to attract precollege
educators from a diverse array of schools and professional
experiences for participation in Center activities; and
(4) the capacity of the applicant to attract and provide
adequate support for graduate students to pursue research at
the intersection of educational practice and basic research on
human cognition and learning.
(c) Awards.--The Director shall ensure, to the extent practicable,
that the Centers funded under this section conduct research and develop
educational practices designed to improve the educational performance
of a broad range of students, including those from groups
underrepresented in mathematics, science and engineering.
SEC. 303. ANNUAL CONFERENCE.
The Director shall convene an annual meeting of the Centers to foster
collaboration among the Centers and to further disseminate the results
of the Centers' activities.
SEC. 304. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated for the National Science
Foundation to carry out this title $12,000,000 for each of fiscal years
2002 through 2006.
Subtitle B--Fellowships
SEC. 311. EDUCATION RESEARCH TEACHER FELLOWSHIPS.
(a) Establishment.--(1) The Director shall establish a program to
award grants to institutions of higher education or eligible nonprofit
entities (or consortia thereof) to provide research opportunities
related to the science of learning to elementary and secondary school
teachers of science and mathematics.
(2) Grants shall be awarded under this section on a merit-reviewed
competitive basis.
(b) Program Components.--Grant recipients under this section--
(1) shall recruit and select teachers and provide such
teachers with opportunities to conduct research in the fields
of--
(A) brain research as a foundation for research on
human learning;
(B) behavioral, cognitive, affective, and social
aspects of human learning;
(C) science and mathematics learning in formal and
informal educational settings; or
(D) learning in complex educational systems;
(2) shall ensure that participating teachers have mentors and
other programming support to ensure that their research
experience will contribute to their understanding of the
science of learning;
(3) shall provide programming, guidance, and support to
ensure that participating teachers disseminate information
about the current state of education research and its
implications on classroom practice to other elementary and
secondary educators and can use that information to improve
their performance in the classroom;
(4) shall provide participating teachers with a scholarship
stipend; and
(5) may provide room and board for residential programs.
(c) Use of Funds.--(1) Not more than 25 percent of the funds provided
under a grant under this section may be used for programming support
for participating teachers.
(2) The Director shall issue guidelines specifying the minimum or
maximum amounts of stipends grant recipients may provide to teachers
under this section.
(d) Duration.--A teacher may participate in research under the
program under this section for up to 1 calendar year or 2 sequential
summers.
(e) Application.--An institution of higher education or eligible
nonprofit entity (or a consortium thereof) seeking funding under this
section shall submit an application to the Director at such time, in
such manner, and containing such information as the Director may
require. The application shall include, at a minimum--
(1) a description of the research opportunities that will be
made available to elementary or secondary school teachers, or
both, by the applicant;
(2) a description of how the applicant will recruit teachers
to participate in the program, and the criteria that will be
used to select the participants;
(3) a description of the number, types, and amounts of the
scholarships that the applicant intends to offer to
participating teachers; and
(4) a description of the programming support that will be
provided to participating teachers to enhance their research
experience and to enable them to educate their peers about the
value, findings, and implications of education research.
(f) Review of Applicants.--In evaluating the applications submitted
under subsection (e), the Director shall consider, at a minimum--
(1) the ability of the applicant to effectively carry out the
proposed program;
(2) the extent to which the applicant is committed to making
the program a central organizational focus; and
(3) the likelihood that the research experiences and
programming to be offered by the applicant will improve
elementary and secondary education.
(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to the National Science Foundation for carrying out this
section $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 through 2004.
TITLE IV--ROBERT NOYCE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
SEC. 401. DEFINITIONS.
In this title--
(1) the term ``mathematics and science teacher'' means a
mathematics, science, or technology teacher at the elementary
or secondary school level;
(2) the term ``mathematics, science, or engineering
professional'' means a person who holds a baccalaureate,
masters, or doctoral degree in science, mathematics, or
engineering and is working in that field or a related area;
(3) the term ``scholarship'' means an award under section
405; and
(4) the term ``scholarship recipient'' means a student
receiving a scholarship;
(5) the term ``stipend'' means an award under section 406;
(6) the term ``stipend recipient'' means a science,
mathematics or engineering professional receiving a stipend;
and
(7) the term ``cost of attendance'' has the meaning given
such term in section 472 of the Higher Education Act of 1965
(20 U.S.C. 1087ll).
SEC. 402. SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--(1) The Director shall establish a program to award
grants to institutions of higher education (or consortia thereof) to
provide scholarships and programming designed to recruit and train
mathematics and science teachers. Such program shall be known as the
``Robert Noyce Scholarship Program''.
(2) Grants shall be provided under this section on a merit-reviewed
competitive basis.
(b) Use of Grants.--Grants provided under this title shall be used by
institutions of higher education--
(1) to develop and implement a program to encourage top
college juniors and seniors majoring in mathematics, science,
and engineering at the grantee's institution to become
mathematics and science teachers, through--
(A) administering scholarships in accordance with
section 405;
(B) offering programs to help scholarship recipients
to teach in elementary and secondary schools, including
programs that will result in teacher certification; and
(C) offering programs to scholarship recipients, both
before and after they receive their baccalaureate
degree, to enable the recipients to become better
mathematics and science teachers, and to exchange ideas
with others in their fields; or
(2) to develop and implement a program to encourage science,
mathematics, or engineering professionals to become mathematics
and science teachers, through--
(A) administering stipends in accordance with section
406;
(B) offering programs to help stipend recipients
obtain teacher certification; and
(C) offering programs to stipend recipients, both
during and after matriculation, to enable recipients to
become better mathematics and science teachers and
exchange ideas with others in their fields; or
(3) for both of the purposes described in paragraphs (1) and
(2).
SEC. 403. SELECTION PROCESS.
(a) Application.--An institution of higher education (or a consortium
thereof) seeking funding under this title shall submit an application
to the Director at such time, in such manner, and containing such
information as the Director may require. The application shall include,
at a minimum--
(1) a description of the scholarship or stipend program, or
both, that the applicant intends to operate, including the
number of scholarships or the size and number of stipends the
applicant intends to award, and the selection process that will
be used in awarding the scholarships or stipends;
(2) evidence that the applicant has the capability to
administer the scholarship or stipend program in accordance
with the provisions of this title; and
(3) a description of the programming that will be offered to
scholarship or stipend recipients during and after their
matriculation.
(b) Review of Applications.--In evaluating the applications submitted
under subsection (a), the Director shall consider, at a minimum--
(1) the ability of the applicant to effectively carry out the
program;
(2) the extent to which the applicant is committed to making
the program a central organizational focus;
(3) the ability of the proposed programming to enable
scholarship or stipend recipients to become successful
mathematics and science teachers;
(4) the number and quality of the students that will be
served by the program; and
(5) the ability of the applicant to recruit students who
would otherwise not pursue a career in teaching.
SEC. 404. AWARDS.
(a) Designation.--The Director shall designate institutions awarded
grants under this title as ``National Teacher Scholarship Centers''.
(b) Distribution.--The Director shall ensure, to the extent
practicable, that grants be awarded under this title in a wide range of
geographic areas and to prepare students for jobs in rural, suburban,
and urban local educational agencies.
(c) Duration.--Grants awarded under this title shall be for a period
of 10 years.
SEC. 405. SCHOLARSHIP REQUIREMENTS.
(a) In General.--Scholarships under this title shall be available
only to students who are--
(1) majoring in science, mathematics, or engineering; and
(2) in the last 2 years of a baccalaureate degree program.
(b) Selection.--Individuals shall be selected to receive scholarships
primarily on the basis of academic merit, with consideration given to
financial need and to the goal of promoting the participation of
minorities, women, and people with disabilities.
(c) Amount.--Scholarships under this title shall be in the amount of
$7,500 per year, or the cost of attendance, whichever is less.
Individuals may receive a maximum of 2 years of scholarship support.
(d) Service Obligation.--If an individual receives a scholarship,
that individual shall be required to complete, within 6 years after
graduation from the baccalaureate degree program for which the
scholarship was awarded, 2 years of service as a mathematics or science
teacher for each year a scholarship was received. Service required
under this subsection shall be performed at a school receiving
assistance under chapter 1 of title I of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-10).
SEC. 406. STIPENDS.
(a) In General.--Stipends under this title shall be available only to
mathematics, science, and engineering professionals who, while
receiving the stipend, are enrolled in a program to receive
certification to teach.
(b) Selection.--Individuals shall be selected to receive stipends
under this title primarily on the basis of academic merit, with
consideration given to financial need and to the goal of promoting the
participation of minorities, women, and people with disabilities.
(c) Amount.--Stipends under this title shall be for an amount of up
to $7,500 per year, but in no event more than the cost of attendance.
Individuals may receive a maximum of 1 year of stipend support.
(d) Service Obligation.--If an individual receives a stipend under
this title, that individual shall be required to complete, within 6
years after graduation from the program for which the stipend was
awarded, 2 years of service as a mathematics or science teacher for
each year a stipend was received. Service required under this
subsection shall be performed at a school receiving assistance under
chapter 1 of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 (Public Law 89-10).
SEC. 407. CONDITIONS OF SUPPORT.
As a condition of acceptance of a scholarship or stipend under this
title, a recipient shall enter into an agreement with the institution
of higher education--
(1) accepting the terms of the scholarship or stipend
pursuant to sections 405 and 409 or section 406;
(2) agreeing to provide the awarding institution of higher
education with annual certification of employment and current
contact information and to participate in surveys provided by
the institution of higher education as part of an ongoing
assessment program; and
(3) establishing that any scholarship recipient shall be
liable to the United States for any amount that is required to
be repaid in accordance with the provisions of section 409.
SEC. 408. COLLECTION FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.
(a) Monitoring Compliance.--An institution of higher education (or
consortium thereof) receiving a grant under this title shall, as a
condition of participating in the program, enter into an agreement with
the Director to monitor the compliance of scholarship and stipend
recipients with their respective service requirements.
(b) Collection of Repayment.--(1) In the event that a scholarship
recipient is required to repay the scholarship under section 409, the
institution shall be responsible for collecting the repayment amounts.
(2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), any repayment shall be
returned to the Treasury of the United States.
(3) A grantee may retain a percentage of any repayment it collects to
defray administrative costs associated with the collection. The
Director shall establish a single, fixed percentage that will apply to
all grantees.
SEC. 409. FAILURE TO COMPLETE SERVICE OBLIGATION.
(a) General Rule.--If an individual who has receive a scholarship
under this title--
(1) fails to maintain an acceptable level of academic
standing in the educational institution in which the individual
is enrolled, as determined by the National Science Foundation;
(2) is dismissed from such educational institution for
disciplinary reasons;
(3) withdraws from the baccalaureate degree program for which
the award was made before the completion of such program;
(4) declares that the individual does not intend to fulfill
his service obligation under this title; or
(5) fails to fulfill the service obligation of the individual
under this title,
such individual shall be liable to the United States as provided in
subsection (b).
(b) Amount of Repayment.--(1) If a circumstance described in
subsection (a) occurs before the completion of one year of a service
obligation under this title, the United States shall be entitled to
recover from the individual, within one year after the date of the
occurrence of such circumstance, an amount equal to--
(A) the total amount of awards received by such individual
under this title; plus
(B) the interest on such amounts which would be payable if at
the time the amounts were received they were loans bearing
interest at the maximum legal prevailing rate, as determined by
the Treasurer of the United States,
multiplied by 2.
(2) If a circumstance described in subsection (a)(4) or (a)(5) occurs
after the completion of one year of a service obligation under this
title, the United States shall be entitled to recover from the
individual, within one year after the date of the occurrence of such
circumstance, an amount equal to--
(A) the total amount of awards received by such individual
under this title minus $3,750 for each full year of service
completed; plus
(B) the interest on such amounts which would be payable if at
the time the amounts were received they were loans bearing
interest at the maximum legal prevailing rate, as determined by
the Treasurer of the United States.
(c) Exceptions.--(1) The National Science Foundation may provide for
the partial or total waiver or suspension of any service obligation or
payment by an individual under this title whenever compliance by the
individual is impossible or would involve extreme hardship to the
individual, or if enforcement of such obligation with respect to the
individual would be unconscionable.
(2) Any obligation of an individual under this title for payment
under subsection (b) may be released by a discharge in bankruptcy under
title 11, United States Code, only if such discharge is granted after
the expiration of the 5-year period beginning on the first date that
such payment is required.
SEC. 410. REPORT.
(a) Data Collection.--Institutions receiving grants under this title
shall supply to the Director any relevant statistical and demographic
data on scholarship recipients and stipend recipients the Director may
request, including information on employment required by section 407.
(b) Assessment.--Not later than 7 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit to Congress a report
assessing the impact of the implementation of this title on drawing
into teaching top mathematics and science students, including students
from groups underrepresented in mathematics, science and engineering.
SEC. 411. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated to the
National Science Foundation to carry out this title $20,000,000 for
each of fiscal years 2002 through 2005.
(b) Specific Appropriations.--There are authorized to be appropriated
to the National Science Foundation to support the activities described
in subsections (b)(1)(A) and (C) and (b)(2)(A) and (C) of section 402,
such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2006 through
2011.
TITLE V--REQUIREMENTS FOR RESEARCH CENTERS
SEC. 501. REQUIREMENTS FOR RESEARCH CENTERS.
The Director shall ensure that any National Science Foundation
program that awards grants for the establishment of research centers at
institutions of higher education after the date of the enactment of
this Act--
(1) requires that every center offer programs for elementary
and secondary mathematics and science teachers and students to
increase their understanding of the field in which the center
specializes; and
(2) uses the quality of a center's proposed precollege
education programs as a criterion in determining grant awards.
TITLE VI--EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES RESEARCH
SEC. 601. EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH CENTERS.
(a) In General.--(1) The Director shall establish a program to award
grants to institutions of higher education (or consortia thereof) to
establish centers to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of
information technologies in elementary and secondary mathematics and
science education.
(2) Grants shall be awarded under this title on a merit-reviewed
competitive basis.
(b) Activities.--Centers established under this title shall, at a
minimum--
(1) identify educational approaches and techniques that are
based on the use of information technology and that have the
potential for being effective in classroom settings;
(2) develop methods to measure the effectiveness of various
applications of information technology in mathematics and
science education, including methods to measure student
performance;
(3) evaluate the effectiveness of the use of technology in
elementary and secondary mathematics and science education in a
variety of classroom settings; and
(4) identify the key variables that influence educational
effectiveness and the conditions necessary to implement
successfully an approach or technique determined to be
educationally effective for a particular educational setting;
(5) ensure that the results of such evaluations are widely
disseminated; and
(6) develop a program to work with local educational agencies
to help them apply the results of the research conducted under
this section.
SEC. 602. SELECTION PROCESS.
(a) Application.--An institution of higher education (or a consortium
thereof) seeking funding under this title shall submit an application
to the Director at such time, in such manner, and containing such
information as the Director may require. The application shall include,
at a minimum, a description of--
(1) the approaches to the use of information technology that
the center will initially evaluate, how it chose those
approaches, how it will seek out any additional approaches, and
how assessment procedures would be developed and applied;
(2) how the center will work with local education agencies to
evaluate the approaches in classrooms;
(3) how the center will disseminate the results of its work;
and
(4) how the center will develop an outreach program to work
with local educational agencies to help them apply the results
of its research.
(b) Review of Applications.--In evaluating the applications submitted
under subsection (a), the Director shall consider, at a minimum, the
ability of the applicant to effectively evaluate information technology
approaches and to help local education agencies apply the results of
those evaluations.
(c) Awards.--The Director shall ensure, to the extent practicable,
that the program established under this title evaluates information
technology--
(1) in a wide range of grade levels and geographic areas;
(2) in rural, suburban, and urban schools; and
(3) with a wide variety of students in terms of race,
ethnicity, and income.
SEC. 603. DOCUMENTATION AND DISSEMINATION OF RESULTS.
(a) In General.--The results of the research and evaluations
conducted in accordance with section 601 shall be documented and widely
disseminated, including through publication in peer-reviewed scholarly
journals.
(b) Workshops, Conference, and Web Sites.--The Director is authorized
to sponsor and support workshops, conferences, and dedicated web sites
to disseminate information about the activities of the educational
technology research centers established under section 601.
(c) Deposit in Library.--Information about effective approaches and
techniques, including information and materials necessary for their
implementation, shall be deposited in the Digital Library.
SEC. 604. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the National Science
Foundation to carry out the program established under section 601--
(1) $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 through 2004;
and
(2) $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 and 2006.
TITLE VII--MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
SEC. 701. MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE PROFICIENCY PARTNERSHIPS.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) Proficiency in mathematics, science, and information
technology is necessary to prepare all students in the United
States for participation in the 21st Century and to guarantee
that the United States economy remains vibrant and competitive.
(2) In order to achieve such results, it is important that
the Federal Government shows interest in economically
disadvantaged students who have not been provided with
opportunities that will improve their knowledge of mathematics,
science, and technology.
(3) Many economically disadvantaged students in urban and
rural America share a common need to receive a quality
education, but often the schools of such students lack the
needed resources to lift those students into the information
age.
(4) The schools and businesses serving urban and rural
communities are strategically positioned to form a unique
partnership with students that will increase their mathematics,
science, and technology proficiency and encourage and support
their undergraduate study in those fields for the benefit of
the Nation.
(b) Authority.--(1)(A) The Director shall establish a demonstration
project under which the Director awards grants in accordance with this
section to eligible local educational agencies.
(B) A local educational agency that receives a grant under this
section may use such grant funds to develop a program that builds or
expands mathematics, science, and information technology curricula, to
purchase equipment necessary to establish such program, and to provide
professional development to enhance teacher quality in those fields.
(2) A program described in paragraph (1) shall--
(A) provide teacher professional development specifically in
information technology, mathematics, and science; and
(B) provide students with a rich standards-based course of
study in mathematics, science, and information technology.
(c) Eligible Local Educational Agencies.--For purposes of this
section, a local educational agency is eligible to receive a grant
under this section if the agency--
(1) provides assurances that it has executed conditional
agreements with representatives of the private sector to
provide services and funds described in subsection (d); and
(2) agrees to enter into an agreement with the Director to
comply with the requirements of this section.
(d) Private Sector Participation.--The conditional agreements
referred to in subsection (c)(1) shall describe participation by the
private sector, including--
(1) the donation of computer hardware, software, and other
technology tools;
(2) the establishment of internship and mentoring
opportunities for students who participate in the mathematics,
science, and information technology program; and
(3) the donation of higher education scholarship funds for
eligible students to continue their study of mathematics,
science, and information technology.
(e) Application.--(1) To apply for a grant under this section, each
eligible local educational agency shall submit an application to the
Director in accordance with guidelines established by the Director
pursuant to paragraph (2).
(2)(A) The guidelines referred to in paragraph (1) shall require, at
a minimum, that the application include--
(i) a description of proposed activities consistent with the
uses of funds and program requirements under paragraphs (1)(B)
and (2) of subsection (b);
(ii) a description of the higher education scholarship
program, including criteria for selection, duration of
scholarship, number of scholarships to be awarded each year,
and funding levels for scholarships; and
(iii) evidence of private sector participation and financial
support to establish an internship, mentoring, and scholarship
program.
(B) The Director shall issue and publish such guidelines not later
than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(3) The Director shall select a local educational agency to receive
an award under this section on the basis of merit to be determined
after conducting a comprehensive review.
(f) Priority.--The Director shall give special priority in awarding
grants under this section to eligible local educational agencies that--
(1) demonstrate the greatest ability to obtain commitments
from representatives of the private sector to provide services
and funds described under subsection (d); and
(2) demonstrate the greatest economic need.
(g) Assessment.--The Director shall assess the effectiveness of
activities carried out under this section.
(h) Study and Report.--The Director--
(1) shall initiate an evaluative study of the effectiveness
of the activities carried out under this section in improving
student performance in mathematics, science, and information
technology at the precollege level and in stimulating student
interest in pursuing undergraduate studies in those fields; and
(2) shall report the findings of the study to Congress not
later than 4 years after the award of the first scholarship.
Such report shall include the number of students graduating from an
institution of higher education with a major in mathematics, science,
or information technology and the number of students who find
employment in such fields.
(i) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term ``conditional agreement'' means an arrangement
between representatives of the private sector and local
educational agencies to provide certain services and funds,
such as, but not limited to, the donation of computer hardware
and software, the establishment of internship and mentoring
opportunities for students who participate in mathematics,
science, and information technology programs, and the donation
of scholarship funds for use at institutions of higher
education by eligible students who have participated in the
mathematics, science, and information technology programs.
(2) The term ``eligible student'' means a student enrolled in
the 12th grade who--
(A) has participated in a mathematics, science, and
an information technology program established pursuant
to this section;
(B) has demonstrated a commitment to pursue a career
in information technology, mathematics, science, or
engineering; and
(C) has attained high academic standing and maintains
a grade point average of not less than 2.7 on a 4.0
scale for the period from the beginning of the 10th
grade through the time of application for a
scholarship.
(j) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to the National Science Foundation to carry out this
section $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 through 2004.
(k) Maximum Grant Award.--An award made to an eligible local
educational agency under this section may not exceed $300,000.
SEC. 702. ARTICULATION PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND
SECONDARY SCHOOLS.
(a) Outreach Grants.--In making awards for outreach grants authorized
under section 3(c)(2) of the Scientific and Advanced-Technology Act of
1992 (42 U.S.C. 1862i(c)(2)), the Director shall give priority to
proposals that involve secondary schools with a majority of students
from groups that are underrepresented in the science, mathematics and
engineering workforce. Awards in such cases shall not be subject to the
requirement under section 3(f)(3) of such Act for a matching
contribution.
(b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to the National Science Foundation to carry out this
section $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 through 2004.
SEC. 703. ASSESSMENT OF IN-SERVICE TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMS.
(a) Assessment.--The Director shall review all programs sponsored by
the National Science Foundation that support in-service teacher
professional development for science teachers to determine--
(1) the level of resources and degree of emphasis placed on
training teachers in the effective use of information
technology in the classroom; and
(2) the allocation of resources between summer activities and
follow-on reinforcement training and support to participating
teachers during the school year.
(b) Report.--The Director shall submit to Congress, not later than 1
year after the date of the enactment of this Act, a report that--
(1) describes the results of the review and assessment
conducted under subsection (a);
(2) summarizes the major categories of in-service teacher
professional development activities supported at the time of
the review, and the funding levels for such activities; and
(3) describes any proposed changes, including new funding
allocations, to strengthen the in-service teacher professional
development programs of the National Science Foundation that
support activities described in paragraphs (a)(1) and (2).
SEC. 704. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS.
The Director may award competitive, merit-reviewed grants for the
development of educational materials on energy production and use,
energy conservation, and renewable energy for use in elementary and
secondary schools.
SEC. 705. STUDY OF BROADBAND NETWORK ACCESS FOR SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES.
(a) Report to Congress.--The Director shall conduct a study of the
issues described in subsection (c), and not later than 1 year after the
date of the enactment of this Act, transmit to Congress a report
including recommendations to address those issues. Such report shall be
updated annually for 6 additional years.
(b) Consultation.--In preparing the reports under subsection (a), the
Director shall consult with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and
such other Federal agencies and educational entities as the Director
considers appropriate.
(c) Issues To Be Addressed.--The reports shall--
(1) identify the current status of high-speed, large
bandwidth capacity access to all public elementary and
secondary schools and libraries in the United States;
(2) identify how the provision of high-speed, large bandwidth
capacity access to the Internet to such schools and libraries
can be effectively utilized within each school and library;
(3) consider the effect that specific or regional
circumstances may have on the ability of such institutions to
acquire high-speed, large bandwidth capacity access to achieve
universal connectivity as an effective tool in the education
process; and
(4) include options and recommendations to address the
challenges and issues identified in the reports.
SEC. 706. EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANCE; LEARNING COMMUNITY
CONSORTIUM.
Section 3 of the Scientific and Advanced Technology Act of 1992
(Public Law 102-476; 42 U.S.C. 1862i) is amended by redesignating
subsections (d), (e), (f), and (g) as subsections (f), (g), (h), and
(i), respectively, and by inserting after subsection (c) the following
new subsections:
``(d) Educational Technology Assistance.--
``(1) In general.--The Director is authorized to make awards
on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis to associate-degree
granting colleges, bachelor-degree granting institutions, or
education service agencies (or consortia thereof) to establish
centers to assist elementary and secondary schools in the use
of information technology for mathematics, science, or
technology instruction.
``(2) Activities.--Activities of centers funded under this
subsection may include--
``(A) helping schools evaluate their need for
information technology;
``(B) training teachers on how to best use
information technology in instruction; and
``(C) providing other information and training to
help schools and teachers ensure that they have access
to appropriate information technologies and are using
them to maximum advantage.
``(3) Application.--An application to receive funds under
this subsection shall include, at a minimum--
``(A) a description of the services that will be
provided to schools and teachers;
``(B) a list of the schools expected to be served;
``(C) a description of how the applicant will draw on
the expertise of its faculty and students to assist
schools and teachers; and
``(D) a description of how the applicant will operate
the program after funding made available by this
subsection has expired.
``(4) Selection.--In evaluating applications submitted under
paragraph (3), the Director shall consider, at a minimum--
``(A) the ability of the applicant to effectively
carry out the program;
``(B) the number of schools and students who would be
served and the their need for assistance;
``(C) the extent to which the applicant has worked
with participating schools to ensure that priority
problems would be addressed by the assistance provided
under this subsection; and
``(D) the ability of the applicant to continue to
provide assistance after funding under this subsection
has expired.
``(5) Awards.--(A) The Director shall ensure, to the extent
practicable, that the program established by this subsection
assists schools in rural, suburban, and urban areas.
``(B) No institution shall receive funds under this
subsection for more than three years.
``(6) Report.--Not later than April 1, 2005, the Director
shall provide a report to Congress assessing the success of the
program funded under this subsection and the need of schools
for continued assistance, and, based on the experience with the
program, recommending ways information technology assistance to
schools could be made more broadly available.
``(7) Authorization of appropriations.--There are authorized
to be appropriated to the National Science Foundation to carry
out this subsection $5,000,000 for each of the fiscal years
2002 through 2004.
``(e) Learning Community Consortium.--The Director is authorized to
provide to a consortium composed of associate-degree granting colleges
a grant in the amount of $10,000,000 for the purpose of carrying out a
pilot project to encourage women, minorities and persons with
disabilities to enter and complete programs in mathematics, science,
engineering and technology.''.
II. Purpose of the Bill
The purpose of the bill is to make improvements in K-12
mathematics and science education, and for other purposes.
III. Background and Need for the Legislation
For years the United States has not provided many of its
children with a world-class education. In 1983, Secretary of
Education Terrence Bell spurred a national dialogue about
mathematics and science education by releasing the provocative
report ``A Nation At risk'' which documented the steady decline
in the educational achievement of our children. The report
stated its findings in dramatic terms:
If an unfriendly power had attempted to impose on
America the mediocre educational performance that
exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of
war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to
ourselves. We have even squandered the gains in
achievement make in the wake of the Sputnik challenge.
Moreover, we have dismantled essential support systems
which helped make those gains possible. We have, in
effect, been committing an act of unthinking,
unilateral educational disarmament.
In September of 1989, President George H. Bush responded to
this report by convening an Education Summit at which the 49
participating Governors agreed to set national education goals.
The Charlottesville Summit was the first time that national and
state political leaders from both parties, with diverse views
on education reform, reached consensus on what the nation's
highest education priorities should be. One year later
President Bush formally proposed, and the Governors adopted,
eight national goals. Among these was the goal that by the year
2000, the United States would be first in the world in
mathematics and science.
Unfortunately, recent evidence demonstrates quite clearly
that the United States is not meeting the education goals it
set for itself more than ten years ago. In 1995, the Third
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) evaluated
the math and science performance of students in fourth, eighth,
and twelfth grades in 42 different countries. While U.S. fourth
graders performed above the international average in both
science and mathematics, eighth grade students performed at the
international average in science and below the international
average in mathematics. U.S. students in the twelfth grade,
including our most advanced students, ranked among the lowest
of all countries participating in the study.
In 1999, a repeat of the TIMSS study (TIMSS-R) demonstrated
that despite the high scores made four years earlier by fourth-
grade students, the mathematics and science achievement of U.S.
eight-grade students was still only at about the international
average. This follow-up study confirmed that the decline in
relative performance of students during the middle school years
continues to be a serious problem. Clearly, we can no longer
assume that our best and brightest students will be able to
provide the extraordinary intellectual leadership that has
allowed the United States to overcome the obstacles created by
an education system that fails many of its students.
The inability of our Nation's schools to provide children
with a world-class education in mathematics and science as
illustrated by the TIMSS-R has strategic and economic
consequences. On February 15, 2001, the U.S. Commission on
National Security/21st Century, released its report ``Road Map
for National Security: Imperative for Change.''
This Federal Commission was chartered by the Secretary of
Defense and the Congress to deliver a security strategy and
implementation plan designed to meet the emerging challenges of
the 21st century. Echoing ``A Nation At Risk,'' the report
concluded that:
The scale and nature of the ongoing revolution in
science and technology, and what this implies for the
quality of human capital in the 21st century, pose
critical national security challenges for the United
States. Second only to a weapon of mass destruction
detonating in an American city, we can think of nothing
more dangerous than a failure to manage properly
science, technology, and education for the common good
over the next quarter century.
Clearly, significant and immediate efforts must be made to
better prepare today's math and science students who will be
tomorrow's technology workers, researchers, educators, policy
makers, leaders and citizens. These efforts must involve all
segments of our society.
President George W. Bush has called on the Nation to
develop partnerships involving parents, teachers, school
administrators, chief state school officers, leaders of the
business community, and institutions of higher education.
Individually, none of these groups has the capacity to address
the problem that is before us. By forming partnerships,
however, each group can make meaningful contributions and can
accomplish together what none of them can accomplish alone.
The National Mathematics and Science Partnerships Act
responds to the President's call. Using the resources of the
National Science Foundation, it encourages local communities to
participate in model partnerships designed to reform the
instruction of elementary and secondary school mathematics and
science education. The Partnerships Act recognizes the unique
contribution that institutions of higher education and
businesses can make to education reform. It draws upon these
strengths to develop model programs that, if proven successful,
will hold the key to large-scale education reform efforts that
can be conducted by state and local educational agencies.
One of the first challenges that the partnerships must face
will be the development and implementation of better
preparatory training and professional programs for teachers.
Under the partnership model, successful efforts will look
beyond the colleges of education to involve professional
scientists, mathematicians and engineers from institutions of
higher education, government and industry. New models for
professional development will be developed and elementary and
secondary mathematics and science teachers will be given
opportunities to expand their own horizons through research
opportunities at universities, government or industry
laboratories.
The need to recruit well-prepared teachers is an equally
critical challenge to mathematics and science education reform.
A recent study conducted by the National Council for
Accreditation of Teacher Preparation showed that 50,000 new
teachers enter the profession each year lacking appropriate
preparation. Nearly 25% of all secondary teachers do not have a
college major or minor in their main teaching field and, in
particular, more than 30% of secondary mathematics teachers
hold neither a major nor a minor in mathematics. Teachers must
possess a command of science and math content at a level
sufficient to distill the important concepts and methodology
and to present activities and opportunities to students that
will allow them to explore and understand basic concepts,
logic, and applications of mathematics and science. To
encourage mathematics, science, and engineering students to
pursue careers in teaching, the Act establishes the Noyce
Scholarship Program in which students are offered scholarships
in exchange for a commitment to teach. In addition, the Noyce
Scholarship Program will facilitate transitions to careers in
teaching for the most capable science, engineering, mathematics
and technology professionals. These scholarships are named for
Robert N. Noyce, an inventor of the integrated circuit and co-
founder of Intel.
Teacher recruitment, preparation and professional
development and other education reform efforts must be guided
by a more robust body of research about student learning.
Recent reports of the National Academy of Sciences have shown
that a wide and troublesome gap exists between our current
understanding of how the brain functions during learning and
actual classroom practices. The gap between research and
practice is even wider in the use of educational technologies
in instruction or assessment. Aggressive technological
expansion programs have resulted in the acquisition of computer
technology by over 99% of schools, yet many schools have not
optimized the use of these computers for instruction,
assessment, or teacher enhancement. In part, this disparity in
the use of technology is the result of a shortage of
professional development opportunities for teachers, but also
reflects a fundamental lack of understanding of how best to use
technology in teaching. The Partnerships Act recognizes that
better research must provide the foundation for state and local
education reform efforts. Titles III and VI of the Partnerships
Act authorize research programs designed to provide educators
and policy makers with scientifically based methods and
materials upon which to build education reform activities.
In short, this Act calls on individuals, institutions of
higher education, state and local educational agencies and
corporations to collaboratively develop and implement programs
to recruit the Nation's brightest into careers in teaching,
support these teachers through meaningful training, engage them
in high quality lifelong learning opportunities, and arm them
with scientifically-based, empirically validated teaching tools
and practices to enable them to be successful in their work.
IV. Summary of Hearings
On Wednesday, March 7, 2001, the House Committee on Science
held a hearing to gather teachers' perspectives on how the
federal government can help improve K-12th grade science and
math education. Testifying before the committee were four
teachers representing elementary, middle, and secondary math
and science educators, three of whom were recipients of the
prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and
Mathematics Teaching. These witnesses spoke to the importance
of improvingthe quality and availability of professional
development, developing better student assessment tools, increasing the
prestige of mathematics and science teachers, reducing the professional
isolation experienced in the classroom, and building stronger
partnerships between schools and universities.
On Wednesday, May 2, 2001, the House Science Committee's
Subcommittee on Research held a hearing on ways the National
Science Foundation could most effectively stimulate K-12 math
and science education reform. The witnesses addressed the
central role that higher education, business, and school
district partnerships can play in stimulating science and
mathematics education reform. The witnesses emphasized the
importance of high quality professional development programs,
the important role that the prestige of business partners can
play in encouraging broader acceptance of reform activities,
the need to recruit better prepared teachers, the important
mentoring role that can be played by master teachers, and the
importance of long-term rather than short-term programs.
On May 10, 2001, the House Science Committee's Subcommittee
on Research held a hearing to examine the gap that currently
exists between what is known about how people learn and the
methods and materials educators use to teach. The witnesses
gave testimony to the critical importance of establishing a
long-term research agenda designed to bridge the gap between
cognitive science and education research and to finding better
ways to ensure that the results of this research are
incorporated into teacher education, professional development,
and classroom activities.
V. Committee Action
On May 16, 2001, Science Committee Chairman Sherwood
Boehlert introduced H.R. 1858, the National Mathematics and
Science Partnerships Act, a bill to authorize appropriations
for science, mathematics, engineering and technology education
for Fiscal Years 2003 through 2011.
The Subcommittee on Research met on June 7, 2001, to
consider the bill. An en bloc amendment was offered by
Subcommittee Chairman Nick Smith and the ranking member of the
Subcommittee, Eddie Bernice Johnson. In addition to making
technical corrections to the bill, the amendment (1) removed
the requirement for matching funds for each authorized program
and instead permitted the Director of the National Science
Foundation (NSF) to establish matching requirements for any of
the programs authorized by the bill with the exception of the
Noyce Scholarship program; (2) specified that allowable
activities under the Mathematics and Science Education
Partnerships include programs that encourage the interest of
girls in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology; (3)
required applications for Partnership grants that will provide
education programs for students to describe how the proposed
activities will encourage the interest of women and minorities
in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology and
prepared them to pursue further education in those fields; (4)
enabled funds from Digital Libraries grants to be used to
provide assistance to schools using materials made available
through the Digital Library; (5) required the NSF Director to
consider the capacity of grant applicants for the Strategic
Education Research Centers to attract and support graduate
students studying education research and related fields; (6)
established a fellowship program for K-12 teachers to pursue
education research at institutions of higher education; (7)
changed the amount that Noyce scholarship recipients must pay
back if they fail to complete their full service obligation;
(8) removed the requirement that NSF hold a conference on
improving K-12 science, mathematics, engineering, and
technology education; (9) established a program at NSF to award
grants to local educational agencies working in partnership
with industry to develop and improve K-12 math, science, and
information technology education programs; (10) required the
NSF Director to give priority to grant proposals under the
Scientific and Advanced-Technology Act of 1992 to proposals
that involve secondary schools with a majority of students from
groups underrepresented in the science, mathematics, and
engineering workforce; (11) required the NSF Director to review
NSF's in-service teacher professional development programs; and
(12) established a program to award grants for the creation of
centers to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of K-12
information technologies. The amendment was adopted by voice
vote. With a quorum present, Ms. Johnson moved that the
Subcommittee favorably report the bill, H.R. 1858, as amended,
to the Full Committee on Science with the recommendation that
it be in order for the amendment, in the nature of a substitute
adopted by the Subcommittee, to be considered as an original
bill for the purpose of amendment under the five minute rule at
Full Committee, and that the staff be instructed to make
technical and conforming changes to the bill as amended. The
motion was agreed to by a voice vote.
On June 13, 2001, the Full Committee met to consider the
bill, H.R. 1858, as reported by the Subcommittee on Research.
An en bloc amendment was offered by Committee Chairman Sherwood
Boehlert and ranking member Ralph Hall. In addition to making
technical corrections to the bill, the amendment (1) specified
that allowable activities under the Mathematics and Science
Education Partnerships includes programs that support research
projects performed by high school students; (2) allowed funds
for Mathematics and Science Education Partnerships to be used
to provide stipends for teachers or students participating in
certain training or research activities; (3) required the
Digital Library to compile information on national and regional
K-12 education conferences; (4) required the Strategic
Education Research Centers to conduct research and development
activities designed to improve the performance of a broad range
of students; (5) required Noyce Scholarship program recipients
to supply relevant statistical and demographic data on
scholarship and stipend recipients; (6) required the NSF
Director to submit a report to Congress on the impact of the
program; (7) allowed the NSF Director to award grants for the
development of K-12 educational materials on energy issues; (8)
required the NSF Director to conduct a study on the impact of
and access to high bandwidth capacity to the Internet for
schools and libraries; (9) allowed the NSF Director to award
grants to higher education institutions to establish centers to
assist K-12 schools in the use of information technology for
math, science and technology instruction; and (10) allowed the
NSF Director to award a grant to a consortium of community
colleges to encourage women, minorities, and persons with
disabilities to study mathematics, science, engineering, and
technology. The amendment was adopted by voice vote. With a
quorum present, Mr. Gordon movedthat the Committee favorably
report the bill, H.R. 1858, as amended, to the House with the
recommendation that the bill as amended do pass, and that the staff be
instructed to make technical and conforming changes to the bill as
amended and prepare the legislative report, and that the Chairman take
all necessary steps to bring the bill before the House for
consideration. The motion was agreed to by a voice vote.
VI. Summary of Major Provisions of the Bill
Authorizes NSF to establish a program of
mathematics and science education partnerships involving
universities and local educational agencies. These partnerships
will focus on a wide array of reform efforts ranging from
professional development to curriculum reform. The partnerships
may include the state educational agency and 50% of the awards
must go to partnerships that include businesses. The program is
authorized at $200 million per year for Fiscal Years 2002
through 2006.
Authorizes a partnership program through which
universities will provide scholarships to math and science
teachers allowing them to participate in research projects at
university, business, state or federal laboratories. The
program is authorized at $15 million per year for Fiscal Years
2002 through 2006.
Authorizes the expansion of the National Science,
Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Digital
Library to include peer reviewed elementary and secondary
mathematics, science, engineering, and technology education
materials. The program is authorized at $20 million per year
for Fiscal Years 2002 through 2006.
Authorizes the establishment of four national
university-based centers for research on learning and education
improvement. The multidisciplinary research centers will
conduct and evaluate research in cognitive science and related
fields, and will translate the results of that research to
educational practice. The program is authorized at $12 million
per year for Fiscal Years 2002 through 2006.
Authorizes a program to provide fellowships to
enable K-12 teachers to participate in cognitive science,
behavioral, and learning research at universities so that they
will better understand the connections between the science of
learning and the practice of teaching. The program is
authorized at $5 million per year for Fiscal Years 2002 through
2004.
Authorizes a new scholarship program designed to
encourage mathematics, science, and engineering majors to
pursue careers in teaching. The program provides grants to
universities who will, in turn, award scholarships to
mathematics, science and engineering majors who intend to
teach. The institutions must also provide education and support
programs for the scholarship recipients prior to graduation and
during their early years of teaching. Scholarship recipients
are required to teach in a K-12 school as payback for the
award. Stipends may also be offered to math, science, or
engineering professionals who need course work to transition to
a career in teaching. The program is authorized at $20 million
per year for Fiscal Years 2002 through 2006.
Requires that any new National Science Foundation-
supported research centers at institutions of higher education
must work to improve elementary and secondary mathematics and
science education.
Authorizes a program to award grants to
universities to establish centers to evaluate and improve the
effectiveness of information technologies in elementary and
secondary mathematics and science education. The program is
authorized at $25 million per year for Fiscal Years 2002
through 2004 and at $30 million per year for Fiscal Years 2005
and 2006.
Authorizes grants to encourage partnerships
between school districts and businesses for enhanced
mathematics and science education, including information
technology education. Participating businesses must agree to
provide mentoring and scholarship opportunities for students.
This program is authorized at $5 million per year for Fiscal
Years 2002 through 2004.
Provides additional support for articulation
partnerships between community colleges and secondary schools
($5 million per year from 2002-2004), requires the NSF to
conduct an assessment of in-service teacher professional
development programs and to study broadband access for schools
and libraries, and authorizes a community college pilot project
to encourage women, minorities and persons with disabilities to
enter and complete programs in mathematics, science,
engineering and technology ($10 million).
Authorizes educational technology assistance
centers to assist K-12 schools in the use of information
technology for math, science and technology instruction. The
program is authorized at $5 million per year for Fiscal Years
2002 through 2004.
VII. Section-by-Section Analysis (By Title and Section)
Section 1. Short title
Cites the Act as the ``National Mathematics and Science
Partnerships Act.''
Section 2. Findings
The Committee finds that: (1) 12 years ago the President
called upon the Nation's Governors to establish common goals
for the improvement of K-12 education; (2) one of the goals was
that by the year 2000, U.S. students would be first in the
world in mathand science achievement; (3) despite the goals,
U.S. 8th graders have only demonstrated average performance in math and
science achievement; and (4) the U.S. must redouble its efforts in
math, science, engineering, and technology education.
Section 3. Definitions
Defines: (1) ``Director'' as the Director of the National
Science Foundation; (2) ``institution of higher education'' as
defined in the Higher Education Act of 1965; (3) ``eligible
nonprofit organization'' as nonprofit research institute or
nonprofit professional association with a demonstrated
experience delivering science and math education as determined
by the Director; (4) ``local educational agency,'' ``state
educational agency,'' ``elementary school,'' and ``secondary
school'' as defined in the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965.
Section 4. Authorizations of appropriations
States that any authorization of appropriations in the bill
is in addition to amounts otherwise authorized or appropriated
for the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Section 5. Matching requirements
Allows the Director of NSF to establish matching fund
requirements for any of the programs authorized by the bill,
with the exception of the Noyce Scholarship program authorized
in Title IV.
Title I. Mathematics and Science Education Partnerships
SUBTITLE A. MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS
Section 101. Program authorized
Establishes a competitive, merit-based program to award
grants to institutions of higher education or eligible
nonprofit organizations to establish math and science
partnership programs. Requires institutions of higher education
to partner with one or more local educational agencies to be
eligible to receive a partnership grant. Includes the option
for participation of a State educational agency and/or one or
more businesses. Requires that the higher education institution
include a mathematics, science or engineering department in the
programs carried out through the partnership. Possible
activities for partnership programs include teacher
recruitment, training, and professional development--including
training in educational techniques--distance learning programs,
development of curricular materials and assessment tools, and
others, including any other activities the NSF Director
determines will accomplish the goals of the program. Activities
directed toward students should encourage the ongoing interest
of girls in science, mathematics, engineering and technology
and prepare girls for continued study and careers in these
areas. Activities may also include research projects performed
by students at secondary schools.
Section 102. Selection process
Establishes minimum requirements for grant applications and
describes criteria the Director must consider in reviewing
them. Requires institutions of higher education to enumerate
the Partnership activities to be supported by grant funds and
also to describe the role of each partner in the activities of
the project. Directs the applicant to describe the activities
of the project and their alignment with State and local
education standards, the project's basis in relevant education
research, how it will serve as a catalyst for reform, and how
the project's impact on improved student learning will be
assessed. Requires that not fewer than fifty percent of the
awards include business. Requires that the Director strive for
geographic diversity in making the awards and that they be for
no longer than five years.
Section 103. Accountability and dissemination
Requires the Director to evaluate the impact of
partnerships using a common set of benchmarks and assessment
tools to identify best practices and materials developed by
Partnership awardees. Requires results of this evaluation
effort to be made public through the Digital Library and other
media. Establishes that an annual meeting for partnerships
awardees be held by the Director to enhance national
collaboration.
Section 104. Authorization of appropriations
Authorizes $200 million for each of fiscal years 2002
through 2006.
SUBTITLE B. TEACHER RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
Section 111. Program authorized
Establishes a competitive, merit-based grant program to
enable institutions of higher education or eligible nonprofit
organizations to provide research opportunities in mathematics,
science, and engineering for math and science teachers.
Businesses or government laboratories may be included as
partners in the program. Grant recipients recruit and select
teachers, provide opportunities to conduct research, and
provide them with mentors and programming support. Grant
recipients must provide a stipend to participating teachers and
may provide room and board. Teachers may engage in research
opportunities during the school year or during up to two
sequential summers.
Section 112. Selection process
Establishes minimum requirements for grant applications and
describes criteria the Director must consider in reviewing
them. Requires institutions of higher education to describe the
proposed research, mentoring, and support programs that will be
made available to teacher research fellows and the number,
types and amounts of scholarships that will be offered to
participating teachers. Limits awards to five years in
duration.
Section 113. Authorization of appropriations
Authorizes $15 million for each of fiscal years 2002
through 2006.
Title II. National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology
Education Digital Library
Section 201. In general
Directs the NSF director to expand the National Science,
Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Digital
Library to provide timely and continuous dissemination of K-12
science, mathematics, engineering, and technology educational
resources, materials, practices, and policies through the
Internet and other digital technologies. Requires dissemination
of effective materials developed by the math and science
partnerships established under subtitle A of title I including
relevant evaluations and assessments and user comments
pertaining to those materials.
Section 202. Grants and contracts
Allows NSF to provide grants to institutions of higher
education and other qualified entities to design all or parts
of the digital library and/or provide assistance to schools for
the selection and adaptation of curricular materials,
practices, and teaching methods that are made available through
the Digital Library. Allows the Director to contract out
operation of the Digital Library.
Section 203. Authorization of appropriations
Authorizes $20 million for each of fiscal years 2002
through 2006.
Title III. Strategic Education Research Program
SUBTITLE A. CENTERS
Section 301. Establishment of centers for research on learning and
education improvement
Directs the NSF Director to establish four
multidisciplinary Centers for Research on Learning and
Education Improvement by awarding grants, using a merit-based,
competitive process, to institutions of higher education.
Centers are to conduct and evaluate research in cognitive
science, education and related fields and to develop ways in
which the results of such research can be applied to the
teaching of K-12 math and science. Each Center is to have a
distinct research focus, determined by the Director in
consultation with the National Academy of Sciences.
Section 302. Selection process
Establishes minimum requirements for grant applications and
describes criteria the Director must consider in reviewing
them. Requires institutions of higher education to describe how
the Center will promote active collaboration between scientific
disciplines and with other research institutions, the plan by
which existing research will be evaluated, and the way new
areas of research will be initiated to fill research gaps. Also
requires that proposals describe a plan to promote active
partnerships with elementary and secondary schools and to
reduce research results to educational practice.
Section 303. Annual conference
Requires NSF to convene an annual conference of the Centers
to foster collaboration and dissemination of results.
Section 304. Authorization of appropriations
Authorizes $12 million for each of fiscal years 2002
through 2006.
SUBTITLE B--FELLOWSHIPS
Section 311. Education research teacher fellowships
Establishes a fellowship program for K-12 science and
mathematics teachers to pursue education research fellowships
at institutions of higher education. Grants are to be awarded
on a competitive, peer-reviewed basis to institutions of higher
education to set up programs that will enable K-12 teachers to
conduct research--on cognitive science; brain research as the
basis of human learning; or science and mathematics learning in
formal, informal or complex educational settings--under the
guidance of a researcher at the institution. Grant recipients
must recruit and select teachers, give them opportunities to
conduct research, and provide them with mentors and programming
support for up to one calendar year or across two sequential
summers for each teacher. Grant recipients must provide a
stipend to participating teachers and may provide room and
board. Authorizes $5 million for each of fiscal years 2002
through 2004.
Title IV. Robert Noyce Scholarship Program
Section 401. Definitions
Defines: (1) ``mathematics and science teacher'' as a
mathematics, science, or technology teacher at the elementary
or secondary school level; (2) ``mathematics, science, or
engineering professional'' as a person who holds at least a
baccalaureate degree in science, mathematics or engineering and
is working in that field or a related area; (3) ``scholarship''
as an award under section 405; (4) ``scholarship recipient'' as
a student receiving a scholarship; (5) ``stipend'' as an award
under section 406; (6) ``stipend recipient'' as a science,
mathematics or engineering professional receiving a stipend;
and (7) ``cost of attendance'' as defined in section 472 of the
Higher Education Act of 1965.
Section 402. Scholarship program
Establishes a competitive, merit-based grant program to
enable institutions of higher education to obtain grants to
award scholarships for the purpose of recruiting andtraining K-
12 science and math teachers. Requires grant recipients to establish
programs to encourage top college science, math, and engineering
juniors and seniors, and/or science, math, and engineering
professionals, to become K-12 science and math teachers by
administering scholarships and stipends, offering programs to
facilitate the acquisition of teaching skills and teacher certification
credentials, and developing post-graduate support programs for teachers
following graduation and placement in the field.
Section 403. Selection process
Establishes minimum requirements for grant applications and
describes criteria the Director must consider in reviewing
them. Directs institutions of higher education to describe the
scholarship or stipend program including the number of
scholarships or number and size of stipends to be awarded, the
selection process by which individuals will be selected to
receive such awards, and the programming that will be offered
to scholarship or stipend recipients during and after
matriculation.
Section 404. Awards
Designates institutions awarded grants under this title as
``National Teacher Scholarships Centers'' and requires the
Director, to the extent practicable, to insure geographic
diversity within the funding portfolio. Establishes a 10-year
duration for awards made under this title.
Section 405. Scholarship requirements
Requires scholarship recipients to be students who are
majoring in science, mathematics or engineering and who are in
the last two years of a baccalaureate degree program, and
requires selection of recipients to be based primarily on
academic merit with consideration given to financial need and
the goals of promoting participation of minorities, women, and
people with disabilities. Sets the scholarship amount at $7,500
per year, or the cost of attendance, which is less, for a
maximum of two years of support. Requires scholarship
recipients to complete two years of service as a mathematics or
science teacher for each year a scholarship was received.
Section 406. Stipends
Requires stipend recipients to be mathematics, science, and
engineering professionals who are enrolled in a teacher
certification program while receiving the stipend. Requires
that scholarships be awarded on the basis of academic merit
with consideration given to financial need and the goal of
promoting the participation of women, minorities, and people
with disabilities. Allows stipends of up to $7,500, or the cost
of attendance, whichever is less, for a maximum of one year.
Requires stipend recipients to complete two years of service as
a mathematics or science teacher in return for the year of
stipend support.
Section 407. Conditions of support
Requires a scholarship or stipend recipient to accept the
service obligation and repayment terms set forth by sections
405 and 409, or section 406; to agree to provide the awarding
institution of higher education with annual certification of
employment and current contact information; and to agree to
participate in surveys as part of the project assessment
program.
Section 408. Collection for noncompliance
Requires grant recipient institutions to monitor the
compliance of scholarship and stipend recipients for their
respective service requirements and to collect repayment in the
event that the service obligation is not met. Allows the
grantee to retain a percentage of any repayment it collects to
defray the administrative cost of collection.
Section 409. Failure to complete service obligation
Details the repayment requirement for scholarship
recipients who fall below acceptable academic achievement
standards, are dismissed from educational institutions for
disciplinary reasons, withdraw from the degree program, declare
an unwillingness to fulfill the service obligation, or fail to
complete the service obligation. Requires scholarship
recipients who do not complete even a single year of their
service obligation to pay back the amount of the award (plus
interest) multiplied by two. Requires scholarship recipients
who complete at least one year of their service obligation but
do not complete the rest to repay the total amount of their
award, less $3,750 for each year of service completed, plus
interest. Allows suspension of the repayment obligation in
cases of undue hardship.
Section 410. Report
Requires institutions receiving awards through this title
to provide the Director with relevant statistical and
demographic data on scholarship and stipend recipients
including information on employment required by section 407.
Requires the Director to report to Congress, no later than
seven years after the date of enactment of this Act, on the
extent to which the program succeeded in drawing top
mathematics and science students, including those from
underrepresented groups, into math and science teaching
careers.
Section 411. Authorization of appropriations
Authorizes $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002
through 2005 and the necessary sums to fund the program
support, reporting, compliance and collections requirements of
awardees for each of fiscal years 2006 through 2011.
Title V. Requirements for Research Centers
Section 501. Requirements for research centers
Requires the Director of NSF to ensure that grants to
establish new research centers at institutions of higher
education incorporate an elementary and secondary mathematics,
science, engineering or technology education component into
their research and outreach program.
Title VI. Educational Technologies Research
Section 601. Educational technology research centers
Establishes an NSF program to award grants, through a
competitive, merit-based process, to institutions of higher
education to establish centers to evaluate and improve the
effectiveness of information technologies in K-12 math and
science education. Centers will identify and study the
effectiveness of educational approaches and techniques that
utilize information technology, identify the key variables
affecting educational effectiveness, and ensure that the
results of this analysis are widely disseminated to K-12
schools.
Section 602. Selection process
Establishes minimum requirements for grant applications and
describes criteria the Director must consider when reviewing
them. Directs the Director to award grants to institutions of
higher education based on the ability of the applicant to
effectively evaluate educational uses of information technology
and to help local educational agencies apply the results of
those evaluations.
Section 603. Documentation and dissemination of results
Requires dissemination of results of projects supported by
this title through print media and the digital library and
allows the Director to sponsor conferences, workshops, and
websites in order to disseminate information further.
Section 604. Authorization of appropriations
Authorizes $25 million for each of fiscal years 2002
through 2004 and $30 million for each of fiscal years 2005 and
2006.
Title VII. Miscellaneous provisions
Section 701. Mathematics and science proficiency partnerships
Establishes an NSF program to award grants of up to
$300,000 (through a competitive merit-based process) to local
educational agencies to develop mathematics, science, and
information technology curricula, purchase equipment necessary
to establish such programs, and provide professional
development opportunities for teachers in support of improved
math, science and technology education. In order to qualify for
such a grant, the local educational agency must execute an
agreement with a private sector entity to provide services and
funds that include donations of computers, establishment of
internship and mentoring programs, and the provision of college
scholarships for students committed to pursuing a career in
math, science or information technology. Special priority is to
be given to grant applicants that demonstrate the greatest
economic need and the greatest ability to attract funds and
services from the private sector. Authorizes $5 million for
each of fiscal years 2002 through 2004.
Section 702. Articulation partnerships between community colleges and
secondary schools
For grant awards authorized under section 3(c)(2) of the
Scientific and Advanced-Technology Act of 1992, requires the
Director to give priority to grant proposals that involve
secondary schools with a majority of students from groups that
are underrepresented in the science, mathematics, and
engineering workforce. Authorizes $5 million for each of fiscal
years 2002 through 2004.
Section 703. Assessment of in-service teacher professional development
programs
Requires the Director to review all NSF programs that
support teacher training programs to determine (1) what level
of resources and degree of emphasis is placed on the training
of teachers in the effective use of information technologies
and (2) the allocation of resources between summer activities
and follow-on training and support to participating teachers
during the school year. Requires that a report be made to
Congress on the results of the review.
Section 704. Instructional materials
Allows the NSF Director to award competitive, merit-
reviewed grants for the development of educational materials on
energy issues for use in elementary and secondary schools.
Section 705. Study of broadband network access for schools and
libraries
Requires the NSF Director to conduct a study, in
consultation with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, and other appropriate entities, on issues related
to the current status of high-speed, large bandwidth capacity
access to public elementary and secondary schools and
libraries.
Section 706. Educational technology assistance; learning community
consortium
Authorizes the NSF Director to make awards on a
competitive, merit-reviewed basis to associate-degree granting
colleges, bachelor-degree granting institutions, or education
service agencies (or consortia thereof) to establish centers to
assist K-12 schools in the use of information technology for
mathematics, science, or technology education. Authorizes $5
million for each of fiscal years 2002 through 2004. Also
authorizes the NSF Director to provide a grant to a consortium
of community colleges for the purpose of carrying out a pilot
project to encourage women, minorities and persons with
disabilities to enter and complete programs in mathematics,
science, engineering and technology. Authorizes $10 million for
this program.
VIII. Committee Views
Mathematics and Science Education Partnerships
The Committee believes that efforts to improve K-12 math
and science education have not drawn sufficiently on the
expertise and resources of either universities and colleges, or
business and industry. The Partnerships program is designed to
change that.
If the partnerships are to succeed, they must be truly
collaborative. Institutions of higher education and local
educational agencies must work together (with any other
participating partners) to determine what assistance schools
most need, and what assistance universities and colleges are
best equipped to provide. In evaluating proposals, NSF must
ensure that the partnerships are truly meeting the needs of our
nation's schools. Proposals in which a university dictates the
terms of the program, or in which a school district seeks a
superficial link with a university should be rejected.
NSF is well positioned to run this program. For years, it
has been a leader in involving higher education and businesses
in innovative education and research projects.
The Committee believes that the Partnership program in this
Act is complementary to, and not duplicative of a similarly
titled math and science partnership program in H.R. 1, ``The No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001.'' While NSF has demonstrated
strength in funding innovative demonstration programs to
develop and test new models of educational reform, the
Department of Education has an infrastructure well suited to
the broad implementation and dissemination of new teaching
materials, curricula and training programs. The Committee
anticipates that the two programs will draw on each other's
strengths and that the most promising NSF-funded projects will
be used as models and brought to full scale by the Department
of Education's partnership program. The Committee expects that
the Director of NSF and the Secretary of Education and their
staffs will consult regularly to ensure the effective and
efficient implementation of both programs.
NSF's strength in education reform is largely due to its
policy of awarding grants on the basis of a competitive merit
review. The Partnership program explicitly requires that that
standard of review be continued.
The Partnership program also explicitly requires that math,
science and engineering departments in institutions of higher
education be active participants in the partnerships. One of
the strengths that universities and colleges bring to the
partnerships is the deep expertise of their faculty in the
subjects that are taught in elementary and secondary schools.
The faculty members also have first-hand knowledge of what
kinds of preparation are needed for students to succeed in
post-secondary math, science and engineering programs.
While this Act requires that mathematics, science and
engineering departments participate in the partnerships, the
Committee wants to encourage departments and colleges of
education to play an active role as well. The partnerships
should be structured to address both subject content and
pedagogy, and departments and colleges of education can
contribute to assuring that both aspects of teaching are
addressed.
The Act also allows ``eligible non-profit organizations''
to participate in the partnerships, and leaves the
determination of eligibility to the Director. The Committee is
aware of important contributions to math and science education
improvement being made by organizations like the Carnegie
Institute and the American Chemical Society. The Committee is
also aware of the important role that community-based
organizations and other non-profit public interest groups can
make to improving education and involving a wide variety of
students. NSF should allow, and encourage the partnerships to
include non-profit research institutes, professional
associations, community-based organizations and other entities
that have demonstrated experience, providing math and science
education.
The Act also allows consortia of institutions of higher
education to submit partnership proposals. The Committee
encourages institutions to form consortia to build on their
respective strengths. State systems of higher education can
apply to the program as consortia.
The Committee expects the partnership program to involve
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). HBCUs
have a proven record of training African American teachers and
often have strong relationships with schools in surrounding
communities, especially with schools located in some of the
nation's most economically disadvantaged and isolated areas.
HBCUs, either individually or as part of consortia, can help
meet the requirement that the partnership program strive to
address the needs of all types of school districts in all parts
of the country.
A key element of ongoing education reform efforts has been
the establishment by each of the states of challenging math and
science standards and accountability measures. The Committee
expects the partnerships funded under this Act tocoordinate
with state education agencies in the development and implementation of
proposals to ensure that the programs and materials are aligned with
state and local standards.
The Act includes an extensive list of potential activities
that may be undertaken by the partnerships. The Committee
emphasizes, however, that this list is not exhaustive and that
no partnership is required to undertake any particular activity
listed in the Act. The partnership program should support a
broad, innovative (and effective) collection of activities, and
NSF, through its merit review procedures, has wide latitude to
determine which proposed activities would fulfill the purposes
of this Act.
The Committee does believe, however, that providing
professional development opportunities that enable teachers to
use educational technologies effectively should be an important
focus of the partnership program. In providing such
opportunities, the Act authorizes partnerships to make the
technical expertise of graduate and undergraduate students
available to elementary and secondary school teachers. Computer
literate post-secondary students could provide valuable
assistance to teachers in using technology and maintaining an
operational technology infrastructure. The Committee also
believes that professional development opportunities offered
through the partnerships should incorporate the results of
research funded under Titles III and VI of this Act (as
reported).
The Act allows partnership grants to be used for stipends
for teachers or students participating in activities that would
not be part of their typical classroom activities. Activities
eligible for stipends could include summer or after-school
research opportunities for teachers or secondary school
students, and summer training programs for teachers. Graduate
or undergraduate students providing assistance to schools
through activities permitted by section 101(c)(3) might also
receive stipends.
In evaluating applications, NSF is to consider the extent
to which the members of the partnerships are committed to
making the partnership a central organizational focus.
Partnerships are unlikely to succeed unless the top
administrators of the participating institutions are committed
to the program. In addition, partnerships should involve as
many aspects of the participating universities, school
districts and businesses as possible, and the partnership
activities should be widely known within each of those
institutions. A partnership that involves only an isolated
faculty member or teacher or two is unlikely to have much
impact.
Also, in evaluating whether an institution of higher
education is likely to be able to carry out the proposed
activities, NSF should be aware of whether the institution has
been identified as a low-performing school under section 208 of
the Higher Education Act of 1965.
The Act requires the Director to strive to involve a range
of geographic areas in the partnership program. The partnership
program is designed to highlight and support a variety of
partnership models that could be widely copied. If such
proliferation is to occur, the models must be designed for, and
tested in a variety of locations, and in rural, suburban and
urban areas. That does not mean, however, that partnerships
must be awarded in every state.
The Committee also wants to ensure that partnerships
increase the involvement of businesses in K-12 education.
Therefore, the bill requires that at least half the
partnerships include business partners. The Committee
understands, though, that it may not be appropriate or possible
for business to participate in every partnership because, for
example, no appropriate business is near a participating school
district, or because the particular activities to be undertaken
by a partnership do not lend themselves to business
participation. While NSF should strive to involve businesses in
as many partnerships as possible, and must meet the 50 percent
requirement, lack of business participation should never
automatically disqualify a proposal.
The Committee wants to ensure that the partnerships are
closely evaluated and that information about successful
partnerships is widely disseminated. The Committee stresses the
importance of in-depth, quantitative assessments of the
partnerships. The assessments should use common metrics to
facilitate useful comparisons, and should measure quantitative
factors and not just attitudinal changes. Assessment should be
an integral part of partnership activities. NSF should work
with the Department of Education to ensure that the
effectiveness of the partnerships funded under this Act can be
compared with those created under H.R. 1.
Subtitle B--Teacher Research Scholarship Program
On March 7, 2001 the Committee held its first education
hearing entitled ``K-12th Grade Math and Science Education: The
View from the Blackboard''. One of of the themes the emerged
from this hearing was that the classroom can become a very
``isolating space'' for young mathematics and science teachers.
The Partnerships Act contains several provisions that are
designed to mitigate this isolation and reintegrate elementary
and secondary school teachers into the wider professional world
of mathematics and scientists. The Teacher Research Scholarship
Program--modeled after successful programs developed by Cornell
University, Columbia University and the Department of Energy--
is designed to create opportunities for elementary and
secondary mathematics and science teachers to actively engage
in research projects without having to leave their teaching
careers. The Committee expects that grant recipients will
recruit teachers from a wide array of urban, rural, and
suburban school districts in order to maximize the impact of
the program.
The Teacher Research Scholarship Program requires that
participating institutions provide programming and guidance to
teachers, as well as research opportunities, and allows up to
25 percent of each grant to be used for programming. The
Committee expects that grant awardees will contribute some of
their own resources toprogramming, as well. (The remainder of
the grant money is for the scholarships, which are more exclusively a
federal responsibility.)
Programming is essential to the success of the scholarship
program. Programming should give teachers the background to
understand the nature and implications of the research they are
conducting, should deepen their understanding of the field in
which they are conducting research, should help them determine
how they can integrate their research experiences into their
teaching, should allow them to interact with other teachers and
research institutions. The Committee intends that the quality
of programming be a major factor in determining grant awards.
Title II--National Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology
Education Digital Library
In 1994 NSF, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency initiated the National Digital Library Initiative (DLl).
This initiative funds research necessary to support the
development of the next generation of digital libraries, to
advance the use and usability of globally distributed,
networked information, and to encourage existing and new users
to focus on developing innovative applications and educational
materials. The National Science, Mathematics, Engineering and
Technology Education Digital Library (Digital Library),
supported by NSF as part of the initiative, also supports
research on the long-term social, behavioral and economic
implications of and effects of new digital libraries.
In 1998 the National Research Council, at the request of
the National Science Board, convened a workshop to explore ways
the Digital Library could best support the efforts of
elementary and secondary school teachers to improve student
achievement. The workshop participants noted that a successful
digital library would ``differ from a traditional library in
being not only used but created by groups of people. Such a
library would be constructed, collected, and organized by a
community of users.''
Building on the recommendations derived from the workshop,
the Act authorizes NSF to award grants to institutions of
higher education or other qualified entities to expand the
Digital Library to address the special needs of elementary and
secondary mathematics and science teachers. The expanded
program may award grants to: (1) coordinate and manage the
library's core collections and services and to develop the
library's central portal; (2) develop, aggregate and manage a
subset of the library's educational content within a coherent
theme or specialty (e.g., earth science); and, (3) develop
services which support users, collection providers, and which
enhance the impact, efficiency, and value of the library. The
Committee anticipates that the Digital Library will enable
elementary and secondary teachers--including those most
geographically isolated--to share experiences, develop
solutions to common problems and locate high quality
educational materials and resources.
The Committee believes that, while the Internet is a source
of a great deal of information of potential value to teachers,
the abundance of individual web sites and the lack of quality
assurance renders this information of little use to teachers.
The Digital Library will utilize two mechanisms to ensure that
educational resources and materials accessible through the
library are accurate, effective, and relevant. First, resources
and materials must be demonstrated to be accurate and effective
through peer review prior to being made accessible through the
Digital Library. Second, the Library will provide a forum
through which elementary and secondary mathematics and science
teachers can continuously review, critique, and improve upon
materials and resources made accessible through the library.
Teachers themselves will have an opportunity to actively review
and shape the content of the library.
Some of the material that is accessible through the digital
library will have been developed and evaluated with funds made
available through this Act. The Committee is aware of excellent
work to digitize high quality instructional resources that is
already being done by non-profit entities like WGBH of Boston
and WETA of Washington, D.C. The Committee expects that the
Director will also draw upon the expertise of these and other
qualified organizations and support their efforts to expand the
content that is available through the Digital Library.
The Committee is also aware that many private sector
entities are attempting to create Internet portals to
educational teaching modules, curricular materials and
practices. The Digital Library must be designed and implemented
in a way that does not impede continued efforts to provide such
resources and which encourages the healthy private sector
competition necessary to ensure the efficient development of
quality resources.
Title III--Strategic Education Research Program, Subtitle A--Centers
The education of our nation's children in grades K-12
consumes approximately 7 percent of GDP; less than 0.03 percent
of that is invested in research on what educational techniques
actually work or on methods to improve teaching. In 1997, the
President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology
(PCAST) recommended that the nation's education research
investment be increased to 0.5 percent and that educational
hypotheses be subjected to appropriately rigorous evaluation
involving large numbers of children in authentic classroom
environments.
In 1998, the National Research Council convened an expert
panel to evaluate new developments in the science of learning
and the relevance of these basic science findings to education.
The Committee believes that many of the panel's
recommendations, summarized in the report How People Learn:
Brain, Mind, Experience and School, could make a significant
impact on the problems facing the nation's K-12 classrooms.
Among the recommendations made by the panel were to develop
research questions based on problems of consequence to
classroom teachers; to find ways to convert research knowledge
into effective instructional methods; and to support
interdisciplinary collaborations of science and education
researchers and practitioners. A subsequent document, How
People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice, further
emphasized the need to support ``use-inspired'' research
focused on issues of importance to teaching and learning.
Title III of this Act implements the recommendations of the
National Research Council through the establishment of four
interdisciplinary research centers, each focused on a
significant problem of importance to classroom educators. The
Director is instructed to consult with the National Academy of
Science to select the research focus of each ofthe centers,
based on the current needs of the education practitioners. The
Committee strongly believes that the focus of each center on a
particular research area--a strategic research effort--is critical to
the success of the program. Failure to identify a clear strategic focus
will result in activities that spread the research effort too thinly by
trying to answer too many different questions.
The Committee believes that the centers must have two key
characteristics to succeed. The first is a commitment to
interdisciplinary research. Each center must bring together
researchers from a wide variety of fields. Progress in
understanding teaching and learning is most likely to be made
at the intersection of differing disciplines.
The second is a commitment to reducing research findings to
educational practice. Too often, new insights into teaching and
learning have no impact in the classroom either because
teachers are entirely unaware of them or have no idea how to
incorporate them into classroom practice. The centers must be
designed to overcome such barriers. The centers can ensure the
relevance of their research results in a variety of ways,
including setting up partnerships with particular schools or
teachers. The Committee intends that a major determinant in
awarding grants under this Title will be the ability of a
proposed center to reduce its research results to practice and
to test and disseminate its recommended practices. Moreover,
practices should be tested in a variety of schools--urban,
suburban and rural--serving a variety of demographic groups.
The Committee recognizes the central, if intangible, role
that motivation plays in the implementation of successful
mathematics and science education reform programs. Successful
school leaders motivate teachers to actively participate in
professional development programs and to use new educational
techniques and materials. Similarly, successful teachers
motivate students and their parents to actively pursue not only
the learning opportunities available in school but those
available after school as well. The Committee expects that the
education research program will examine what is known by
cognitive science about motivation and develop ways that this
knowledge can more effectively be transferred to the classroom.
Title III, Subtitle B--Strategic Education Research Program--
Fellowships
On May 10, 2001, the Subcommittee on Research of the
Committee on Science held a hearing entitled ``Classrooms as
Laboratories: The Science of Learning Meets the Practice of
Teaching.'' At this hearing the witnesses testified that the
gap between education research and practice is driven primarily
by the following factors: (1) teachers do not have the time or
resources to read the research literature; (2) research
findings are not written in ways that are easily understandable
or translatable to their daily classroom practice; and (3)
researchers often lack any experience teaching in the K-12
setting and do not adequately understand the demands or
limitations of this environment. The Committee believes it is
important to actively encourage the participation of teachers
in education research projects to ensure the relevance of the
research to actual classrooms, to facilitate the use of their
classrooms for evaluation of materials and practices, and to
enable teachers to make distinctions between research-based
methods and curricula and those which are without a research
foundation. The Partnerships Act authorizes grants to
institutions of higher education to provide fellowships to
encourage teachers to become part of the research enterprise.
The Education Research Teacher Fellowship Program requires
that participating institutions provide programming and
guidance to teachers, as well as research opportunities, and
allows up to 25 percent of each grant to be used for
programming. The Committee expects that grant awardees will
contribute some of their own resources to programming, as well.
(The remainder of the grant money is for the fellowships, which
are more exclusively a federal responsibility.)
Programming is essential to the success of the fellowship
program. Programming should give teachers the background to
understand the nature and implications of the research they are
conducting, should deepen their understanding of the field in
which they are conducting research, should help them determine
how they can integrate their research experiences into their
teaching, should allow them to interact with other teachers
conducting research, and should help build continuing
relationships between teachers and research institutions. The
Committee intends that the quality of programming be a major
factor in determining grant awards.
title iv--robert noyce scholarship program
The single most important step needed to improve
mathematics and science education is to get smarter, better
prepared teachers into the classroom. As of now, we are not
even producing enough qualified mathematics and science
teachers for our elementary and secondary classrooms. A 1994
survey of school administrators revealed that 50% of all
schools with openings for teachers in the physical or life
sciences had difficulty filling the positions. The same was
true for 40% of the schools with openings in mathematics.
As a result, school districts have been forced to hire
teachers inadequately prepared for the classroom. In 1994, 21%
of all public school teachers lacked even a minor in their
primary field and 59% had less than a minor in their secondary
teaching field. The problem is even greater in mathematics and
science. The National Commission on Teaching and America's
Future, a non-partisan commission established with initial
funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, reported in 1996 that out-of-field
teachers teach 56% of all high school students taking physical
science and 27% of high school students taking mathematics.
Recognizing that the most powerful predictor of higher
student achievement in mathematics and science is a fully
certified teacher who majored in the field being taught, the
Committee believes that it is critical that steps be taken to
encourage the brightest of our Nation's mathematics, science
and engineering majors to pursue careers as elementary and
secondary mathematics and science teachers. The Noyce
Scholarship Progam--named for Robert Noyce, an inventor of the
integrated circuit--represents an effort to attract these
students to careers in teaching by offering them scholarships
in exchange for a commitment to teach for two years for each
year of scholarship received.
This program is designed to attract a diverse, talented
group of science, mathematics, engineering and technology
students to careers as high performing elementary and secondary
school teachers. The Director should select institutions of
higher education that have demonstrated their ability to
attract talented science, mathematics, engineering and
technology majors and minors from diverse backgrounds and have
a plan to recruit and prepare them for successful teaching
careers. The Committee recognizes that there are many measures
of academic proficiency and success but believes that
scholarship recipients should maintain a grade point average of
at least 3.0 and should be among the top performing students in
the departments.
The Noyce Scholarship Program is intended to do more than
distribute scholarship money to students. A critically
important feature of this Title is that participating
universities must provide programming to enable scholarship
recipients to become skilled teachers and to encourage them to
continue teaching once their service requirement has been
fulfilled. Programming should be provided both while
scholarship recipients are undergraduates and while they are
fulfilling their service requirement. Programming could include
providing classes toward teaching certification, offering
student teaching opportunities, providing students with K-12
teachers as mentors, and bringing scholarship recipients back
to campus for annual conferences while they are teaching. The
Committee intends that the quality of programming to be offered
to scholarship recipients be a major factor in determining
grant awards.
The Committee also believes that a large number of
professional mathematicians, scientists, and engineers would
like to teach but lack the teaching credentials required to
make the transition into a teaching career. The Noyce
Scholarship Program will offer stipends to these professionals
to enable them to take the coursework they need to become
certified teachers. As in the case of the scholarship program,
the Committee believes that it is not enough to encourage
mathematicians, scientists, and engineers to enter careers in
teaching. Academic programming must be provided by the
institution of higher education during the early formative
years of teaching to ensure that these new teachers not only
enter, but also remain productive members of, the teaching
profession.
The President has proposed a loan forgiveness program that
provides financial incentives to mathematics and science majors
after they graduate to encourage them to enter careers in
teaching. The Noyce Scholarship Program is complementary to
this effort while being more comprehensive in scope. The
Scholarship Program actively recruits students prior to
graduation, prepares them for careers in teaching, and provides
the support needed to enable them to succeed during their early
years of service. The Committee believes that the combination
of the Noyce Scholarship Program and the economic incentive of
loan forgiveness will provide powerful new tools for
encouraging our best students to become high performing
teachers.
In order for the full benefit of the Noyce Scholarship
Program (with or without other recruitment incentive programs)
to be realized, participating institutions of higher education
must develop and implement high quality professional
development programs, closely follow the post-graduation
classroom performance of their scholarship recipients, and
collect scholarship funds from students who fail to fulfill
their service obligations. The Committee recognizes that to be
effective these activities require significant investments in
program and administration at participating institutions and
has authorized funds to cover the costs of these activities.
The Noyce Scholarship Program requires that scholarship
recipients serve for two years as an elementary or secondary
science or mathematics teacher for each year of scholarship
received. The Committee recognizes that circumstances can arise
in which this service requirement would pose an undue hardship
upon the individual or their family and has authorized NSF to
waive or suspend the service or repayment requirements under
these circumstances. The Committee assumes that such
circumstances would be rare. They might include temporary or
permanent disability, required military service, or overseas
deployment with a spouse serving in the armed forces or U.S.
Foreign Service.
Title V--Requirements for Research Centers
One of the primary objectives of this Act is to ensure that
NSF and institutions of higher education are fully engaged in
improving elementary and secondary mathematics and science
education. Title V of the Act requires the Director of NSF to
ensure that every new center grant that is awarded by the
Foundation contains an elementary or secondary school
mathematics or science education reform component. It is the
Committee's expectation that this requirement will encourage
all applicants for center grants to think more closely about
the ways that they can aid education reform activities in their
local communities and across the nation.
Title VI--Educational Technologies Research
The Higher Education Amendments of 1998 authorized the
establishment of the Web-Based Education Commission to assess
the educational software available in retail markets for use by
secondary and postsecondary students. The Commission called for
federally sponsored education research focused on ``high
payback targets of educational opportunity, where present
understanding of learning theory supports technological
innovations.'' The Commission also endorsed previous
recommendations of the President's Committee of Advisors on
Science and Technology for a large-scale program of empirical
research to identify the technology-based educational practices
and approaches that produce improvements in student learning.
Title VI of the Partnerships Act responds to these
recommendations by authorizing a program to establish research
centers at institutions of higher education to evaluate and
improve the use of information technologies in elementary and
secondary mathematics and science education. The objectives of
this program are to develop methods to measure the
effectiveness of applications of educational technology in
improving student achievement; identify the variables that
influence the effectiveness of educational technologies in a
variety of educational settings; and identify
educationalapplications of information technology that contribute to
increased student achievement.
The Committee intends that the research provide information
that will inform the decisions of educators on which
educational approaches and techniques based on the use of
information technology work in classrooms and on the key
factors that affect educational outcomes for particular
educational settings. The Committee stresses the quantitative
nature of the results sought in terms of student performance
and the importance of widespread dissemination of the results
of the research.
Title VII--Miscellaneous Provisions
The Web-Based Education Commission also called attention to
the lack of support for teachers in the use of educational
technologies, including both intellectual support in how to
integrate technology into classroom instruction and technical
support for the equipment. Their report, The Power of the
Internet for Learning, indicates that only about 10 percent of
teachers work in what could be described as a high quality
technologically supported environment. Even for the 20 percent
of schools with district technology coordinators, the
Commission's report cites surveys showing that the average time
to fix a technical problem is two days. The program created by
section 706 is intended to develop local centers to provide
assistance to schools in selecting and maintaining appropriate
information technologies and to help train teachers in how to
use technology in the classroom.
Further, the Committee believes that opportunities to bring
the technical expertise of graduate and undergraduate students
to teachers, as authorized under section 101(c)(3), should be
exploited whenever feasible. Computer literate post secondary
students could provide valuable assistance to teachers in how
to use technology and how to keep it working. Similarly, the
educational technology assistance program created by section
706 is intended to develop local centers to provide assistance
to schools in selecting and maintaining appropriate information
technologies and to help train teachers in how to use
technology in the classroom.
The recent report of the Congressional Commission on the
Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering and
Technology Development points out that women and minorities
represent the fastest growing segments of the nation's
workforce but comprise only a small fraction of scientists and
engineers. Nearly 70 percent of the S&E workforce consists of
white males, while approximately 15 percent are white females
and only about 5 percent are African Americans or Hispanics.
The future needs of the economy cannot be met unless all
segments of society are fully represented in science and
engineering careers. Two provisions of the bill are especially
designed to address this issue.
Section 701 of the bill establishes a pilot program to
provide federal funding for improvements in science and
mathematics education programs in schools in economically
disadvantaged areas to leverage private sector funding for
undergraduate scholarships and summer internships for talented
students from these schools who go on to pursue science and
engineering studies. The Committee intends for NSF to make
competitive awards to schools that demonstrate the greatest
economic need and that are most successful in obtaining
commitments from the private sector for substantial non-federal
funding for scholarships and educational support activities.
The Committee also expects NSF to carefully evaluate the
effectiveness of the program, particularly in terms of the
number of participating students who obtain undergraduate
degrees in science, mathematics and engineering.
Section 702 of the bill authorizes funding for outreach
grants first authorized, but never funded, by section 3(c)(2)
of the Scientific and Advanced-Technology Act of 1992. These
grants were intended to support collaborations between 2-year
colleges and secondary schools to recruit and help prepare
students for undergraduate courses in science, mathematics and
technology. The Committee expects NSF to give priority
consideration in making these awards to proposals that involve
secondary schools with a majority of students from groups that
are underrepresented in the science, mathematics and
engineering workforce.
Title VII also authorizes two activities that NSF can
clearly undertake under its existing authority. The Committee
expects NSF to carry out these activities regardless of whether
they are included in the final version of this Act. One
activity is the awarding of competitive, merit-reviewed grants
for the development of educational materials on energy
production and use, energy conservation, and renewable energy
for use in elementary and secondary schools. The other is the
awarding of a $10 million grant to a consortium composed of
associate-degree granting colleges for the purpose of carrying
out a pilot project to encourage women, minorities and persons
with disabilities to enter and complete programs in
mathematics, science, engineering and technology.
IX. Cost Estimate
Rule XIII, clause 3(d)(2) of the House of Representatives
requires each committee report accompanying each bill or joint
resolution of a public character to contain: (1) an estimate,
made by such committee, of the costs which would be incurred in
carrying out such bill or joint resolution in the fiscal year
in which it is reported, and in each of the five fiscal years
following such fiscal year (or for the authorized duration of
any program authorized by such bill or joint resolution, if
less than five years); (2) a comparison of the estimate of
costs described in subparagraph (1) of this paragraph made by
such committee with an estimate of such costs made by any
Government agency and submitted to such committee; and (3) when
practicable, a comparison of the total estimated funding level
for the relevant program (or programs) with the appropriate
levels under current law. However, House Rule XIII, clause
3(d)(3)(B) provides that this requirement does not apply when a
cost estimate and comparison prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 has been timely submitted
prior to the filing of the report and included in the report
pursuant to House Rule XIII, clause 3(c)(3). A cost estimate
and comparison prepared by the Director of the Congressional
Budget Office under section402 of the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974 has been timely submitted to the Committee on Science prior to
the filing of this report and is included in Section X of this report
pursuant to House Rule XIII, clause 3(c)(3).
Rule XIII, clause 3(c)(2) of the House of Representatives
requires each committee report that accompanies a measure
providing new budget authority (other than continuing
appropriations), new spending authority, or new credit
authority, or charges in revenues or tax expenditures to
contain a cost estimate, as required by section 308(a)(1) of
the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and, when practicable with
respect to estimates of new budget authority, a comparison of
the total estimated funding level for the relevant program (or
programs) to the appropriate levels under current law. H.R.
1858 does not contain any new budget authority, credit
authority, or changes in revenues or tax expenditures. Assuming
that the sums authorized under the bill are appropriated, H.R.
1858 does authorize additional discretionary spending, as
described in the Congressional Budget Office report on the
bill, which is contained in Section X of this report.
X. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, June 21, 2001.
Hon. Sherwood L. Boehlert,
Chairman, Committee on Science,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 1858, the National
Mathematics and Science Partnerships Act.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Julie
Middleton.
Sincerely,
Barry B. Anderson
(For Dan L. Crippen, Director).
Enclosure.
H.R. 1858--National Mathematics and Science Partnerships Act
Summary: H.R. 1858 would authorize the appropriation of
approximately $1.5 billion over the 2002-2006 period and $100
million after 2006 for education initiatives of the National
Science Foundation (NSF). This bill would authorize NSF to
implement several new grant and teacher scholarship programs
related to mathematics and science education, expand the NSF's
digital library of elementary and secondary education
resources, and conduct several studies related to improving
technology in education. Most of the money authorized by this
bill would fund a program to establish partnerships between
university researchers and local school districts to improve
the instruction of elementary and secondary science education.
Assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts, CBO
estimates that implementing H.R. 1858 would result in outlays
of about $1.1 billion over the 2002-2006 period and an
additional $459 million after 2006. H.R. 1858 would not affect
direct spending or receipts; therefore, pay-as-you-go
procedures would not apply. H.R. 1858 contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA).
Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated
budgetary impact of H.R. 1858 is shown in the following table.
The costs of this legislation fall within budget function 250
(general science, space, and technology).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
-----------------------------------------------------
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION
Spending under current law:
Budget authority...................................... 25 0 0 0 0 0
Estimated outlays..................................... 3 10 8 1 0 0
Proposed changes:
Estimated authorization level......................... 0 317 314 314 299 299
Estimated outlays..................................... 0 42 186 273 290 290
Spending under H.R. 1858:
Estimated authorization level \1\..................... 25 317 314 314 299 299
Estimated outlays..................................... 3 52 194 274 290 290
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ $25 million was appropriated in 2001 for the digital library.
Basis of estimate: For this estimate, CBO assumes that H.R.
1858 would be enacted in fiscal year 2001, and that the amounts
authorized will be appropriated each year. In addition, based
on information from NSF, CBO estimates that H.R. 1858 would
authorize the appropriation of $3 million in 2002 for studies
related to the use of technology in education. Estimates of
outlays for all activities are based on information from NSF
and historical spending patterns for similar programs.
Pay-as-you-go considerations: None.
Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: H.R. 1858
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as
defined in UMRA. The bill would authorize the Director of NSF
to establish grant programs that would provide about $1.5
billion over five years; any costs incurred by state and local
governments to apply for and administer such grants would
result from complying with conditions of aid. The grants would
benefit state and local governments, including local school
districts and public universities, by assisting them in
improving mathematics, science, and technology education.
Estimate prepared by: Federal costs: Julie Middleton;
impact on State, local, and tribal governments: Elyse Goldman;
impact on the private sector; Lauren Marks.
Estimate approved by: Robert A. Sunshine, Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
XI. Compliance With Public Law 104-4
H.R. 1858 contains no unfunded mandates.
XII. Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations
Rule XIII, clause 3(c)(1) of the House of Representatives
requires each committee report to include oversight findings
and recommendations required pursuant to clause 2(b)(1) of rule
X. The Committee on Science's oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
XIII. Constitutional Authority Statement
Rule XIII, clause 3(d)(1) of the House of Representatives
requires each report of a committee on a bill or joint
resolution of a public character to include a statement citing
the specific powers granted to the Congress in the Constitution
to enact the law proposed by the bill or joint resolution.
Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United States
grants Congress the authority to enact H.R. 1858.
XIV. Federal Advisory Committee Statement
H.R. 1858 does not establish nor authorize the
establishment of any advisory committee.
XV. Congressional Accountability Act
The Committee finds that H.R. 1858 does not relate to the
terms and conditions of employment or access to public services
or accommodations within the meaning of section 102(b)(3) of
the Congressional Accountability Act (Public Law 104-1).
XVI. Statement on Preemption of State, Local, or Tribal Law
This bill is not intended to preempt any state, local, or
tribal law.
XVII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, As Reported
In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman):
SECTION 3 OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND ADVANCED-TECHNOLOGY ACT OF 1992
SEC. 3. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION.
(a) * * *
* * * * * * *
(d) Educational Technology Assistance.--
(1) In general.--The Director is authorized to make
awards on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis to
associate-degree granting colleges, bachelor-degree
granting institutions, or education service agencies
(or consortia thereof) to establish centers to assist
elementary and secondary schools in the use of
information technology for mathematics, science, or
technology instruction.
(2) Activities.--Activities of centers funded under
this subsection may include--
(A) helping schools evaluate their need for
information technology;
(B) training teachers on how to best use
information technology in instruction; and
(C) providing other information and training
to help schools and teachers ensure that they
have access to appropriate information
technologies and are using them to maximum
advantage.
(3) Application.--An application to receive funds
under this subsection shall include, at a minimum--
(A) a description of the services that will
be provided to schools and teachers;
(B) a list of the schools expected to be
served;
(C) a description of how the applicant will
draw on the expertise of its faculty and
students to assist schools and teachers; and
(D) a description of how the applicant will
operate the program after funding made
available by this subsection has expired.
(4) Selection.--In evaluating applications submitted
under paragraph (3), the Director shall consider, at a
minimum--
(A) the ability of the applicant to
effectively carry out the program;
(B) the number of schools and students who
would be served and their need for assistance;
(C) the extent to which the applicant has
worked with participating schools to ensure
that priority problems would be addressed by
the assistance provided under this subsection;
and
(D) the ability of the applicant to continue
to provide assistance after funding under this
subsection has expired.
(5) Awards.--(A) The Director shall ensure, to the
extent practicable, that the program established by
this subsection assists schools in rural, suburban, and
urban areas.
(B) No institution shall receive funds under this
subsection for more than three years.
(6) Report.--Not later than April 1, 2005, the
Director shall provide a report to Congress assessing
the success of the program funded under this subsection
and the need of schools for continued assistance, and,
based on the experience with the program, recommending
ways information technology assistance to schools could
be made more broadly available.
(7) Authorization of appropriations.--There are
authorized to be appropriated to the National Science
Foundation to carry out this subsection $5,000,000 for
each of the fiscal years 2002 through 2004.
(e) Learning Community Consortium.--The Director is
authorized to provide to a consortium composed of associate-
degree granting colleges a grant in the amount of $10,000,000
for the purpose of carrying out a pilot project to encourage
women, minorities and persons with disabilities to enter and
complete programs in mathematics, science, engineering and
technology.
[(d)] (f) Coordination With Other Federal Departments.--In
carrying out this section, the Director shall consult,
cooperate, and coordinate, to enhance program effectiveness and
to avoid duplication, with the programs and policies of other
relevant Federal agencies. In carrying out subsection (c), the
Director shall coordinate activities with programs receiving
assistance under part B of title I of the Higher Education Act
of 1965.
[(e)] (g) Limitation on Funding.--To qualify for a grant
under this section, an associate-degree-granting college, or
consortium thereof, shall provide assurances adequate to the
Director that it will not decrease its level of spending of
funds from non-Federal sources on advanced scientific and
technical education and training programs.
[(f)] (h) Functions of the Director.--In carrying out this
Act, the Director shall--
(1) * * *
* * * * * * *
[(g)] (i) Definitions.--As used in this section--
(1) * * *
* * * * * * *
XVIII. Committee Recommendations
On June 13, 2001, a quorum being present, the Committee on
Science favorably reported the National Mathematics and Science
Partnerships Act, by a voice vote, and recommends its
enactment.
XIX. Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives
Pursuant to clause (3)(c) of House rule XIII, the goals of
H.R. 1858 are to improve the instruction of science,
mathematics, engineering and technology education in elementary
and secondary schools, increase the number of mathematics,
science or engineering majors who pursue teaching careers, and
to increase the performance of American students to
internationally competitive levels.
The Committee requires that all of the programs authorized
under the Partnerships Act be awarded on the basis of a
competitive, merit-review process. This process is expected to
ensure that only those projects that hold the most promise for
contributing to state and local education reform efforts will
receive funding. In addition, the Act subjects each project and
program to rigorous accountability and assessment requirements.
Each project and program must incorporate performance
benchmarks and assessments in the design of the project or
program to ensure that the project or program will be able to
identify methods and materials that improve student achievement
as well as identify those that impede student achievement. One
of the hallmarks of cutting edge scientific research is that
one learns as much or more from negative or unexpected outcomes
as from successful or anticipated results. The Committee
expects that lessons from projects or programs that do not meet
initial expectations will also be widely disseminated and
incorporated into subsequent projects and programs.
Title I of H.R. 1858 authorizes the Director of NSF to
award grants to institutions of higher educations or eligible
non-profit organizations to establish mathematics and science
partnership programs. The program is designed to test a diverse
range of proposals with an equally diverse range of objectives.
In general, however, the program is expected to contribute to
the reform of elementary and secondary mathematics and science
curricula, expand the number of high quality professional
development programs for teachers, improve the quality of
classroom instruction, and to develop partnership models that
can serve as the foundation for state and local reform
activities.
Title II of H.R. 1858 authorizes the Director of NSF to
expand the National Science, Mathematics, Engineering and
Technology Education Digital Library to provide timely and
continuous dissemination of K-12 science, mathematics,
engineering, and technology educational resources, materials,
practices, and policies through the internet and other digital
technologies. The performance objective of this program is to
improve the quality of classroom instruction by increasing the
access of mathematics and science teachers to peer reviewed
resources and providing a forum through which they can exchange
ideas, share experiences, and contribute to the continuous
improvement of educational materials
Title III of the Act authorizes the Director of NSF to
establish four multidisciplinary education research centers.
The general performance objective for this program is to
stimulate multidisciplinary research that bridges the current
gap between cognitive science and education research and
generates results that are readily transferable to the
classroom.
Title IV of the Partnerships Act authorizes the
establishment of the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program. The
objective of this program is to encourage talented mathematics,
science, engineering, or technology majors, who would otherwise
not pursue careers as elementary or secondary mathematics or
science teachers, to enter and remain in careers as high
performing teachers. Title IV also authorizes a stipend program
to encourage mathematics, science, or engineering professionals
to pursue careers as teachers. The objective of this program is
to encourage talented professionals, who would otherwise not
pursue careers as elementary or secondary mathematics or
science teachers, to undertake to careers as high performing
teachers.
Title V of the Act requires the Director of NSF to ensure
that all new center grants awarded by the Foundation include an
elementary and secondary mathematics or science education
program element. The performance objective of this program is
to encourage broader participation by institutions of higher
education in elementary and secondary mathematics and science
education reform activities.
Title VI of the Act authorizes a program to establish
research centers at institutions of higher education to
evaluate and improve the use of information technologies in
elementary and secondary mathematics and science education. The
objectives of this program are to develop methods to measure
the effectiveness of applications of educational technology in
improving student achievement; identify the variables that
influence the effectiveness of educational technologies in a
variety of educational settings; and identify educational
applications of information technology that contribute to
increased student achievement.
Title VII of the Performance Act authorizes the Director to
establish mathematics and science proficiency partnerships. The
objectives of this program are to encourage the development of
partnerships between schools and businesses that improve the
quality of elementary and secondary science and mathematics
instruction and to encourage economically disadvantaged
students to enroll in college.
Section 703 also authorizes the Director to award a grant
to a consortium of community colleges for a pilot program
testing ways to encourage women, minorities, and persons with
disabilities to enter and complete programs in science,
mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET). The goal of
this program is to identify and demonstrate effective ways to
attract these students to SMET programs and to improve their
retention and graduation rates.
XX. Exchange of Committee Correspondence
Committee on Science,
Washington, DC, June 25, 2001.
Hon. John Boehner,
Chairman, House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Rayburn House
Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Boehner: Thank you for your letter of June
26, 2001 regarding H.R. 1858, the National Mathematics and
Science Partnerships Act.
I appreciate your waiving your Committee's right to a
referral on this bill so that it can move expeditiously to the
floor. I recognize your Committee's jurisdiction in this area
and will support any request you may make to have conferees on
H.R. 1858 or similar legislation.
The exchange of letters between our two committees will be
included in the Committee report on H.R. 1858 and will be made
part of the floor record.
Sincerely,
Sherwood L. Boehlert,
Chairman.
----------
Committee on Education
and the Workforce,
Washington, DC, June 26, 2001.
Hon. Sherwood L. Boehlert,
Chairman, Committee on Science, Rayburn HOB, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Boehlert: Thank you for working with me
regarding your bill, H.R. 1858, the ``National Mathematics and
Science Partnerships Act'', which was referred to the Committee
on Science and in addition the Committee on Education and the
Workforce and ordered favorably reported by your Committee on
June 13, 2001. I understand your desire to have this
legislation considered expeditiously by the House; hence, I do
not intend to hold a hearing or markup on this legislation.
In agreeing to waive consideration by our Committee, I
would expect you to agree that this procedural route should not
be construed to prejudice the Committee on Education and the
Workforce's jurisdictional interest and prerogatives on this or
any similar legislation and will not be considered as precedent
for consideration of matters of jurisdictional interest to my
Committee in the future. I would also expect your support in my
request to the Speaker for the appointment of conferees from my
Committee with respect to matters within the jurisdiction of my
Committee should a conference with the Senate be convened on
this or similar legislation.
I would appreciate your including our exchange of letters
in your Committee's report to accompany H.R. 1858. Again, I
thank you for working with me in developing this legislation
and I look forward to working with you on these issues in the
future.
Sincerely,
John Boehner,
Chairman.
----------
Committee on Science,
Washington, DC, July 9, 2001.
Hon. Billy Tauzin,
Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Tauzin: Thank you for your letter regarding
H.R. 1858, the ``National Mathematics and Science Partnership
Act.'' Although the Parliamentarian did not refer H.R. 1858 to
the Committee on Energy and Commerce, I understand your concern
with the bill as amended.
While sec. 704 of Title VII of H.R. 1858, ``Study of
Broadband Network Access for Schools and Libraries,'' requires
the Director of the National Science Foundation to conduct a
study of high-speed, large bandwidth capacity access to all
public elementary and secondary schools and libraries, it is
not the intent of the Committee on Science to encroach upon
your Committee's jurisdiction in the broadband area. Sec. 704
merely requires a study of network access, it does not pierce
the Energy and Commerce Committee's telecommunications
jurisdiction.
The Committee on Science intends to bring H.R. 1858 to the
floor under suspension of the rules, and would therefore not be
subject to amendments. If, however, during future Congressional
deliberations of H.R. 1858, the bill is altered to actually
include subject matter falling within the Energy and Commerce
Committee's jurisdiction, we will work with your Committee to
address those issues of concern, including the honoring of your
request for conferees should any subsequent version contain a
provision that falls within your jurisdiction. We do not
anticipate any encroachment into your jurisdiction and will
resist effort to do so.
I will include the exchange of letters between our
Committees as part of the record. Thank you for your
cooperation in this matter.
Sincerely,
Sherwood L. Boehlert,
Chairman.
----------
Committee on Energy and Commerce,
Washington, DC, July 9, 2001.
Hon. Sherwood L. Boehlert,
Chairman, Committee on Science, House of Representatives, Rayburn House
Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Boehlert: I am writing with regard to H.R.
1858, the National Mathematics and Science Partnership Act. As
you know, H.R. 1858 was ordered reported, amended, by the
Committee on Science on June 13, 2001.
During the Committee on Science markup, section 704 of
title VII was added to the bill. This section added a study to
be done by the Director of the National Science Foundation
concerning broadband network access for schools and libraries.
As you are aware, under Clause 1(f) of Rule X of the Rules of
the House, the Committee on Energy and Commerce has
jurisdiction over the regulation of interstate and foreign
communications, including broadband network access.
I recognize your desire to bring this legislation before
the House in an expeditious manner. Accordingly, I will not
exercise the Committee's right to seek a referral on any
provision that may be within our jurisdiction. By agreeing to
waive its consideration of the bill, however, the Energy and
Commerce Committee does not waive any jurisdiction over H.R.
1858, or any provisions that may be added to the legislation.
In addition, the Energy and Commerce Committee reserves its
authority to seek conferees on any provisions of the bill that
are within its jurisdiction during any House-Senate conference
that may be convened on this legislation. I ask for your
commitment to support any request by the Energy and Commerce
Committee for appropriate conferees on H.R. 1858 or similar
legislation.
I request that you include this letter as a part of the
Committee's report on H.R. 1858 and as part of the Record
during consideration of the legislation on the House floor.
Thank you for your attention to these matters.
Sincerely,
W.J. ``Billy'' Tauzin,
Chairman.
XXI. Proceedings of Subcommittee Markup
H.R. 1858, NATIONAL MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE PARTNERSHIPS ACT
----------
JUNE 7, 2001
House of Representatives,
Committee on Science,
Subcommittee on Research,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:05 a.m., in
room 2318 of the Rayburn Building, Hon. Nick Smith (chairman of
the subcommittee) presiding.
Chairman Smith. The Subcommittee on Research will come to
order. Barry are you counting? Oh, shucks. One, two, three,
four, five. So we are really--have come to order then. Good
morning. The Subcommittee on Research is meeting today to
consider the following measures, two bills. One is H.R. 1858,
the National Mathematics and Science Partnership Act, and H.R.
100, the National Science Education Act.
[Markup Notification follows:]
Committee on Science,
Subcommittee on Research,
Washington, DC, June 5, 2001.
memorandum
To: All Members, Subcommittee on Research.
From: Nick Smith, Chairman.
Subject: Subcommittee Markup of H.R. 1858 and H.R. 100.
Pursuant to notice, the Subcommittee on Research, Committee on
Science, intends to consider the following measures on Thursday, June
7th at 10:00 a.m. in Room 2318 of the Rayburn Building.
H.R. 1858, National Mathematics and Science Partnerships Act; and,
H.R. 100, National Science Education Act.
Should you have amendments to these measures, please hand deliver
them to: Natalie Palmer, B-374 RHOB, no later than 10:00 a.m. on
Wednesday, June 6th. In keeping with Committee precedent, all
amendments should be drafted by the Office of Legislative Counsel.
Attached are markup materials for your information. If you have any
questions, please call Sharon Hays, Staff Director, or Natalie Palmer,
Staff Assistant, at 5-7858.
Chariman Smith. I would ask unanimous consent for the
authority to recess the Subcommittee at any point and without
objection it is so ordered.
Let me make a couple remarks and then we will turn it over
to our esteemed Ranking Member and the Chairman of the Full
Committee for remarks.
Today the Subcommittee meets to consider two bills that
address an issue that I think most of us consider crucial to
our national security and future prosperity. In fact, I have
told the Vice-President of the Administration that I consider
our performance in science and math education in K through 12
to probably be at least the second greatest national security
threat to this nation. The education of our children, that our
children receive a math and science education is extremely
important.
We talk often on this Subcommittee of the important role
that fundamental research plays in our current prosperity. We
are in the midst of a technological revolution that has driven
our economy, improved our productivity, and helped us live
longer and healthier lives. A revolution fueled in large part
by our past investment in research and development but this
research and development is in turn enabled by the investment
we make educating our children in math and science and the
success of motivation in that education process.
The two bills that we consider today take important steps
to manage that investment. The most recent results of the
trends in mathematics and science study show that our efforts
to improve math and science education have had some success but
overall have been ineffective in really significantly raising
the U.S. performance from its middle-of-the-pack position. And
while there are some highlights, my own state of Michigan, for
example, achieved the top U.S. scores in both math and science,
might be a bright spot but even with Michigan's scores
relatively compared to the G-7 country's, not too impressive.
We need to work harder to make these bright spots the norm and
not the exception.
The President's plan to improve education, No Child Left
Behind, I think highlights the importance of partnerships
between the K through 12 system and institutions of higher
education in leading the math and science and education reform
effort.
The Chairman's bill, the first bill that we are going to
consider today, H.R. 1858, the National Mathematics and Science
Partnership Act, is the realization of this partnership plan.
It is what has been suggested by the President of the United
States, and I hope that we can conclude that in a way that the
Administration is suggesting.
The centerpiece of the legislation, Title I, Mathematics
and Science Education Partnerships, authorizes a competitive
grant program at the National Science Foundation to enable
institutions of higher learning to partner with the local
school districts.
The bill authorizes the President's request of the 200
million per year for fiscal year 2002 through 2006. The bill
includes a number of other provisions and--that relates to
engineering and technology education and the digital library.
This program and an additional fellowship program I hope we
will adopt in the Manager's Amendment form the bulk of our own
educational research legislation. The Strategic Education
Research Program addresses the need to bridge the gap between
basic research on learning and classroom practice.
And the bill authorizes the NSF-funded centers for research
on learning and education improvement.
I want to thank Chairman Boehlert for working with me and
other members of the Subcommittee in crafting this bill and for
this--the effort of this Committee and the effort of the
Chairman to make this come to fruition.
And the Chair, with your permission, Mr. Chairman, the
Chair would ask our Ranking Member to make her comments and
then we will come to you. Eddie Bernice Johnson.
Ms. Johnson. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am
pleased that the Subcommittee is moving forward this morning to
markup legislations, improve science and mathematics education
in elementary and secondary schools.
I congratulate you for your efforts to bring this about and
thank Chairman Boehlert for placing science education high on
the agenda for the committee this year.
Over the past two Congresses the Science Committee has
conducted a comprehensive series of hearings that have examined
all aspects of K through 12 science and math education. I
believe that the legislation we will consider today is well
supported by the testimony we have received. It is now time to
move it forward. The Democratic members of the Committee have
separately developed several legislative proposals on science
and math education.
In addition they joined Ranking Member Hall in developing a
comprehensive education bill. That is H.R. 1693, which Mr. Hall
introduced earlier this year. I am pleased that many of the
programs and activities set out in these bills have been
included in the Manager's Amendment of H.R. 1858, which we will
soon take up.
This includes the Mathematics and Science Proficiency
Partnership Act, which I have introduced in this and in the
past two Congresses.
Mr. Chairman, we have been engaged in a collegial process
to develop a bipartisan committee product in which I believe we
may all take pride. I want to commend Chairman Boehlert and
Chairman Smith for both of you and your willingness to work
cooperatively with Democratic members and thank you for
bringing up the legislation before the Subcommittee today. I
look forward to seeing it reported to the Full Committee and to
the House. Thank you.
Chairman Smith. The Chair is glad to recognize the sponsor
of the bill and the Chairman of our Science Committee.
Chairman Boehlert. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. This
is an important day for this Committee because in addition to
our normal work of having a positive impact on the shaping of
public policy overall in the science arena, we have made it
clear right from the beginning of this year that we are going
to be players in the arena as we deal with shaping education,
energy, and environmental policy. And today we are fulfilling a
part of that commitment.
We are making up two excellent bipartisan bills that
demonstrate the commitment we made at the beginning of the year
that the Science Committee would be an important, productive
contributor to the effort to improve education. Both these
bills draw on the strengths of the NationalScience Foundation
to shore up science and math education in ways that would be difficult
for other agencies to accomplish. I think NSF is uniquely positioned to
make a significant contribution.
The fundamental purpose of the bills is to insure that we
are drawing on the expertise and resources of higher education
and of businesses to improve K through 12 education. And in
this instance I would urge my colleagues on the other side of
the Capitol to take note of what we are doing here. The
Manager's Amendment reflects a model, bipartisan agreement that
improves the bill and incorporates aspects of legislation
introduced by you, Mr. Chairman, by the Ranking Member, Ms.
Johnson, by Ms. Woolsey among others.
The point I wish to stress is that every step of the way in
this process there has been no divide at the center in this
room. Republicans and Democrats have worked cooperatively to
fashion this package.
Once again, I would urge my colleagues on the other side of
the Capitol to take note of what we are doing here. I am
delighted that we have been able to accomplish this in such a
bipartisan fashion.
And I also want to make note of something else that is in
the package. We reauthorized the Noyce Scholarship Program.
That is something that Senator Rockefeller and I several years
ago were able to get passed by the Congress and signed into
law. It was great because we authorized money for stipends for
the best and the brightest in math and science and engineering
in our undergraduate programs to incentivise them to go into
teaching in public education.
The problem is, and this often happens on the Hill, the
authorization was there, and we all applauded. The
appropriations never followed. We are going to be persevering
as we go forward to try to make certain we also get the money
to match--the wallet to match the will, if you will.
So let me say to everyone in this room associated with this
package, job well done, and let us continue. Thank you very
much, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and without
objection all members may place opening statements in the
record.
We will now consider H.R. 1858 and--for the first reading
of the bill, and I would ask unanimous consent that the bill be
considered read and open to amendment at any time. Without
objection it is so ordered. We will move to the first amendment
on the bill and which the--is the Manager's Amendment offered
by myself and Representative Johnson.
And I would ask unanimous consent that the amendment be
considered en Bloc. Without objection it is so ordered.
The clerk will read the amendment.
Madam Clerk. Amendment to H.R. 1858.
Chairman Smith. That is enough. I would ask for unanimous
consent that the amendment be considered read. Thank you very
much. Without objection it is ordered.
I recognize myself for five minutes to explain this
bipartisan amendment.
This amendment has been worked out with the--both
Republicans and Democrats, and Ms. Johnson has agreed to
cosponsor it. I know members and staff have had an opportunity
to review the amendment so I will just try to summarize some of
the highlights briefly.
Title III has been expanded to include an EducationResearch
Teacher Fellowship Program, a provision originally included in my
education research legislation. This program similar to the Teacher
Research Scholarship Program in Title I focuses on creating
opportunities for elementary and secondary teachers to pursue research
on learning in university laboratories and elsewhere with a goal of
helping bridge the gap between the basic research and the classroom.
The amendment would authorize $5 million to NSF to carry
out this section. The amendment also modifies the Robert Noyce
Scholarship Provisions of the original bill by changing the
penalty assessed on the scholarship recipients who don't
complete the teaching service requirement.
In addition the amendment adds the Mathematics and Science
Proficiency Partnerships Program originally introduced by our
Ranking Member Ms. Johnson, a measure this Committee passed
last year.
It also adds a provision authorizing articulation
partnerships between community colleges and secondary schools,
assessment of in-service teacher professional development
programs, and educational technology research centers.
Again, this is a bipartisan amendment, and I am pleased to
be joined by my Ranking Member in offering it. Now I would like
to yield to Ms. Johnson for any comment she may have on the
amendment.
Ms. Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to join
you in offering this bipartisan amendment to H.R. 1858 and
incorporates substantial portions of H.R. 1693, the Democratic
Science Education Bill, introduced by Ranking Member Hall.
H.R. 1693, in turn, contains a range of provisions from the
Democratic members that have appeared at separate bills and
legislative proposals before the Committee during the last
Congress.
I want to commend the collegial process through which this
amendment was developed. I believe we all approach this matter
with an appreciation of the importance of finding creative and
effective ways to address the serious deficiencies that now
exist in K through 12 science and math education.
The Manager's Amendment and underlying bill comprise of a
range of proposals from several members on both sides of the
aisle on ways to improve teacher training, to attract more
talented students to careers as science and math teachers, and
to develop more effective education materials and teaching
practices to improve student learning.
It also authorizes new research programs to improve the
scientific bases for teacher techniques and education
materials, as well as to determine the effectiveness of new
education approaches on student performance.
Mr. Chairman, I want to congratulate you and Chairman
Boehlert for your hard work in developing this amendment and
bringing the measure forward to a markup today. I want to
acknowledge the efforts of Ranking Member Hall in developing
1693 and my colleagues on this side of the aisle who
contributed provisions to this bill.
I am particularly pleased that the Manager's Amendment
incorporates the Math and Science Proficiency Partnership Act,
H.R. 1660, which I introduced this year and in the past two
Congresses. My legislation is a targeted measure. It seeks to
bring schools with large populations of economically-
disadvantaged students together in partnership with businesses
to improve math and science education and to recruit and
support students in undergraduate education in science and
technology fields.
The components of the partnership will include support from
the National Science Foundation to the schools for teacher
training, educational materials, and equipment. Industry will
provide support for college scholarships for promising
students, job site mentoring, and internship programs and
donations of computer software and hardware. The overall effect
of the partnerships would be to encouragesupport from promising
students from undergraduate--underrepresented groups in pursuing
careers in science and engineering. And I want to urge my colleagues to
support the Manager's Amendment.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Smith. Thank you, Congresswoman Johnson, and our
compliments to you also and all the members. Is there any
additional discussion? If not, the vote----
Mr. Honda. Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Smith. Mr. Honda. Yes.
Mr. Honda. Thank you. I would like to move to strike the
last word and----
Chairman Smith. Please proceed with your comments.
Mr. Honda. Okay. Thank you. As a former science teacher,
Mr. Chair, I am thrilled that this Subcommittee is marking up
legislation that will improve the quality of science and math
education in our schools.
I haven't been in our schools for many years as a teacher.
I understand that America's teachers are in great need of
technology training as well as new and challenging curriculum.
And I have been working on two proposals that I believe address
these needs in part.
First I would like to see more qualified college students
in our schools assisting teachers to better integrate
technology in our classroom curriculum.
And second, in the midst of this terrible energy crisis I
think that we need to renew our effort to educate our children
on energy conservation and renewable energies. We need to
prepare them to be smart and critical energy consumers.
I am working with the Majority to develop these ideas into
amendments to H.R. 1858, and I also appreciate the willingness
of the Chair and the Majority to work with me on this effort.
And I look forward to developing more concrete language that we
all can agree to.
And let me just also recognize that I do believe that our
Committees here is truly working in a bipartisan manner, and I
sincerely appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Chairman Smith. Thank you, Mr. Honda. Mr. Etheridge.
Mr. Etheridge. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be brief but
let me thank you and the--all the folks who have worked on this
because I think it is important. One of the pieces that I am
very pleased to see in here because I think all of us
understand that if we are going to improve math and science
education, we have to do a much better job of in-service
training because the challenge of getting new people in is
always going to be a challenge. But the real critical piece to
improve it and do it quickly certainly at the high school level
is how well we do for the in-service for the people we already
have there. And this partnership that is going to be able to be
developed here between higher education and the public schools
I think will add an awful lot to enhancing and enriching and
moving that along much more rapidly.
And I thank you and commend the bill.
Chairman Smith. We appreciate your comments. Your
experience in education and as superintendent of schools for
North Carolina is appreciated as we move ahead on the bill.
Other discussion? If not, the vote occurs on the amendment. All
in favor will signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, no. In
the opinion of the Chair the ayes have it, and the amendment is
agreed to.
Are there any further amendments?
Ms. Johnson. Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Smith. Hearing none the question is on the bill,
H.R. 1858 as amended. Are you ready to vote? All those in favor
will say aye. Aye. All those opposed say no. The ayes have it,
and you might have to--Ms. Johnson, did you want to make a
comment?
Ms. Johnson. I was just going to move that we----
Chairman Smith. Oh, yes. The motion. Okay. Good.
Ms. Johnson. Mr. Chairman, I move that theSubcommittee
favorably report the bill, H.R. 1858, as amended to the Full Committee
with the recommendation that it be an order for the bill as amended by
Subcommittee and incorporate it into an amendment in the nature of a
substitute for consideration as an original bill for the purpose of
amendment under the five-minute rule at Full Committee.
Further, I ask unanimous consent that the staff be
instructed to make all necessary technical and conforming
changes to the bill as amended in accordance with the
recommendations of the Subcommittee.
Chairman Smith. The Committee has heard the motion. Those
in favor will say aye. Aye. Those opposed no. The ayes have it,
and the Chair notes the presence of a quorum. Now we will
consider--oh, thank you, Peter. Without objection the motion to
reconsider is laid on the table. The----
[H.R. 1858 follows:]
XXII. Proceedings of Full Committee Markup
H.R. 1858, NATIONAL MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE PARTNERSHIPS ACT
----------
JUNE 13, 2001
House of Representatives,
Committee on Science,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:05 a.m., in Room
2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Sherwood L.
Boehlert (chairman of the committee) presiding.
Chairman Boehlert. Meeting will come to order. The first
order of business is to welcome back Mr. Gilchrest to the
Committee. By order of the Republican caucus of the House
Committee on Science, Mr. Gilchrest will fill the vacancy on
the Environment, Technology, and Standards Subcommittee.
Without objection, so ordered. The Committee on Science will be
in order. Pursuant to notice, the Committee on Science is
meeting today to consider the following measures. H.R. 1858,
National Mathematics and Science Partnerships Act, and H.R.
100, National Science Education Act. I ask unanimous consent
for the authority to recess the Committee at any point and
without objection, so ordered. I ask unanimous consent for the
substitutes to H.R. 1858 and H.R. 100, as adopted by the
Subcommittee on Research on June 7, 2001, be considered as
original text for the purpose of the Markup at Full Committee
today.
Committee on Science
Washington, DC, June 7, 2001.
memorandum
To: Sherwood L. Boehlert, Chairman.
From: Nick Smith, Chairman, Subcommittee on Research.
Re Subcommittee Mark-up of H.R. 1858.
On June 7, 2001, the Subcommittee on Research held a mark-up of
H.R. 1858, National Mathematics and Science Partnerships Act. A
Manager's Amendment was offered by Mr. Smith and Ms. Johnson and was
adopted by a voice vote.
Attached for your information is a section by section analysis and
a copy of the measure.
Chairman Boehlert. Hearing no objections, so ordered.
The Committee will now consider H.R. 1858. I want to
welcome everyone to today's Science Committee's first Full
Committee markup of this Congress. I'm going to keep my remarks
brief because I would like swift, smooth markups to be one of
the Committee's hallmarks. When I was privileged to become
Chairman of this Committee in January, I said that we would
strive to have an impact on key issues facing the country.
Specifically, education, energy policy and the environment. I
also said I hoped we would work in a bipartisan fashion that
would be a model for the entire Congress. With the help of my
colleagues and the Committee staff on both sides of the aisle,
today, we are carrying through on those pledges.
Chairman Boehlert. We have before us two thoughtful,
innovative, bipartisan bills that should have a significant
impact on improving pre-college education. Both my bill and Dr.
Ehlers' bill are designed to ensure that the resources and
expertise of higher education and the business community are
brought to bear on K through 12 education. And both bills
recognize that the most essential element of education is
ensuring that we have the brightest, most creative, best
prepared teachers in our nation's classrooms. Everything else
is just icing on the cake.
Both bills have benefited from guidance on both sides of
the aisle. My bill, for example, builds on the recommendations
of President Bush, who in his budget, recognized the important
education role of the National Science Foundation and of
partnerships.
It also includes a number of proposals that originated with
Committee Democrats and were included in Mr. Hall's education
package, H.R. 1653. And it includes my proposal of the Noyce
Scholarships, which the concept was developed several years ago
on a bipartisan basis with Senator Rockefeller. This is
designed to attract top math and science majors into teaching.
This is the way to pull together an education bill. Reach
across the aisle, avoid ideological disputation, stick to
practical ways the Federal Government can catalyze reform. I
hope we can stick to these principles when we report out an
energy bill next month.
At any rate, H.R. 1858 and H.R. 100 are bills everyone on
this Committee can be proud of and, most important, they should
make a difference to America's students. H.R. 1858 has already
been endorsed by a number of education groups and more will be
signing on in the coming weeks. There is already bipartisan
interest in the bill in the Senate. And we expect to bring this
bill to the floor rapidly, where it should pass easily.
So these bills are not just statements of position or
rhetorical exercises. We expect them to become law. And we will
work with the appropriators and the National Science Foundation
to see that they begin helping America's students as soon as
possible.
Before turning to Mr. Hall, just let me say, I'd like to
congratulate the excellent work of the very able professional
staff, Republican and Democrat alike. We are all in this
together and you have done us proud. Mr. Hall?
[Statement of Ralph M. Hall follows:]
Opening Statement of Hon. Ralph Hall
Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to join you in support of this important
legislation to strengthen science and mathematics education in the
nation's schools.
I congratulate you for placing science education high on the
Committee's agenda for this year and for taking the steps necessary to
move this legislation forward.
The bill before the Committee is the result of bipartisan effort.
It is composed of several programs and activities authorized for
the National Science Foundation. I believe the extensive hearing record
the Committee has compiled over the past three years provides ample
support for the provisions of the bill.
The Democratic Members of the Committee have separately developed
several legislative proposals to improve K-12 science and math
education. In addition, with their help, I developed a comprehensive
education bill, HR 1693, which I introduced earlier this year.
I am pleased that many of the programs an activities set out in
these Democratic bills are included in the Committee markup vehicle
before us.
In particular, I would like to highlight the programs incorporated
from HR 1693 that explore ways to effectively use educational
technologies in the classroom. The emphasis is on determining the
techniques and approaches that lead to improved student performance, so
that schools will know which approaches actually work and are worth the
substantial investments involved in implementing them.
Also, the markup vehicle incorporates programs from HR 1693 to
encourage and support women and minorities in pursuing careers in
science and engineering. The changing composition of the nation's
workforce makes it essential that the talents of all segments of
society are fully developed and utilized.
We will soon consider a managers' amendment, which I am co-
sponsoring with the Chairman, that incorporates several additional
provisions championed by Democratic Members.
Mr. Chairman, I want to acknowledge the collegial process through
which this bipartisan legislation has been developed. And, I want to
congratulate Chairman Nick Smith and Ranking Member Eddie Bernice
Johnson of the Research Subcommittee for their efforts to develop the
bill.
Finally, I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your willingness to
work cooperatively with Democratic Members to develop this legislation,
and for bringing it before the Committee today.
Mr. Hall. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. And I am, of
course, pleased to join you in support of this very important
legislation to strengthen science and mathematics education in
the nation's school. And I admire the way that you are running
this Committee. I have some problems, though, I know there is
going to be a time when your unanimous consent requests are
going to be more interesting when we get to energy. I want to
wait and see exactly how you handle that. I congratulate you,
of course, for placing science education on the Committee's
agenda for this year. And you have done that. You have put it
up front. And I think that is where it belongs. And that is
what our President has indicated, his interest in education and
furthering some areas of improvement of this very important
facet of our Nation's economy and our Nation's future.
The bill before the Committee is a result, as you say, of
bipartisan effort that is composed of several programs and
activities authorized for the National Science Foundation. I
think the extensive hearing record that the Committee compiled
over the last 3 years, which, Mr. Chairman, you have been here
and been a part of, provides ample support for the provisions
of the bill. And that may be another reason why we will slide
right on through this presentation today and I think you have
deadened the timber over in the Senate for it and that is an
admirable thing to do.
The Democratic members of the Committee have separately
developed some legislative proposals to improve K-12 science
and math education. In addition to their help, we have
developed a comprehensive education bill, H.R. 1693, which as
the Chairman has said, I introduced earlier this year. I am
pleased that many of the programs and activities set out in
these Democratic bills are included in the Committee Markup
vehicle before us today. In particular, I would like to
highlight the programs incorporated from H.R. 1693 that explore
ways to effectively use educational technologies in the
classroom. Now, the emphasis is on determining the techniques
and approaches that lead to improve student performance. So
that helps schools to know which approaches actually work. And
I think they are worth the substantial investments that are
involved and it is good to know that they understand this to
the point that they will use those investments involved in
implementing them.
Also, the Markup vehicle incorporates programs from H.R.
1693 to encourage and support women and minorities in pursuing
careers in science and engineering.
And, Mr. Chairman, with all the talk of opening up our
borders to bring people in from oversees to man the positions
of labor and even management and skilled people that they are
talking about increasing immigration for that, I think that
points up the importance of the changing composition of the
Nation's workforce. Make it very essential that all segments of
society are fully developed and fully utilized. And that way,
we are going to have to rely less on having those from other
countries come to take these very important jobs that we are
supporting here.
Mr. Hall. So we will soon consider a Manager's Amendment,
which I have co-sponsored with the Chairman that incorporates
several additional provisions, championed by members from both
sides. Mr. Chairman, I acknowledge the affordable process
through which this legislation has been developed. And I want
to congratulate chairman Nick Smith and Ranking Member Eddie
Bernice Johnson of the Research Subcommittee for their efforts
to develop this bill.
And finally, Mr. Chairman, I want to, once again, thank you
for your willingness to work cooperatively with Democratic
Members to develop this legislation and for bringing it before
the Committee today. I yield back my time.
Chairman Boehlert. Thank you very much for those kind
remarks, Mr. Hall. Without objection, all members may place
opening statements in the record at this point. I ask unanimous
consent that the bill be considered as read and open to
amendment at any point. And I ask members to proceed with the
statements in the order on the roster.
Opening Statement of Hon. Bob Etheridge
Thank you Mr. Chairman for recognizing me. One of the most
difficult challenges we face today is getting well trained and
qualified science and math teachers in every classroom. One of
the pieces that I am very pleased to see in this bill is an
amendment that directs the National Science Foundation to
establish a program to improve the undergraduate education and
in-service professional development of science and mathematics
teachers in elementary and secondary school.
As the former Superintendent of Schools in North Carolina,
I have worked for many years to improve science and math
education in our schools. We need better-qualified teachers in
our K-12 science and math classrooms. There is a need for
teacher enhancement and professional development for current
teachers. Our teachers are not being adequately prepared in
both the content and the techniques of teaching. At the very
root of our problems is Teacher Preparation. In the long run,
we would benefit more if we allocate resources to invest more
in the undergraduate preparation of teachers.
There is growing recognition that the success of nearly any
effort to improve the academic performance of America's
students depends critically upon their teachers' mastery of
subject matter and their ability to teach it. The way to lift
student achievement is to ensure that we have a qualified
teacher in every classroom. Therefore, if America is to improve
its public schools, teacher preparation and enhancement must
become the first priority of education reform. I am pleased
this bill takes several steps in that direction.
Last year, I introduced a similar measure as an amendment
to the bill the Science Committee has passed but that was never
enacted. This year I expanded on that effort in the Hall bill
and I am pleased H.R. 1858 builds on this function to
strengthen science education in America.
I urge adoption of this bill.
------
Opening Statement of Hon. Michael M. Honda
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Let me begin by thanking Chairmen Boehlert and Smith, as well as
Ranking Members Hall and Johnson, for creating a climate of
inclusiveness and cooperation. This bill and its expeditious passage
will be a testament to the great work that can be accomplished when
both sides of the aisle work together.
I ask for recognition today because there are two provisions within
the Manager's Amendment that I have offered.
The first provision authorizes the National Science Foundation to
provide grants to undergraduate and graduate students that go into our
schools for the express purpose of assisting our teachers better
utilize computers.
It was once conventional wisdom that if we merely put computers in
classrooms, the quality of our children's education would dramatically
improve. No doubt, our schools are better because of the presence of
computers, but we have learned in these few short years, that our
teachers must be better trained and assisted if we are to maximize the
use of computers and the Internet in schools.
Many of our nation's undergraduate and graduate students have
expertise in computer science. We need to draw on this wealth of
expertise, as well as the altruism and idealism that so many of young
people harbor.
By coupling the specific needs of our school systems with the
energy and intellect of some of the brightest people in our academic
institutions, we can better begin to prepare our children with the high
tech skills they need to navigate, adapt and succeed in the Knowledge
Economy.
But the challenges our children face will not be relegated to the
career world. For example, our children, one day, will address the same
energy challenges that we face today.
Future generations of Americans will need to continue the important
work of creating a balanced energy portfolio on which our country can
rely and prosper.
That is why I have included language in the Manager's Amendment
that would make more explicit NSF's responsibility to encourage the
development of energy curriculum for primary and secondary school
children.
In the midst of an energy crisis that is wreaking great havoc on
the Western states, our nation is giving more thought and consideration
to the important role that energy conservation and renewable energies
can play in our energy portfolio.
It will be important to tap our children into this discussion as
early as possible, so that when they purchase homes, cars and
dishwashers, they will be smart energy consumers. We must not pass onto
our children the myth that fossil fuels are the only reliable and
abundant source of energy for the United States.
My hope and expectation is that, one day, every school in America
will offer students an energy curriculum that accurately reflects, not
only the great energy demands we will face in coming years, but also
the extraordinary resources that might be available to us if only we
invest ourselves in them. I speak of wind and solar energy, as well as
biomass and geothermal.
Such a curriculum must also speak to the great benefits of energy
conservation. As a California Member of Congress, I understand the
importance of conservation, but implementing such a system is not easy.
It requires educating the public, so let's start early * * * let's
teach our children to think more about the amount of energy they use.
Again, I'm pleased that these provisions have been included in the
Manager's Amendment and I look forward to the Amendment's passage.
As a former science teacher, principal and school board member, I'm
extraordinarily pleased that this Committee is marking up such a
strong, bipartisan science education bill that, in my opinion, will
better prepare our children for future challenges and opportunities.
Thank you.
______
Opening Statement of Hon. James A. Barcia
Thank you Ranking Member Hall. I also wish to thank Chairman
Boehlert for his willingness to work with me in such a bipartisan
manner to craft this portion of the Manager's Amendment.
My provision in this manager's amendment incorporates much of H.R.
1889, the Educational Technology Utilization Extension Assistance Act,
a bill I introduced, along with my colleagues David Wu and Mark Udall.
This section directs the National Science Foundation to work with the
Department of Education to create educational technology extension
centers.
The focus on these centers is to advise and assist local K-12
schools to better utilize and integrate their existing educational
technology infrastructure into their curriculum and classroom, as well
as help schools evaluate their need for new information technologies.
This provision addresses a problem identified by school
administrators, independent educational organizations and scores of
teachers, that more support resources are needed to maximize the use of
technology in the classroom.
Education technology centers will enhance the services provided by
those who are currently providing assistance to teachers, like local
intermediate school districts. Where this type of technical advice is
not available, this legislation would initiate this important effort.
Mr. Chairman, there simply are not enough hours in the day for our
teachers to meet the demands placed on them in the classroom and to
take the time needed to research all of the new technologies available
for their students.
I believe by establishing centers dedicated solely to provide
teachers with information and training to effectively utilize available
technology, we will allow teachers to provide their students with the
resources necessary to equip them for the 21st century.
I urge my colleagues to support the adoption of this manager's
amendment.
______
Opening Statement of Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee
Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you and Ranking Member Ralph
Hall for this opportunity to markup, H.R. 1858, which would make
improvements in mathematics and science education in our nation, and
H.R. 100, the National Science and Education Act. These bills are long
overdue and are much needed in ensuring that we have adequate numbers
of trained scientists and mathematicians for the technological and
economic challenges of tomorrow.
H.R. 1858 offers support to current teachers and help to recruit
and retain new teachers who are trained and accredited to teach math
and science.
In order to accomplish the goals of this legislation it would
create new approaches for the Nations Science Foundation (NSF) to take
in building a stronger and more diverse repository of mathematics and
science trained teachers. The long range goal is to provide instruction
in math and science by teachers who are trained in those areas, and
through this effort increase the number of students who pursue math and
science undergraduate and graduate degrees.
It is my goal along with the committee's to create a public
education system that would develop a technologically capable workforce
that can compete in the global economy.
Toward this end, I have offered several amendments to H.R. 1858.
The first amendment directs that the National Digital Library contain
information about electronic links to materials that educators may
access. The second amendment requires that research center awards focus
on research and development of educational practices designed to
improve the academic performance of a broad range of students including
those from underrepresented groups.
Through the committee hearing process on these particular bills the
groups that are underrepresented have been identified as African
Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and women.
The last amendment directs that the NSF provide information on the
awarding of Robert Noyce Scholarships. As a result of this amendment
the NSF will be required to collect relevant statistically and
demographic data on scholarship recipients and information on the
locations at which scholarship recipients carry out their teaching
requirement. This report is required by year 7 of the program assessing
its impact on drawing math and science students into teaching careers,
including students from underrepresented groups.
I thank the Chair and committee members for their consideration of
these amendments and look forward to their inclusion in the final bill
sent to the House by this committee.
Thank you.
The first amendment on the roster is the Manager's
Amendment, offered by the Ranking Minority Member, Mr. Hall and
myself. I ask unanimous consent that the Manager's Amendment be
considered En Bloc. Without objection, so ordered. Clerk will
report the amendment.
Ms. Clerk. En Block amendments to H.R. 1858, offered by Mr.
Boehlert and Mr. Hall.
Chairman Boehlert. I ask unanimous consent to dispense with
the reading. Without objection, so ordered. I recognize myself
for a couple of minutes to explain the Amendment. This
Amendment, which I am offering with Mr. Hall, reflects a
negotiated bipartisan agreement. Let me stress. It reflects a
negotiated bipartisan agreement. It includes versions of
proposals initially made by Mr. Akin, Mrs. Morella, Mr. Honda,
Mr. Matheson, Ms. Jackson Lee, Mr. Larson and Mr. Barcia, as
well as some technical changes. Similarly, by the way, the
Manager's Amendment at Subcommittee included version of
proposals by Mr. Smith of Michigan, Ms. Johnson of Texas and
Mr. Hall. I think the sponsors of the various amendments will
explain their portions of it, so I won't belabor those items
now.
Let me just say that I appreciate the willingness of the
minority to negotiate the content of the amendments. And I
think the bill is stronger for those provisions being added.
The amendments are consistent with the philosophy and structure
of the underlying bill and will ensure that all students will
benefit from having better teachers and from having and making
better use of information technology, thanks to these
amendments.
I now recognize Mr. Hall to offer his comments on the
bipartisan amendment.
Mr. Hall. Mr. Chairman, thank you. I am pleased to join you
in offering this bipartisan amendment to the Markup vehicle for
H.R. 1858. The amendment, I might point out, also, includes
several new provisions advanced by Mr. Honda, Mr. Matheson and
Mrs. Jackson Lee, but I will defer to them, as you have done,
for their explanation of their provisions. I want to thank you
for working with us in this manner. And I urge your colleagues
to support the Manager's Amendment. I yield back my time.
Chairman Boehlert. Is there any further discussion? If no,
the vote occurs on the amendment. All in favor----
Ms. Morella. Mr. Chairman--Mr. Chairman?
Chairman Boehlert. All right. Ms. Morella?
Ms. Morella. I would love to have an opportunity to thank
you and Ranking Member Hall for moving in such a bipartisan
manner this important bill.
[Statement of Constance A. Morella:]
Opening Statement of Hon. Constance A. Morella
Mr. Chairman, I want to personally thank you for pushing this
legislation and holding this markup. The future of our educational
enterprise is of paramount importance to our continued prosperity. I
don't believe that it is an exaggeration to suggest that today's effort
will be among the most important work this committee does this session.
Members of this committee are keenly aware of our nation's
lackluster performance in the most recent TIMSS, TIMSS-R, and NAEP
reports. Perhaps most disturbing, data from the fourth through twelfth
grades suggest that our students grow further behind our international
counterparts the longer they are in school. In many cases, even our
strongest districts lag behind international averages. For example,
while I took some pride in learning that Montgomery County soundly beat
the national average in both math and science, we still lagged Eastern
and European powerhouses. This situation is quite simply unacceptable.
H.R. 1858 and H.R. 100 do a number of things to address these
problems. We need to recruit better teachers and provide additional
training to the ones we have. Teachers, like most professionals in
opportunities for continuous development. Education is not a static
discipline; our needs and therefore the requirements of our teachers
are constantly changing as technology advances. Our methodologies need
to change with them. These bills will provide grants for the
development of current teachers, scholarships for math and science
majors who go into teaching, funds to provide master teachers, and
other initiatives to improve the quality of our math and science
instructors.
In addition, we need to provide opportunities for traditionally
underrepresented groups to excel in math and science related fields.
Bureau of Labor Statistics tell us that careers in science,
engineering, and technology are booming and over the next few years we
will need to fill over 5 million new jobs in high-tech specialty
occupations. To meet this demand, we will need participation from all
sectors of our workforce. Yet, according to a report by the
Congressional Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in
Science, Engineering, and Technology Development, women, minorities,
and persons with disabilities still eschew technical occupations. They
are severely underrepresented in scientific disciplines and while they
represent the fastest growing segment of the workforce, they are not
going into technical careers at an appreciable rate. If we are to meet
the future demand for a highly skilled workforce, we must find ways to
tap into these groups.
These bills would also address this important issue. They contain
programs and language specifically geared towards the recruitment and
retention of qualified individuals from these underrepresented groups.
I am thrilled that these proposals have been included in this
legislation and I thank the Chairman and the Committee for prioritizing
the need to strengthen the technology pipeline. Both bills that we are
considering today will make great strides in accomplishing this goal.
Ms. Morella. As the most recent TIMSS and TIMSS-R and NAEP
reports have shown, the quality of the U.S. science and math
education continues to lack the results that we expect from
American students. Fresh ideas and new approaches are
desperately needed. By working together under your leadership,
we are able to implement some important reforms.
H.R. 1858 addresses many of the concerns outlined in the
Glenn Commission Report entitled, Before It's Too Late.
Particularly with regard to teacher preparation. I served on
that Glenn Commission. We explored ways for teachers to access
professional development programs, to meet the ever-growing
needs of our students and our S.E.T. work force. And this bill
will establish ways to recruit more science and math
professionals into the classroom and to make sure our
children's instructors are trained in the specific subject
areas they will be teaching, while improving teacher
incentives.
I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman and the Committee staff,
for working with me to include my amendment in Section 706E,
Learning Community Consortium. This grant was developed from
recommendations of the Commission on the Advancement of Women,
Minorities and Individuals with Disabilities in science,
engineering and technology and will enable a consortium of
community colleges to establish a pilot project. The report
reflects the important role of community colleges in preparing
the high-tech employees of the future. When we look at nearly
45 percent of all U.S. undergraduates currently enrolled in
community colleges, a majority of whom came from traditionally
underrepresented groups in the science, engineering and
technology fields--I recall Eileen Collins, even, was a product
of community colleges.
As we recognize that diversity in science and math, it is
necessary for our future success that these institutions not be
left out. Unfortunately, in a competitive world of merit
review, these institutions generally are left behind, funds
tend to gravitate toward traditional programs and traditional
ideas. But our efforts need to be all encompassing and reflect
a true diversity of students.
Community colleges generally have strong local ties and a
proven history of providing a qualified local work force in
communities around the nation and fostering the types of
partnerships sought after in this legislation.
So Mr. Chairman, I'm enthusiastically supporting this
legislation. I want to thank you, Ranking Member Hall, the
Committee, the Staff, for prioritizing the need to strengthen
the technology pipeline.
Both bills that we are going to be looking at today are
accomplishing that goal and will make great strides. Thank you,
Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Chariman Boehlert. Thank you very much, Mrs. Morella. And
thank you for the role you have played in your important
Subcommittee and you are always there and we appreciate it.
And another one that we appreciate her valuable input is
Ms. Woolsey, who was particularly helpful at the Subcommittee
level. The Chair now recognizes the distinguished colleague
from California.
[Statement of Lynn C. Woolsey follows:]
Statement of Hon. Lynn Woolsey
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the time to speak in support of H.R.
1858. And, I'd like to commend you for your efforts in bringing this
bill together in a true bipartisan manner. That's the mark of a
legislative success and a reason why it's such a pleasure to serve on
the Science Committee.
This bill can also be considered a success because it's a strong
blueprint to further science education in our country. As a member of
both the House Education and Science Committees, I'm quite aware of the
challenges that our students and schools face in this area. We also
know that having a properly educated workforce in the math and science
fields is a major priority of employers across the country, especially
in the hi-tech arena.
Mr. Chairman, it's also quite clear that there is no way that
America can truly have a technically competent workforce if the
majority of our students--females--don't study science, math,
engineering, or technology. That's why I'm glad that we were able to
work together to ensure that this bill addresses this important issue.
The ``Science Enrichment Programs for Girls,'' which is based on my
bill--H.R. 1636 and on H.R. 1693--will authorize N.S.F. to fund
programs in elementary and secondary schools that encourage the ongoing
interest of girls in science, math, engineering, and technology. It
will provide a way for girls to gain both the practical advice and the
vision they need to pursue undergraduate, graduate or careers in these
fields.
In turn, this will help create a bold new workforce of energized
young women. This means that companies will be able to hire the workers
they need right here in America, because, the fifty percent of our
population which is now turning away from careers in science, math,
engineering and technology, will get the education they need to fill
those jobs.
This important provision is one reason I encourage my colleagues,
on both sides of the aisle, to join me in supporting this bill.
Thank you. I yield back my time.
Ms. Woolsey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you. I,
too, want to support H.R. 1858. And I want to compliment you on
your efforts at bringing this bill together in a truly
bipartisan manner. That is why I like serving on this Committee
so very much. We actually get things done.
This bill can be considered a success because it is a
strong, strong blueprint to further scientific education in our
country. And as a member of both the House Education and
Science Committees, as is Congressman Ehlers, we are very aware
of the challenges that our students and schools face in this
area of science, math and technology. We also know that having
a properly educated workforce in these fields is a major
priority of employers across the country. Especially in the
high-tech arena.
Mr. Chairman, it is also quite clear that there is no way
that America can truly have a technically competent work force
if the majority of our students, females, don't study science,
math, engineering and technology. That is why I am glad that we
are able to work together to ensure that this bill addresses
this important issue.
The Science Enrichment Programs for girls, which is based
on my bill, H.R. 1636, and was also in Mr. Hall's bill, H.R.
1693, will authorize National Science Foundation to fund
programs in elementary and secondary schools that encourage the
ongoing interests of girls in science, math and technology. It
will provide a way for girls to gain both the practical advice
and the vision they need to pursue undergraduate, graduate or
careers in these fields.
In turn, this will help create a bold new work force of
energized young women. Which means that companies will be able
to hire the workers they need right here in America because the
50 percent of our population which is now turning away from
careers in these fields, will get the education they need so
that they can, if they choose, fill these jobs.
This important provision is one reason I encourage my
colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in supporting
the bill. But there are many, many other reasons, as well.
Thank you.
Chairman Boehlert. Thank you very much. Anyone else who
seeks recognition?
Mr. Barcia. Mr. Chairman, this is on the Amendment. Is that
correct?
Chariman Boehlert. That is correct. The Manager's
Amendment. Mr. Barcia.
[Statement of James A. Barcia follows:]
Statement of Hon. Jim Barcia
Thank you Chairman Boehlert and Ranking Member Hall. I also wish to
thank Chairman Boehlert for his willingness to work with me in such a
bipartisan manner to craft this portion of the Manager's Amendment.
My provision in this manager's amendment incorporates much of H.R.
1889, the Educational Technology Utilization Extension Assistance Act,
a bill I introduced, along with my colleagues David Wu and Mark Udall.
This section directs the National Science Foundation to work with the
Department of Education to create educational technology extension
centers.
The focus of these centers is to advise and assist local K-12
schools to better utilize and integrate their existing educational
technology infrastructure into their curriculum and classroom, as well
as help schools evaluate their need for new information technologies.
This provision addresses a problem identified by school
administrators, independent educational organizations and scores of
teachers, that more support resources are needed to maximize the use of
technology in the classroom.
Education technology centers will enhance the services provided by
those who are currently providing assistance to teachers, like local
intermediate school districts. Where this type of technical advice is
not available, this legislation would initiate this important effort.
Mr. Chairman, there simply are not enough hours in the day for our
teachers to meet the demands placed on them in the classroom and to
take the time needed to research all of the new technologies available
for their students.
I believe by establishing centers dedicated solely to providing
teachers with information and training to effectively utilize available
technology, we will allow teachers to provide their students with the
resources necessary to equip them for the 21st century.
I urge my colleagues to support the adoption of this manager's
amendment.
Mr. Barcia. Thank you, Chairman Boehlert. I also want to,
first of all, thank you for working together with Congressman
Ehlers and also Ranking Member Hall. I thank you for your
willingness to work together in a bipartisan manner to craft
this portion of the Manager's Amendment.
My provision in this Manager's Amendment incorporates much
of H.R. 1889, the Educational Technology, Utilization Extension
Assistance Act, a bill I introduced along with my colleagues,
David Wu and Mark Udall. This section directs the National
Science Foundation to work with the Department of Education to
create educational technology extension centers.
The focus of these centers is to advise and assist local K-
12 schools to better utilize and integrate their existing
educational technology infrastructure into their curriculum and
classroom. As well as help schools evaluate their need for new
information technologies.
This provision also addressed a problem identified by
school administrators, independent educational organizations
and scores of teachers that more support resources are needed
to maximize the use of technology in the classroom.
Education technology centers will enhance the services
provided by those who are currently providing assistance to
teachers, like local intermediate school districts. Where this
type of technical advice is not available, this legislation
would initiate this important effort.
Mr. Chairman, there simply are not enough hours in the day
for our teachers to meet the demands placed on them in the
classroom and to take the time needed to research all of the
new technologies available for their students.
I believe by establishing centers dedicated solely to
providing teachers with information and training to effectively
utilize available technology, we will allow teachers to provide
their students with the resources necessary to equip them for
the 21st Century.
And I would urge my colleagues to support the adoption of
the Manager's Amendment.
Chairman Boehlert. Thank you very much. Chair recognizes
Mr. Larson.
[Statement of John B. Larson follows:]
Statement of Hon. John B. Larson
Thank you Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee.
The United States currently finds itself at the apogee of its
wealth, power and influence--a fact that is attributable, in no small
part, to unprecedented innovation in the information technology
industry. As the former Chairman of the Science Committee, the
Gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Sensenbrenner, has stated in the past,
``maintaining the Nation's global leadership in information technology
will require keeping open the pipeline of new ideas, technologies, and
innovations * * * unless we act soon to bolster the technological
skills of our citizens, we risk losing our leadership.''
As access to computers and the ability to use technology
effectively are becoming increasingly important for full participation
in America's economic, political and social life, it becomes necessary
to become ever-more technologically fluent to stay competitive in a
globalized, and increasingly digital world.
My part of the Manager's amendment is simple: it allows the
National Science Foundation to--as Dr. George Strawn of the NSF, who
testified before the Science Committee last year--``[identify the] best
educational practices to provide educators and policy makers with tools
for using existing and evolving Internet technology more effectively as
a part of [the nation's] educational strategy.''
My amendment simply adds a new section to Title VII requiring the
National Science Foundation to conduct a study--with--subsequent yearly
updates--that identifies:
(1) The current status of high-speed, large bandwidth capacity
access to all public elementary and secondary schools and libraries in
the United States;
(2) How high-speed, large bandwidth capacity access to the Internet
to such schools and libraries can be MOST effectively utilized within
each school and library; and
(3) The effect that specific or regional circumstances may have on
these institutions' ability to acquire high-speed, large bandwidth
capacity access to achieve universal connectivity, which has become a
crucial tool in the education process.
It is essential that in order to prepare our public schools for the
21st century, we must rethink how our children's education is delivered
into the classrooms. This amendment would provide our schools with the
best data available from the some of the nation's top researchers to
help schools enter the 21st century by establishing the educational
pipeline--clearly, broadband--though which we can supply the energy
necessary to fuel the new digital economy.
Last year, I offered a similar amendment to H.R. 2086 that was
adopted by the House. Unfortunately, H.R. 2086 did not move in the
Senate and, therefore, efforts to review the impact of broadband
technologies in instructional settings have languished. I believe it is
imperative that we not forgo again the opportunity to study how we can
best provide our students these critical tools for learning in the 21st
century.
Lastly, I want to thank the Chairman, Mr. Boehlert, Mr. Ehlers, Mr.
Hall and the rest of the Members of the Committee for their hard work
and cooperation in bringing together their ideas into this common-sense
bill which, I believe, will go a long way towards accomplishing our
Nation's goals of maintaining our leading status in the world.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Larson. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Let me join
in the accolades for the outstanding job you have done in
bringing these amendments forward. I would also like to thank
Ranking Member Hall and Eddie Bernice Johnson and Mr. Smith and
Mr. Ehlers, as well, for their cooperation in truly putting
forward a bill that will go a long way towards addressing a
number of the concerns the members have on this Committee as it
relates to science and mathematics teaching within our public
school system.
Also, thank you for including an amendment that I have
offered that addresses a very specific issue of broad bandwidth
and the ability for our school systems to overcome some of the
problems that create the inequities between urban, suburban and
rural schools and their connectivity. I thank you again for
your leadership and appreciate the opportunity to have
participated in this----
Chairman Boehlert. Let me point out that we have a
reporting quorum here, so I would hope my colleagues would keep
their remarks brief. And furthermore, let me say, in response
to Mr. Barcia, it is not a willingness of the Chair to work on
a bipartisan basis. It is an obligation. And I take that
obligation seriously. Mr. Udall.
[Statement of Mark Udall follows:]
Statement of Hon. Mark Udall
I want to express particular support for Title IV in this bill.
Title IV sets up the Robert Noyce Scholarship program, which would
provide scholarships and programming designed to recruit and train
mathematics and science teachers. As you know, Mr. Chairman, I
introduced a similar bill earlier this year, which was incorporated
into Mr. Hall's Science Education for the 21st Century Act. I am very
glad you've incorporated provisions dealing with scholarships in this
package.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this bill. I'd like to recognize
my colleagues for their good work in putting together this manager's
amendment, and I'd like to recognize you for working with them to
include this amendment in your bill. Given its bipartisan support, I am
hopeful we'll be able to move this bill quickly through this Committee
and through the Congress and to the President for his signature.
Mr. Udall. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, want to join my
colleagues in thanking the leadership of the Committee under
your able leadership and Ranking Member Hall for bringing this
important legislation forward.
In particular, the--I want to express my support for Title
IV. Title IV sets up the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program,
which would provide scholarships and programming designed to
recruit and train mathematics and science teachers. As you
know, Mr. Chairman, I introduced a similar bill earlier this
year, which was incorporated into Mr. Hall's Science Education
for the 21st Century Act. I am very glad you have incorporated
provisions dealing with scholarships in this package. Again,
thank you, and I yield back my time.
Chairman Boehlert. Thank you very much. The Chair
recognizes Mr. Smith.
[Statement of Nick Smith follows:]
Opening Statement of Hon. Nick Smith
Last week the Subcommittee on Research had the opportunity to
markup the two pieces of legislation we'll consider today. I'm pleased
to report that we reached broad bipartisan agreement on the substance
of the bills and were able to report them unanimously to Full
Committee. In opening that markup I noted that both bills address an
issue that is at the heart of our national security and prosperity: the
math and science education we provide our children. We're in the midst
of a technological revolution that has driven our economy, improved our
productivity, and helped us live longer, healthier lives--a revolution
fueled in large part by our past investment in research and
development. But this research and development is, in turn, enabled by
the investments we make educating our children in math and science. The
two bills we reported take important steps to manage that investment.
I'm also pleased that the bills before us today represent the work
and input of many Members from both sides of the Research Subcommittee
and the Full Committee. I want to thank the Chairman for his
willingness to include provisions important to me and the other Members
of the Subcommittee in his bill, H.R. 1858, and particularly for his
inclusion of language establishing the Centers on Research on Learning
and Education and Education Research Teacher Fellowships that comprise
Title III that originally appeared in my Education Research
legislation. These provisions address the need to bridge the gap
between the basic research on how children learn and actual classroom
practice--a gap we've explored in several hearings before the
Subcommittee. As some of the witnesses at those hearings testified, the
``fire'' of interest within children for math and science is likely lit
at a young age. We need to do what we can to encourage this ``fire
starting'' in more classrooms nationwide.
I'm pleased to offer my support to the bills today and once again
thank Chairman Boehlert and Ranking Member Hall, as well as the Ranking
Member of the Research Subcommittee, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson, and
Rep. Vern Ehlers, the sponsor of H.R. 100, for bringing the bills this
far.
Mr. Smith. I hope all further comments can be limited to 60
seconds and I will try to do that. These bills passed our
Subcommittee last week. I said at that time that probably math
and science education is the great--is the second greatest
threat to national security of this country. Not only in
developing greater independence in energy, but energy that
defense technology, the economy, in general, and improving our
productivity and developing new products.
These two bills are going to move us ahead with hopefully,
the beginning of a greater determination to improve math and
science education in K through 12. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Boehlert. As Mark Negronsky used to say, you have
had the last word. And it is a good word. And I thank you very
much for the leadership you have demonstrated. We have a call
to the House right now. So I would like to proceed, if there
are no strenuous objections. Is there any further discussion?
If no, the vote occurs on the amendment. All in favor, say aye.
Opposed, No. The ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. Now,
there will be a motion to report the--are there any further
amendments? Hearing none, the question is on the bill H.R.
1858, National Mathematics and Science Partnership Act, as
amended. All those in favor, say aye. Opposed, no. In the
opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it. I will now recognize
Mr. Gordon for a motion.
Mr. Gordon. Mr. Chairman, I move the Committee favorably
report H.R. 1858 as amended to House with the recommendation
that the bill, as amended, do pass.
Furthermore, I move that the staff be instructed to prepare
the legislative report and make necessary technical and
conforming changes, that the Chairman take all necessary steps
to bring the bill before the House for consideration.
Chairman Boehlert. The Chair notes the presence of a
reporting quorum. The question is now on the motion to report
the bill favorably. Those in favor of the motion will signify
by saying aye. Opposed, no. The ayes have it. I move that
Members have 2 subsequent calendar days in which to submit
supplemental, minority or additional views on the measure. I
move pursuant to Cause one of Rule 22 of the Rules of the House
that the Committee authorized the Chairman to offer such
motions as may be necessary in the House to go to conference
with the Senate on the bill H.R. 1858 or a similar Senate bill.