[House Report 108-183]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



108th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    108-183

======================================================================



 
                       READY TO TEACH ACT OF 2003

                                _______
                                

 June 26, 2003.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

    Mr. Boehner, from the Committee on Education and the Workforce, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 2211]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

  The Committee on Education and the Workforce, to whom was 
referred the bill (H.R. 2211) to reauthorize title II of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965, having considered the same, 
report favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that 
the bill as amended do pass.
  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 ``Ready to Teach Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. TEACHER QUALITY ENHANCEMENT GRANTS.

  Part A of title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1021 et seq.) is amended to read as follows:

      ``PART A--TEACHER QUALITY ENHANCEMENT GRANTS FOR STATES AND 
                              PARTNERSHIPS

``SEC. 201. PURPOSES; DEFINITIONS.

  ``(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this part are to--
          ``(1) improve student academic achievement;
          ``(2) improve the quality of the current and future teaching 
        force by improving the preparation of prospective teachers and 
        enhancing professional development activities;
          ``(3) hold institutions of higher education accountable for 
        preparing highly qualified teachers; and
          ``(4) recruit qualified individuals, including minorities and 
        individuals from other occupations, into the teaching force.
  ``(b) Definitions.--In this part:
          ``(1) Arts and sciences.--The term `arts and sciences' 
        means--
                  ``(A) when referring to an organizational unit of an 
                institution of higher education, any academic unit that 
                offers 1 or more academic majors in disciplines or 
                content areas corresponding to the academic subject 
                matter areas in which teachers provide instruction; and
                  ``(B) when referring to a specific academic subject 
                matter area, the disciplines or content areas in which 
                academic majors are offered by the arts and science 
                organizational unit.
          ``(2) Exemplary teacher.--The term `exemplary teacher' has 
        the meaning given such term in section 9101 of the Elementary 
        and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
          ``(3) Highly qualified.--The term `highly qualified' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 9101 of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
          ``(4) High-need local educational agency.--The term `high-
        need local educational agency' means a local educational 
        agency--
                  ``(A)(i)(I) that serves not fewer than 10,000 
                children from families with incomes below the poverty 
                line; or
                  ``(II) for which not less than 25 percent of the 
                children served by the agency are from families with 
                incomes below the poverty line;
                  ``(ii) that is among those serving the highest number 
                or percentage of children from families with incomes 
                below the poverty line in the State, but this clause 
                applies only in a State that has no local educational 
                agency meeting the requirements of clause (i); or
                  ``(iii) with a total of less than 600 students in 
                average daily attendance at the schools that are served 
                by the agency and all of whose schools are designated 
                with a school locale code of 7, as determined by the 
                Secretary; and
                  ``(B)(i) for which there is a high percentage of 
                teachers not teaching in the academic subjects or grade 
                levels that the teachers were trained to teach; or
                  ``(ii) for which there is a high percentage of 
                teachers with emergency, provisional, or temporary 
                certification or licensing.
          ``(5) Poverty line.--The term `poverty line' means the 
        poverty line (as defined by the Office of Management and 
        Budget, and revised annually in accordance with section 673(2) 
        of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) 
        applicable to a family of the size involved.
          ``(6) Professional development.--The term `professional 
        development' has the meaning given such term in section 9101 of 
        the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
        7801).
          ``(7) Scientifically based reading research.--The term 
        `scientifically based reading research' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 1208 of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6368).
          ``(8) Scientifically based research.--The term 
        `scientifically based research' has the meaning given such term 
        in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
        of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
          ``(9) Teaching skills.--The term `teaching skills' means 
        skills that--
                  ``(A) are based on scientifically based research;
                  ``(B) enable teachers to effectively convey and 
                explain subject matter content;
                  ``(C) lead to increased student academic achievement; 
                and
                  ``(D) use strategies that--
                          ``(i) are specific to subject matter;
                          ``(ii) include ongoing assessment of student 
                        learning;
                          ``(iii) focus on identification and tailoring 
                        of academic instruction to students's specific 
                        learning needs; and
                          ``(iv) focus on classroom management.

``SEC. 202. STATE GRANTS.

  ``(a) In General.--From amounts made available under section 210(1) 
for a fiscal year, the Secretary is authorized to award grants under 
this section, on a competitive basis, to eligible States to enable the 
eligible States to carry out the activities described in subsection 
(d).
  ``(b) Eligible State.--
          ``(1) Definition.--In this part, the term `eligible State' 
        means--
                  ``(A) the Governor of a State; or
                  ``(B) in the case of a State for which the 
                constitution or law of such State designates another 
                individual, entity, or agency in the State to be 
                responsible for teacher certification and preparation 
                activity, such individual, entity, or agency.
          ``(2) Consultation.--The Governor or the individual, entity, 
        or agency designated under paragraph (1) shall consult with the 
        Governor, State board of education, State educational agency, 
        or State agency for higher education, as appropriate, with 
        respect to the activities assisted under this section.
          ``(3) Construction.--Nothing in this subsection shall be 
        construed to negate or supersede the legal authority under 
        State law of any State agency, State entity, or State public 
        official over programs that are under the jurisdiction of the 
        agency, entity, or official.
  ``(c) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under this 
section, an eligible State shall, at the time of the initial grant 
application, submit an application to the Secretary that--
          ``(1) meets the requirement of this section;
          ``(2) demonstrates that the State is in full compliance with 
        sections 207 and 208;
          ``(3) includes a description of how the eligible State 
        intends to use funds provided under this section;
          ``(4) includes measurable objectives for the use of the funds 
        provided under the grant;
          ``(5) demonstrates the State has submitted and is actively 
        implementing a plan that meets the requirements of sections 
        1111(h)(1)(C)(viii) and 1119 of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(h)(1)(C)(viii) and 6319); 
        and
          ``(6) contains such other information and assurances as the 
        Secretary may require.
  ``(d) Uses of Funds.--An eligible State that receives a grant under 
this section shall use the grant funds to reform teacher preparation 
requirements, to coordinate with State activities under section 2113(c) 
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
6613(c)), and to ensure that current and future teachers are highly 
qualified, by carrying out one or more of the following activities:
          ``(1) Reforms.--Ensuring that all teacher preparation 
        programs in the State are preparing teachers who are highly 
        qualified, and are able to use advanced technology effectively 
        in the classroom, including use for instructional techniques to 
        improve student academic achievement, by assisting such 
        programs--
                  ``(A) to retrain faculty; and
                  ``(B) to design (or redesign) teacher preparation 
                programs so they--
                          ``(i) are based on rigorous academic content, 
                        scientifically based research (including 
                        scientifically based reading research), and 
                        challenging State student academic content 
                        standards; and
                          ``(ii) promote strong teaching skills.
          ``(2) Certification or licensure requirements.--Reforming 
        teacher certification (including recertification) or licensing 
        requirements to ensure that--
                  ``(A) teachers have the subject matter knowledge and 
                teaching skills in the academic subjects that the 
                teachers teach necessary to help students meet 
                challenging State student academic achievement 
                standards; and
                  ``(B) such requirements are aligned with challenging 
                State academic content standards.
          ``(3) Alternatives to traditional teacher preparation and 
        state certification.--Providing prospective teachers with 
        alternative routes to State certification and traditional 
        preparation to become highly qualified teachers through--
                  ``(A) innovative approaches that reduce unnecessary 
                barriers to State certification while producing highly 
                qualified teachers;
                  ``(B) programs that provide support to teachers 
                during their initial years in the profession; and
                  ``(C) alternative routes to State certification of 
                teachers for qualified individuals, including mid-
                career professionals from other occupations, former 
                military personnel, and recent college graduates with 
                records of academic distinction.
          ``(4) Innovative programs.--Planning and implementing 
        innovative and experimental programs to enhance the ability of 
        institutions of higher education to prepare highly qualified 
        teachers, such as charter colleges of education or university 
        and local educational agency partnership schools, that--
                  ``(A) permit flexibility in meeting State 
                requirements as long as graduates, during their initial 
                years in the profession, increase student academic 
                achievement;
                  ``(B) provide long-term data gathered from teachers' 
                performance over multiple years in the classroom on the 
                ability to increase student academic achievement;
                  ``(C) ensure high-quality preparation of teachers 
                from underrepresented groups; and
                  ``(D) create performance measures that can be used to 
                document the effectiveness of innovative methods for 
                preparing highly qualified teachers.
          ``(5) Merit pay.--Developing, or assisting local educational 
        agencies in developing--
                  ``(A) merit-based performance systems that reward 
                teachers who increase student academic achievement; and
                  ``(B) strategies that provide differential and bonus 
                pay in high-need local educational agencies to retain--
                          ``(i) principals;
                          ``(ii) highly qualified teachers who teach in 
                        high-need academic subjects, such as reading, 
                        mathematics, and science;
                          ``(iii) highly qualified teachers who teach 
                        in schools identified for school improvement 
                        under section 1116(b) of the Elementary and 
                        Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
                        6316(b));
                          ``(iv) special education teachers;
                          ``(v) teachers specializing in teaching 
                        limited English proficient children; and
                          ``(vi) highly qualified teachers in urban and 
                        rural schools or districts.
          ``(6) Teacher advancement.--Developing, or assisting local 
        educational agencies in developing, teacher advancement and 
        retention initiatives that promote professional growth and 
        emphasize multiple career paths (such as paths to becoming a 
        highly qualified mentor teacher or exemplary teacher) and pay 
        differentiation.
          ``(7) Teacher removal.--Developing and implementing effective 
        mechanisms to ensure that local educational agencies and 
        schools are able to remove expeditiously incompetent or 
        unqualified teachers consistent with procedures to ensure due 
        process for the teachers.
          ``(8) Technical assistance.--Providing technical assistance 
        to low-performing teacher preparation programs within 
        institutions of higher education identified under section 
        208(a).
          ``(9) Teacher effectiveness.--Developing--
                  ``(A) systems to measure the effectiveness of teacher 
                preparation programs and professional development 
                programs; and
                  ``(B) strategies to document gains in student 
                academic achievement or increases in teacher mastery of 
                the academic subjects the teachers teach as a result of 
                such programs.
          ``(10) Teacher recruitment and retention.--Undertaking 
        activities that--
                  ``(A) develop and implement effective mechanisms to 
                ensure that local educational agencies and schools are 
                able effectively to recruit and retain highly qualified 
                teachers; or
                  ``(B) are described in section 204(d).
          ``(11) Preschool teachers.--Developing strategies--
                  ``(A) to improve the qualifications of preschool 
                teachers, which may include State certification for 
                such teachers; and
                  ``(B) to improve and expand preschool teacher 
                preparation programs.
  ``(e) Evaluation.--
          ``(1) Evaluation system.--An eligible State that receives a 
        grant under this section shall develop and utilize a system to 
        evaluate annually the effectiveness of teacher preparation 
        programs and professional development activities within the 
        State in producing gains in--
                  ``(A) the teacher's annual contribution to improving 
                student academic achievement, as measured by State 
                academic assessments required under section 1111(b)(3) 
                of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
                (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(3)); and
                  ``(B) teacher mastery of the academic subjects they 
                teach, as measured by pre- and post-participation tests 
                of teacher knowledge, as appropriate.
          ``(2) Use of evaluation system.--Such evaluation system shall 
        be used by the State to evaluate--
                  ``(A) activities carried out using funds provided 
                under this section; and
                  ``(B) the quality of its teacher education programs.
          ``(3) Public reporting.--The State shall make the information 
        described in paragraph (1) widely available through public 
        means, such as posting on the Internet, distribution to the 
        media, and distribution through public agencies.

``SEC. 203. PARTNERSHIP GRANTS.

  ``(a) Grants.--From amounts made available under section 210(2) for a 
fiscal year, the Secretary is authorized to award grants under this 
section, on a competitive basis, to eligible partnerships to enable the 
eligible partnerships to carry out the activities described in 
subsections (d) and (e).
  ``(b) Definitions.--
          ``(1) Eligible partnerships.--In this part, the term 
        `eligible partnership' means an entity that--
                  ``(A) shall include--
                          ``(i) a partner institution;
                          ``(ii) a school of arts and sciences;
                          ``(iii) a high-need local educational agency; 
                        and
                          ``(iv) a public or private educational 
                        organization; and
                  ``(B) may include a Governor, State educational 
                agency, the State board of education, the State agency 
                for higher education, an institution of higher 
                education not described in subparagraph (A), a public 
                charter school, a public or private elementary school 
                or secondary school, a public or private educational 
                organization, a business, a science-, mathematics-, or 
                technology-oriented entity, a faith-based or community 
                organization, a prekindergarten program, a teacher 
                organization, an education service agency, a consortia 
                of local educational agencies, or a nonprofit 
                telecommunications entity.
          ``(2) Partner institution.--In this section, the term 
        `partner institution' means an institution of higher education, 
        the teacher training program of which demonstrates that--
                  ``(A) graduates from the teacher training program 
                exhibit strong performance on State-determined 
                qualifying assessments for new teachers through--
                          ``(i) demonstrating that the graduates of the 
                        program who intend to enter the field of 
                        teaching have passed all of the applicable 
                        State qualification assessments for new 
                        teachers, which shall include an assessment of 
                        each prospective teacher's subject matter 
                        knowledge in the content area or areas in which 
                        the teacher intends to teach; or
                          ``(ii) being ranked among the highest-
                        performing teacher preparation programs in the 
                        State as determined by the State--
                                  ``(I) using criteria consistent with 
                                the requirements for the State report 
                                card under section 207(a); and
                                  ``(II) using the State report card on 
                                teacher preparation required under 
                                section 207(a); or
                  ``(B) the teacher training program requires all the 
                students of the program to participate in intensive 
                clinical experience, to meet high academic standards, 
                and--
                          ``(i) in the case of secondary school 
                        candidates, to successfully complete an 
                        academic major in the subject area in which the 
                        candidate intends to teach or to demonstrate 
                        competence through a high level of performance 
                        in relevant content areas; and
                          ``(ii) in the case of elementary school 
                        candidates, to successfully complete an 
                        academic major in the arts and sciences or to 
                        demonstrate competence through a high level of 
                        performance in core academic subject areas.
  ``(c) Application.--Each eligible partnership desiring a grant under 
this section shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, 
in such manner, and accompanied by such information as the Secretary 
may require. Each such application shall--
          ``(1) contain a needs assessment of all the partners with 
        respect to teaching and learning and a description of how the 
        partnership will coordinate with other teacher training or 
        professional development programs, and how the activities of 
        the partnership will be consistent with State, local, and other 
        education reform activities that promote student academic 
        achievement;
          ``(2) contain a resource assessment that describes the 
        resources available to the partnership, the intended use of the 
        grant funds, including a description of how the grant funds 
        will be fairly distributed in accordance with subsection (f), 
        and the commitment of the resources of the partnership to the 
        activities assisted under this part, including financial 
        support, faculty participation, time commitments, and 
        continuation of the activities when the grant ends; and
          ``(3) contain a description of--
                  ``(A) how the partnership will meet the purposes of 
                this part;
                  ``(B) how the partnership will carry out the 
                activities required under subsection (d) and any 
                permissible activities under subsection (e);
                  ``(C) the partnership's evaluation plan pursuant to 
                section 206(b);
                  ``(D) how faculty of the teacher preparation program 
                at the partner institution will serve, over the term of 
                the grant, with highly qualified teachers in the 
                classrooms of the high-need local educational agency 
                included in the partnership; and
                  ``(E) how the partnership will ensure that teachers 
                in private elementary and secondary schools located in 
                the geographic areas served by an eligible partnership 
                under this section will participate equitably in 
                accordance with section 9501 of the Elementary and 
                Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7881).
  ``(d) Required Uses of Funds.--An eligible partnership that receives 
a grant under this section shall use the grant funds to reform teacher 
preparation requirements, to coordinate with State activities under 
section 2113(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 6613(c)), and to ensure that current and future teachers are 
highly qualified, by carrying out one or more of the following 
activities:
          ``(1) Reforms.--Implementing reforms within teacher 
        preparation programs to ensure that such programs are preparing 
        teachers who are highly qualified, and are able to use advanced 
        technology effectively in the classroom, including use for 
        instructional techniques to improve student academic 
        achievement, by--
                  ``(A) retraining faculty; and
                  ``(B) designing (or redesigning) teacher preparation 
                programs so they--
                          ``(i) are based on rigorous academic content, 
                        scientifically based research (including 
                        scientifically based reading research), and 
                        challenging State student academic content 
                        standards; and
                          ``(ii) promote strong teaching skills.
          ``(2) Clinical experience and interaction.--Providing 
        sustained and high-quality preservice and in-service clinical 
        experience, including the mentoring of prospective teachers by 
        exemplary teachers, substantially increasing interaction 
        between faculty at institutions of higher education and new and 
        experienced teachers, principals, and other administrators at 
        elementary schools or secondary schools, and providing support 
        for teachers, including preparation time and release time, for 
        such interaction.
          ``(3) Professional development.--Creating opportunities for 
        enhanced and ongoing professional development that improves the 
        academic content knowledge of teachers in the subject areas in 
        which the teachers are certified to teach or in which the 
        teachers are working toward certification to teach, and that 
        promotes strong teaching skills.
          ``(4) Teacher preparation.--Developing, or assisting local 
        educational agencies in developing, professional development 
        activities that--
                  ``(A) provide training in how to teach and address 
                the needs of students with different learning styles, 
                particularly students with disabilities, limited 
                English proficient students, and students with special 
                learning needs; and
                  ``(B) provide training in methods of--
                          ``(i) improving student behavior in the 
                        classroom; and
                          ``(ii) identifying early and appropriate 
                        interventions to help students described in 
                        subparagraph (A) learn.
  ``(e) Allowable Uses of Funds.--An eligible partnership that receives 
a grant under this section may use such funds to carry out the 
following activities:
          ``(1) Alternatives to traditional teacher preparation and 
        state certification.--Providing prospective teachers with 
        alternative routes to State certification and traditional 
        preparation to become highly qualified teachers through--
                  ``(A) innovative approaches that reduce unnecessary 
                barriers to teacher preparation while producing highly 
                qualified teachers;
                  ``(B) programs that provide support during a 
                teacher's initial years in the profession; and
                  ``(C) alternative routes to State certification of 
                teachers for qualified individuals, including mid-
                career professionals from other occupations, former 
                military personnel, and recent college graduates with 
                records of academic distinction.
          ``(2) Dissemination and coordination.--Broadly disseminating 
        information on effective practices used by the partnership, and 
        coordinating with the activities of the Governor, State board 
        of education, State higher education agency, and State 
        educational agency, as appropriate.
          ``(3) Managerial and leadership skills.--Developing and 
        implementing professional development programs for principals 
        and superintendents that enable them to be effective school 
        leaders and prepare all students to meet challenging State 
        academic content and student academic achievement standards.
          ``(4) Teacher recruitment.--Activities--
                  ``(A) to encourage students to become highly 
                qualified teachers, such as extracurricular enrichment 
                activities; and
                  ``(B) activities described in section 204(d).
          ``(5) Clinical experience in science, mathematics, and 
        technology.--Creating opportunities for clinical experience and 
        training, by participation in the business, research, and work 
        environments with professionals, in areas relating to science, 
        mathematics, and technology for teachers and prospective 
        teachers, including opportunities for use of laboratory 
        equipment, in order for the teacher to return to the classroom 
        for at least 2 years and provide instruction that will raise 
        student academic achievement.
          ``(6) Coordination with community colleges.--Coordinating 
        with community colleges to implement teacher preparation 
        programs, including through distance learning, for the purposes 
        of allowing prospective teachers--
                  ``(A) to attain a bachelor's degree and State 
                certification or licensure; and
                  ``(B) to become highly qualified teachers.
  ``(f) Special Rule.--At least 50 percent of the funds made available 
to an eligible partnership under this section shall be used directly to 
benefit the high-need local educational agency included in the 
partnership. Any entity described in subsection (b)(1)(A) may be the 
fiscal agent under this section.
  ``(g) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to 
prohibit an eligible partnership from using grant funds to coordinate 
with the activities of more than one Governor, State board of 
education, State educational agency, local educational agency, or State 
agency for higher education.

``SEC. 204. TEACHER RECRUITMENT GRANTS.

  ``(a) Program Authorized.--From amounts made available under section 
210(3) for a fiscal year, the Secretary is authorized to award grants, 
on a competitive basis, to eligible applicants to enable the eligible 
applicants to carry out activities described in subsection (d).
  ``(b) Eligible Applicant Defined.--In this part, the term `eligible 
applicant' means--
          ``(1) an eligible State described in section 202(b); or
          ``(2) an eligible partnership described in section 203(b).
  ``(c) Application.--Any eligible applicant desiring to receive a 
grant under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary 
at such time, in such form, and containing such information as the 
Secretary may require, including--
          ``(1) a description of the assessment that the eligible 
        applicant, and the other entities with whom the eligible 
        applicant will carry out the grant activities, have undertaken 
        to determine the most critical needs of the participating high-
        need local educational agencies;
          ``(2) a description of the activities the eligible applicant 
        will carry out with the grant, including the extent to which 
        the applicant will use funds to recruit minority students to 
        become highly qualified teachers; and
          ``(3) a description of the eligible applicant's plan for 
        continuing the activities carried out with the grant, once 
        Federal funding ceases.
  ``(d) Uses of Funds.--Each eligible applicant receiving a grant under 
this section shall use the grant funds--
          ``(1)(A) to award scholarships to help students, such as 
        individuals who have been accepted for their first year, or who 
        are enrolled in their first or second year, of a program of 
        undergraduate education at an institution of higher education, 
        pay the costs of tuition, room, board, and other expenses of 
        completing a teacher preparation program;
          ``(B) to provide support services, if needed to enable 
        scholarship recipients--
                  ``(i) to complete postsecondary education programs; 
                or
                  ``(ii) to transition from a career outside of the 
                field of education into a teaching career; and
          ``(C) for followup services provided to former scholarship 
        recipients during the recipients first 3 years of teaching; or
          ``(2) to develop and implement effective mechanisms to ensure 
        that high-need local educational agencies and schools are able 
        effectively to recruit highly qualified teachers.
  ``(e) Additional Discretionary Uses of Funds.--In addition to the 
uses described in subsection (d), each eligible applicant receiving a 
grant under this section may use the grant funds to develop and 
implement effective mechanisms to recruit into the teaching profession 
employees from--
          ``(1) high-demand industries, including technology 
        industries; and
          ``(2) the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering.
  ``(f) Service Requirements.--
          ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish such 
        requirements as the Secretary determines necessary to ensure 
        that recipients of scholarships under this section who complete 
        teacher education programs--
                  ``(A) subsequently teach in a high-need local 
                educational agency for a period of time equivalent to--
                          ``(i) one year; increased by
                          ``(ii) the period for which the recipient 
                        received scholarship assistance; or
                  ``(B) repay the amount of the scholarship.
          ``(2) Use of repayments.--The Secretary shall use any such 
        repayments to carry out additional activities under this 
        section.
  ``(g) Priority.--The Secretary shall give priority under this section 
to eligible applicants who provide an assurance that they will recruit 
a high percentage of minority students to become highly qualified 
teachers.

``SEC. 205. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.

  ``(a) Duration; One-Time Awards; Payments.--
          ``(1) Duration.--
                  ``(A) Eligible states and eligible applicants.--
                Grants awarded to eligible States and eligible 
                applicants under this part shall be awarded for a 
                period not to exceed 3 years.
                  ``(B) Eligible partnerships.--Grants awarded to 
                eligible partnerships under this part shall be awarded 
                for a period of 5 years.
          ``(2) One-time award.--An eligible partnership may receive a 
        grant under each of sections 203 and 204, as amended by the 
        Ready to Teach Act of 2003, only once.
          ``(3) Payments.--The Secretary shall make annual payments of 
        grant funds awarded under this part.
  ``(b) Peer Review.--
          ``(1) Panel.--The Secretary shall provide the applications 
        submitted under this part to a peer review panel for 
        evaluation. With respect to each application, the peer review 
        panel shall initially recommend the application for funding or 
        for disapproval.
          ``(2) Priority.--In recommending applications to the 
        Secretary for funding under this part, the panel shall--
                  ``(A) with respect to grants under section 202, give 
                priority to eligible States serving States that--
                          ``(i) have initiatives to reform State 
                        teacher certification requirements that are 
                        based on rigorous academic content, 
                        scientifically based research, including 
                        scientifically based reading research, and 
                        challenging State student academic content 
                        standards;
                          ``(ii) include innovative reforms to hold 
                        institutions of higher education with teacher 
                        preparation programs accountable for preparing 
                        teachers who are highly qualified and have 
                        strong teaching skills; or
                          ``(iii) involve the development of innovative 
                        efforts aimed at reducing the shortage of 
                        highly qualified teachers in high poverty urban 
                        and rural areas; and
                  ``(B) with respect to grants under section 203--
                          ``(i) give priority to applications from 
                        broad-based eligible partnerships that involve 
                        businesses and community organizations; and
                          ``(ii) take into consideration--
                                  ``(I) providing an equitable 
                                geographic distribution of the grants 
                                throughout the United States; and
                                  ``(II) the potential of the proposed 
                                activities for creating improvement and 
                                positive change.
          ``(3) Secretarial selection.--The Secretary shall determine, 
        based on the peer review process, which application shall 
        receive funding and the amounts of the grants. In determining 
        grant amounts, the Secretary shall take into account the total 
        amount of funds available for all grants under this part and 
        the types of activities proposed to be carried out.
  ``(c) Matching Requirements.--
          ``(1) State grants.--Each eligible State receiving a grant 
        under section 202 or 204 shall provide, from non-Federal 
        sources, an amount equal to 50 percent of the amount of the 
        grant (in cash or in kind) to carry out the activities 
        supported by the grant.
          ``(2) Partnership grants.--Each eligible partnership 
        receiving a grant under section 203 or 204 shall provide, from 
        non-Federal sources (in cash or in kind), an amount equal to 25 
        percent of the grant for the first year of the grant, 35 
        percent of the grant for the second year of the grant, and 50 
        percent of the grant for each succeeding year of the grant.
  ``(d) Limitation on Administrative Expenses.--An eligible State or 
eligible partnership that receives a grant under this part may not use 
more than 2 percent of the grant funds for purposes of administering 
the grant.

``SEC. 206. ACCOUNTABILITY AND EVALUATION.

  ``(a) State Grant Accountability Report.--An eligible State that 
receives a grant under section 202 shall submit an annual 
accountability report to the Secretary, the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, and the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives. Such 
report shall include a description of the degree to which the eligible 
State, in using funds provided under such section, has made substantial 
progress in meeting the following goals:
          ``(1) Percentage of highly qualified teachers.--Increasing 
        the percentage of highly qualified teachers in the State as 
        required by section 1119 of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6319).
          ``(2) Student academic achievement.--Increasing student 
        academic achievement for all students as defined by the 
        eligible State.
          ``(3) Raising standards.--Raising the State academic 
        standards required to enter the teaching profession as a highly 
        qualified teacher.
          ``(4) Initial certification or licensure.--Increasing success 
        in the pass rate for initial State teacher certification or 
        licensure, or increasing the numbers of qualified individuals 
        being certified or licensed as teachers through alternative 
        programs.
          ``(5) Decreasing teacher shortages.--Decreasing shortages of 
        highly qualified teachers in poor urban and rural areas.
          ``(6) Increasing opportunities for professional 
        development.--Increasing opportunities for enhanced and ongoing 
        professional development that--
                  ``(A) improves the academic content knowledge of 
                teachers in the subject areas in which the teachers are 
                certified or licensed to teach or in which the teachers 
                are working toward certification or licensure to teach; 
                and
                  ``(B) promotes strong teaching skills.
          ``(7) Technology integration.--Increasing the number of 
        teachers prepared effectively to integrate technology into 
        curricula and instruction and who use technology to collect, 
        manage, and analyze data to improve teaching, learning, and 
        decisionmaking for the purpose of increasing student academic 
        achievement.
  ``(b) Eligible Partnership Evaluation.--Each eligible partnership 
receiving a grant under section 203 shall establish, and include in the 
application submitted under section 203(c), an evaluation plan that 
includes strong performance objectives. The plan shall include 
objectives and measures for--
          ``(1) increased student achievement for all students as 
        measured by the partnership;
          ``(2) increased teacher retention in the first 3 years of a 
        teacher's career;
          ``(3) increased success in the pass rate for initial State 
        certification or licensure of teachers;
          ``(4) increased percentage of highly qualified teachers; and
          ``(5) increasing the number of teachers trained effectively 
        to integrate technology into curricula and instruction and who 
        use technology to collect, manage, and analyze data to improve 
        teaching, learning, and decisionmaking for the purpose of 
        improving student academic achievement.
  ``(c) Revocation of Grant.--
          ``(1) Report.--Each eligible State or eligible partnership 
        receiving a grant under section 202 or 203 shall report 
        annually on the progress of the eligible State or eligible 
        partnership toward meeting the purposes of this part and the 
        goals, objectives, and measures described in subsections (a) 
        and (b).
          ``(2) Revocation.--
                  ``(A) Eligible states and eligible applicants.--If 
                the Secretary determines that an eligible State or 
                eligible applicant is not making substantial progress 
                in meeting the purposes, goals, objectives, and 
                measures, as appropriate, by the end of the second year 
                of a grant under this part, then the grant payment 
                shall not be made for the third year of the grant.
                  ``(B) Eligible partnerships.--If the Secretary 
                determines that an eligible partnership is not making 
                substantial progress in meeting the purposes, goals, 
                objectives, and measures, as appropriate, by the end of 
                the third year of a grant under this part, then the 
                grant payments shall not be made for any succeeding 
                year of the grant.
  ``(d) Evaluation and Dissemination.--The Secretary shall evaluate the 
activities funded under this part and report annually the Secretary's 
findings regarding the activities to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives. The 
Secretary shall broadly disseminate successful practices developed by 
eligible States and eligible partnerships under this part, and shall 
broadly disseminate information regarding such practices that were 
found to be ineffective.

``SEC. 207. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR PROGRAMS THAT PREPARE TEACHERS.

  ``(a) State Report Card on the Quality of Teacher Preparation.--Each 
State that receives funds under this Act shall provide to the Secretary 
annually, in a uniform and comprehensible manner that conforms with the 
definitions and methods established by the Secretary, a State report 
card on the quality of teacher preparation in the State, both for 
traditional certification or licensure programs and for alternative 
certification or licensure programs, which shall include at least the 
following:
          ``(1) A description of the teacher certification and 
        licensure assessments, and any other certification and 
        licensure requirements, used by the State.
          ``(2) The standards and criteria that prospective teachers 
        must meet in order to attain initial teacher certification or 
        licensure and to be certified or licensed to teach particular 
        subjects or in particular grades within the State.
          ``(3) A description of the extent to which the assessments 
        and requirements described in paragraph (1) are aligned with 
        the State's standards and assessments for students.
          ``(4) The percentage of students who have completed at least 
        50 percent of the requirements for a teacher preparation 
        program at an institution of higher education or alternative 
        certification program and who have taken and passed each of the 
        assessments used by the State for teacher certification and 
        licensure, and the passing score on each assessment that 
        determines whether a candidate has passed that assessment.
          ``(5) The percentage of students who have completed at least 
        50 percent of the requirements for a teacher preparation 
        program at an institution of higher education or alternative 
        certification program and who have taken and passed each of the 
        assessments used by the State for teacher certification and 
        licensure, disaggregated and ranked, by the teacher preparation 
        program in that State from which the teacher candidate received 
        the candidate's most recent degree, which shall be made 
        available widely and publicly.
          ``(6) A description of each State's alternative routes to 
        teacher certification, if any, and the number and percentage of 
        teachers certified through each alternative certification route 
        who pass State teacher certification or licensure assessments.
          ``(7) For each State, a description of proposed criteria for 
        assessing the performance of teacher preparation programs in 
        the State, including indicators of teacher candidate skills and 
        academic content knowledge and evidence of gains in student 
        academic achievement.
          ``(8) For each teacher preparation program in the State, the 
        number of students in the program, the average number of hours 
        of supervised practice teaching required for those in the 
        program, and the number of full-time equivalent faculty and 
        students in supervised practice teaching.
  ``(b) Report of the Secretary on the Quality of Teacher 
Preparation.--
          ``(1) Report card.--The Secretary shall provide to Congress, 
        and publish and make widely available, a report card on teacher 
        qualifications and preparation in the United States, including 
        all the information reported in paragraphs (1) through (8) of 
        subsection (a). Such report shall identify States for which 
        eligible States and eligible partnerships received a grant 
        under this part. Such report shall be so provided, published 
        and made available annually.
          ``(2) Report to congress.--The Secretary shall report to 
        Congress--
                  ``(A) a comparison of States' efforts to improve 
                teaching quality; and
                  ``(B) regarding the national mean and median scores 
                on any standardized test that is used in more than 1 
                State for teacher certification or licensure.
          ``(3) Special rule.--In the case of programs with fewer than 
        10 students who have completed at least 50 percent of the 
        requirements for a teacher preparation program taking any 
        single initial teacher certification or licensure assessment 
        during an academic year, the Secretary shall collect and 
        publish information with respect to an average pass rate on 
        State certification or licensure assessments taken over a 3-
        year period.
  ``(c) Coordination.--The Secretary, to the extent practicable, shall 
coordinate the information collected and published under this part 
among States for individuals who took State teacher certification or 
licensure assessments in a State other than the State in which the 
individual received the individual's most recent degree.
  ``(d) Institution and Program Report Cards on Quality of Teacher 
Preparation.--
          ``(1) Report card.--Each institution of higher education or 
        alternative certification program that conducts a teacher 
        preparation program that enrolls students receiving Federal 
        assistance under this Act shall report annually to the State 
        and the general public, in a uniform and comprehensible manner 
        that conforms with the definitions and methods established by 
        the Secretary, both for traditional certification or licensure 
        programs and for alternative certification or licensure 
        programs, the following information:
                  ``(A) Pass rate.--(i) For the most recent year for 
                which the information is available, the pass rate of 
                each student who has completed at least 50 percent of 
                the requirements for the teacher preparation program on 
                the teacher certification or licensure assessments of 
                the State in which the institution is located, but only 
                for those students who took those assessments within 3 
                years of receiving a degree from the institution or 
                completing the program.
                  ``(ii) A comparison of the institution or program's 
                pass rate for students who have completed at least 50 
                percent of the requirements for the teacher preparation 
                program with the average pass rate for institutions and 
                programs in the State.
                  ``(iii) A comparison of the institution or program's 
                average raw score for students who have completed at 
                least 50 percent of the requirements for the teacher 
                preparation program with the average raw scores for 
                institutions and programs in the State.
                  ``(iv) In the case of programs with fewer than 10 
                students who have completed at least 50 percent of the 
                requirements for a teacher preparation program taking 
                any single initial teacher certification or licensure 
                assessment during an academic year, the institution 
                shall collect and publish information with respect to 
                an average pass rate on State certification or 
                licensure assessments taken over a 3-year period.
                  ``(B) Program information.--The number of students in 
                the program, the average number of hours of supervised 
                practice teaching required for those in the program, 
                and the number of full-time equivalent faculty and 
                students in supervised practice teaching.
                  ``(C) Statement.--In States that require approval or 
                accreditation of teacher education programs, a 
                statement of whether the institution's program is so 
                approved or accredited, and by whom.
                  ``(D) Designation as low-performing.--Whether the 
                program has been designated as low-performing by the 
                State under section 208(a).
          ``(2) Requirement.--The information described in paragraph 
        (1) shall be reported through publications such as school 
        catalogs and promotional materials sent to potential 
        applicants, secondary school guidance counselors, and 
        prospective employers of the institution's program graduates, 
        including materials sent by electronic means.
          ``(3) Fines.--In addition to the actions authorized in 
        section 487(c), the Secretary may impose a fine not to exceed 
        $25,000 on an institution of higher education for failure to 
        provide the information described in this subsection in a 
        timely or accurate manner.
  ``(e) Data Quality.--Either--
          ``(1) the Governor of the State; or
          ``(2) in the case of a State for which the constitution or 
        law of such State designates another individual, entity, or 
        agency in the State to be responsible for teacher certification 
        and preparation activity, such individual, entity, or agency;
shall attest annually, in writing, as to the reliability, validity, 
integrity, and accuracy of the data submitted pursuant to this section.

``SEC. 208. STATE FUNCTIONS.

  ``(a) State Assessment.--In order to receive funds under this Act, a 
State shall have in place a procedure to identify and assist, through 
the provision of technical assistance, low-performing programs of 
teacher preparation within institutions of higher education. Such State 
shall provide the Secretary an annual list of such low-performing 
institutions that includes an identification of those institutions at 
risk of being placed on such list. Such levels of performance shall be 
determined solely by the State and may include criteria based upon 
information collected pursuant to this part. Such assessment shall be 
described in the report under section 207(a).
  ``(b) Termination of Eligibility.--Any institution of higher 
education that offers a program of teacher preparation in which the 
State has withdrawn the State's approval or terminated the State's 
financial support due to the low performance of the institution's 
teacher preparation program based upon the State assessment described 
in subsection (a)--
          ``(1) shall be ineligible for any funding for professional 
        development activities awarded by the Department of Education; 
        and
          ``(2) shall not be permitted to accept or enroll any student 
        who receives aid under title IV of this Act in the 
        institution's teacher preparation program.

``SEC. 209. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

  ``(a) Methods.--In complying with sections 207 and 208, the Secretary 
shall ensure that States and institutions of higher education use fair 
and equitable methods in reporting and that the reporting methods do 
not allow identification of individuals.
  ``(b) Special Rule.--For each State in which there are no State 
certification or licensure assessments, or for States that do not set 
minimum performance levels on those assessments--
          ``(1) the Secretary shall, to the extent practicable, collect 
        data comparable to the data required under this part from 
        States, local educational agencies, institutions of higher 
        education, or other entities that administer such assessments 
        to teachers or prospective teachers; and
          ``(2) notwithstanding any other provision of this part, the 
        Secretary shall use such data to carry out requirements of this 
        part related to assessments or pass rates.
  ``(c) Limitations.--
          ``(1) Federal control prohibited.--Nothing in this part shall 
        be construed to permit, allow, encourage, or authorize any 
        Federal control over any aspect of any private, religious, or 
        home school, whether or not a home school is treated as a 
        private school or home school under State law. This section 
        shall not be construed to prohibit private, religious, or home 
        schools from participation in programs or services under this 
        part.
          ``(2) No change in state control encouraged or required.--
        Nothing in this part shall be construed to encourage or require 
        any change in a State's treatment of any private, religious, or 
        home school, whether or not a home school is treated as a 
        private school or home school under State law.
          ``(3) National system of teacher certification prohibited.--
        Nothing in this part shall be construed to permit, allow, 
        encourage, or authorize the Secretary to establish or support 
        any national system of teacher certification.

``SEC. 210. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

  ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part 
$300,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 and such sums as may be necessary for 
each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years, of which--
          ``(1) 45 percent shall be available for each fiscal year to 
        award grants under section 202;
          ``(2) 45 percent shall be available for each fiscal year to 
        award grants under section 203; and
          ``(3) 10 percent shall be available for each fiscal year to 
        award grants under section 204.''.

SEC. 3. PREPARING TOMORROW'S TEACHERS TO USE TECHNOLOGY.

  (a) Eligibility.--Section 222(a)(3)(D) of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1042(a)(3)(D)) is amended by inserting ``nonprofit 
telecommunications entity,'' after ``community-based organization,''.
  (b) Permissible Uses of Funds.--Section 223(b)(1)(E) of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1043(b)(1)(E)) is amended to read as 
follows:
                  ``(E) To use technology to collect, manage, and 
                analyze data to improve teaching, learning, and 
                decisionmaking for the purpose of increasing student 
                academic achievement.''.
  (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 224 of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1044) is amended by striking ``each of 
fiscal years 2002 and 2003.'' and inserting ``fiscal year 2004 and each 
of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.''.

SEC. 4. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE.

  Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1021 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:

                    ``PART C--CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE

``SEC. 231. PURPOSES; DEFINITIONS.

  ``(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this part are--
          ``(1) to help recruit and prepare teachers, including 
        minority teachers, to meet the national demand for a highly 
        qualified teacher in every classroom; and
          ``(2) to increase opportunities for Americans of all 
        educational, ethnic, class, and geographic backgrounds to 
        become highly qualified teachers.
  ``(b) Definitions.--As used in this part:
          ``(1) Eligible institution.--The term `eligible institution' 
        means--
                  ``(A) an institution of higher education that has a 
                teacher preparation program that meets the requirements 
                of section 203(b)(2) and that is--
                          ``(i) a part B institution (as defined in 
                        section 322);
                          ``(ii) a Hispanic-serving institution (as 
                        defined in section 502);
                          ``(iii) a Tribal College or University (as 
                        defined in section 316);
                          ``(iv) an Alaska Native-serving institution 
                        (as defined in section 317(b)); or
                          ``(v) a Native Hawaiian-serving institution 
                        (as defined in section 317(b));
                  ``(B) a consortium of institutions described in 
                subparagraph (A); or
                  ``(C) an institution described in subparagraph (A), 
                or a consortium described in subparagraph (B), in 
                partnership with any other institution of higher 
                education, but only if the center of excellence 
                established under section 232 is located at an 
                institution described in subparagraph (A).
          ``(2) Highly qualified.--The term `highly qualified' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 9101 of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
          ``(3) Scientifically based reading research.--The term 
        `scientifically based reading research' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 1208 of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6368).
          ``(4) Scientifically based research.--The term 
        `scientifically based research' has the meaning given such term 
        in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
        of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).

``SEC. 232. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE.

  ``(a) Program Authorized.--From the amounts appropriated to carry out 
this part, the Secretary is authorized to award competitive grants to 
eligible institutions to establish centers of excellence.
  ``(b) Use of Funds.--Grants provided by the Secretary under this part 
shall be used to ensure that current and future teachers are highly 
qualified, by carrying out one or more of the following activities:
          ``(1) Implementing reforms within teacher preparation 
        programs to ensure that such programs are preparing teachers 
        who are highly qualified and are able to use advanced 
        technology effectively in the classroom, including use for 
        instructional techniques to improve student academic 
        achievement, by--
                  ``(A) retraining faculty; and
                  ``(B) designing (or redesigning) teacher preparation 
                programs that--
                          ``(i) prepare teachers to close student 
                        achievement gaps, are based on rigorous 
                        academic content, scientifically based research 
                        (including scientifically based reading 
                        research), and challenging State student 
                        academic content standards; and
                          ``(ii) promote strong teaching skills.
          ``(2) Providing sustained and high-quality preservice 
        clinical experience, including the mentoring of prospective 
        teachers by exemplary teachers, substantially increasing 
        interaction between faculty at institutions of higher education 
        and new and experienced teachers, principals, and other 
        administrators at elementary schools or secondary schools, and 
        providing support, including preparation time, for such 
        interaction.
          ``(3) Developing and implementing initiatives to promote 
        retention of highly qualified teachers and principals, 
        including minority teachers and principals, including programs 
        that provide--
                  ``(A) teacher mentoring from exemplary teachers or 
                principals; or
                  ``(B) induction and support for teachers and 
                principals during their first 3 years of employment as 
                teachers or principals, respectively.
          ``(4) Awarding scholarships based on financial need to help 
        students pay the costs of tuition, room, board, and other 
        expenses of completing a teacher preparation program.
          ``(5) Disseminating information on effective practices for 
        teacher preparation and successful teacher certification test 
        preparation strategies.
          ``(6) Activities authorized under sections 202, 203, and 204.
  ``(c) Application.--Any eligible institution desiring a grant under 
this section shall submit an application to the Secretary at such a 
time, in such a manner, and accompanied by such information the 
Secretary may require.
  ``(d) Minimum Grant Amount.--The minimum amount of each grant under 
this part shall be $500,000.
  ``(e) Limitation on Administrative Expenses.--An eligible institution 
that receives a grant under this part may not use more than 2 percent 
of the grant funds for purposes of administering the grant.
  ``(f) Regulations.--The Secretary shall prescribe such regulations as 
may be necessary to carry out this part.

``SEC. 233. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

  ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part 
$10,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 and such sums as may be necessary for 
each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.''.

SEC. 5. TRANSITION.

  The Secretary of Education shall take such actions as the Secretary 
determines to be appropriate to provide for the orderly implementation 
of this Act.

                                Purpose

    H.R. 2211, the Ready to Teach Act of 2003, seeks to meet 
the call of the No Child Left Behind Act to place a highly 
qualified teacher in every classroom by making improvements 
that will help ensure teacher training programs are producing 
well-prepared teachers to meet the needs of America's students. 
H.R. 2211 also aligns provisions related to teacher preparation 
programs authorized under the Higher Education Act with the 
high standards for accountability and results found in the No 
Child Left Behind Act. The purposes of H.R. 2211, the Ready to 
Teach Act of 2003 are to: (1) increase student academic 
achievement; (2) improve the quality of the current and future 
teaching force by improving the preparation of prospective 
teachers; (3) hold teacher preparation programs accountable for 
preparing highly qualified teachers; (4) and recruit highly 
qualified individuals, including minorities and individuals 
from other occupations, into the teaching force.

                            Committee Action


                             107TH CONGRESS

Subcommittee hearing

    On October 9, 2002, the Subcommittee on 21st Century 
Competitiveness held a hearing in Washington, D.C. on 
``Training Tomorrow's Teachers: Ensuring a Quality 
Postsecondary Education.'' The purpose of this hearing was to 
learn about the effects of amendments made to Title II of the 
Higher Education Act during its 1998 reauthorization, on the 
quality of teacher education programs in the United States. 
Specifically, this hearing examined whether: (1) these 
competitive grant programs improve teacher preparation and 
recruitment; and (2) State and institution reporting 
requirements, will improve the quality of the current and 
future teaching force and ultimately lead to improved academic 
achievement.

                             108TH CONGRESS

Subcommittee hearing

    On May 20, 2003, the Subcommittee on 21st Century 
Competitiveness held a hearing on ``America's Teacher Colleges: 
Are They Making the Grade?'' The purpose of this hearing was to 
discuss whether teacher colleges and other teacher preparation 
programs are producing a high quality teacher force. 
Specifically, this hearing examined possible changes to teacher 
provisions in the Higher Education Act to: (1) improve the 
quality of the current and future teaching force by improving 
the preparation of prospective teachers and enhancing 
professional development activities; (2) hold institutions of 
higher education accountable for preparing highly qualified 
teachers; and (3) recruit highly qualified individuals, 
including individuals from other occupations, into the teaching 
force.

Legislative action

    On May 22, 2003, Representatives Phil Gingrey (R-GA), John 
Boehner (R-OH), Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon (R-CA), and Joe 
Wilson (R-SC) introduced H.R. 2211, the Ready to Teach Act of 
2003, to reauthorize teacher preparation provisions under Title 
II of the Higher Education Act through fiscal year 2008.
    On June 4, 2003, the Subcommittee on 21st Century 
Competitiveness considered H.R. 2211 in legislative session and 
reported it favorably, as amended, to the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce by voice vote. The Subcommittee 
considered and adopted eight amendments by voice vote:
     A substitute amendment offered by Mr. Gingrey (R-
GA) that made technical and clarifying changes to the 
legislation. In addition, the substitute amended authorized 
activities to: include faith-based and community organizations; 
benefit high poverty and rural local educational agencies; 
increase teacher retention; allow funds to be used to develop 
strategies to improve qualifications of pre-kindergarten 
teachers; ensure that teachers in private elementary and 
secondary schools are able to participate equitably in 
partnerships; provide training in how to teach limited English 
proficient (LEP) students; and ensure that partnership 
activities focus on the needs of teachers in the classroom.
     An amendment offered by Subcommittee Chairman 
McKeon (R-CA) that made technical and clarifying changes to the 
substitute amendment. In addition, it ensured that urban, as 
well as rural, school teachers are included in State grant 
retention strategies and clarified that State and institutional 
reporting requirements are intended for students that take 
assessments used by the State for teacher certification or 
licensure.
     An amendment offered by Mr. Burns (R-GA), Mr. 
Owens (D-NY), and Mr. Hinojosa (D-TX) to authorize grants for 
the creation of Centers of Excellence at high quality (as 
determined by the State) minority serving institutions. In 
general, the purposes of this amendment are to: (1) increase 
teacher recruitment at minority serving institutions; and (2) 
make institutional improvements to teacher preparation programs 
at minority serving institutions. Under the amendment, grants 
are competitively awarded to high quality teacher preparation 
programs at eligible institutions which include: Historically 
Black Colleges or Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, 
Tribally Controlled Colleges or Universities, Alaska Native-
Serving Institutions, or Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions.
     An amendment offered by Mr. Kind (D-WI) to 
reinstate a current law provision that allows partnership grant 
funds to be used for managerial and leadership activities that 
include superintendents.
     An amendment offered by Mr. Hinojosa (D-TX) to add 
teachers of limited English proficient (LEP) students to the 
allowable list of educators that could benefit from merit pay 
initiatives.
     An amendment offered by Mr. Tierney (D-MA) to 
allow current teachers to participate in authorized clinical 
experience partnership grant activities.
     An amendment offered by Mr. Holt (D-NJ) to allow 
teachers to use partnership grant funds to gain clinical 
experience in science, math, and technology (as long as such 
teachers commit to an additional two years in the classroom).
     An amendment offered by Mr. Wu (D-OR) to allow 
teacher recruitment grants to be used to recruit employees from 
high demand industries, including technology industries, into 
the teaching profession.
    On June 10, 2003, the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce considered H.R. 2211 in legislative session and 
reported it favorably, as amended, to the House of 
Representatives by voice vote. The Committee considered and 
adopted three amendments by voice vote:
     A substitute amendment offered by Mr. Gingrey (R-
GA) that made technical and clarifying changes to the 
legislation. In addition, the substitute amendment: adds a 
definition of ``teaching skills'' to the Act that is based on 
scientifically based research; requires evaluation of State 
grant activities that are based on teacher effectiveness (as 
measured by increased student academic achievement) and teacher 
mastery of academic subjects they teach; clarifies language to 
ensure that at least 50 percent of partnership funds are used 
to directly benefit partner local educational agencies; allows 
partnership grants to be used to coordinate activities with 
community colleges to implement teacher preparation programs; 
increases the minimum service requirements for students that 
receive scholarships under the teacher recruitment grant 
program; requires the Governor of a State to attest to the 
reliability of State data reported to the Secretary of 
Education; and maintains the original authorization level of 
$300 million for Part A activities and authorizes $10 million 
for teacher preparation Centers of Excellence authorized under 
Part C.
     An amendment offered by Representatives Chris Van 
Hollen (D-MD) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) to allow States to use 
funds to develop strategies to improve the qualifications of 
preschool teachers, which may include the State certification 
for such teachers.
     An amendment offered by Mr. Rush Holt (D-NJ) to 
allow teacher recruitment grants to be used to recruit 
employees from high demand industries, including science, 
mathematics, and engineering, into the teaching profession.

                                Summary

    H.R. 2211, the Ready to Teach Act of 2003, authorizes 
teacher quality and preparation activities under the Higher 
Education Act through fiscal year 2008. H.R. 2211 amends Part A 
(Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants for States and 
Partnerships) and Part B (Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use 
Technology) of Title II of the HEA, and authorizes new teacher 
preparation activities under Part C (Centers of Excellence).

 Part A--Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants for States and Partnerships

    H.R. 2211 authorizes competitively awarded grants to: (1) 
increase student academic achievement; (2) improve the quality 
of the current and future teaching force by improving the 
preparation of prospective teachers and enhancing professional 
development activities; (3) hold teacher preparation programs 
accountable for preparing highly qualified teachers; (4) and 
recruit highly qualified individuals, including minorities and 
individuals from other occupations, into the teaching force. As 
in current law, 45 percent of the funds are reserved for State 
grants; 45 percent of the funds are reserved for partnership 
grants; and 10 percent of the funds are reserved for teacher 
recruitment grants.

State grants

    H.R. 2211 requires States that receive grants to develop 
evaluation systems to determine the effectiveness of grant 
activities, which must include measures for teacher 
effectiveness that are based on gains in student academic 
achievement and teacher mastery of the academic subjects they 
teach.
    Under this section, States must use funds to reform teacher 
preparation requirements, coordinate with State activities 
authorized under Title II of the No Child Left Behind Act, and 
ensure that current and future teachers are highly qualified. 
State grant funds can be used for: (1) designing teacher 
preparation programs that are based on rigorous academic 
content, scientifically based research (including 
scientifically based reading research), and challenging State 
student academic content standards; (2) reforming teacher State 
certification to ensure that teachers have the necessary 
subject matter knowledge and teaching skills to help students 
meet challenging State student academic achievement standards; 
(3) providing prospective teachers with alternative routes to 
traditional preparation and State certification; (4) planning 
and implementing innovative teacher preparation programs, such 
as charter colleges of education; (5) developing merit-based 
performance systems for teachers and principals; (6) developing 
teacher advancement and retention initiatives that promote 
professional growth, multiple career paths, and pay 
differentiation; (7) ensuring that local educational agencies 
and schools are able to recruit highly qualified teachers; (8) 
ensuring that local educational agencies and schools are able 
to expeditiously remove incompetent or unqualified teachers; 
(9) developing systems to measure the effectiveness of teacher 
preparation programs; (10) providing technical assistance to 
low-performing teacher preparation programs as identified by 
the State; and (11) developing strategies to improve 
qualifications of preschool teachers and preschool teacher 
preparation programs.

Partnership grants

    H.R. 2211 provides that each eligible partnership must 
include at least: (1) a high quality teacher preparation 
program at an institution of higher education; (2) a school of 
arts and sciences; (3) a high need local educational agency; 
and (4) a public or private educational organization.
    Each eligible partnership must submit an application that, 
among other things, describes: (1) how faculty of a teacher 
preparation program at an institution of higher education that 
seeks a partnership grant will serve with highly qualified 
teachers in the classroom at partner local educational agencies 
over the term of the grant; and (2) how teachers in private 
elementary and secondary schools located in the geographic 
areas served by the partnership will be able to participate 
equitably in the partnership.
    This section requires that at least 50 percent of 
partnership funds be used to ``directly benefit'' partner local 
educational agencies and clarifies that any entity under the 
partnership may be the fiscal agent of such partnership.
    H.R. 2211 requires that eligible partnerships use funds to 
reform teacher preparation requirements, coordinate with State 
activities authorized under Title II of the No Child Left 
Behind Act, and ensure that current and future teachers are 
highly qualified. Partnership grant funds must be used for: (1) 
designing teacher preparation programs that are based on 
rigorous academic content, scientifically based research 
(including scientifically based reading research), and 
challenging State student academic content standards; (2) 
providing sustained and high quality preservice and in-service 
clinical experience for teachers, including the mentoring of 
prospective teachers by exemplary teachers; (3) creating 
opportunities for enhanced and ongoing professional development 
consistent with the definition of ``professional development'' 
in the No Child Left Behind Act; and (4) developing 
professional development activities that provide training in 
how to teach and address the needs of students with different 
learning styles (particularly students with disabilities) and 
to provide training in methods of improving student behavior in 
the classroom.
    An eligible partnership that receives a partnership grant 
may also use funds for: (1) providing prospective teachers with 
alternatives routes to traditional preparation and State 
certification; (2) disseminating information on effective 
practices of the partnership; (3) developing managerial and 
leadership professional development programs for principals and 
superintendents; (4) providing teacher recruitment activities; 
(5) creating opportunities for teachers to gain clinical 
experience in science, math, and technology (as long as such 
teachers commit to an additional two years in the classroom 
after the clinical experience); and (6) coordination with 
community colleges to implement teacher preparation programs.

Teacher recruitment grants

    H.R. 2211 requires that applicants to submit an application 
that, among other things, describes the extent to which the 
applicant will use funds to recruit minorities into the 
teaching profession and directs the Secretary of Education to 
give priority to applicants that will place an emphasis on 
recruiting minorities into the teaching profession. In 
addition, the legislation increases the minimum service 
requirements (as teachers in high need local educational 
agencies) for students that receive assistance to a minimum of 
one year, plus an amount of time equivalent to the aid 
received.
    An eligible applicant must use teacher recruitment grant 
funds to: (1) award scholarships to help students pay the costs 
of tuition, room, board, and other expenses of completing a 
teacher preparation program; (2) provide support services to 
enable scholarship recipients to complete postsecondary 
education programs; and (3) provide follow up services to 
former scholarship recipients during the recipients first 3 
years of teaching; or develop and implement activities to 
ensure that high need local educational agencies and schools 
are able to effectively recruit highly qualified teachers.
    In addition to using funds for the aforementioned required 
activities, an eligible applicant that receives a teacher 
recruitment grant may also use funds to recruit employees from 
high demand industries, including mathematics, science, 
engineering, and technology industries, into the teaching 
profession.

Accountability for programs that prepare teachers

    Under H.R. 2211, each State that receives grants under the 
Act must continue its ``State Report Card on the Quality of 
Teacher Preparation'' (as required under P.L. 105-244, the 
Higher Education Amendments of 1998) and report annually to the 
Secretary of Education, for both traditional and alternative 
teacher preparation programs, the percentage of students (who 
completed at least 50 percent of the coursework required for 
teacher preparation programs) that took and passed the State 
certification or licensure assessment.
    H.R. 2211 continues provisions for the Secretary of 
Education to report on teacher quality and preparation in the 
United States. Among other things, the Secretary's report 
(which is made available to the Congress and the public) must 
include: (1) a comparison of States' efforts to improve 
teaching quality; and (2) the national mean and median scores 
on any standardized test that is used in 1 or more State for 
teacher certification or licensure.
    Each teacher preparation program that enrolls students 
receiving federal assistance under the Act must also continue 
current law reporting requirements with regard to the quality 
of teacher preparation. In particular, H.R. 2211 requires 
annual reports from teacher preparation programs that must 
include: (1) the pass rate of each student (who completed at 
least 50 percent of the coursework required for the teacher 
preparation program) on the State certification or licensure 
assessment; (2) a comparison of the program's pass rate for 
students (who completed at least 50 percent of the coursework 
required for the teacher preparation program) with the average 
pass rate for other programs in the State; and (3) a comparison 
of the program's average raw score for students (who completed 
at least 50 percent of the coursework required for the teacher 
preparation program) with the average raw scores for other 
programs in the State.
    H.R. 2211 adds provisions to the Higher Education Act that 
require the Governor of a State (or the entity in the State 
responsible for teacher certification and preparation) to 
attest to the reliability of data reported under the Act to the 
Secretary of Education.
    The Ready to Teach Act extends the current law 
authorization of $300 million for fiscal year 2004 and ``such 
sums'' as may be necessary for fiscal years 2005 through 2008 
for Part A (Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants for States and 
Partnerships) activities.

        Part B--Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers To Use Technology

    H.R. 2211 continues activities authorized under the 
Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology program (Part B 
under current law). This program was updated and transferred 
from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to the HEA 
during consideration of the No Child Left Behind Act in the 
107th Congress. The purpose of this program is to prepare 
prospective teachers to use advanced technology to prepare all 
students to meet challenging State and local academic content 
and student academic achievement standards.
    H.R. 2211 extends the current law authorization of ``such 
sums'' as may be necessary for fiscal years 2004 through 2008.

                     Part C--Centers of Excellence

    H.R. 2211 authorizes grants for the creation of Centers of 
Excellence at high quality minority serving institutions. Under 
this Part, grants are competitively awarded to high quality 
teacher preparation programs (as determined by the State) at 
eligible institutions which include: Historically Black 
Colleges or Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, 
Tribally Controlled Colleges or Universities, Alaska Native-
Serving Institutions, or Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions.
    H.R. 2211 authorizes $10 million for fiscal year 2004 and 
``such sums'' as may be necessary for fiscal years 2005 through 
2008. The minimum grant under this Part is $500,000.

                            Committee Views

    The caliber of teacher education programs has come under 
increased scrutiny over the past several years. Among other 
things, teacher preparation programs have been criticized for 
providing prospective teachers with inadequate time to learn 
subject matter; for teaching a superficial curriculum; and for 
being unduly fragmented, with courses not linked to practice 
teaching and with education faculty isolated from their arts 
and sciences faculty colleagues. In particular, there have been 
concerns about high rates of failure of recent teacher college 
graduates on initial licensing or certification exams. 
According to the Congressional Research Service, one of the 
most publicly reported instances of high failure rates was in 
1998 when 59 percent of prospective teachers in Massachusetts 
failed that State's new certification exam. The results raised 
questions about the quality of the preparation and training 
prospective teachers had received from teacher preparation 
programs at institutions of higher education across the State.
    In January 2002 President Bush signed into law the No Child 
Left Behind Act, the bipartisan education reform package that 
has infused accountability for results into K-12 education in 
America. The No Child Left Behind Act calls for a highly 
qualified teacher in every public school classroom by the end 
of the 2005-2006 school year. In order to be highly qualified, 
a teacher must obtain full State certification, a bachelor's 
degree, and be able to demonstrate a high level of competency 
in all subjects taught (by passing a rigorous State assessment, 
completing an academic major for each subject taught, or a 
State approved review process).
    In June 2002, the Secretary of Education issued the first 
full annual report on teacher preparation as required under 
Title II of the Higher Education Act. The report, ``Meeting the 
Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge: The Secretary's Annual 
Report on Teacher Quality,'' concluded that the teacher 
preparation system in this country has serious limitations. Not 
only does acceptable achievement on certification assessments 
differ markedly among the States, the Secretary's report found 
that most States, in setting the minimum score considered to be 
a passing score, set those scores well below national averages. 
The data collected for this report suggests that schools of 
education and formal teacher training programs are failing to 
produce the types of highly qualified teachers that the No 
Child Left Behind Act demands. Highlights from the report 
include:
     Only 23 States have implemented teacher standards 
tied to their respective academic content standards for grades 
K-12.
     Academic standards for teachers are low. On one 
popular teacher licensure test used by 29 States, only one 
State set its passing score near the national average in 
reading, while 15 set their respective passing scores below the 
25th percentile. On math and writing tests, only one State set 
its passing score above the national average.
     States are increasingly relying on teachers who 
are hired on waivers and lack full certification (a practice 
that must be phased out under the No Child Left Behind Act).
    The first in what will be a series of bills to reauthorize 
the Higher Education Act, H.R. 2211, the Ready to Teach Act of 
2003, seeks to meet the call of the No Child Left Behind Act to 
place a highly qualified teacher in every classroom by making 
improvements that will help ensure teacher training programs 
are producing well-prepared teachers to meet the needs of 
America's students. H.R. 2211 takes the important step of 
aligning teacher training programs, under Title II of the 
Higher Education Act, with the high standards for teacher 
quality found in the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act. This 
bill will help to ensure that teacher training programs are 
fulfilling an obligation they have to those seeking to enter 
the teacher profession--an obligation to ensure that teachers 
are ready to teach.
    In general, H.R. 2211 continues the current law structure 
of Title II of the Higher Education Act and authorizes three 
types of competitive grants that each play a unique, yet 
critical role in the education of tomorrow's teachers. Under 
the Act, 45 percent of the funds are reserved for State grants, 
which must be used to reform teacher preparation requirements 
and ensure that current and future teachers are highly 
qualified; 45 percent of the funds are reserved for partnership 
grants, which allow effective partners to join together, 
combining strengths and resources to train highly qualified 
teachers to achieve success where it matters most--in the 
classroom; and 10 percent of the funds are reserved for teacher 
recruitment grants, which will help bring high quality 
individuals into teacher programs, and ultimately put more 
highly qualified teachers into classrooms.

State grants

    H.R. 2211 authorizes States to use funds to design (or 
redesign) teacher preparation programs so they are based on 
rigorous academic content, scientifically based research 
(including scientifically based reading research), and 
challenging State student academic content standards. As a 
result, States will be able to strengthen teacher preparation 
programs by setting higher standards for what potential 
teachers need to learn as part of their instruction and ensure 
more teachers leave these programs ready to meet the ``highly 
qualified'' definition for teachers established under the No 
Child Left Behind Act.
    On May 20, 2003, the Subcommittee on 21st Century 
Competitiveness held a hearing on ``America's Teacher Colleges: 
Are They Making the Grade?'' The purpose of this hearing was to 
discuss whether teacher colleges and other teacher preparation 
programs are producing a high quality teacher force. Kati 
Haycock, Director of the Education Trust, testified during the 
hearing that:

          Discussions of teacher quality are inadequately 
        informed by data regarding what makes the biggest 
        difference in student learning. As the U.S. General 
        Accounting Office has reported, the U.S. Department of 
        Education has granted almost half a billion dollars 
        ($460 million) in HEA Title II funds but there is no 
        consistent, reliable way to evaluate the effect of 
        these grants on raising student achievement. State 
        Grants should be limited to states that are willing to 
        establish data systems to evaluate the efficacy of 
        teacher training programs and professional development 
        activities on improving teacher effectiveness. 
        Ultimately, states should be in a position to evaluate 
        their success in terms of hard data indicating whether 
        various activities helped raise student achievement.

    Accordingly, H.R. 2211 adds a new State grant evaluation 
provision that requires States that accept grants under the Act 
to develop evaluation systems to determine the effectiveness of 
grant activities. Specifically, these new systems will evaluate 
the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs and 
professional development activities within the State in 
producing gains in: (1) the teacher's annual contribution to 
improving student academic achievement, as measured by State 
academic assessments required under section 1111 of the No 
Child Left Behind Act; and (2) teacher mastery of the academic 
subjects they teach, as measured by pre- and post-participation 
tests of teacher knowledge.
    The Ready to Teach Act recognizes that flexibility should 
exist in methods used for training highly qualified teachers 
and allows funds to be used for innovative methods in teacher 
preparation programs, such as charter colleges of education and 
university and local educational agency partnership schools, 
which can provide an alternative gateway for teachers to become 
highly qualified.
    Under H.R. 2211, States have the flexibility to set up 
charter colleges of education that function in a manner similar 
to elementary and secondary charter schools except that they 
would prepare highly qualified teachers in a higher education 
setting. These charter colleges of education will exchange 
flexibility in meeting State requirements for institutional 
commitments to produce results-based outcomes for teacher 
education graduates--measured based on increased student 
academic achievement. The Committee is aware of three 
institutions of higher education that have created charter 
colleges: the Charter College of Education at California State 
University, Los Angeles, California; the Charter School of 
Education and Human Sciences at Berry College in Mount Berry, 
Georgia; and the Charter Teacher Education Program at Fort 
Valley State University in Fort Valley, Georgia.
    On October, 9, 2002, the Subcommittee on 21st Century 
Competitiveness held a hearing in Washington, D.C. on 
``Training Tomorrow's Teachers: Ensuring a Quality 
Postsecondary Education.'' Dr. Allen Mori, Dean of the Charter 
College of Education at California State University, Los 
Angeles, California, testified before the Subcommittee and 
noted that:

          The Charter College of Education is clearly on the 
        cutting edge of high quality teacher preparation in the 
        21st century. Spurred by the Title II requirements to 
        improve teacher education, faculty was determined to 
        build world-class teacher preparation programs to meet 
        the needs of the ethnically and linguistically diverse 
        urban community of the Los Angeles basin. This context 
        is a powerful theme in both the subject matter and 
        teacher preparation curriculum.

    Specifically, the language in H.R. 2211 allows States to 
use funds for the planning and implementation of charter 
colleges of education that: (1) permit flexibility in meeting 
State requirements as long as graduates, during their initial 
years in the profession, increase student academic achievement; 
(2) provide long-term data gathered from teachers' performance 
over multiple years in the classroom on the ability to increase 
student academic achievement; (3) ensure high-quality 
preparation of teachers from underrepresented groups; and (4) 
create performance measures that can be used to document the 
effectiveness of innovative methods for preparing highly 
qualified teachers.
    The Committee recognizes that there are other innovative 
approaches to teacher preparation, such as university and local 
educational agency partnership schools which will support and 
encourage institutions of higher education to establish K-12 
schools of excellence in partnership with local educational 
agencies. These partnership schools will utilize the assets of 
the institution of higher education, the local educational 
agency, and the community to bring new models for learning to 
students that are founded on research-based practices, rigorous 
academic content, and high standards.
    States can also use their grant funds to provide 
prospective teachers with alternative routes to State 
certification and traditional preparation to become highly 
qualified teachers. Such approaches will help to reduce 
unnecessary barriers to State certification and offer 
alternative routes to State certification of teachers for 
qualified individuals, including mid-career professionals from 
other occupations, former military personnel, and recent 
college graduates with records of academic distinction. The 
Committee notes that alternative routes to State certification, 
as opposed to traditional teacher preparation programs 
administered by colleges of education, can streamline the State 
certification process and help to move competent and qualified 
candidates into the classroom in an expeditious manner.
    There are several well-known programs nationwide that 
recruit highly qualified candidates using alternative routes to 
State certification, including the Troops to Teachers program. 
This program provides financial assistance and training to 
retiring military personnel and helps to place them in local 
school districts, thus providing a new source of teachers to 
schools across the country. According to the National Center 
for Education Information, teachers certified through 
alternative routes also bring diversity to the classroom and 
are more apt to take challenging assignments. In particular, 
the Center found that 90 percent of teachers in the Troops to 
Teachers program are male, compared to just 26 percent in the 
overall teaching force and about 30 percent of teachers in the 
program are from a minority or ethnic group, compared to just 
10 percent overall.
    Another popular and successful program associated with 
alternative routes to teaching is Teach For America. This 
nationwide nonprofit organization recruits accomplished college 
graduates without formal backgrounds in education to teach in 
high-need urban and rural schools. Candidates apply to the 
program and, if selected, attend a summer training course 
before being placed in school districts across the country. 
Teach for America and the host school districts provide new 
teachers with support during the two-year program, after which 
some teachers return to graduate school, transfer to other 
professions or continue teaching. Since its inception in 1989, 
Teach For America has placed more than 8,000 talented young men 
and women in some of our nation's most disadvantaged schools.
    The Committee also recognizes the potential for an improved 
teaching force through the American Board for Certification of 
Teacher Excellence, which provides a nationally recognized, 
high quality credential to attract the best and the brightest 
into the classroom. This certification has also been recognized 
by the Congress--in section 2151(c)(2) of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965--as one of the nationally 
recognized doorways into the teaching profession. The American 
Board is a rigorous way to open the doors for highly qualified 
candidates--including professionals who may want to enter 
teaching from other fields. Because the rigor of the exam its 
candidates will be required to take, American Board certified 
teachers will have to prove that they not only have a mastery 
of their subject matter, but also the professional knowledge to 
become successful and highly qualified teachers. The American 
Board will offer two types of teacher certification: a 
``Passport to Teaching,'' which will be available for career 
changers and prospective new teachers and ``Master 
Certification,'' which is targeted toward extraordinary 
educators who are already in the teaching profession and have a 
demonstrated record of accomplishment in improving student 
academic achievement.
    Additionally, the Committee recognizes that nearly 24,000 
teachers have been awarded National Board Certification through 
the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). 
NBPTS has also been recognized by Congress--as part of section 
2151(c)(2) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
1965. The Committee notes that many of the teachers completing 
this certification have stated that it was a positive 
experience in their career and that they had become better 
teachers.
    The Committee is encouraged by teacher retention data as 
described in a report released by the Secretary of Education, 
``Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge: The 
Secretary's Annual Report on Teacher Quality'' in June 2002, 
which noted that:

          Evidence suggests that retention rates for teachers 
        certified through alternate routes are higher than for 
        teachers who enter the classroom through traditional 
        routes. Nationwide, about 85 percent of teachers 
        certified through alternate routes remain in the 
        classroom five years later, demonstrating that 
        truncated training programs with highly qualified 
        candidates do not result in those same teachers leaving 
        the profession early in their careers.

    The Committee notes that the key to producing highly 
qualified teachers is not the path by which they travel, but 
the destination they reach. Teachers trained through innovative 
options, or certified through alternate means, will still be 
held to the same standards of accountability and quality, but 
will not be constrained by artificial requirements that could 
place barriers between high quality individuals and the 
classrooms where they are desperately needed. H.R. 2211 takes 
the important step of recognizing that individuals seeking to 
enter the teaching profession often have varied backgrounds--
and by creating flexible approaches that step outside the box, 
these individuals can become highly qualified teachers through 
training programs as unique as their individual experiences.
    H.R. 2211 authorizes State grant, partnership grant, and 
teacher recruitment grant programs for the development and 
implementation of mechanisms to assist local educational 
agencies in recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers. 
The Committee notes that the authorized activities under these 
programs provide significant flexibility for States and 
partnerships to design innovative initiatives to recruit and 
retain highly qualified teachers. The committee wants to make 
clear that funds under these programs may be used to cover 
moving expenses to secure employment of highly qualified 
teachers and provide other financial assistance necessary to 
purchase a home (including mortgage application fees and 
closing costs). The Committee recognizes this use of grant 
funds as an appropriate way to attract and retain highly 
qualified teachers.

Partnership grants

    Under H.R. 2211, each eligible partnership seeking 
assistance under the Act must include at least: (1) a high 
quality teacher preparation program at an institution of higher 
education; (2) a school of arts and sciences; (3) a high need 
local educational agency; and (4) a public or private 
educational organization. The Committee believes that these 
expanded partnership grants will bring diverse expertise 
together for the common goal of placing highly qualified 
teachers in the classrooms of high need school districts. The 
Committee is requiring participation by a public or private 
educational organization in each partnership because varied 
expertise in areas such as teacher preparation, certification, 
test preparation, and others can bring added dimensions that 
benefit school districts, teachers, and most importantly, 
students. Some public or private educational entities may be 
particularly skilled at working with disadvantaged students and 
can help make teachers more successful in teaching to standards 
with challenging student populations. Other organizations may 
be adept at helping students master concepts critical to their 
achievement on high quality assessments. The Committee supports 
a flexible approach and believes it would be impossible to 
define every valuable service that may be offered by a ``public 
or private educational organization'' to a partnership under 
this program. Limiting the potential participants is a 
disservice to the partnership concept and decreases the ability 
of school districts and teacher preparation programs to make 
local decisions about the best ways to improve teacher quality 
and increase student academic achievement. The Committee also 
notes that public and private educational organizations that 
participate in the partnership should have the capacity to 
offer high quality services that respond to the needs of the 
partnership.
    The Ready to Teach Act requires partnership grant 
applicants to describe how faculty of a teacher preparation 
program at an institution of higher education that seeks a 
partnership grant will serve with highly qualified teachers in 
the classroom at partner local educational agencies over the 
term of the grant. The Committee believes this increased 
interaction between teacher faculty and teachers in the 
classroom will help teacher preparation programs keep abreast 
of the needs of everyday teachers. In addition, H.R. 2211 
requires that at least 50 percent of partnership funds be used 
to ``directly benefit'' partner local educational agencies and 
clarifies that any entity under the partnership may be the 
fiscal agent of such partnership. It is the intent of the 
Committee that partner local educational agencies actively 
participate in the application process and support any proposed 
grant activities as described in such partnership applications. 
Provisions in H.R. 2211 are designed to ensure that each 
partner local educational agency has the ability to influence 
grant activities and guarantee that partnership activities 
focus on the needs of teachers and students in the classroom.

Accountability

    While current higher education law contains annual 
reporting requirements, these reporting measures have proven 
ineffective in determining the true quality of teacher 
preparation programs. In fact, under the current law reporting 
requirements (as required under Title II of P.L. 105-244, the 
Higher Education Amendments of 1998) many States and teacher 
preparation programs have, either intentionally or 
unintentionally, submitted skewed and irrelevant data. Under 
current law, teacher preparation programs at institutions of 
higher education must report the percentage of graduates who 
successfully pass the State certification or licensure 
assessments. However, most institutions have simply made 
completion of their program contingent upon passage of these 
assessments. This masked the number of students who were not 
adequately prepared by the institution to pass these tests in 
the first place. The Committee is discouraged by this reporting 
loophole that some teacher preparation programs at institutions 
of higher education have used to circumvent current law 
accountability provisions. Accordingly, the Ready to Teach Act 
includes improved accountability provisions that will 
strengthen reporting measures and hold teacher preparation 
programs (for both traditional and alternative programs) 
accountable for providing accurate and useful information.
    H.R. 2211 requires each State that receives funds under the 
Act to annually report to the Secretary of Education (for both 
traditional and alternative teacher preparation programs) on 
the percentage of students (who completed at least 50 percent 
of the requirements for teacher preparation programs) that took 
and passed the State certification or licensure assessment. 
These State report cards on the quality of teacher preparation 
must also report on the State-determined passing score of that 
assessment and disaggregate and rank each teacher preparation 
program in the State based on such data.
    In addition, each teacher preparation program that enrolls 
students receiving federal assistance under the Higher 
Education Act must report annually to the State and the general 
public: (1) the pass rate of each student (who completed at 
least 50 percent of the requirements for the teacher 
preparation program) on the State certification or licensure 
assessment; (2) a comparison of the program's pass rate with 
the average pass rate for other programs in the State; and (3) 
a comparison of the program's average raw score for students 
with the average raw scores for other programs in the State.
    The Committee directs institutions of higher education and 
other teacher preparation programs that receive grants under 
the Ready to Teach Act to report effective data on the number 
of students that have spent a significant amount of time in 
teacher preparation programs (those who have completed at least 
half of the requirements of the teacher preparation program) 
and that have taken and passed State certification or licensure 
assessments. The Committee believes that effective reporting of 
such data will demonstrate which teacher preparation programs 
have added value to program participants (enabling such 
participants to pass State certification and licensure 
assessments) and that these improved reporting requirements 
will make it less likely that States will submit misleading 
data. Clarifying language in H.R. 2211 (which focuses on 
students who have completed at least 50 percent of the 
requirements for a teacher preparation program) is specifically 
designed to eliminate the discrepancy in current law with 
regard to reporting requirements for ``graduates'' and 
``program completers.'' The Committee also believes that new 
data on ``average raw scores'' on State certification or 
licensure assessments will help to distinguish teacher 
preparation programs within States that report similar ``pass 
rate'' data.

Centers of excellence

    The demand for more ethnically and culturally diverse 
highly qualified teachers is critical, especially given the 
significant growth in the numbers of minority K-12 students 
across the country. Opportunities that increase the numbers of 
minority teachers and enhance their training, will support 
broader strategies to enhance instructional opportunities for, 
and can help to eliminate the achievement gaps of, minority 
students. Accordingly, Part C of H.R. 2211 authorizes grants 
for the creation of Centers of Excellence at high quality 
minority serving institutions. On June 4, 2003, the 
Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness adopted a 
bipartisan amendment offered by Mr. Burns (R-GA), Mr. Owens (D-
NY), and Mr. Hinojosa (D-TX) to authorize grants for teacher 
preparation Centers of Excellence that was based on language 
submitted to the Committee by the United Negro College Fund and 
the Hispanic Education Coalition. The Committee believes that 
the newly authorized Centers of Excellence will provide 
minority serving institutions that have a demonstrated record 
of preparing highly qualified teachers, with a leadership role 
in recruiting and preparing highly qualified teachers and 
increase opportunities for Americans of all educational, 
ethnic, class, and geographic backgrounds to become highly 
qualified teachers.
    In general, the purposes of these Centers are to increase 
teacher recruitment at minority serving institutions and make 
institutional improvements to teacher preparation programs at 
minority serving institutions. Grants are competitively awarded 
to high quality teacher preparation programs (as determined by 
the State) at eligible institutions which include: Historically 
Black Colleges or Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, 
Tribally Controlled Colleges or Universities, Alaska Native-
Serving Institutions, or Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions.
    Specifically, Part C authorizes the Secretary to award 
grants to high quality minority serving institutions, a 
consortium of such minority serving institutions, or minority 
serving institutions that partner with other institutions of 
higher education (as long as the Centers are located at a 
partner minority serving institution). Grant funds can be used 
to create teaching Centers of Excellence to ensure that current 
and future teachers are highly qualified by: (1) implementing 
reforms within teacher preparation programs to improve teacher 
quality; (2) providing sustained and high-quality preservice 
clinical experience, including the mentoring of prospective 
teachers by exemplary teachers; (3) developing and implementing 
initiatives to promote retention of highly qualified teachers 
and principals, including minority teachers and principals; (4) 
awarding scholarships to help students pay the costs of 
tuition, room, board, and other expenses of completing a 
teacher preparation program; (5) disseminating information on 
effective practices for teacher preparation and successful 
teacher certification test preparation strategies; and (6) 
other activities authorized under the Act.

Summary

    H.R. 2211 is specifically designed to align teacher 
preparation programs with the high standards for accountability 
and results provided for in the No Child Left Behind Act. The 
Ready to Teach Act will help to ensure that program 
effectiveness can accurately be measured and places a strong 
focus on the quality of teacher preparation, and a renewed 
emphasis on the skills needed to meet the ``highly qualified'' 
standard found in the No Child Left Behind Act such as: the use 
of advanced technology in the classroom, rigorous academic 
content knowledge, scientifically based research, and 
challenging State student academic standards. H.R. 2211 
recognizes that flexibility should exist in methods used for 
training highly qualified teachers and allows funds to be used 
for innovative methods in teacher preparation programs, such as 
charter colleges of education, which can provide an alternative 
gateway for teachers to become highly qualified. In addition, 
the Ready to Teach Act takes the important step of recognizing 
that individuals seeking to enter the teaching profession often 
have varied backgrounds--and by creating flexible approaches 
that step outside the box, these individuals can become highly 
qualified teachers through training programs as unique as their 
individual experiences. The Ready to Teach Act also contains 
improved accountability provisions that will strengthen 
reporting measures and hold teacher preparation programs 
accountable for providing accurate and useful information.

                      Section-by-Section Analysis

    Section 1. Establishes the short title of the act as the 
``Ready to Teach Act of 2003.''
    Section 2. Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants. Amends Part 
A of Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965.

 Part A--Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants for States and Partnerships

    Section 201. Purposes; Definitions. States purpose of Part 
A regarding student academic achievement, quality of the 
teaching force, accountability of institutions of higher 
education and recruitment of teachers. Provides definitions of 
arts and sciences, exemplary teacher, highly qualified, high-
need local educational agency, poverty line, professional 
development, scientifically based reading research, 
scientifically based research and teaching skills.
    Section 202. State Grants. Authorizes the Secretary to 
award grants to States. Defines eligible State and addresses 
application requirements. Addresses uses of funds for one or 
more of the following activities: reforming State teacher 
preparation programs, reforming teacher certification or 
licensure requirements, providing alternative teacher 
preparation and certification, planning and implementing 
innovative programs, merit pay and teacher advancement 
initiatives for local educational agencies, development of 
teacher advancement and retention activities as well as, 
effective teacher removal mechanisms for local educational 
agencies, technical assistance for low-performing teacher 
preparation programs, development of teacher effectiveness 
systems and strategies, recruitment and retention activities, 
and the improvement of the qualifications of preschool 
teachers. Requires that an eligible State receiving a grant 
under this section shall develop a system to evaluate annually 
the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs and 
professional development activities and make this information 
widely available to the public.
    Section 203. Partnership Grants. Authorizes Secretary to 
award grants to eligible partnerships. Defines eligible 
partnership and partner institution. Addresses application 
requirements, and required and allowable uses of funds. 
Required uses of funds must be used to carry out one or more of 
the following activities: reform teacher preparation programs, 
providing preservice and in-service clinical experience for 
teachers, and teacher professional development and preparation 
activities, particularly for those teaching students with 
disabilities, limited English proficiency and special learning 
needs. Allowable uses of funds may be used for such activities 
as alternatives to traditional teacher preparation and State 
certification, dissemination and coordination activities, 
developing and implementing professional development programs 
for principals and superintendents, teacher recruitment 
activities, clinical experience in science, mathematics, and 
technology, and coordination with community colleges. Provides 
a special rule regarding 50 percent of the funds under the 
partnership shall be used to directly benefit high-need local 
educational agency in the partnership, and addresses 
coordination of eligible partnerships with more than one 
agency.
    Section 204. Teacher Recruitment Grants. Authorizes the 
Secretary to award grants for teacher recruitment. Addresses 
the definition of an eligible applicant and the application 
requirements. Uses of funds under this section may be used for 
awarding scholarships to students in teacher preparation 
programs and providing support services and follow-up support 
services to former scholarship recipients, and activities for 
high need local educational agencies and schools to recruit 
highly qualified teachers. Additional discretionary uses of 
funds may be used to develop and implement effective mechanisms 
to recruit employees from high demand industries. Establishes 
service requirements regarding scholarship recipients teaching 
in high-need local educational agencies, and requires that the 
Secretary give priority to applicants who recruit a high 
percentage of minority students to become highly qualified 
teachers.
    Section 205. Administrative Provisions. Establishes 
duration of grants awarded, the one-time awards and, the 
payment schedule. In addition, this section establishes a peer 
review panel regarding funding, and establishes the priorities 
of the panel such as specific State teacher certification 
requirements, innovative reforms to hold higher education 
institutions accountable for preparing highly-qualified 
teachers, development of efforts to reducing teacher shortages, 
and give priority to applicants who involve businesses and 
community organizations. Authorizes the Secretary to determine 
which applicants receive funding based on the peer review 
process. Establishes matching requirements from non-Federal 
sources from the State and partnership grantees, and limits use 
of funds on administrative expenses.
    Section 206. Accountability and Evaluation. Requires State 
grantees to submit an annual accountability report to the 
Secretary, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions of the Senate, and the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce of the House of Representatives. Sets forth the 
accountability requirements to be reported. Requires eligible 
partnerships to include in the application submitted under 
section 203(c) an evaluation plan, which includes certain 
objectives and measures specified in this section. Authorizes 
the Secretary to revoke funding of an eligible State, applicant 
or partnership based on inadequate progress. Requires the 
Secretary to report evaluation of activities funded under this 
part annually to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions of the Senate, and the Committee on Education and the 
Workforce of the House of Representatives.
    Section 207. Accountability for Programs That Prepare 
Teachers. Requires State report cards on the quality of teacher 
preparation to be provided annually to the Secretary. In 
addition, requires the Secretary to provide annually to 
Congress and publish a report card on teacher qualifications 
and preparation and report a comparison of States' efforts to 
improve teaching quality as well as the national mean and 
median scores on standardized test used for teacher 
certification. Each institution of higher education that 
conducts a teacher preparation program will be required to 
report annually to the State and the general public, pass 
rates, program information, statement of program State approval 
or accreditation, and whether program has been designated as 
low-performing by the State. The above information must be 
reported through publications and provided to persons thus 
designated, and the Secretary is authorized to impose fines on 
institutions for failure to provide such information. Requires 
the Governor of a State, or an entity in the State responsible 
for teacher certification and preparation, to attest to the 
reliability of data reported under the Act to the Secretary of 
Education.
    Section 208. State Functions. Requires States to identify 
and assist low-performing programs of teacher preparation 
within institutions of higher education, and provide annually 
to the Secretary a list of such institutions. Sets forth 
termination of eligibility for professional development 
activities awarded by the Department of Education and denies 
acceptance or enrollment of any student receiving aid under 
Title IV of this Act if institutions of higher education 
offering programs of teacher preparation are denied approval or 
financial support by the State due to low performance.
    Section 209. General Provisions. Requires the Secretary to 
ensure States and institutions of higher education use fair and 
equitable methods of reporting, and that identification of 
individuals is not disclosed. Provides authority for the 
Secretary to collect data in States where there are no 
certification or licensure assessments or minimum performance 
levels on those assessments. Prohibits Federal control over any 
aspect of private, religious, or home school however, does not 
prohibit the aforementioned from participation in programs or 
services under this part. Nothing in this part shall be 
construed to require or encourage change in a State's treatment 
of any private, religious, or home school or the Secretary to 
establish or support any national system of teacher 
certification.
    Section 210. Authorization of Appropriations. Authorizes 
$300 million for fiscal year 2004 and ``such sums'' as may be 
necessary for fiscal years 2005 through 2008.

    Section 3. Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology. 
Amends section 223(b)(1)(E) and section 224 of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 by making technical changes. Extends the 
current law authorization of ``such sums'' as may be necessary 
for fiscal years 2004 through 2008.
    Section 4. Centers of Excellence. Amends Title II of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 by adding a Part C regarding 
centers of excellence.

                     Part C--Centers of Excellence

    Section 231. Purposes; Definitions. Establishes the purpose 
of centers of excellence to be that of recruitment and 
preparation of highly qualified teachers particularly, minority 
teachers. Sets forth the definition under this part of an 
eligible institution, highly qualified, scientifically based 
reading research, and scientifically based research.
    Section 232. Centers of Excellence. Authorizes the 
Secretary to award competitive grants to eligible institutions 
to establish centers of excellence. Requires that the grants 
provided by the Secretary under this part be used to ensure 
current and future teachers are highly qualified by carrying 
out one or more of such activities: reforming teacher 
preparation programs, preservice clinical experience and 
mentoring of prospective teachers, initiatives to promote 
retention of highly qualified and in particular minority 
teachers and principals, awarding scholarships to students of 
teacher preparation programs, disseminating information on 
effective teacher preparation practices and successful teacher 
certification test preparation strategies, and other activities 
under the Act. Additionally, requires any eligible institution 
desiring a grant under this section to submit an application to 
the Secretary and provides the Secretary the authority to 
prescribe regulations to carry out this section. Establishes 
the minimum of each grant to be $500,000 and eligible 
institutions may not use more than two percent of grant funds 
for purposes of administering the grant.
    Section 233. Authorization of Appropriations. Authorizes 
$10 million for fiscal year 2004 and ``such sums'' as may be 
necessary for fiscal years 2005 through 2008.
    Section 5. Transition. Authorizes the Secretary to utilize 
such actions necessary for the orderly implementation of this 
Act.

                       Explanation of Amendments

    The Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute is explained in 
the body of this report.

              Application of Law to the Legislative Branch

    Section 102(b)(3) of Public Law 104-1 requires a 
description of the application of this bill to the legislative 
branch. This bill, H.R. 2211, is designed to: (1) increase 
student academic achievement; (2) improve the quality of the 
current and future teaching force by improving the preparation 
of prospective teachers; (3) hold teacher preparation programs 
accountable for preparing highly qualified teachers; (4) and 
recruit highly qualified individuals, including minorities and 
individuals from other occupations, into the teaching force. 
The bill does not prevent legislative branch employees from 
receiving the benefits of this legislation.

                       Unfunded Mandate Statement

    Section 423 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment 
Control Act (as amended by Section 101(a)(2) of the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act, P.L. 104-4) requires a statement of 
whether the provisions of the reported bill include unfunded 
mandates. H.R. 2211 amends the spending programs under the 
Higher Education Act. As such, the bill does not contain any 
unfunded mandates.

  Statement of Oversight Findings and Recommendations of the Committee

    In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII and clause 
(2)(b)(1) of rule X of the rules of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee's oversight findings and 
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.

   New Budget Authority and Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate

    With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) of rule 
XIII of the House of Representatives and section 308(a) of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and with respect to 
requirements of 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the House of 
Representatives and section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate 
for H.R. 2211 from the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office:

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                     Washington, DC, June 16, 2003.
Hon. John A. Boehner,
Chairman, Committee on Education and the Workforce,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 2211, the Ready to 
Teach Act of 2003.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Donna Wong.
            Sincerely,
                                       Douglas Holtz-Eakin,
                                                          Director.
    Enclosure.

H.R. 2211--Ready to Teach Act of 2003

    Summary: H.R. 2211 would reauthorize programs under title 
II of the Higher Education Act. These programs are currently 
authorized through 2004 by the General Education Provisions Act 
(GEPA) and H.R. 2211 would reauthorize them through 2008. The 
bill also would create a new grant program for higher education 
institutions that have historically served minority populations 
and authorize these grants through 2008.
    CBO estimates that authorizations under the bill would 
total $219 million in 2004 and about $1.8 billion over the 
2004-2008 period, assuming that annual levels are adjusted for 
inflation when specific annual authorizations are not provided. 
(Without such inflation adjustments, the authorizations would 
total about $1.7 billion over the 2004-2008 period.) CBO 
estimates that appropriations of the authorized levels would 
result in additional outlays of $1.3 billion over the 2004-2008 
period, assuming annual adjustments for inflation (and about 
$1.2 billion without adjustments for inflation). Enacting H.R. 
2211 would not affect direct spending or receipts.
    H.R. 2211 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). 
Any costs incurred by state and local governments would be 
conditions of aid or would result from participating in a 
voluntary federal program.
    Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated 
budgetary impact of H.R. 2211, with inflation adjustments for 
the various components of each title of the bill, is shown in 
the following table. The costs of this legislation fall within 
budget function 500 (education, training, employment, and 
social services).

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                      By fiscal year, in millions--
                               -----------------------------------------
                                 2003   2004   2005   2006   2007   2008
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                    SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION

Spending Under Current Law:
    Budget Authority/Estimated    152    154      0      0      0      0
     Authorization \1\........
    Estimated Outlays.........    171    156    146     43     11      0
Proposed Changes:
    Teacher Quality
     Enhancement:
        Estimated                   0    209    306    313    320    327
         Authorization Level..
        Estimated Outlays.....      0     10    157    262    303    318
    Preparing Tomorrow's
     Teachers for Technology:
        Estimated                   0      0     64     66     67     69
         Authorization Level..
        Estimated Outlays.....      0      0      3     45     62     67
    Centers of Excellence:
        Estimated                   0     10     10     10     11     11
         Authorization Level..
        Estimated Outlays.....      0      1      7      9     10     11
    Total Proposed Changes:
        Estimated                   0    219    381    389    397    406
         Authorization Level..
        Estimated Outlays.....      0     11    168    316    375    395
Total Spending Under H.R.
 2211:
    Estimated Authorization       152    373    381    389    387    406
     Level....................
    Estimated Outlays.........    171    167    314    359    386    395
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The 2003 level is the amount appropriated that year for the Teacher
  Quality Enhancement Grants and Preparing Teachers for Technology
  programs. The 2004 level is the 2003 level inflated.

    Basis of estimate: H.R. 2211 would reauthorize programs 
under title II of the Higher Education Act. These programs are 
currently through 2004 by GEPA and H.R. 2211 would reauthorize 
them through 2008. The bill also would create a new grant 
program for historically minority higher education institutions 
and authorize these grants through 2008.
    H.R. 2211 would authorize additional appropriations of $219 
million in 2004. CBO estimates that this bill would authorize 
total funding of $1.8 billion over the 2004-2008 period 
assuming that ``such sums'' amounts provided after 2004 are 
adjusted for inflation. If the authorized amounts are 
appropriated, outlays would increase by $11 million in the 
first year and by $1.3 billion over the five-year period.
    When the 2004 authorized amounts are specified, CBO's 
estimate of authorized levels is the amount for 2004 adjusted 
for inflation in later years. When the programs are authorized 
at such sums as may be necessary in 2004, the 2004 authorized 
amount is the 2003 appropriated amount inflated. The estimated 
outlays reflect historical rates of spending for the affected 
programs.

Teacher quality enhancement grants

    H.R. 2211 would revise and reauthorize the Teacher Quality 
Enhancement Grant program. The program includes three kinds of 
programs--a state grant program, partnership grants, and 
teacher recruitment grants. The program provides funds to 
states and other organizations to increase the number of highly 
qualified teachers.
    The bill would authorize an additional $209 million (for a 
total of $300 million) in 2004 and such sums as may be 
necessary in years 2005 through 2008 for all three programs. 
CBO estimates the total authorization for the 2004-2008 period 
would be about $1.5 billion, assuming adjustments for 
inflation, with resulting outlays of $1.05 billion over those 
five years. The program is funded at $89 million in 2003.

Preparing tomorrow's teachers for technology

    The bill would extend authorizations of appropriations in 
the Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers for Technology program from 
2003 through 2008. The program supports the training of 
prospective teachers to sue advanced technology in teaching by 
funding consortia that include at least one higher education 
institution that prepares students for teaching.
    The bill would reauthorize the program at such sums as may 
be necessary for each of the five years. For this program, CBO 
estimates the total authorization for the 2004-2008 period 
would be $266 million, assuming adjustments for inflation, with 
resulting outlays of $177 million over those five years. The 
program is funded at $62 million in 2003.

Centers of Excellence

    H.R. 2211 would establish a new grant program to create 
Centers of Excellence at higher education institutions that 
historically have served minority populations. The program 
would award competitive grants to institutions to help recruit 
and prepare minority teachers. The Centers could do a variety 
activities such as retraining faculty, designing teacher 
preparation programs, and developing and implementing 
initiatives to promote retention of minority teachers. The bill 
would authorize $10 million in 2004 and such sums as may be 
necessary in years 2005-2008 for the Centers. CBO estimates the 
total authorization for the 2004-2008 period would be $52 
million, assuming adjustments for inflation, with resulting 
outlays of about $38 million over those five years.
    Intergovernemntal and private-sector impact: H.R. 2211 
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as 
defined in UMRA. The bill would benefit state and local 
education agencies and institutions of higher education by 
authorizing grants to recruit teachers and improve teacher 
preparation programs. Any costs incurred by state and local 
governments would be conditions of this aid. The bill also 
would establish additional reporting requirements for 
alternative teacher certification programs, but only if they 
enroll students that receive federal assistance. Thea costs of 
these requirements would be insignificant and would result from 
voluntary participation in federal student aid programs.
    Estimate prepared by: Federal costs: Donna Wong; Impact on 
state, Local, and Tribal Governments: Greg Waring; and Impact 
on the Private Sector: Nabeel Alsalam.
    Estimate approved by: Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.

         Statement of General Performance Goals and Objectives

    In accordance with clause (3)(c) of House Rule XIII, the 
goal of H.R. 2211 is to authorize federal assistance for 
teacher training. The Committee expects the Department of 
Education to comply with H.R. 2211 and implement the changes to 
the law in accordance with the changes.

                   Constitutional Authority Statement

    Under clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House 
of Representatives, the Committee must include a statement 
citing the specific powers granted to Congress in the 
Constitution to enact the law proposed by H.R. 2211. The 
Committee believes that the amendments made by this bill, which 
authorize appropriations for teacher training, are within 
Congress' authority under Article I, section 8, clause 1 of the 
Constitution.

                           Committee Estimate

    Clauses 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the 
Committee of the costs that would be incurred in carrying out 
H.R. 2211. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B) of that rule provides 
that this requirement does not apply when the Committee has 
included in its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the 
bill prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act.

         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):

                      HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965




           *       *       *       *       *       *       *
                 TITLE II--TEACHER QUALITY ENHANCEMENT

[PART A--TEACHER QUALITY ENHANCEMENT GRANTS FOR STATES AND PARTNERSHIPS

[SEC. 201. PURPOSES; DEFINITIONS.

  [(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this part are to--
          [(1) improve student achievement;
          [(2) improve the quality of the current and future 
        teaching force by improving the preparation of 
        prospective teachers and enhancing professional 
        development activities;
          [(3) hold institutions of higher education 
        accountable for preparing teachers who have the 
        necessary teaching skills and are highly competent in 
        the academic content areas in which the teachers plan 
        to teach, such as mathematics, science, English, 
        foreign languages, history, economics, art, civics, 
        Government, and geography, including training in the 
        effective uses of technology in the classroom; and
          [(4) recruit highly qualified individuals, including 
        individuals from other occupations, into the teaching 
        force.
  [(b) Definitions.--In this part:
          [(1) Arts and sciences.--The term ``arts and 
        sciences'' means--
                  [(A) when referring to an organizational unit 
                of an institution of higher education, any 
                academic unit that offers 1 or more academic 
                majors in disciplines or content areas 
                corresponding to the academic subject matter 
                areas in which teachers provide instruction; 
                and
                  [(B) when referring to a specific academic 
                subject matter area, the disciplines or content 
                areas in which academic majors are offered by 
                the arts and science organizational unit.
          [(2) High need local educational agency.--The term 
        ``high need local educational agency'' means a local 
        educational agency that serves an elementary school or 
        secondary school located in an area in which there is--
                  [(A) a high percentage of individuals from 
                families with incomes below the poverty line;
                  [(B) a high percentage of secondary school 
                teachers not teaching in the content area in 
                which the teachers were trained to teach; or
                  [(C) a high teacher turnover rate.
          [(3) Poverty line.--The term ``poverty line'' means 
        the poverty line (as defined by the Office of 
        Management and Budget, and revised annually in 
        accordance with section 673(2) of the Community 
        Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) 
        applicable to a family of the size involved.

[SEC. 202. STATE GRANTS.

  [(a) In General.--From amounts made available under section 
210(1) for a fiscal year, the Secretary is authorized to award 
grants under this section, on a competitive basis, to eligible 
States to enable the eligible States to carry out the 
activities described in subsection (d).
  [(b) Eligible State.--
          [(1) Definition.--In this part, the term ``eligible 
        State'' means--
                  [(A) the Governor of a State; or
                  [(B) in the case of a State for which the 
                constitution or law of such State designates 
                another individual, entity, or agency in the 
                State to be responsible for teacher 
                certification and preparation activity, such 
                individual, entity, or agency.
          [(2) Consultation.--The Governor and the individual, 
        entity, or agency designated under paragraph (1) shall 
        consult with the Governor, State board of education, 
        State educational agency, or State agency for higher 
        education, as appropriate, with respect to the 
        activities assisted under this section.
          [(3) Construction.--Nothing in this subsection shall 
        be construed to negate or supersede the legal authority 
        under State law of any State agency, State entity, or 
        State public official over programs that are under the 
        jurisdiction of the agency, entity, or official.
  [(c) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
this section, an eligible State shall, at the time of the 
initial grant application, submit an application to the 
Secretary that--
          [(1) meets the requirement of this section;
          [(2) includes a description of how the eligible State 
        intends to use funds provided under this section; and
          [(3) contains such other information and assurances 
        as the Secretary may require.
  [(d) Uses of Funds.--An eligible State that receives a grant 
under this section shall use the grant funds to reform teacher 
preparation requirements, and to ensure that current and future 
teachers possess the necessary teaching skills and academic 
content knowledge in the subject areas in which the teachers 
are assigned to teach, by carrying out 1 or more of the 
following activities:
          [(1) Reforms.--Implementing reforms that hold 
        institutions of higher education with teacher 
        preparation programs accountable for preparing teachers 
        who are highly competent in the academic content areas 
        in which the teachers plan to teach, and possess strong 
        teaching skills, which may include the use of rigorous 
        subject matter competency tests and the requirement 
        that a teacher have an academic major in the subject 
        area, or related discipline, in which the teacher plans 
        to teach.
          [(2) Certification or licensure requirements.--
        Reforming teacher certification or licensure 
        requirements to ensure that teachers have the necessary 
        teaching skills and academic content knowledge in the 
        subject areas in which teachers are assigned to teach.
          [(3) Alternatives to traditional preparation for 
        teaching.--Providing prospective teachers with 
        alternatives to traditional preparation for teaching 
        through programs at colleges of arts and sciences or at 
        nonprofit educational organizations.
          [(4) Alternative routes to state certification.--
        Carrying out programs that--
                  [(A) include support during the initial 
                teaching 
                experience; and
                  [(B) establish, expand, or improve 
                alternative routes to State certification of 
                teachers for highly qualified individuals, 
                including mid-career professionals from other 
                occupations, paraprofessionals, former military 
                personnel and recent college graduates with 
                records of academic distinction.
          [(5) Recruitment; pay; removal.--Developing and 
        implementing effective mechanisms to ensure that local 
        educational agencies and schools are able to 
        effectively recruit highly qualified teachers, to 
        financially reward those teachers and principals whose 
        students have made significant progress toward high 
        academic performance, such as through performance-based 
        compensation systems and access to ongoing professional 
        development opportunities for teachers and 
        administrators, and to expeditiously remove incompetent 
        or unqualified teachers consistent with procedures to 
        ensure due process for the teachers.
          [(6) Social promotion.--Development and 
        implementation of efforts to address the problem of 
        social promotion and to prepare teachers to effectively 
        address the issues raised by ending the practice of 
        social promotion.
          [(7) Recruitment.--Activities described in section 
        204(d).

[SEC. 203. PARTNERSHIP GRANTS.

  [(a) Grants.--From amounts made available under section 
210(2) for a fiscal year, the Secretary is authorized to award 
grants under this section, on a competitive basis, to eligible 
partnerships to enable the eligible partnerships to carry out 
the activities described in subsections (d) and (e).
  [(b) Definitions.--
          [(1) Eligible partnerships.--In this part, the term 
        ``eligible partnerships'' means an entity that--
                  [(A) shall include--
                          [(i) a partner institution;
                          [(ii) a school of arts and sciences; 
                        and
                          [(iii) a high need local educational 
                        agency; and
                  [(B) may include a Governor, State 
                educational agency, the State board of 
                education, the State agency for higher 
                education, an institution of higher education 
                not described in subparagraph (A), a public 
                charter school, a public or private elementary 
                school or secondary school, a public or private 
                nonprofit educational organization, a business, 
                a teacher organization, or a prekindergarten 
                program.
          [(2) Partner institution.--In this section, the term 
        ``partner institution'' means a private independent or 
        State-supported public institution of higher education, 
        the teacher training program of which demonstrates 
        that--
                  [(A) graduates from the teacher training 
                program exhibit strong performance on State-
                determined qualifying assessments for new 
                teachers through--
                          [(i) demonstrating that 80 percent or 
                        more of the graduates of the program 
                        who intend to enter the field of 
                        teaching have passed all of the 
                        applicable State qualification 
                        assessments for new teachers, which 
                        shall include an assessment of each 
                        prospective teacher's subject matter 
                        knowledge in the content area or areas 
                        in which the teacher intends to teach; 
                        or
                          [(ii) being ranked among the highest-
                        performing teacher preparation programs 
                        in the State as determined by the 
                        State--
                                  [(I) using criteria 
                                consistent with the 
                                requirements for the State 
                                report card under section 
                                207(b); and
                                  [(II) using the State report 
                                card on teacher preparation 
                                required under section 207(b), 
                                after the first publication of 
                                such report card and for every 
                                year thereafter; or
                  [(B) the teacher training program requires 
                all the students of the program to participate 
                in intensive clinical experience, to meet high 
                academic standards, and--
                          [(i) in the case of secondary school 
                        candidates, to successfully complete an 
                        academic major in the subject area in 
                        which the candidate intends to teach or 
                        to demonstrate competence through a 
                        high level of performance in relevant 
                        content areas; and
                          [(ii) in the case of elementary 
                        school candidates, to successfully 
                        complete an academic major in the arts 
                        and sciences or to demonstrate 
                        competence through a high level of 
                        performance in core academic subject 
                        areas.
  [(c) Application.--Each eligible partnership desiring a grant 
under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary 
at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such 
information as the Secretary may require. Each such application 
shall--
          [(1) contain a needs assessment of all the partners 
        with respect to teaching and learning and a description 
        of how the partnership will coordinate with other 
        teacher training or professional development programs, 
        and how the activities of the partnership will be 
        consistent with State, local, and other education 
        reform activities that promote student achievement;
          [(2) contain a resource assessment that describes the 
        resources available to the partnership, the intended 
        use of the grant funds, including a description of how 
        the grant funds will be fairly distributed in 
        accordance with subsection (f ), and the commitment of 
        the resources of the partnership to the activities 
        assisted under this part, including financial support, 
        faculty participation, time commitments, and 
        continuation of the activities when the grant ends; and
          [(3) contain a description of--
                  [(A) how the partnership will meet the 
                purposes of this part;
                  [(B) how the partnership will carry out the 
                activities required under subsection (d) and 
                any permissible activities under subsection 
                (e); and
                  [(C) the partnership's evaluation plan 
                pursuant to section 206(b).
  [(d) Required Uses of Funds.--An eligible partnership that 
receives a grant under this section shall use the grant funds 
to carry out the following activities:
          [(1) Reforms.--Implementing reforms within teacher 
        preparation programs to hold the programs accountable 
        for preparing teachers who are highly competent in the 
        academic content areas in which the teachers plan to 
        teach, and for promoting strong teaching skills, 
        including working with a school of arts and sciences 
        and integrating reliable research-based teaching 
        methods into the curriculum, which curriculum shall 
        include programs designed to successfully integrate 
        technology into teaching and learning.
          [(2) Clinical experience and interaction.--Providing 
        sustained and high quality preservice clinical 
        experience including the mentoring of prospective 
        teachers by veteran teachers, and substantially 
        increasing interaction between faculty at institutions 
        of higher education and new and experienced teachers, 
        principals, and other administrators at elementary 
        schools or secondary schools, and providing support, 
        including preparation time, for such interaction.
          [(3) Professional development.--Creating 
        opportunities for enhanced and ongoing professional 
        development that improves the academic content 
        knowledge of teachers in the subject areas in which the 
        teachers are certified to teach or in which the 
        teachers are working toward certification to teach, and 
        that promotes strong teaching skills.
  [(e) Allowable Uses of Funds.--An eligible partnership that 
receives a grant under this section may use such funds to carry 
out the following activities:
          [(1) Teacher preparation and parent involvement.--
        Preparing teachers to work with diverse student 
        populations, including individuals with disabilities 
        and limited English proficient individuals, and 
        involving parents in the teacher preparation program 
        reform process.
          [(2) Dissemination and coordination.--Broadly 
        disseminating information on effective practices used 
        by the partnership, and coordinating with the 
        activities of the Governor, State board of education, 
        State higher education agency, and State educational 
        agency, as appropriate.
          [(3) Managerial and leadership skills.--Developing 
        and implementing proven mechanisms to provide 
        principals and superintendents with effective 
        managerial and leadership skills that result in 
        increased student achievement.
          [(4) Teacher recruitment.--Activities described in 
        section 204(d).
  [(f ) Special Rule.--No individual member of an eligible 
partnership shall retain more than 50 percent of the funds made 
available to the partnership under this section.
  [(g) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to prohibit an eligible partnership from using grant 
funds to coordinate with the activities of more than one 
Governor, State board of education, State educational agency, 
local educational agency, or State agency for higher education.

[SEC. 204. TEACHER RECRUITMENT GRANTS.

  [(a) Program Authorized.--From amounts made available under 
section 210(3) for a fiscal year, the Secretary is authorized 
to award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible applicants 
to enable the eligible applicants to carry out activities 
described in subsection (d).
  [(b) Eligible Applicant Defined.--In this part, the term 
``eligible applicant'' means--
          [(1) an eligible State described in section 202(b); 
        or
          [(2) an eligible partnership described in section 
        203(b).
  [(c) Application.--Any eligible applicant desiring to receive 
a grant under this section shall submit an application to the 
Secretary at such time, in such form, and containing such 
information as the Secretary may require, including--
          [(1) a description of the assessment that the 
        eligible applicant, and the other entities with whom 
        the eligible applicant will carry out the grant 
        activities, have undertaken to determine the most 
        critical needs of the participating high-need local 
        educational agencies;
          [(2) a description of the activities the eligible 
        applicant will carry out with the grant; and
          [(3) a description of the eligible applicant's plan 
        for continuing the activities carried out with the 
        grant, once Federal funding ceases.
  [(d) Uses of Funds.--Each eligible applicant receiving a 
grant under this section shall use the grant funds--
          [(1)(A) to award scholarships to help students pay 
        the costs of tuition, room, board, and other expenses 
        of completing a teacher preparation program;
          [(B) to provide support services, if needed to enable 
        scholarship recipients to complete postsecondary 
        education programs; and
          [(C) for followup services provided to former 
        scholarship recipients during the recipients first 3 
        years of teaching; or
          [(2) to develop and implement effective mechanisms to 
        ensure that high need local educational agencies and 
        schools are able to effectively recruit highly 
        qualified teachers.
  [(e) Service Requirements.--The Secretary shall establish 
such requirements as the Secretary finds necessary to ensure 
that recipients of scholarships under this section who complete 
teacher education programs subsequently teach in a high-need 
local educational agency, for a period of time equivalent to 
the period for which the recipients receive scholarship 
assistance, or repay the amount of the scholarship. The 
Secretary shall use any such repayments to carry out additional 
activities under this section.

[SEC. 205. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.

  [(a) Duration; One-Time Awards; Payments.--
          [(1) Duration.--
                  [(A) Eligible states and eligible 
                applicants.--Grants awarded to eligible States 
                and eligible applicants under this part shall 
                be awarded for a period not to exceed 3 years.
                  [(B) Eligible partnerships.--Grants awarded 
                to eligible partnerships under this part shall 
                be awarded for a period of 5 years.
          [(2) One-time award.--An eligible State and an 
        eligible partnership may receive a grant under each of 
        sections 202, 203, and 204 only once.
          [(3) Payments.--The Secretary shall make annual 
        payments of grant funds awarded under this part.
  [(b) Peer Review.--
          [(1) Panel.--The Secretary shall provide the 
        applications submitted under this part to a peer review 
        panel for evaluation. With respect to each application, 
        the peer review panel shall initially recommend the 
        application for funding or for disapproval.
          [(2) Priority.--In recommending applications to the 
        Secretary for funding under this part, the panel 
        shall--
                  [(A) with respect to grants under section 
                202, give priority to eligible States serving 
                States that--
                          [(i) have initiatives to reform State 
                        teacher certification requirements that 
                        are designed to ensure that current and 
                        future teachers possess the necessary 
                        teaching skills and academic content 
                        knowledge in the subject areas in which 
                        the teachers are certified or licensed 
                        to teach;
                          [(ii) include innovative reforms to 
                        hold institutions of higher education 
                        with teacher preparation programs 
                        accountable for preparing teachers who 
                        are highly competent in the academic 
                        content area in which the teachers plan 
                        to teach and have strong teaching 
                        skills; or
                          [(iii) involve the development of 
                        innovative efforts aimed at reducing 
                        the shortage of highly qualified 
                        teachers in high poverty urban and 
                        rural areas;
                  [(B) with respect to grants under section 
                203--
                          [(i) give priority to applications 
                        from eligible partnerships that involve 
                        businesses; and
                          [(ii) take into consideration--
                                  [(I) providing an equitable 
                                geographic distribution of the 
                                grants throughout the United 
                                States; and
                                  [(II) the potential of the 
                                proposed activities for 
                                creating improvement and 
                                positive change.
          [(3) Secretarial selection.--The Secretary shall 
        determine, based on the peer review process, which 
        application shall receive funding and the amounts of 
        the grants. In determining grant amounts, the Secretary 
        shall take into account the total amount of funds 
        available for all grants under this part and the types 
        of activities proposed to be carried out.
  [(c) Matching Requirements.--
          [(1) State grants.--Each eligible State receiving a 
        grant under section 202 or 204 shall provide, from non-
        Federal sources, an amount equal to 50 percent of the 
        amount of the grant (in cash or in kind) to carry out 
        the activities supported by the grant.
          [(2) Partnership grants.--Each eligible partnership 
        receiving a grant under section 203 or 204 shall 
        provide, from non-Federal sources (in cash or in kind), 
        an amount equal to 25 percent of the grant for the 
        first year of the grant, 35 percent of the grant for 
        the second year of the grant, and 50 percent of the 
        grant for each succeeding year of the grant.
  [(d) Limitation on Administrative Expenses.--An eligible 
State or eligible partnership that receives a grant under this 
part may not use more than 2 percent of the grant funds for 
purposes of administering the grant.
  [(e) Teacher Qualifications Provided to Parents Upon 
Request.--Any local educational agency or school that benefits 
from the activities assisted under this part shall make 
available, upon request and in an understandable and uniform 
format, to any parent of a student attending any school served 
by the local educational agency, information regarding the 
qualification of the student's classroom teacher with regard to 
the subject matter in which the teacher provides instruction. 
The local educational agency shall inform parents that the 
parents are entitled to receive the information upon request.

[SEC. 206. ACCOUNTABILITY AND EVALUATION.

  [(a) State Grant Accountability Report.--An eligible State 
that receives a grant under section 202 shall submit an annual 
accountability report to the Secretary, the Committee on Labor 
and Human Resources of the Senate, and the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives. 
Such report shall include a description of the degree to which 
the eligible State, in using funds provided under such section, 
has made substantial progress in meeting the following goals:
          [(1) Student achievement.--Increasing student 
        achievement for all students as defined by the eligible 
        State.
          [(2) Raising standards.--Raising the State academic 
        standards required to enter the teaching profession, 
        including, where appropriate, through the use of 
        incentives to incorporate the requirement of an 
        academic major in the subject, or related discipline, 
        in which the teacher plans to teach.
          [(3) Initial certification or licensure.--Increasing 
        success in the pass rate for initial State teacher 
        certification or licensure, or increasing the numbers 
        of highly qualified individuals being certified or 
        licensed as teachers through alternative programs.
          [(4) Core academic subjects.--
                  [(A) Secondary school classes.--Increasing 
                the percentage of secondary school classes 
                taught in core academic subject areas by 
                teachers--
                          [(i) with academic majors in those 
                        areas or in a related field;
                          [(ii) who can demonstrate a high 
                        level of competence through rigorous 
                        academic subject area tests; or
                          [(iii) who can demonstrate competence 
                        through a high level of performance in 
                        relevant content areas.
                  [(B) Elementary school classes.--Increasing 
                the percentage of elementary school classes 
                taught by teachers--
                          [(i) with academic majors in the arts 
                        and sciences; or
                          [(ii) who can demonstrate competence 
                        through a high level of performance in 
                        core academic subjects.
          [(5) Decreasing teacher shortages.--Decreasing 
        shortages of qualified teachers in poor urban and rural 
        areas.
          [(6) Increasing opportunities for professional 
        development.--Increasing opportunities for enhanced and 
        ongoing professional development that improves the 
        academic content knowledge of teachers in the subject 
        areas in which the teachers are certified or licensed 
        to teach or in which the teachers are working toward 
        certification or licensure to teach, and that promotes 
        strong teaching skills.
          [(7) Technology integration.--Increasing the number 
        of teachers prepared to integrate technology in the 
        classroom.
  [(b) Eligible Partnership Evaluation.--Each eligible 
partnership receiving a grant under section 203 shall establish 
and include in the application submitted under section 203(c), 
an evaluation plan that includes strong performance objectives. 
The plan shall include objectives and measures for--
          [(1) increased student achievement for all students 
        as measured by the partnership;
          [(2) increased teacher retention in the first 3 years 
        of a teacher's career;
          [(3) increased success in the pass rate for initial 
        State certification or licensure of teachers; and
          [(4) increased percentage of secondary school classes 
        taught in core academic subject areas by teachers--
                  [(A) with academic majors in the areas or in 
                a related field; and
                  [(B) who can demonstrate a high level of 
                competence through rigorous academic subject 
                area tests or who can demonstrate competence 
                through a high level of performance in relevant 
                content areas;
          [(5) increasing the percentage of elementary school 
        classes taught by teachers with academic majors in the 
        arts and sciences or who demonstrate competence through 
        a high level of performance in core academic subject 
        areas; and
          [(6) increasing the number of teachers trained in 
        technology.
  [(c) Revocation of Grant.--
          [(1) Report.--Each eligible State or eligible 
        partnership receiving a grant under this part shall 
        report annually on the progress of the eligible State 
        or eligible partnership toward meeting the purposes of 
        this part and the goals, objectives, and measures 
        described in subsections (a) and (b).
          [(2) Revocation.--
                  [(A) Eligible states and eligible 
                applicants.--If the Secretary determines that 
                an eligible State or eligible applicant is not 
                making substantial progress in meeting the 
                purposes, goals, objectives, and measures, as 
                appropriate, by the end of the second year of a 
                grant under this part, then the grant payment 
                shall not be made for the third year of the 
                grant.
                  [(B) Eligible partnerships.--If the Secretary 
                determines that an eligible partnership is not 
                making substantial progress in meeting the 
                purposes, goals, objectives, and measures, as 
                appropriate, by the end of the third year of a 
                grant under this part, then the grant payments 
                shall not be made for any succeeding year of 
                the grant.
  [(d) Evaluation and Dissemination.--The Secretary shall 
evaluate the activities funded under this part and report the 
Secretary's findings regarding the activities to the Committee 
on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate and the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives. 
The Secretary shall broadly disseminate successful practices 
developed by eligible States and eligible partnerships under 
this part, and shall broadly disseminate information regarding 
such practices that were found to be ineffective.

[SEC. 207. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR PROGRAMS THAT PREPARE TEACHERS.

  [(a) Development of Definitions and Reporting Methods.--
Within 9 months of the date of enactment of the Higher 
Education Amendments of 1998, the Commissioner of the National 
Center for Education Statistics, in consultation with States 
and institutions of higher education, shall develop key 
definitions for terms, and uniform reporting methods (including 
the key definitions for the consistent reporting of pass 
rates), related to the performance of elementary school and 
secondary school teacher preparation programs.
  [(b) State Report Card on the Quality of Teacher 
Preparation.--Each State that receives funds under this Act 
shall provide to the Secretary, within 2 years of the date of 
enactment of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, and 
annually thereafter, in a uniform and comprehensible manner 
that conforms with the definitions and methods established in 
subsection (a), a State report card on the quality of teacher 
preparation in the State, which shall include at least the 
following:
          [(1) A description of the teacher certification and 
        licensure assessments, and any other certification and 
        licensure requirements, used by the State.
          [(2) The standards and criteria that prospective 
        teachers must meet in order to attain initial teacher 
        certification or licensure and to be certified or 
        licensed to teach particular subjects or in particular 
        grades within the State.
          [(3) A description of the extent to which the 
        assessments and requirements described in paragraph (1) 
        are aligned with the State's standards and assessments 
        for students.
          [(4) The percentage of teaching candidates who passed 
        each of the assessments used by the State for teacher 
        certification and licensure, and the passing score on 
        each assessment that determines whether a candidate has 
        passed that assessment.
          [(5) The percentage of teaching candidates who passed 
        each of the assessments used by the State for teacher 
        certification and licensure, disaggregated and ranked, 
        by the teacher preparation program in that State from 
        which the teacher candidate received the candidate's 
        most recent degree, which shall be made available 
        widely and publicly.
          [(6) Information on the extent to which teachers in 
        the State are given waivers of State certification or 
        licensure requirements, including the proportion of 
        such teachers distributed across high- and low-poverty 
        school districts and across subject areas.
          [(7) A description of each State's alternative routes 
        to teacher certification, if any, and the percentage of 
        teachers certified through alternative certification 
        routes who pass State teacher certification or 
        licensure assessments.
          [(8) For each State, a description of proposed 
        criteria for assessing the performance of teacher 
        preparation programs within institutions of higher 
        education in the State, including indicators of teacher 
        candidate knowledge and skills.
          [(9) Information on the extent to which teachers or 
        prospective teachers in each State are required to take 
        examinations or other assessments of their subject 
        matter knowledge in the area or areas in which the 
        teachers provide instruction, the standards established 
        for passing any such assessments, and the extent to 
        which teachers or prospective teachers are required to 
        receive a passing score on such assessments in order to 
        teach in specific subject areas or grade levels.
  [(c) Initial Report.--
          [(1) In general.--Each State that receives funds 
        under this Act, not later than 6 months of the date of 
        enactment of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 
        and in a uniform and comprehensible manner, shall 
        submit to the Secretary the information described in 
        paragraphs (1), (5), and (6) of subsection (b). Such 
        information shall be compiled by the Secretary and 
        submitted to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources 
        of the Senate and the Committee on Education and the 
        Workforce of the House of Representatives not later 
        than 9 months after the date of enactment of the Higher 
        Education Amendments of 1998.
          [(2) Construction.--Nothing in this subsection shall 
        be construed to require a State to gather information 
        that is not in the possession of the State or the 
        teacher preparation programs in the State, or readily 
        available to the State or teacher preparation programs.
  [(d) Report of the Secretary on the Quality of Teacher 
Preparation.--
          [(1) Report card.--The Secretary shall provide to 
        Congress, and publish and make widely available, a 
        report card on teacher qualifications and preparation 
        in the United States, including all the information 
        reported in paragraphs (1) through (9) of subsection 
        (b). Such report shall identify States for which 
        eligible States and eligible partnerships received a 
        grant under this part. Such report shall be so 
        provided, published and made available not later than 2 
        years 6 months after the date of enactment of the 
        Higher Education Amendments of 1998 and annually 
        thereafter.
          [(2) Report to congress.--The Secretary shall report 
        to Congress--
                  [(A) a comparison of States' efforts to 
                improve teaching quality; and
                  [(B) regarding the national mean and median 
                scores on any standardized test that is used in 
                more than 1 State for teacher certification or 
                licensure.
          [(3) Special rule.--In the case of teacher 
        preparation programs with fewer than 10 graduates 
        taking any single initial teacher certification or 
        licensure assessment during an academic year, the 
        Secretary shall collect and publish information with 
        respect to an average pass rate on State certification 
        or licensure assessments taken over a 3-year period.
  [(e) Coordination.--The Secretary, to the extent practicable, 
shall coordinate the information collected and published under 
this part among States for individuals who took State teacher 
certification or licensure assessments in a State other than 
the State in which the individual received the individual's 
most recent degree.
  [(f ) Institutional Report Cards on the Quality of Teacher 
Preparation.--
          [(1) Report card.--Each institution of higher 
        education that conducts a teacher preparation program 
        that enrolls students receiving Federal assistance 
        under this Act, not later than 18 months after the date 
        of enactment of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 
        and annually thereafter, shall report to the State and 
        the general public, in a uniform and comprehensible 
        manner that conforms with the definitions and methods 
        established under subsection (a), the following 
        information:
                  [(A) Pass rate.--(i) For the most recent year 
                for which the information is available, the 
                pass rate of the institution's graduates on the 
                teacher certification or licensure assessments 
                of the State in which the institution is 
                located, but only for those students who took 
                those assessments within 3 years of completing 
                the program.
                  [(ii) A comparison of the program's pass rate 
                with the average pass rate for programs in the 
                State.
                  [(iii) In the case of teacher preparation 
                programs with fewer than 10 graduates taking 
                any single initial teacher certification or 
                licensure assessment during an academic year, 
                the institution shall collect and publish 
                information with respect to an average pass 
                rate on State certification or licensure 
                assessments taken over a 3-year period.
                  [(B) Program information.--The number of 
                students in the program, the average number of 
                hours of supervised practice teaching required 
                for those in the program, and the faculty-
                student ratio in supervised practice teaching.
                  [(C) Statement.--In States that approve or 
                accredit teacher education programs, a 
                statement of whether the institution's program 
                is so approved or accredited.
                  [(D) Designation as low-performing.--Whether 
                the program has been designated as low-
                performing by the State under section 208(a).
          [(2) Requirement.--The information described in 
        paragraph (1) shall be reported through publications 
        such as school catalogs and promotional materials sent 
        to potential applicants, secondary school guidance 
        counselors, and prospective employers of the 
        institution's program graduates.
          [(3) Fines.--In addition to the actions authorized in 
        section 487(c), the Secretary may impose a fine not to 
        exceed $25,000 on an institution of higher education 
        for failure to provide the information described in 
        this subsection in a timely or accurate manner.

[SEC. 208. STATE FUNCTIONS.

  [(a) State Assessment.--In order to receive funds under this 
Act, a State, not later than 2 years after the date of 
enactment of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, shall 
have in place a procedure to identify, and assist, through the 
provision of technical assistance, low-performing programs of 
teacher preparation within institutions of higher education. 
Such State shall provide the Secretary an annual list of such 
low-performing institutions that includes an identification of 
those institutions at-risk of being placed on such list. Such 
levels of performance shall be determined solely by the State 
and may include criteria based upon information collected 
pursuant to this part. Such assessment shall be described in 
the report under section 207(b).
  [(b) Termination of Eligibility.--Any institution of higher 
education that offers a program of teacher preparation in which 
the State has withdrawn the State's approval or terminated the 
State's financial support due to the low performance of the 
institution's teacher preparation program based upon the State 
assessment described in subsection (a)--
          [(1) shall be ineligible for any funding for 
        professional development activities awarded by the 
        Department of Education; and
          [(2) shall not be permitted to accept or enroll any 
        student that receives aid under title IV of this Act in 
        the institution's teacher preparation program.
  [(c) Negotiated Rulemaking.--If the Secretary develops any 
regulations implementing subsection (b)(2), the Secretary shall 
submit such proposed regulations to a negotiated rulemaking 
process, which shall include representatives of States, 
institutions of higher education, and educational and student 
organizations.

[SEC. 209. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

  [(a) Methods.--In complying with sections 207 and 208, the 
Secretary shall ensure that States and institutions of higher 
education use fair and equitable methods in reporting and that 
the reporting methods protect the privacy of individuals.
  [(b) Special Rule.--For each State in which there are no 
State certification or licensure assessments, or for States 
that do not set minimum performance levels on those 
assessments--
          [(1) the Secretary shall, to the extent practicable, 
        collect data comparable to the data required under this 
        part from States, local educational agencies, 
        institutions of higher education, or other entities 
        that administer such assessments to teachers or 
        prospective teachers; and
          [(2) notwithstanding any other provision of this 
        part, the Secretary shall use such data to carry out 
        requirements of this part related to assessments or 
        pass rates.
  [(c) Limitations.--
          [(1) Federal control prohibited.--Nothing in this 
        part shall be construed to permit, allow, encourage, or 
        authorize any Federal control over any aspect of any 
        private, religious, or home school, whether or not a 
        home school is treated as a private school or home 
        school under State law. This section shall not be 
        construed to prohibit private, religious, or home 
        schools from participation in programs or services 
        under this part.
          [(2) No change in state control encouraged or 
        required.--Nothing in this part shall be construed to 
        encourage or require any change in a State's treatment 
        of any private, religious, or home school, whether or 
        not a home school is treated as a private school or 
        home school under State law.
          [(3) National system of teacher certification 
        prohibited.--Nothing in this part shall be construed to 
        permit, allow, encourage, or authorize the Secretary to 
        establish or support any national system of teacher 
        certification.

[SEC. 210. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

  [There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
part $300,000,000 for fiscal year 1999 and such sums as may be 
necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years, of which--
          [(1) 45 percent shall be available for each fiscal 
        year to award grants under section 202;
          [(2) 45 percent shall be available for each fiscal 
        year to award grants under section 203; and
          [(3) 10 percent shall be available for each fiscal 
        year to award grants under section 204.]

 PART A--TEACHER QUALITY ENHANCEMENT GRANTS FOR STATES AND PARTNERSHIPS

SEC. 201. PURPOSES; DEFINITIONS.

  (a) Purposes.--The purposes of this part are to--
          (1) improve student academic achievement;
          (2) improve the quality of the current and future 
        teaching force by improving the preparation of 
        prospective teachers and enhancing professional 
        development activities;
          (3) hold institutions of higher education accountable 
        for preparing highly qualified teachers; and
          (4) recruit qualified individuals, including 
        minorities and individuals from other occupations, into 
        the teaching force.
  (b) Definitions.--In this part:
          (1) Arts and sciences.--The term ``arts and 
        sciences'' means--
                  (A) when referring to an organizational unit 
                of an institution of higher education, any 
                academic unit that offers 1 or more academic 
                majors in disciplines or content areas 
                corresponding to the academic subject matter 
                areas in which teachers provide instruction; 
                and
                  (B) when referring to a specific academic 
                subject matter area, the disciplines or content 
                areas in which academic majors are offered by 
                the arts and science organizational unit.
          (2) Exemplary teacher.--The term ``exemplary 
        teacher'' has the meaning given such term in section 
        9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
        1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
          (3) Highly qualified.--The term ``highly qualified'' 
        has the meaning given such term in section 9101 of the 
        Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 7801).
          (4) High-need local educational agency.--The term 
        ``high-need local educational agency'' means a local 
        educational agency--
                  (A)(i)(I) that serves not fewer than 10,000 
                children from families with incomes below the 
                poverty line; or
                  (II) for which not less than 25 percent of 
                the children served by the agency are from 
                families with incomes below the poverty line;
                  (ii) that is among those serving the highest 
                number or percentage of children from families 
                with incomes below the poverty line in the 
                State, but this clause applies only in a State 
                that has no local educational agency meeting 
                the requirements of clause (i); or
                  (iii) with a total of less than 600 students 
                in average daily attendance at the schools that 
                are served by the agency and all of whose 
                schools are designated with a school locale 
                code of 7, as determined by the Secretary; and
                  (B)(i) for which there is a high percentage 
                of teachers not teaching in the academic 
                subjects or grade levels that the teachers were 
                trained to teach; or
                  (ii) for which there is a high percentage of 
                teachers with emergency, provisional, or 
                temporary certification or licensing.
          (5) Poverty line.--The term ``poverty line'' means 
        the poverty line (as defined by the Office of 
        Management and Budget, and revised annually in 
        accordance with section 673(2) of the Community 
        Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) 
        applicable to a family of the size involved.
          (6) Professional development.--The term 
        ``professional development'' has the meaning given such 
        term in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
          (7) Scientifically based reading research.--The term 
        ``scientifically based reading research'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 1208 of the 
        Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 6368).
          (8) Scientifically based research.--The term 
        ``scientifically based research'' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 9101 of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
          (9) Teaching skills.--The term ``teaching skills'' 
        means skills that--
                  (A) are based on scientifically based 
                research;
                  (B) enable teachers to effectively convey and 
                explain subject matter content;
                  (C) lead to increased student academic 
                achievement; and
                  (D) use strategies that--
                          (i) are specific to subject matter;
                          (ii) include ongoing assessment of 
                        student learning;
                          (iii) focus on identification and 
                        tailoring of academic instruction to 
                        students's specific learning needs; and
                          (iv) focus on classroom management.

SEC. 202. STATE GRANTS.

  (a) In General.--From amounts made available under section 
210(1) for a fiscal year, the Secretary is authorized to award 
grants under this section, on a competitive basis, to eligible 
States to enable the eligible States to carry out the 
activities described in subsection (d).
  (b) Eligible State.--
          (1) Definition.--In this part, the term ``eligible 
        State'' means--
                  (A) the Governor of a State; or
                  (B) in the case of a State for which the 
                constitution or law of such State designates 
                another individual, entity, or agency in the 
                State to be responsible for teacher 
                certification and preparation activity, such 
                individual, entity, or agency.
          (2) Consultation.--The Governor or the individual, 
        entity, or agency designated under paragraph (1) shall 
        consult with the Governor, State board of education, 
        State educational agency, or State agency for higher 
        education, as appropriate, with respect to the 
        activities assisted under this section.
          (3) Construction.--Nothing in this subsection shall 
        be construed to negate or supersede the legal authority 
        under State law of any State agency, State entity, or 
        State public official over programs that are under the 
        jurisdiction of the agency, entity, or official.
  (c) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
this section, an eligible State shall, at the time of the 
initial grant application, submit an application to the 
Secretary that--
          (1) meets the requirement of this section;
          (2) demonstrates that the State is in full compliance 
        with sections 207 and 208;
          (3) includes a description of how the eligible State 
        intends to use funds provided under this section;
          (4) includes measurable objectives for the use of the 
        funds provided under the grant;
          (5) demonstrates the State has submitted and is 
        actively implementing a plan that meets the 
        requirements of sections 1111(h)(1)(C)(viii) and 1119 
        of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
        (20 U.S.C. 6311(h)(1)(C)(viii) and 6319); and
          (6) contains such other information and assurances as 
        the Secretary may require.
  (d) Uses of Funds.--An eligible State that receives a grant 
under this section shall use the grant funds to reform teacher 
preparation requirements, to coordinate with State activities 
under section 2113(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6613(c)), and to ensure that current and 
future teachers are highly qualified, by carrying out one or 
more of the following activities:
          (1) Reforms.--Ensuring that all teacher preparation 
        programs in the State are preparing teachers who are 
        highly qualified, and are able to use advanced 
        technology effectively in the classroom, including use 
        for instructional techniques to improve student 
        academic achievement, by assisting such programs--
                  (A) to retrain faculty; and
                  (B) to design (or redesign) teacher 
                preparation programs so they--
                          (i) are based on rigorous academic 
                        content, scientifically based research 
                        (including scientifically based reading 
                        research), and challenging State 
                        student academic content standards; and
                          (ii) promote strong teaching skills.
          (2) Certification or licensure requirements.--
        Reforming teacher certification (including 
        recertification) or licensing requirements to ensure 
        that--
                  (A) teachers have the subject matter 
                knowledge and teaching skills in the academic 
                subjects that the teachers teach necessary to 
                help students meet challenging State student 
                academic achievement standards; and
                  (B) such requirements are aligned with 
                challenging State academic content standards.
          (3) Alternatives to traditional teacher preparation 
        and state certification.--Providing prospective 
        teachers with alternative routes to State certification 
        and traditional preparation to become highly qualified 
        teachers through--
                  (A) innovative approaches that reduce 
                unnecessary barriers to State certification 
                while producing highly qualified teachers;
                  (B) programs that provide support to teachers 
                during their initial years in the profession; 
                and
                  (C) alternative routes to State certification 
                of teachers for qualified individuals, 
                including mid-career professionals from other 
                occupations, former military personnel, and 
                recent college graduates with records of 
                academic distinction.
          (4) Innovative programs.--Planning and implementing 
        innovative and experimental programs to enhance the 
        ability of institutions of higher education to prepare 
        highly qualified teachers, such as charter colleges of 
        education or university and local educational agency 
        partnership schools, that--
                  (A) permit flexibility in meeting State 
                requirements as long as graduates, during their 
                initial years in the profession, increase 
                student academic achievement;
                  (B) provide long-term data gathered from 
                teachers' performance over multiple years in 
                the classroom on the ability to increase 
                student academic achievement;
                  (C) ensure high-quality preparation of 
                teachers from underrepresented groups; and
                  (D) create performance measures that can be 
                used to document the effectiveness of 
                innovative methods for preparing highly 
                qualified teachers.
          (5) Merit pay.--Developing, or assisting local 
        educational agencies in developing--
                  (A) merit-based performance systems that 
                reward teachers who increase student academic 
                achievement; and
                  (B) strategies that provide differential and 
                bonus pay in high-need local educational 
                agencies to retain--
                          (i) principals;
                          (ii) highly qualified teachers who 
                        teach in high-need academic subjects, 
                        such as reading, mathematics, and 
                        science;
                          (iii) highly qualified teachers who 
                        teach in schools identified for school 
                        improvement under section 1116(b) of 
                        the Elementary and Secondary Education 
                        Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6316(b));
                          (iv) special education teachers;
                          (v) teachers specializing in teaching 
                        limited English proficient children; 
                        and
                          (vi) highly qualified teachers in 
                        urban and rural schools or districts.
          (6) Teacher advancement.--Developing, or assisting 
        local educational agencies in developing, teacher 
        advancement and retention initiatives that promote 
        professional growth and emphasize multiple career paths 
        (such as paths to becoming a highly qualified mentor 
        teacher or exemplary teacher) and pay differentiation.
          (7) Teacher removal.--Developing and implementing 
        effective mechanisms to ensure that local educational 
        agencies and schools are able to remove expeditiously 
        incompetent or unqualified teachers consistent with 
        procedures to ensure due process for the teachers.
          (8) Technical assistance.--Providing technical 
        assistance to low-performing teacher preparation 
        programs within institutions of higher education 
        identified under section 208(a).
          (9) Teacher effectiveness.--Developing--
                  (A) systems to measure the effectiveness of 
                teacher preparation programs and professional 
                development programs; and
                  (B) strategies to document gains in student 
                academic achievement or increases in teacher 
                mastery of the academic subjects the teachers 
                teach as a result of such programs.
          (10) Teacher recruitment and retention.--Undertaking 
        activities that--
                  (A) develop and implement effective 
                mechanisms to ensure that local educational 
                agencies and schools are able effectively to 
                recruit and retain highly qualified teachers; 
                or
                  (B) are described in section 204(d).
          (11) Preschool teachers.--Developing strategies--
                  (A) to improve the qualifications of 
                preschool teachers, which may include State 
                certification for such teachers; and
                  (B) to improve and expand preschool teacher 
                preparation programs.
  (e) Evaluation.--
          (1) Evaluation system.--An eligible State that 
        receives a grant under this section shall develop and 
        utilize a system to evaluate annually the effectiveness 
        of teacher preparation programs and professional 
        development activities within the State in producing 
        gains in--
                  (A) the teacher's annual contribution to 
                improving student academic achievement, as 
                measured by State academic assessments required 
                under section 1111(b)(3) of the Elementary and 
                Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
                6311(b)(3)); and
                  (B) teacher mastery of the academic subjects 
                they teach, as measured by pre- and post-
                participation tests of teacher knowledge, as 
                appropriate.
          (2) Use of evaluation system.--Such evaluation system 
        shall be used by the State to evaluate--
                  (A) activities carried out using funds 
                provided under this section; and
                  (B) the quality of its teacher education 
                programs.
          (3) Public reporting.--The State shall make the 
        information described in paragraph (1) widely available 
        through public means, such as posting on the Internet, 
        distribution to the media, and distribution through 
        public agencies.

SEC. 203. PARTNERSHIP GRANTS.

  (a) Grants.--From amounts made available under section 210(2) 
for a fiscal year, the Secretary is authorized to award grants 
under this section, on a competitive basis, to eligible 
partnerships to enable the eligible partnerships to carry out 
the activities described in subsections (d) and (e).
  (b) Definitions.--
          (1) Eligible partnerships.--In this part, the term 
        ``eligible partnership'' means an entity that--
                  (A) shall include--
                          (i) a partner institution;
                          (ii) a school of arts and sciences;
                          (iii) a high-need local educational 
                        agency; and
                          (iv) a public or private educational 
                        organization; and
                  (B) may include a Governor, State educational 
                agency, the State board of education, the State 
                agency for higher education, an institution of 
                higher education not described in subparagraph 
                (A), a public charter school, a public or 
                private elementary school or secondary school, 
                a public or private educational organization, a 
                business, a science-, mathematics-, or 
                technology-oriented entity, a faith-based or 
                community organization, a prekindergarten 
                program, a teacher organization, an education 
                service agency, a consortia of local 
                educational agencies, or a nonprofit 
                telecommunications entity.
          (2) Partner institution.--In this section, the term 
        ``partner institution'' means an institution of higher 
        education, the teacher training program of which 
        demonstrates that--
                  (A) graduates from the teacher training 
                program exhibit strong performance on State-
                determined qualifying assessments for new 
                teachers through--
                          (i) demonstrating that the graduates 
                        of the program who intend to enter the 
                        field of teaching have passed all of 
                        the applicable State qualification 
                        assessments for new teachers, which 
                        shall include an assessment of each 
                        prospective teacher's subject matter 
                        knowledge in the content area or areas 
                        in which the teacher intends to teach; 
                        or
                          (ii) being ranked among the highest-
                        performing teacher preparation programs 
                        in the State as determined by the 
                        State--
                                  (I) using criteria consistent 
                                with the requirements for the 
                                State report card under section 
                                207(a); and
                                  (II) using the State report 
                                card on teacher preparation 
                                required under section 207(a); 
                                or
                  (B) the teacher training program requires all 
                the students of the program to participate in 
                intensive clinical experience, to meet high 
                academic standards, and--
                          (i) in the case of secondary school 
                        candidates, to successfully complete an 
                        academic major in the subject area in 
                        which the candidate intends to teach or 
                        to demonstrate competence through a 
                        high level of performance in relevant 
                        content areas; and
                          (ii) in the case of elementary school 
                        candidates, to successfully complete an 
                        academic major in the arts and sciences 
                        or to demonstrate competence through a 
                        high level of performance in core 
                        academic subject areas.
  (c) Application.--Each eligible partnership desiring a grant 
under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary 
at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such 
information as the Secretary may require. Each such application 
shall--
          (1) contain a needs assessment of all the partners 
        with respect to teaching and learning and a description 
        of how the partnership will coordinate with other 
        teacher training or professional development programs, 
        and how the activities of the partnership will be 
        consistent with State, local, and other education 
        reform activities that promote student academic 
        achievement;
          (2) contain a resource assessment that describes the 
        resources available to the partnership, the intended 
        use of the grant funds, including a description of how 
        the grant funds will be fairly distributed in 
        accordance with subsection (f), and the commitment of 
        the resources of the partnership to the activities 
        assisted under this part, including financial support, 
        faculty participation, time commitments, and 
        continuation of the activities when the grant ends; and
          (3) contain a description of--
                  (A) how the partnership will meet the 
                purposes of this part;
                  (B) how the partnership will carry out the 
                activities required under subsection (d) and 
                any permissible activities under subsection 
                (e);
                  (C) the partnership's evaluation plan 
                pursuant to section 206(b);
                  (D) how faculty of the teacher preparation 
                program at the partner institution will serve, 
                over the term of the grant, with highly 
                qualified teachers in the classrooms of the 
                high-need local educational agency included in 
                the partnership; and
                  (E) how the partnership will ensure that 
                teachers in private elementary and secondary 
                schools located in the geographic areas served 
                by an eligible partnership under this section 
                will participate equitably in accordance with 
                section 9501 of the Elementary and Secondary 
                Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7881).
  (d) Required Uses of Funds.--An eligible partnership that 
receives a grant under this section shall use the grant funds 
to reform teacher preparation requirements, to coordinate with 
State activities under section 2113(c) of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6613(c)), and to 
ensure that current and future teachers are highly qualified, 
by carrying out one or more of the following activities:
          (1) Reforms.--Implementing reforms within teacher 
        preparation programs to ensure that such programs are 
        preparing teachers who are highly qualified, and are 
        able to use advanced technology effectively in the 
        classroom, including use for instructional techniques 
        to improve student academic achievement, by--
                  (A) retraining faculty; and
                  (B) designing (or redesigning) teacher 
                preparation programs so they--
                          (i) are based on rigorous academic 
                        content, scientifically based research 
                        (including scientifically based reading 
                        research), and challenging State 
                        student academic content standards; and
                          (ii) promote strong teaching skills.
          (2) Clinical experience and interaction.--Providing 
        sustained and high-quality preservice and in-service 
        clinical experience, including the mentoring of 
        prospective teachers by exemplary teachers, 
        substantially increasing interaction between faculty at 
        institutions of higher education and new and 
        experienced teachers, principals, and other 
        administrators at elementary schools or secondary 
        schools, and providing support for teachers, including 
        preparation time and release time, for such 
        interaction.
          (3) Professional development.--Creating opportunities 
        for enhanced and ongoing professional development that 
        improves the academic content knowledge of teachers in 
        the subject areas in which the teachers are certified 
        to teach or in which the teachers are working toward 
        certification to teach, and that promotes strong 
        teaching skills.
          (4) Teacher preparation.--Developing, or assisting 
        local educational agencies in developing, professional 
        development activities that--
                  (A) provide training in how to teach and 
                address the needs of students with different 
                learning styles, particularly students with 
                disabilities, limited English proficient 
                students, and students with special learning 
                needs; and
                  (B) provide training in methods of--
                          (i) improving student behavior in the 
                        classroom; and
                          (ii) identifying early and 
                        appropriate interventions to help 
                        students described in subparagraph (A) 
                        learn.
  (e) Allowable Uses of Funds.--An eligible partnership that 
receives a grant under this section may use such funds to carry 
out the following activities:
          (1) Alternatives to traditional teacher preparation 
        and state certification.--Providing prospective 
        teachers with alternative routes to State certification 
        and traditional preparation to become highly qualified 
        teachers through--
                  (A) innovative approaches that reduce 
                unnecessary barriers to teacher preparation 
                while producing highly qualified teachers;
                  (B) programs that provide support during a 
                teacher's initial years in the profession; and
                  (C) alternative routes to State certification 
                of teachers for qualified individuals, 
                including mid-career professionals from other 
                occupations, former military personnel, and 
                recent college graduates with records of 
                academic distinction.
          (2) Dissemination and coordination.--Broadly 
        disseminating information on effective practices used 
        by the partnership, and coordinating with the 
        activities of the Governor, State board of education, 
        State higher education agency, and State educational 
        agency, as appropriate.
          (3) Managerial and leadership skills.--Developing and 
        implementing professional development programs for 
        principals and superintendents that enable them to be 
        effective school leaders and prepare all students to 
        meet challenging State academic content and student 
        academic achievement standards.
          (4) Teacher recruitment.--Activities--
                  (A) to encourage students to become highly 
                qualified teachers, such as extracurricular 
                enrichment activities; and
                  (B) activities described in section 204(d).
          (5) Clinical experience in science, mathematics, and 
        technology.--Creating opportunities for clinical 
        experience and training, by participation in the 
        business, research, and work environments with 
        professionals, in areas relating to science, 
        mathematics, and technology for teachers and 
        prospective teachers, including opportunities for use 
        of laboratory equipment, in order for the teacher to 
        return to the classroom for at least 2 years and 
        provide instruction that will raise student academic 
        achievement.
          (6) Coordination with community colleges.--
        Coordinating with community colleges to implement 
        teacher preparation programs, including through 
        distance learning, for the purposes of allowing 
        prospective teachers--
                  (A) to attain a bachelor's degree and State 
                certification or licensure; and
                  (B) to become highly qualified teachers.
  (f) Special Rule.--At least 50 percent of the funds made 
available to an eligible partnership under this section shall 
be used directly to benefit the high-need local educational 
agency included in the partnership. Any entity described in 
subsection (b)(1)(A) may be the fiscal agent under this 
section.
  (g) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed 
to prohibit an eligible partnership from using grant funds to 
coordinate with the activities of more than one Governor, State 
board of education, State educational agency, local educational 
agency, or State agency for higher education.

SEC. 204. TEACHER RECRUITMENT GRANTS.

  (a) Program Authorized.--From amounts made available under 
section 210(3) for a fiscal year, the Secretary is authorized 
to award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible applicants 
to enable the eligible applicants to carry out activities 
described in subsection (d).
  (b) Eligible Applicant Defined.--In this part, the term 
``eligible applicant'' means--
          (1) an eligible State described in section 202(b); or
          (2) an eligible partnership described in section 
        203(b).
  (c) Application.--Any eligible applicant desiring to receive 
a grant under this section shall submit an application to the 
Secretary at such time, in such form, and containing such 
information as the Secretary may require, including--
          (1) a description of the assessment that the eligible 
        applicant, and the other entities with whom the 
        eligible applicant will carry out the grant activities, 
        have undertaken to determine the most critical needs of 
        the participating high-need local educational agencies;
          (2) a description of the activities the eligible 
        applicant will carry out with the grant, including the 
        extent to which the applicant will use funds to recruit 
        minority students to become highly qualified teachers; 
        and
          (3) a description of the eligible applicant's plan 
        for continuing the activities carried out with the 
        grant, once Federal funding ceases.
  (d) Uses of Funds.--Each eligible applicant receiving a grant 
under this section shall use the grant funds--
          (1)(A) to award scholarships to help students, such 
        as individuals who have been accepted for their first 
        year, or who are enrolled in their first or second 
        year, of a program of undergraduate education at an 
        institution of higher education, pay the costs of 
        tuition, room, board, and other expenses of completing 
        a teacher preparation program;
          (B) to provide support services, if needed to enable 
        scholarship recipients--
                  (i) to complete postsecondary education 
                programs; or
                  (ii) to transition from a career outside of 
                the field of education into a teaching career; 
                and
          (C) for followup services provided to former 
        scholarship recipients during the recipients first 3 
        years of teaching; or
          (2) to develop and implement effective mechanisms to 
        ensure that high-need local educational agencies and 
        schools are able effectively to recruit highly 
        qualified teachers.
  (e) Additional Discretionary Uses of Funds.--In addition to 
the uses described in subsection (d), each eligible applicant 
receiving a grant under this section may use the grant funds to 
develop and implement effective mechanisms to recruit into the 
teaching profession employees from--
          (1) high-demand industries, including technology 
        industries; and
          (2) the fields of science, mathematics, and 
        engineering.
  (f) Service Requirements.--
          (1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish such 
        requirements as the Secretary determines necessary to 
        ensure that recipients of scholarships under this 
        section who complete teacher education programs--
                  (A) subsequently teach in a high-need local 
                educational agency for a period of time 
                equivalent to--
                          (i) one year; increased by
                          (ii) the period for which the 
                        recipient received scholarship 
                        assistance; or
                  (B) repay the amount of the scholarship.
          (2) Use of repayments.--The Secretary shall use any 
        such repayments to carry out additional activities 
        under this section.
  (g) Priority.--The Secretary shall give priority under this 
section to eligible applicants who provide an assurance that 
they will recruit a high percentage of minority students to 
become highly qualified teachers.

SEC. 205. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.

  (a) Duration; One-Time Awards; Payments.--
          (1) Duration.--
                  (A) Eligible states and eligible 
                applicants.--Grants awarded to eligible States 
                and eligible applicants under this part shall 
                be awarded for a period not to exceed 3 years.
                  (B) Eligible partnerships.--Grants awarded to 
                eligible partnerships under this part shall be 
                awarded for a period of 5 years.
          (2) One-time award.--An eligible partnership may 
        receive a grant under each of sections 203 and 204, as 
        amended by the Ready to Teach Act of 2003, only once.
          (3) Payments.--The Secretary shall make annual 
        payments of grant funds awarded under this part.
  (b) Peer Review.--
          (1) Panel.--The Secretary shall provide the 
        applications submitted under this part to a peer review 
        panel for evaluation. With respect to each application, 
        the peer review panel shall initially recommend the 
        application for funding or for disapproval.
          (2) Priority.--In recommending applications to the 
        Secretary for funding under this part, the panel 
        shall--
                  (A) with respect to grants under section 202, 
                give priority to eligible States serving States 
                that--
                          (i) have initiatives to reform State 
                        teacher certification requirements that 
                        are based on rigorous academic content, 
                        scientifically based research, 
                        including scientifically based reading 
                        research, and challenging State student 
                        academic content standards;
                          (ii) include innovative reforms to 
                        hold institutions of higher education 
                        with teacher preparation programs 
                        accountable for preparing teachers who 
                        are highly qualified and have strong 
                        teaching skills; or
                          (iii) involve the development of 
                        innovative efforts aimed at reducing 
                        the shortage of highly qualified 
                        teachers in high poverty urban and 
                        rural areas; and
                  (B) with respect to grants under section 
                203--
                          (i) give priority to applications 
                        from broad-based eligible partnerships 
                        that involve businesses and community 
                        organizations; and
                          (ii) take into consideration--
                                  (I) providing an equitable 
                                geographic distribution of the 
                                grants throughout the United 
                                States; and
                                  (II) the potential of the 
                                proposed activities for 
                                creating improvement and 
                                positive change.
          (3) Secretarial selection.--The Secretary shall 
        determine, based on the peer review process, which 
        application shall receive funding and the amounts of 
        the grants. In determining grant amounts, the Secretary 
        shall take into account the total amount of funds 
        available for all grants under this part and the types 
        of activities proposed to be carried out.
  (c) Matching Requirements.--
          (1) State grants.--Each eligible State receiving a 
        grant under section 202 or 204 shall provide, from non-
        Federal sources, an amount equal to 50 percent of the 
        amount of the grant (in cash or in kind) to carry out 
        the activities supported by the grant.
          (2) Partnership grants.--Each eligible partnership 
        receiving a grant under section 203 or 204 shall 
        provide, from non-Federal sources (in cash or in kind), 
        an amount equal to 25 percent of the grant for the 
        first year of the grant, 35 percent of the grant for 
        the second year of the grant, and 50 percent of the 
        grant for each succeeding year of the grant.
  (d) Limitation on Administrative Expenses.--An eligible State 
or eligible partnership that receives a grant under this part 
may not use more than 2 percent of the grant funds for purposes 
of administering the grant.

SEC. 206. ACCOUNTABILITY AND EVALUATION.

  (a) State Grant Accountability Report.--An eligible State 
that receives a grant under section 202 shall submit an annual 
accountability report to the Secretary, the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, and the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of 
Representatives. Such report shall include a description of the 
degree to which the eligible State, in using funds provided 
under such section, has made substantial progress in meeting 
the following goals:
          (1) Percentage of highly qualified teachers.--
        Increasing the percentage of highly qualified teachers 
        in the State as required by section 1119 of the 
        Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 6319).
          (2) Student academic achievement.--Increasing student 
        academic achievement for all students as defined by the 
        eligible State.
          (3) Raising standards.--Raising the State academic 
        standards required to enter the teaching profession as 
        a highly qualified teacher.
          (4) Initial certification or licensure.--Increasing 
        success in the pass rate for initial State teacher 
        certification or licensure, or increasing the numbers 
        of qualified individuals being certified or licensed as 
        teachers through alternative programs.
          (5) Decreasing teacher shortages.--Decreasing 
        shortages of highly qualified teachers in poor urban 
        and rural areas.
          (6) Increasing opportunities for professional 
        development.--Increasing opportunities for enhanced and 
        ongoing professional development that--
                  (A) improves the academic content knowledge 
                of teachers in the subject areas in which the 
                teachers are certified or licensed to teach or 
                in which the teachers are working toward 
                certification or licensure to teach; and
                  (B) promotes strong teaching skills.
          (7) Technology integration.--Increasing the number of 
        teachers prepared effectively to integrate technology 
        into curricula and instruction and who use technology 
        to collect, manage, and analyze data to improve 
        teaching, learning, and decisionmaking for the purpose 
        of increasing student academic achievement.
  (b) Eligible Partnership Evaluation.--Each eligible 
partnership receiving a grant under section 203 shall 
establish, and include in the application submitted under 
section 203(c), an evaluation plan that includes strong 
performance objectives. The plan shall include objectives and 
measures for--
          (1) increased student achievement for all students as 
        measured by the partnership;
          (2) increased teacher retention in the first 3 years 
        of a teacher's career;
          (3) increased success in the pass rate for initial 
        State certification or licensure of teachers;
          (4) increased percentage of highly qualified 
        teachers; and
          (5) increasing the number of teachers trained 
        effectively to integrate technology into curricula and 
        instruction and who use technology to collect, manage, 
        and analyze data to improve teaching, learning, and 
        decisionmaking for the purpose of improving student 
        academic achievement.
  (c) Revocation of Grant.--
          (1) Report.--Each eligible State or eligible 
        partnership receiving a grant under section 202 or 203 
        shall report annually on the progress of the eligible 
        State or eligible partnership toward meeting the 
        purposes of this part and the goals, objectives, and 
        measures described in subsections (a) and (b).
          (2) Revocation.--
                  (A) Eligible states and eligible 
                applicants.--If the Secretary determines that 
                an eligible State or eligible applicant is not 
                making substantial progress in meeting the 
                purposes, goals, objectives, and measures, as 
                appropriate, by the end of the second year of a 
                grant under this part, then the grant payment 
                shall not be made for the third year of the 
                grant.
                  (B) Eligible partnerships.--If the Secretary 
                determines that an eligible partnership is not 
                making substantial progress in meeting the 
                purposes, goals, objectives, and measures, as 
                appropriate, by the end of the third year of a 
                grant under this part, then the grant payments 
                shall not be made for any succeeding year of 
                the grant.
  (d) Evaluation and Dissemination.--The Secretary shall 
evaluate the activities funded under this part and report 
annually the Secretary's findings regarding the activities to 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the 
Senate and the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the 
House of Representatives. The Secretary shall broadly 
disseminate successful practices developed by eligible States 
and eligible partnerships under this part, and shall broadly 
disseminate information regarding such practices that were 
found to be ineffective.

SEC. 207. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR PROGRAMS THAT PREPARE TEACHERS.

  (a) State Report Card on the Quality of Teacher 
Preparation.--Each State that receives funds under this Act 
shall provide to the Secretary annually, in a uniform and 
comprehensible manner that conforms with the definitions and 
methods established by the Secretary, a State report card on 
the quality of teacher preparation in the State, both for 
traditional certification or licensure programs and for 
alternative certification or licensure programs, which shall 
include at least the following:
          (1) A description of the teacher certification and 
        licensure assessments, and any other certification and 
        licensure requirements, used by the State.
          (2) The standards and criteria that prospective 
        teachers must meet in order to attain initial teacher 
        certification or licensure and to be certified or 
        licensed to teach particular subjects or in particular 
        grades within the State.
          (3) A description of the extent to which the 
        assessments and requirements described in paragraph (1) 
        are aligned with the State's standards and assessments 
        for students.
          (4) The percentage of students who have completed at 
        least 50 percent of the requirements for a teacher 
        preparation program at an institution of higher 
        education or alternative certification program and who 
        have taken and passed each of the assessments used by 
        the State for teacher certification and licensure, and 
        the passing score on each assessment that determines 
        whether a candidate has passed that assessment.
          (5) The percentage of students who have completed at 
        least 50 percent of the requirements for a teacher 
        preparation program at an institution of higher 
        education or alternative certification program and who 
        have taken and passed each of the assessments used by 
        the State for teacher certification and licensure, 
        disaggregated and ranked, by the teacher preparation 
        program in that State from which the teacher candidate 
        received the candidate's most recent degree, which 
        shall be made available widely and publicly.
          (6) A description of each State's alternative routes 
        to teacher certification, if any, and the number and 
        percentage of teachers certified through each 
        alternative certification route who pass State teacher 
        certification or licensure assessments.
          (7) For each State, a description of proposed 
        criteria for assessing the performance of teacher 
        preparation programs in the State, including indicators 
        of teacher candidate skills and academic content 
        knowledge and evidence of gains in student academic 
        achievement.
          (8) For each teacher preparation program in the 
        State, the number of students in the program, the 
        average number of hours of supervised practice teaching 
        required for those in the program, and the number of 
        full-time equivalent faculty and students in supervised 
        practice teaching.
  (b) Report of the Secretary on the Quality of Teacher 
Preparation.--
          (1) Report card.--The Secretary shall provide to 
        Congress, and publish and make widely available, a 
        report card on teacher qualifications and preparation 
        in the United States, including all the information 
        reported in paragraphs (1) through (8) of subsection 
        (a). Such report shall identify States for which 
        eligible States and eligible partnerships received a 
        grant under this part. Such report shall be so 
        provided, published and made available annually.
          (2) Report to congress.--The Secretary shall report 
        to Congress--
                  (A) a comparison of States' efforts to 
                improve teaching quality; and
                  (B) regarding the national mean and median 
                scores on any standardized test that is used in 
                more than 1 State for teacher certification or 
                licensure.
          (3) Special rule.--In the case of programs with fewer 
        than 10 students who have completed at least 50 percent 
        of the requirements for a teacher preparation program 
        taking any single initial teacher certification or 
        licensure assessment during an academic year, the 
        Secretary shall collect and publish information with 
        respect to an average pass rate on State certification 
        or licensure assessments taken over a 3-year period.
  (c) Coordination.--The Secretary, to the extent practicable, 
shall coordinate the information collected and published under 
this part among States for individuals who took State teacher 
certification or licensure assessments in a State other than 
the State in which the individual received the individual's 
most recent degree.
  (d) Institution and Program Report Cards on Quality of 
Teacher Preparation.--
          (1) Report card.--Each institution of higher 
        education or alternative certification program that 
        conducts a teacher preparation program that enrolls 
        students receiving Federal assistance under this Act 
        shall report annually to the State and the general 
        public, in a uniform and comprehensible manner that 
        conforms with the definitions and methods established 
        by the Secretary, both for traditional certification or 
        licensure programs and for alternative certification or 
        licensure programs, the following information:
                  (A) Pass rate.--(i) For the most recent year 
                for which the information is available, the 
                pass rate of each student who has completed at 
                least 50 percent of the requirements for the 
                teacher preparation program on the teacher 
                certification or licensure assessments of the 
                State in which the institution is located, but 
                only for those students who took those 
                assessments within 3 years of receiving a 
                degree from the institution or completing the 
                program.
                  (ii) A comparison of the institution or 
                program's pass rate for students who have 
                completed at least 50 percent of the 
                requirements for the teacher preparation 
                program with the average pass rate for 
                institutions and programs in the State.
                  (iii) A comparison of the institution or 
                program's average raw score for students who 
                have completed at least 50 percent of the 
                requirements for the teacher preparation 
                program with the average raw scores for 
                institutions and programs in the State.
                  (iv) In the case of programs with fewer than 
                10 students who have completed at least 50 
                percent of the requirements for a teacher 
                preparation program taking any single initial 
                teacher certification or licensure assessment 
                during an academic year, the institution shall 
                collect and publish information with respect to 
                an average pass rate on State certification or 
                licensure assessments taken over a 3-year 
                period.
                  (B) Program information.--The number of 
                students in the program, the average number of 
                hours of supervised practice teaching required 
                for those in the program, and the number of 
                full-time equivalent faculty and students in 
                supervised practice teaching.
                  (C) Statement.--In States that require 
                approval or accreditation of teacher education 
                programs, a statement of whether the 
                institution's program is so approved or 
                accredited, and by whom.
                  (D) Designation as low-performing.--Whether 
                the program has been designated as low-
                performing by the State under section 208(a).
          (2) Requirement.--The information described in 
        paragraph (1) shall be reported through publications 
        such as school catalogs and promotional materials sent 
        to potential applicants, secondary school guidance 
        counselors, and prospective employers of the 
        institution's program graduates, including materials 
        sent by electronic means.
          (3) Fines.--In addition to the actions authorized in 
        section 487(c), the Secretary may impose a fine not to 
        exceed $25,000 on an institution of higher education 
        for failure to provide the information described in 
        this subsection in a timely or accurate manner.
  (e) Data Quality.--Either--
          (1) the Governor of the State; or
          (2) in the case of a State for which the constitution 
        or law of such State designates another individual, 
        entity, or agency in the State to be responsible for 
        teacher certification and preparation activity, such 
        individual, entity, or agency;
shall attest annually, in writing, as to the reliability, 
validity, integrity, and accuracy of the data submitted 
pursuant to this section.

SEC. 208. STATE FUNCTIONS.

  (a) State Assessment.--In order to receive funds under this 
Act, a State shall have in place a procedure to identify and 
assist, through the provision of technical assistance, low-
performing programs of teacher preparation within institutions 
of higher education. Such State shall provide the Secretary an 
annual list of such low-performing institutions that includes 
an identification of those institutions at risk of being placed 
on such list. Such levels of performance shall be determined 
solely by the State and may include criteria based upon 
information collected pursuant to this part. Such assessment 
shall be described in the report under section 207(a).
  (b) Termination of Eligibility.--Any institution of higher 
education that offers a program of teacher preparation in which 
the State has withdrawn the State's approval or terminated the 
State's financial support due to the low performance of the 
institution's teacher preparation program based upon the State 
assessment described in subsection (a)--
          (1) shall be ineligible for any funding for 
        professional development activities awarded by the 
        Department of Education; and
          (2) shall not be permitted to accept or enroll any 
        student who receives aid under title IV of this Act in 
        the institution's teacher preparation program.

SEC. 209. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

  (a) Methods.--In complying with sections 207 and 208, the 
Secretary shall ensure that States and institutions of higher 
education use fair and equitable methods in reporting and that 
the reporting methods do not allow identification of 
individuals.
  (b) Special Rule.--For each State in which there are no State 
certification or licensure assessments, or for States that do 
not set minimum performance levels on those assessments--
          (1) the Secretary shall, to the extent practicable, 
        collect data comparable to the data required under this 
        part from States, local educational agencies, 
        institutions of higher education, or other entities 
        that administer such assessments to teachers or 
        prospective teachers; and
          (2) notwithstanding any other provision of this part, 
        the Secretary shall use such data to carry out 
        requirements of this part related to assessments or 
        pass rates.
  (c) Limitations.--
          (1) Federal control prohibited.--Nothing in this part 
        shall be construed to permit, allow, encourage, or 
        authorize any Federal control over any aspect of any 
        private, religious, or home school, whether or not a 
        home school is treated as a private school or home 
        school under State law. This section shall not be 
        construed to prohibit private, religious, or home 
        schools from participation in programs or services 
        under this part.
          (2) No change in state control encouraged or 
        required.--Nothing in this part shall be construed to 
        encourage or require any change in a State's treatment 
        of any private, religious, or home school, whether or 
        not a home school is treated as a private school or 
        home school under State law.
          (3) National system of teacher certification 
        prohibited.--Nothing in this part shall be construed to 
        permit, allow, encourage, or authorize the Secretary to 
        establish or support any national system of teacher 
        certification.

SEC. 210. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

  There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
part $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 and such sums as may be 
necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years, of which--
          (1) 45 percent shall be available for each fiscal 
        year to award grants under section 202;
          (2) 45 percent shall be available for each fiscal 
        year to award grants under section 203; and
          (3) 10 percent shall be available for each fiscal 
        year to award grants under section 204.

PART B--PREPARING TOMORROW'S TEACHERS TO USE TECHNOLOGY

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 222. ELIGIBILITY.

  (a) Eligible Applicants.--In order to receive a grant or 
enter into a contract or cooperative agreement under this part, 
an applicant shall be a consortium that includes the following:
          (1) * * *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

          (3) One or more of the following entities:
                  (A) * * *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

                  (D) A professional association, foundation, 
                museum, library, for-profit business, public or 
                private nonprofit organization, community-based 
                organization, nonprofit telecommunications 
                entity, or other entity, with the capacity to 
                contribute to the technology-related reform of 
                teacher preparation programs.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 223. USE OF FUNDS.

  (a) * * *
  (b) Permissible Uses.--The consortium may use funds made 
available under this part for a project, described in the 
application submitted by the consortium under this part, that 
carries out the purpose of this part, such as the following:
          (1) Developing and implementing high-quality teacher 
        preparation programs that enable educators--
                  (A) * * *

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

                  (E) To use technology to collect, manage, and 
                analyze data to improve teaching, learning, and 
                decisionmaking for the purpose of increasing 
                student academic achievement.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 224. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

  There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
part such sums as may be necessary for [each of fiscal years 
2002 and 2003.] fiscal year 2004 and each of the 4 succeeding 
fiscal years.

                     PART C--CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE

SEC. 231. PURPOSES; DEFINITIONS.

  (a) Purposes.--The purposes of this part are--
          (1) to help recruit and prepare teachers, including 
        minority teachers, to meet the national demand for a 
        highly qualified teacher in every classroom; and
          (2) to increase opportunities for Americans of all 
        educational, ethnic, class, and geographic backgrounds 
        to become highly qualified teachers.
  (b) Definitions.--As used in this part:
          (1) Eligible institution.--The term ``eligible 
        institution'' means--
                  (A) an institution of higher education that 
                has a teacher preparation program that meets 
                the requirements of section 203(b)(2) and that 
                is--
                          (i) a part B institution (as defined 
                        in section 322);
                          (ii) a Hispanic-serving institution 
                        (as defined in section 502);
                          (iii) a Tribal College or University 
                        (as defined in section 316);
                          (iv) an Alaska Native-serving 
                        institution (as defined in section 
                        317(b)); or
                          (v) a Native Hawaiian-serving 
                        institution (as defined in section 
                        317(b));
                  (B) a consortium of institutions described in 
                subparagraph (A); or
                  (C) an institution described in subparagraph 
                (A), or a consortium described in subparagraph 
                (B), in partnership with any other institution 
                of higher education, but only if the center of 
                excellence established under section 232 is 
                located at an institution described in 
                subparagraph (A).
          (2) Highly qualified.--The term ``highly qualified'' 
        has the meaning given such term in section 9101 of the 
        Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 7801).
          (3) Scientifically based reading research.--The term 
        ``scientifically based reading research'' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 1208 of the 
        Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 6368).
          (4) Scientifically based research.--The term 
        ``scientifically based research'' has the meaning given 
        such term in section 9101 of the Elementary and 
        Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).

SEC. 232. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE.

  (a) Program Authorized.--From the amounts appropriated to 
carry out this part, the Secretary is authorized to award 
competitive grants to eligible institutions to establish 
centers of excellence.
  (b) Use of Funds.--Grants provided by the Secretary under 
this part shall be used to ensure that current and future 
teachers are highly qualified, by carrying out one or more of 
the following activities:
          (1) Implementing reforms within teacher preparation 
        programs to ensure that such programs are preparing 
        teachers who are highly qualified and are able to use 
        advanced technology effectively in the classroom, 
        including use for instructional techniques to improve 
        student academic achievement, by--
                  (A) retraining faculty; and
                  (B) designing (or redesigning) teacher 
                preparation programs that--
                          (i) prepare teachers to close student 
                        achievement gaps, are based on rigorous 
                        academic content, scientifically based 
                        research (including scientifically 
                        based reading research), and 
                        challenging State student academic 
                        content standards; and
                          (ii) promote strong teaching skills.
          (2) Providing sustained and high-quality preservice 
        clinical experience, including the mentoring of 
        prospective teachers by exemplary teachers, 
        substantially increasing interaction between faculty at 
        institutions of higher education and new and 
        experienced teachers, principals, and other 
        administrators at elementary schools or secondary 
        schools, and providing support, including preparation 
        time, for such interaction.
          (3) Developing and implementing initiatives to 
        promote retention of highly qualified teachers and 
        principals, including minority teachers and principals, 
        including programs that provide--
                  (A) teacher mentoring from exemplary teachers 
                or principals; or
                  (B) induction and support for teachers and 
                principals during their first 3 years of 
                employment as teachers or principals, 
                respectively.
          (4) Awarding scholarships based on financial need to 
        help students pay the costs of tuition, room, board, 
        and other expenses of completing a teacher preparation 
        program.
          (5) Disseminating information on effective practices 
        for teacher preparation and successful teacher 
        certification test preparation strategies.
          (6) Activities authorized under sections 202, 203, 
        and 204.
  (c) Application.--Any eligible institution desiring a grant 
under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary 
at such a time, in such a manner, and accompanied by such 
information the Secretary may require.
  (d) Minimum Grant Amount.--The minimum amount of each grant 
under this part shall be $500,000.
  (e) Limitation on Administrative Expenses.--An eligible 
institution that receives a grant under this part may not use 
more than 2 percent of the grant funds for purposes of 
administering the grant.
  (f) Regulations.--The Secretary shall prescribe such 
regulations as may be necessary to carry out this part.

SEC. 233. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

  There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
part $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 and such sums as may be 
necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

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