[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3171 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3171
To ensure that Federal work-study funding is available for students
enrolled in residency programs for teachers, principals, or school
leaders, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 4, 2021
Mr. Kennedy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To ensure that Federal work-study funding is available for students
enrolled in residency programs for teachers, principals, or school
leaders, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Teacher, Principal, and Leader
Residency Access Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Across the United States, local educational agencies
and elementary schools and secondary schools are struggling to
meet the growing demand for qualified teachers. In 2017-18,
more than 100,000 classrooms in the United States were staffed
by instructors who were unqualified to teach. These classrooms
are disproportionately located in low-income, high-minority
schools, although schools of every kind have been affected by a
lack of qualified applicants in key subjects, including
mathematics, special education, science, world languages,
career and technical education, and teachers of English
learners.
(2) Teacher shortages are in significant part driven by
teacher turnover. Research shows that teacher turnover is
higher for those who enter the profession without adequate
preparation. Teachers who enter the profession through a
comprehensive, high-quality program with student teaching,
formal feedback on their teaching, and multiple courses in
student learning, as required in high-quality teaching
residency programs, are more likely to remain in the profession
compared to teachers who enter through a route that lacks these
components. Not only are under-prepared teachers less effective
on average, they are also 2 to 3 times more likely to leave
teaching than fully prepared teachers.
(3) Teacher shortages and teacher turnover are costly. Each
time a teacher leaves a school, it not only increases demand
but also imposes replacement costs on the local educational
agency, which range from $9,000 per teacher in small, rural
local educational agencies to more than $20,000 in large, urban
local educational agencies. The national price tag of
replacement costs for teachers is more than $8,000,000,000 a
year.
(4) Teaching residency programs, which recruit candidates
to work as paid apprentices to skilled expert teachers while
completing highly integrated coursework, have been successful
in recruiting talented, diverse candidates into high-need
fields and local educational agencies.
(5) Research on teaching residency programs shows that such
programs are effective in bringing more teachers of color into
the profession and in preparing such teachers to stay for the
long term. In the United States, about 49 percent of
individuals in teaching residency programs are students of
color, and the same percentage of public school students are
people of color, but only 20 percent of teachers are people of
color.
(6) The teaching residency program model creates long-term
benefits for local educational agencies, schools, and for the
students served by such agencies and schools. Rigorous studies
of teaching residency programs have found significantly higher
retention rates for graduates of teaching residency programs,
addressing one of the primary contributors to teacher
shortages, as well as positive evidence about educator
effectiveness.
(7) A review of teaching residency program evaluations
shows that teachers who completed high-quality teaching
residency programs tend to have higher teaching retention rates
over time compared to teachers who did not complete such
programs, including--
(A) in San Francisco, where 80 percent of
candidates completing a teaching residency program were
still in the classroom after 5 years, compared to 38
percent of candidates who entered the classroom through
a different route;
(B) in Boston, where teaching residents
participating in the Boston Teacher Residency program
had higher retention rates compared to teachers who
were not teaching residents, with 80 percent of
residents still teaching in Boston Public schools for a
third year, compared to 63 percent of teachers who were
not teaching residents, and 75 percent of teaching
residents still teaching for a fifth year, compared to
51 percent of teachers who were not teaching residents;
and
(C) in Tennessee, where 95 percent of Memphis
Teacher Residency program participants were still
teaching for a third year, compared with 41 percent of
teachers statewide.
(8) Additional studies of teaching residency programs show
similarly high retention rates of graduates, ranging from 80
percent to 90 percent teaching in the same district after 3
years, and 70 percent to 80 percent teaching in the same
district after 5 years.
(9) According to data from the San Francisco Unified School
District, principals find graduates of teaching residency
programs to be well prepared, and in many cases to be better
prepared than new teachers who were not in teaching residency
programs. Research also shows that teaching residents
strengthen schools across the country by reducing teacher
shortages and providing local educational agencies with a more
sustainable educator workforce.
(10) In 2019, there were at least 50 teaching residency
programs nationwide, each of which range in size from 5 to 100
teaching residents per year. Several States, including
California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana,
New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia,
are supporting teaching residency programs through regional
network partnerships that regularly bring together leadership
from across local educational agencies and preparation programs
to share knowledge and develop more enduring and reciprocal
relationships between such agencies.
(11) Teaching residency programs align with the purpose of
the Federal Work-Study Program to provide valuable work
experience and work related to a student's course of study and
intended profession. Further, the Federal Work-Study Program
prioritizes teaching reading based on scientifically based
research on reading, a feature consistent with efforts in
teaching residency programs to equip all new teachers,
regardless of subject area, with the skills to support reading
and literacy skills for all students.
(12) According to a recent report by the George W. Bush
Institute on principal talent management, preparing successful
principals requires new, comprehensive approaches by school
districts, universities, States, and others who pull together
to train and support principals. Thoughtfully designed and
implemented principal residency programs can be a powerful
piece of this comprehensive and collaborative approach to
training future educational leadership.
(13) Residencies for aspiring school principals are a
promising approach to initiate principal candidates into school
leadership practice and have become a part of some
comprehensive principal preparation programs over the past 20
years. Principal residencies reinvent the traditional
internship experience, which has often been the capstone
experience in principal preparation. Residency immerses
principal candidates in rigorous apprenticeship experiences
that are designed to advance leadership and management
practices, as well as emphasize data analysis, action,
reflection, and accountability.
SEC. 3. FEDERAL WORK-STUDY FOR RESIDENCY PROGRAMS FOR TEACHERS,
PRINCIPALS, AND OTHER SCHOOL LEADERS.
Section 443 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087-53)
is amended--
(1) in subsection (d)--
(A) in the header, by inserting ``School-Based''
before ``Tutoring'';
(B) in paragraph (1)--
(i) by striking ``tutoring in reading'' and
inserting ``school-based activities, including
residency programs, tutoring in reading,''; and
(ii) by striking subparagraphs (A) and (B)
and inserting the following:
``(A) employed--
``(i) as reading tutors for children who
are preschool age or are in elementary school;
or
``(ii) in family literacy projects; or
``(B) serving in a residency program of the
institution.''; and
(C) in paragraph (2)--
(i) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking
``and'' after the semicolon;
(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking the
period and inserting ``; and''; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) ensure that any student compensated with the
funds described in paragraph (1) who is serving in a
residency program receives compensation for time spent
in training and travel directly related to such
residency.''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(f) Residency Programs for Teachers, Principals, and Other School
Leaders.--
``(1) Use of funds.--Funds granted to an institution under
this section may be used to support students serving in
residency programs, including compensation for time spent in
training and travel directly related to such residency.
``(2) Priority.--An institution shall--
``(A) give priority to students who are serving in
a residency program and who have been determined to be
eligible for a Federal Pell Grant under section 401;
and
``(B) ensure that any student compensated with the
funds described in paragraph (1) for a residency
program receives appropriate training to acquire
teaching skills or school leader skills.
``(3) Federal share.--The Federal share of the compensation
of work-study students compensated under this subsection may
exceed 75 percent.
``(4) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Residency program.--The term `residency
program' means a school-based educator preparation
program in which a prospective teacher, principal, or
other school leader--
``(i) for 1 academic year, works alongside
a mentor teacher, principal, or other school
leader who is--
``(I) the teacher of record; or
``(II) rated as effective or above
in the State's school leader evaluation
and support system (as described in
section 2101(c)(4)(B)(ii) of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965) or, if no such ratings are
available, on other comparable
indicators of performance;
``(ii) receives concurrent instruction
during the year described in clause (i) from
the institution, which may be courses taught by
local educational agency personnel or residency
program faculty, in, as applicable--
``(I) the teaching of the content
area in which the teacher will become
certified or licensed;
``(II) teaching skills; and
``(III) leadership, management,
organizational, and school leader
skills necessary to serve as a
principal or other school leader;
``(iii) acquires effective teaching skills
or school leader skills; and
``(iv) prior to completion of the program,
attains full State teacher, principal, or
school leader certification or licensure, and
becomes profession-ready.
``(B) Profession-ready.--The term `profession-
ready'--
``(i) when used with respect to a teacher,
means a teacher who--
``(I) has completed a teacher
preparation program and is fully
certified and licensed to teach by the
State in which the teacher is employed;
``(II) has a baccalaureate degree
or higher;
``(III) has demonstrated content
knowledge in the subject or subjects
the teacher teaches;
``(IV) has demonstrated the ability
to work with students who are
culturally and linguistically diverse;
``(V) has demonstrated teaching
skills, such as through--
``(aa) a teacher
performance assessment; or
``(bb) other measures of
teaching skills, as determined
by the State; and
``(VI) has demonstrated proficiency
with the use of educational technology;
and
``(ii) when used with respect to a
principal or other school leader, means a
principal or other school leader who--
``(I) has an advanced degree, or
other appropriate credential;
``(II) has completed a principal or
other school leader preparation process
and is fully certified and licensed by
the State in which the principal or
other school leader is employed;
``(III) has demonstrated
instructional leadership, including the
ability to collect, analyze, and
utilize data on evidence of student
learning and evidence of classroom
practice;
``(IV) has demonstrated proficiency
in professionally recognized leadership
standards; and
``(V) has demonstrated the ability
to work with students who are
culturally and linguistically diverse.
``(C) School leader.--The term `school leader' has
the meaning given the term in section 8101 of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
``(D) School leader skills.--The term `school
leader skills' refers to evidenced-based competencies
for principals and other school leaders, such as--
``(i) shaping a vision of academic success
for all students;
``(ii) creating a safe and inclusive
learning environment;
``(iii) cultivating leadership in others;
``(iv) improving instruction; and
``(v) managing people, data, and processes
to foster school improvement.
``(E) Teaching skills.--The term `teaching skills'
has the meaning given the term in section 200.''.
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