Graduation Really Achieves Dreams Act - GRAD Act - Authorizes a grant to Project GRAD USA, a nonprofit educational organization for improving high school graduation and college-going rates for disadvantaged students, to provide technical assistance and support through subgrants to existing and new programs that implement a set of integrated education reform services.
Requires the grantee to select only subgrantees that serve a substantial number or percentage of low-income students. Requires the programs to identify one or more groups of public schools at which services will be provided through a feeder pattern through which elementary and secondary schools channel students having participated in program services into an identified high school. Requires program services to include: (1) research-based programs in reading, mathematics, and classroom management; (2) campus-based social services programs, including increasing family and community involvement in schools; (3) a college access program, including providing college scholarships for students who meet established criteria, increasing student and family college awareness, and assisting students to apply for college financial aid; and (4) other services the grantee identifies as necessary.
[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4973 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4973
To authorize the Project GRAD program, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 22, 2004
Mrs. McCarthy of New York (for herself, Ms. Pryce of Ohio, Mr. Green of
Texas, Mr. Payne, Mr. Fattah, and Mr. Berman) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the
Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the Project GRAD program, 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 ``Graduation Really Achieves Dreams
Act'' or the ``GRAD Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The national high school graduation rate is only 70
percent, and in urban districts that percentage drops further
to only 50 percent.
(2) The national graduation rate for the class of 2001 was
only 51 percent for African Americans and 52 percent for Latino
students.
(3) Each school day, approximately 3,000 secondary school
students drop out of school.
(4) Six million secondary students who make up the lowest
25 percent in terms of achievement scores are 3.5 times more
likely to drop out than students in the next highest quarter of
academic achievement, and are 20 times more likely to drop out
than high achieving students.
(5) Approximately 25 percent of secondary school students
are reading at ``below basic'' levels. The problem is even more
severe for poor students of color. The average minority or low-
income ninth grader performs at only the fifth or sixth grade
level in reading.
(6) Low graduation rates are evidence that, in the earlier
grades, schools are not meeting the fundamental achievement
needs of low-income students.
(7) Even those students who do graduate from secondary
schools and go on to college are struggling because they lack
the basic skills to succeed. Approximately 40 percent of all 4-
year college students take a remedial course and 63 percent of
all community college students are assigned to at least one
remedial course.
(8) A small percentage of low-income students who manage to
enter college are able to complete a degree. Of students from
families in the bottom 20 percent in terms of income who enter
college, only 27 percent go on to complete a two- or four-year
college degree within eight years.
(9) Graduation rates impact early drop-out rates in the
military. The attrition rates of both non-high school graduates
and GED recipients are 8 percentage points higher than the
rates of graduates. As a result, the Armed Services no longer
accepts high school drop-outs and put less value on alternative
certificates.
(10) Students who fail to graduate from high school are
more likely to engage in criminal activity than students who
graduate. A one percent increase in high school graduation
rates would save approximately $1.4 billion in costs associated
with incarceration, or about $2,100 for each male high school
graduate.
(11) In today's workplace, nearly 8 in 10 adults with
bachelors degrees are employed, but for those who completed
high school only, the figure falls to about 6 in 10. And for
students who dropped out, the figure drops further to 4 in 10.
(12) Employment projections indicate that jobs requiring
only a high school degree will grow by just 9 percent by the
year 2008, while those requiring a bachelor's degree will grow
by 25 percent and those requiring an associate's degree will
grow by 31 percent.
(13) Personalization of the school environment has been
proven to increase success rates for low-performing secondary
school students. Nearly 50 percent of middle school youth and
40 percent of high school youth report feelings of
disengagement from school. Rates are even higher for teens and
minorities in urban schools. These feelings result in failure
to work hard, to seek assistance, or to take appropriate
courses.
(14) Effective research-based education programs that
improve high school graduation rates are comprehensive in
nature and include interventions that begin in kindergarten and
span all the grades through 12th.
SEC. 3. PROJECT GRAD.
(a) Purpose.--The purpose of the program authorized under this Act
is--
(1) to provide support and assistance to programs
implementing integrated education reform services to improve
high school graduation and college going rates for
disadvantaged students; and
(2) to promote the establishment of new programs to
implement such integrated education reform services.
(b) Grant Authorized.--The Secretary is authorized to award a grant
to Project GRAD USA, a nonprofit educational organization that has as
its primary purpose the improvement of high school graduation and
college going rates for disadvantaged students (hereinafter in this
section referred to as the ``grantee''), to provide support and
technical assistance to existing programs implementing the set of
integrated education reform services described in subsection (d)(2) and
to promote the expansion of such programs.
(c) Requirements of Grant Agreement.--The Secretary shall enter
into an agreement with the grantee that requires that--
(1) the grantee will enter into subcontracts with nonprofit
educational organizations (hereinafter in this section referred
to as ``subgrantees'') under which the subgrantees will agree
to establish, operate, and provide the non-Federal share of the
cost of implementing Project GRAD programs;
(2) the grantee will provide such technical assistance to
the subgrantees as may be necessary to carry out the provisions
of this section;
(3) funds made available under the grant can be used to pay
the Federal share of the cost of establishing and operating
programs as provided in paragraph (1) and costs associated with
the provision of technical assistance as provided in paragraph
(2); and
(4) the grantee will select only subgrantees that serve a
substantial number or percentage of low-income students.
(d) Supported Programs.--
(1) Designation; feeder patterns.--The programs supported
with funds available under this section shall be known as
``Project GRAD programs''. Such programs shall, with the
agreement of the grantee, identify one or more groups of public
schools at which services will be provided through establishing
a ``feeder pattern'' through which elementary and secondary
schools channel students having participated in Project GRAD
services into an identified high school.
(2) Integrated education reform services.--The services
provided through project GRAD programs shall include--
(A) research-based programs in reading,
mathematics, and classroom management;
(B) campus-based social services programs including
a systematic approach to increase family and community
involvement in the schools served;
(C) a college access program, which includes the
provision of a college scholarship for students that
meet established criteria, proven approaches to
increasing student and family college awareness, and
assistance for those students in applying to college
for financial aid; and
(D) such other services identified by the grantee
as necessary to increase high school graduation and
college going rates.
(e) Use of Funds.--Not less than 75 percent of the funds received
by the grantee under this section shall be used to fund awards to
subgrantees to carry out the requirements of subsection (d)(1). The
balance of such funds shall be used by grantee to carry out the
requirements of subsection (d)(2), as well as other such activities to
promote greater public awareness of integrated education reform
services to improve high school graduation and college going rates for
disadvantaged students as described in subsection (d)(2).
(f) Federal Share.--
(1) In general.--For purposes of subsection (c), the term
``Federal share'' means, with respect to the costs of Project
GRAD programs authorized in subsection (c), subgrants provided
by the grantee averaging $200 per pupil, adjusted to take into
consideration the resources available to the school at which
the subgrantee will implement the program, and the need for
Project GRAD USA services to improve student outcomes.
(2) Exception.--Nothing in this subsection shall preclude
the awarding of subgrants reflecting a per student cost of more
than $200 if the grantee determines that additional resources
were not available consistent with the requirements placed on
the grantee in subsection (c)(4).
(3) More may be required.--If funds or resources are
available to a subgrantee, the grantee may elect to award the
subgrantee less than the Federal share of the cost associated
with the program.
(g) Evaluation.--
(1) Evaluation by the secretary.--The Secretary shall
select an independent entity to evaluate every 3 years the
performance of students who participate in a program under this
section. The evaluation shall be contracted using the strongest
possible research design for determining the effectiveness of
programs funded under this section. The evaluation shall
include a comparison of reading and mathematics achievement
and, where applicable, high school graduation, college going,
and college completion rates of students who participate in the
programs funded under this section with those indicators for
students of similar backgrounds who do not participate in such
programs.
(2) Evaluation by grantee and subgrantees.--The grantee
shall require each subgrantee to prepare an in-depth report of
the results of the programs supported with funds, and the use
of funds, made available under this section. Such review shall
include data on the reading and math achievement of students
involved in the programs and statistics on high school
graduation, college going, and college completion rates, and
such financial reporting as deemed relevant to review the
effectiveness and efficiency of the program. The report shall
be in a form and include such content as shall be determined by
the grantee in consultation with the Secretary or the entity
selected by the Secretary to evaluate the Project GRAD program.
(3) Availability of evaluations.--Copies of any evaluation
or report prepared pursuant to this section shall be available
to the Secretary and the Chairman and ranking member of the
Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor
and Pensions of the Senate.
(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to make grants under this section $27,000,000 for fiscal
year 2005 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 5
succeeding fiscal years.
(i) Low-Income Student.--For purposes of this section, the term
``low-income student'' means a student who is determined by a local
educational agency to be from a low-income family using the measures
described in section 1113(c) of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act of 1965.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness.
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