increasing student achievement by increasing student support act

8/11/2019 Increasing Student Achievement by Increasing Student Support Act

1/27

ROM14364 S.L.C.

113TH CONGRESS2D SESSION S.

llTo increase the recruitment and retention of school counselors, school social

workers, and school psychologists by low-income local educational agencies.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

llllllllll

introduced the following bill; which was read twiceand referred to the Committee onllllllllll

A BILL

To increase the recruitment and retention of school coun-

selors, school social workers, and school psychologists

by low-income local educational agencies.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1

tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,2

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.3

This Act may be cited as the Increasing Student4

Achievement by Increasing Student Support Act.5

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.6

Congress finds the following:7

(1) Research shows that socioeconomic status8

and family background characteristics are highly9

correlated with educational outcomes, with a con-10


2/27

2

ROM14364 S.L.C.

centration of low-performing schools in low-income1

and under-served communities.2

(2) Teachers cite poor working conditions, stu-3

dent behavior, lack of student motivation, and lack4

of administrative support as key reasons why they5

choose to leave the teaching profession.6

(3) Teachers and principals working for low-in-7

come local educational agencies are increasingly8

tasked with addressing not only the academic needs9

of a child, but also the social, emotional, and behav-10

ioral needs of a child that require the services of a11

school counselor, school social worker, and school12

psychologist, and these needs often interfere with de-13

livering quality instruction and raising student14

achievement.15

(4) Only 16 percent of children who need men-16

tal health services receive such services. 70 to 8017

percent of these children access mental health serv-18

ices at school.19

(5) Students are more likely to seek help when20

they need it if school-based mental health services21

are available.22

(6) Rates of abuse and neglect of young chil-23

dren in military families have doubled with the in-24

creased military involvement of the United States25


3/27

3

ROM14364 S.L.C.

abroad since October 2002; likewise, adolescents1

with deployed parents report increased perceptions2

of uncertainty and loss, role ambiguity, negative3

changes in mental and behavioral health, and in-4

creased relationship conflict, raising concerns about5

the impact of deployment on military personnel and6

their families and whether schools that serve a large7

number of children with deployed parents have suffi-8

cient staff and expertise to meet these challenges.9

(7) Children of military families in rural com-10

munities are often geographically isolated, and11

schools that were already experiencing understaffing12

of school counselors, school social workers, and13

school psychologists face even greater challenges14

meeting the increased needs of students enduring15

the stress that comes along with having a deployed16

parent or parents.17

(8) Schools served by low-income local edu-18

cational agencies suffer disproportionately from a19

lack of services, with many schools sharing a single20

school counselor, school social worker, or school psy-21

chologist with neighboring schools.22

(9) Too few school counselors, school social23

workers, and school psychologists per student means24


4/27

4

ROM14364 S.L.C.

that such personnel are often unable to effectively1

address the needs of students.2

(10) The American School Counselor Associa-3

tion and American Counseling Association rec-4

ommend having at least 1 school counselor for every5

250 students.6

(11) The School Social Work Association of7

America recommends having at least 1 school social8

worker for every 400 students.9

(12) The National Association of School Psy-10

chologists recommends having at least 1 school psy-11

chologist for every 500700 students.12

(13) Recent research of victimization of chil-13

dren ages 2 to 17 suggests that more than one-half14

of the children experienced a physical assault in the15

study year. More than 1 in 4 experienced a property16

offense, more than 1 in 8 experienced a form of17

child maltreatment, 1 in 12 experienced a sexual vic-18

timization, and more than 1 in 3 had been a witness19

to violence or experienced another form of indirect20

victimization. Only 29 percent of the children had no21

direct or indirect victimization.22

(14) Principals and teachers see signs of trau-23

ma-related stress in many students including hostile24


5/27

5

ROM14364 S.L.C.

outbursts, sliding grades, poor test performance, and1

the inability to pay attention.2

(15) There were more than 423,000 children in3

foster care in 2009, and studies have revealed these4

children to have higher rates of placement in special5

education, dropping out of school, discipline prob-6

lems, and poorer academic skills than their non-fos-7

ter care peers.8

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.9

The purpose of this Act is to increase the recruitment10

and retention of school counselors, school social workers,11

and school psychologists by low-income local educational12

agencies in order to13

(1) support all students who are at risk of neg-14

ative educational outcomes;15

(2) improve student achievement, which may be16

measured by growth in academic achievement on17

tests required by the applicable State educational18

agency, persistence rates, graduation rates, and19

other appropriate measures;20

(3) improve retention of teachers who are high-21

ly qualified;22

(4) increase and improve outreach and collabo-23

ration between school counselors, school social work-24


6/27

6

ROM14364 S.L.C.

ers, and school psychologists and parents and fami-1

lies served by low-income local educational agencies;2

(5) increase and improve collaboration among3

teachers, principals, school counselors, school social4

workers, and school psychologists and improve pro-5

fessional development opportunities for teachers and6

principals in the area of strategies related to improv-7

ing classroom climate and classroom management;8

and9

(6) improve working conditions for all school10

personnel.11

SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF12

SCHOOL COUNSELORS, SCHOOL SOCIAL13

WORKERS, AND SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS EM-14

PLOYED BY LOW-INCOME LOCAL EDU-15

CATIONAL AGENCIES.16

(a) GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.The Secretary17

of Education shall award grants on a competitive basis18

to eligible partnerships that receive recommendations from19

the peer review panel established under subsection (d), to20

enable such partnerships to carry out pipeline programs21

to increase the number of school counselors, school social22

workers, and school psychologists employed by low-income23

local educational agencies by carrying out any of the ac-24

tivities described by subsection (g).25


7/27

7

ROM14364 S.L.C.

(b) GRANT PERIOD.A grant awarded under this1

section shall be for a 5-year period and may be renewed2

for additional 5-year periods upon a showing of adequate3

progress, as the Secretary determines appropriate.4

(c) APPLICATION.To be eligible to receive a grant5

under this section, an eligible graduate institution, on be-6

half of an eligible partnership, shall submit to the Sec-7

retary a grant application, including8

(1) an assessment of the existing ratios of9

school counselors, school social workers, and school10

psychologists to students enrolled in schools in each11

low-income local educational agency that is part of12

the eligible partnership; and13

(2) a detailed description of14

(A) a plan to carry out a pipeline program15

to train, place, and retain school counselors,16

school social workers, or school psychologists, or17

any combination thereof, as applicable, in low-18

income local educational agencies; and19

(B) the proposed allocation and use of20

grant funds to carry out activities described by21

subsection (g).22

(d) PEER REVIEW PANEL.23

(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF PANEL.The Sec-24

retary shall establish a peer review panel to evaluate25


8/27

8

ROM14364 S.L.C.

applications for grants under subsection (c) and1

make recommendations to the Secretary regarding2

such applications.3

(2) EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS.In mak-4

ing its recommendations, the peer review panel shall5

take into account the purpose of this Act and the6

application requirements under subsection (c), in-7

cluding the quality of the proposed pipeline program.8

(3) RECOMMENDATION OF PANEL.The Sec-9

retary may award grants under this section only to10

eligible partnerships whose applications receive a11

recommendation from the peer review panel.12

(4) MEMBERSHIP OF PANEL.13

(A) IN GENERAL.The peer review panel14

shall include at a minimum the following mem-15

bers:16

(i) One clinical, tenured, or tenure17

track faculty member at an institution of18

higher education with a current appoint-19

ment to teach courses in the subject area20

of school counselor education.21

(ii) One clinical, tenured, or tenure22




9/27

9

ROM14364 S.L.C.


of school social worker education.2

(iii) One clinical, tenured, or tenure3




of school psychology education.7

(iv) One clinical, tenured, or tenure8




of teacher education.12

(v) One individual with expertise in13

school counseling who works or has worked14

in public schools.15

(vi) One individual with expertise in16

school social work who works or has17

worked in public schools.18

(vii) One individual with expertise in19

school psychology who works or has20

worked in public schools.21

(viii) One administrator who works or22

has worked for a low-income local edu-23

cational agency.24


10/27


11/27

11

ROM14364 S.L.C.

cy and eligible partnerships that include a rural low-1

income local educational agency, with, at a min-2

imum, a percentage of the funds, equal to the per-3

centage of low-income children in the United States4

who are served by rural local educational agencies5

(based on the Small Area Income and Poverty Esti-6

mates of the Bureau of Census, for the most recent7

year such information is available), awarded to eligi-8

ble partnerships that include a rural low-income9

local educational agency.10

(f) PRIORITY.The Secretary shall give priority to11

eligible partnerships that12

(1) propose to use the grant funds to carry out13

the activities described under paragraphs (1)14

through (3) of subsection (g) in schools that have15

higher numbers or percentages of low-income stu-16

dents and students not meeting the proficient level17

of achievement (as described by section 1111 of the18

Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 196519

(20 U.S.C. 6311)) in comparison to other schools20

that are served by the low-income local educational21

agency that is part of the eligible partnership;22

(2) include 1 or more low-income local edu-23

cational agencies that have fewer school counselors,24


12/27

12

ROM14364 S.L.C.

school social workers, and school psychologists per1

student than other eligible partnerships;2

(3) include 1 or more eligible graduate institu-3

tions that offer graduate programs in the greatest4

number of the following areas:5

(A) school counseling;6

(B) school social work; and7

(C) school psychology; and8

(4) propose to collaborate with other institu-9

tions of higher education with similar programs, in-10

cluding sharing facilities, faculty members, and ad-11

ministrative costs.12

(g) USE OF GRANT FUNDS.Grant funds awarded13

under this section may be used14

(1) to pay the administrative costs (including15

supplies, office and classroom space, supervision,16

mentoring, and transportation stipends as necessary17

and appropriate) related to18

(A) having graduate students of school19

counseling, school social work, and school psy-20

chology placed in schools served by partici-21

pating low-income local educational agencies to22

complete required field work, credit hours, in-23

ternships, or related training as applicable for24


13/27

13

ROM14364 S.L.C.

the degree, license, or credential program of1

each such student; and2

(B) offering required graduate course work3

for graduate students of school counseling,4

school social work, and school psychology on the5

site of a participating low-income local edu-6

cational agency;7

(2) for not more than the first 3 years after8

participating graduates receive a masters or other9

graduate degree or obtain a State license or creden-10

tial in school counseling, school social work, or11

school psychology, to hire and pay all or part of the12

salaries of such participating graduates to work as13

school counselors, school social workers, and school14

psychologists in schools served by participating low-15

income local educational agencies;16

(3) to increase the number of school counselors,17

school social workers, and school psychologists per18

student in schools served by participating low-income19

local educational agencies to work towards the stu-20

dent support personnel target ratios;21

(4) to recruit, hire, and retain culturally or lin-22

guistically under-represented graduate students in23

school counseling, school social work, and school psy-24


14/27

14

ROM14364 S.L.C.

chology for placement in schools served by partici-1

pating low-income educational agencies;2

(5) to recruit, hire, and pay faculty as nec-3

essary to increase the capacity of a participating eli-4

gible graduate institution to train graduate students5

in the fields of school counseling, school social work,6

and school psychology;7

(6) to develop coursework that will8

(A) encourage a commitment by graduate9

students in school counseling, school social10

work, or school psychology to work for low-in-11

come local educational agencies;12

(B) give participating graduates the knowl-13

edge and skill sets necessary to meet the needs14

of15

(i) students and families served by16

low-income local educational agencies; and17

(ii) teachers, administrators, and18

other staff who work for low-income local19

educational agencies;20

(C) enable participating graduates to meet21

the unique needs of students at-risk of negative22

educational outcomes, including students who23

(i) are English language learners;24


15/27


16/27

16

ROM14364 S.L.C.

(viii) are foster care youth, youth1

aging out of foster care, or former foster2

youth; and3

(D) utilize best practices determined by the4

American School Counselor Association, Na-5

tional Association of Social Workers, School So-6

cial Work Association of America, and National7

Association of School Psychologists;8

(7) to provide tuition credits to graduate stu-9

dents participating in the program;10

(8) for student loan forgiveness for partici-11

pating graduates who are employed as school coun-12

selors, school social workers, or school psychologists13

by participating low-income local educational agen-14

cies for a minimum of 5 consecutive years; and15

(9) for similar activities to fulfill the purpose of16

this Act, as the Secretary determines appropriate.17

(h) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.Funds made18

available under this section shall be used to supplement,19

not supplant, other Federal, State, or local funds for the20

activities described in subsection (g).21

(i) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.Each eligible part-22

nership that receives a grant under this section shall sub-23

mit an annual report to the Secretary on the progress of24


17/27

17

ROM14364 S.L.C.

such partnership in carrying out the purpose of this Act.1

Such report shall include a description of2

(1) actual service delivery provided through3

grant funds, including4

(A) characteristics of the participating eli-5

gible graduate institution, including descriptive6

information on the model used and actual pro-7

gram performance;8

(B) characteristics of graduate students9

participating in the program, including per-10

formance on any tests required by the State11

educational agency for credentialing or licens-12

ing, demographic characteristics, and graduate13

student retention rates;14

(C) characteristics of students of the par-15

ticipating low-income local educational agency,16

including performance on any tests required by17

the State educational agency, demographic18

characteristics, and promotion, persistence, and19

graduation rates, as appropriate;20

(D) an estimate of the annual implementa-21

tion costs of the program; and22

(E) the numbers of students, schools, and23

graduate students participating in the program;24


18/27

18

ROM14364 S.L.C.

(2) outcomes that are consistent with the pur-1

pose of the grant program, including2

(A) internship and post-graduation place-3

ment;4

(B) graduation and professional career5

readiness indicators; and6

(C) characteristics of the participating low-7

income local educational agency, including8

changes in hiring and retention of highly quali-9

fied teachers and school counselors, school psy-10

chologists, and school social workers;11

(3) the instruction, materials, and activities12

being funded under the grant program; and13

(4) the effectiveness of any training and ongo-14

ing professional development provided15

(A) to students and faculty in the appro-16

priate departments or schools of the partici-17

pating eligible graduate institution;18

(B) to the faculty, administration, and19

staff of the participating low-income local edu-20

cational agency; and21

(C) to the broader community of providers22

of social, emotional, behavioral, and related23

support to students and to those who train such24

providers.25


19/27

19

ROM14364 S.L.C.

(j) EVALUATIONS.1

(1) INTERIM EVALUATIONS.The Secretary2

may conduct interim evaluations to determine3

whether each eligible partnership receiving a grant is4

making adequate progress as the Secretary considers5

appropriate. The contents of the annual report sub-6

mitted to the Secretary under subsection (i) may be7

used by the Secretary to determine whether an eligi-8

ble partnership receiving a grant is demonstrating9

adequate progress.10

(2) FINAL EVALUATION.The Secretary shall11

conduct a final evaluation to12

(A) determine the effectiveness of the13

grant program in carrying out the purpose of14

this Act; and15

(B) compare the relative effectiveness of16

each of the various activities described by sub-17

section (g) for which grant funds may be used.18

(k) REPORT.Not earlier than 5 years nor later than19

6 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-20

retary shall submit to Congress a report containing the21

findings of the evaluation conducted under subsection22

(j)(2), and such recommendations as the Secretary con-23

siders appropriate.24

(l) AUTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.25


20/27

20

ROM14364 S.L.C.

(1) IN GENERAL.There is authorized to be1

appropriated to the Secretary to carry out the pro-2

gram under this section, $30,000,000 for fiscal year3

2015 and for each succeeding fiscal year.4

(2) RESERVATION FOR EVALUATION.From5

the total amount appropriated to carry out this sec-6

tion each fiscal year, the Secretary shall reserve not7

more than 3 percent for evaluations under sub-8

section (j).9

SEC. 5. STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR INDIVIDUALS10

WHO ARE EMPLOYED FOR 5 OR MORE CON-11

SECUTIVE SCHOOL YEARS AS SCHOOL COUN-12

SELORS, SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS, SCHOOL13

PSYCHOLOGISTS, OR OTHER QUALIFIED PSY-14

CHOLOGISTS OR PSYCHIATRISTS BY LOW-IN-15

COME LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.16

(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.The Secretary17

shall establish a program to provide student loan forgive-18

ness to individuals who are not and have never been par-19

ticipants in the grant program established under section20

4 and who have been employed for 5 or more consecutive21

school years as school counselors, school social workers,22

school psychologists, other qualified psychologists, or child23

and adolescent psychiatrists by low-income local edu-24

cational agencies.25


21/27

21

ROM14364 S.L.C.

(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.There1

are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such2

sums as may be necessary to carry out the program under3

this section.4

SEC. 6. FUTURE DESIGNATION STUDY.5

(a) IN GENERAL.The Secretary shall conduct a6

study to identify a formula for future designation of re-7

gions with a shortage of school counselors, school social8

workers, and school psychologists to use in implementing9

grant programs and other programs such as the programs10

established under this Act or for other purposes related11

to any such designation, based on the latest available data12

on13

(1) the number of residents under the age of 1814

in an area served by a low-income local educational15

agency;16

(2) the percentage of the population of an area17

served by a low-income local educational agency with18

incomes below the poverty line;19

(3) the percentage of residents age 18 or older20

in an area served by a low-income local educational21

agency with secondary school diplomas;22

(4) the percentage of students identified as eli-23

gible for special education services in an area served24

by a low-income local educational agency;25


22/27

22

ROM14364 S.L.C.

(5) the youth crime rate in an area served by1

a low-income local educational agency;2

(6) the current number of full-time-equivalent3

and active school counselors, school social workers,4

and school psychologists employed by a low-income5

local educational agency;6

(7) the number of students in an area served by7

a low-income local education agency in military fam-8

ilies (active duty and reserve duty) with parents who9

have been alerted for deployment, are currently de-10

ployed, or have returned from a deployment in the11

previous school year; and12

(8) such other criteria as the Secretary con-13

siders appropriate.14

(b) REPORT.Not later than 2 years after the date15

of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to16

Congress a report containing the findings of the study17

conducted under subsection (a).18

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.19

In this Act:20

(1) SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAM DEFINI-21

TIONS.The terms child and adolescent psychia-22

trist, school counselor, school psychologist,23

school social worker, and other qualified psychol-24

ogist have the meaning given the terms in section25


23/27

23

ROM14364 S.L.C.

5421 of the Elementary and Secondary Education1

Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7245).2

(2) ESEA GENERAL DEFINITIONS.The terms3

State educational agency, local educational agen-4

cy, and highly qualified have the meaning given5

the terms in section 9101 of the Elementary and6

Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).7

(3) BEST PRACTICES.The term best prac-8

tices means a technique or methodology that,9

through experience and research related to the prac-10

tice of school counseling, school psychology, or11

school social work, has proven to reliably lead to a12

desired result.13

(4) ELIGIBLE GRADUATE INSTITUTION.The14

term eligible graduate institution means an insti-15

tution of higher education that offers a program of16

study that leads to a masters or other graduate de-17

gree18

(A) in school psychology that is accredited19

or nationally recognized by the National Asso-20

ciation of School Psychologists Program Ap-21

proval Board and that prepares students in22

such program for the State licensing or certifi-23

cation exam in school psychology;24


24/27

24

ROM14364 S.L.C.

(B) in school counseling that prepares stu-1

dents in such program for the State licensing or2

certification exam in school counseling;3

(C) in school social work that is accredited4

by the Council on Social Work Education and5

that prepares students in such program for the6

State licensing or certification exam in school7

social work; or8

(D) in any combination of study described9

in subparagraphs (A), (B), or (C).10

(5) ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIP.The term eligi-11

ble partnership means12

(A) a partnership between 1 or more low-13

income local educational agencies and 1 or more14

eligible graduate institutions; or15

(B) in regions in which local educational16

agencies may not have a sufficient elementary17

school and secondary school student population18

to support the placement of all participating19

graduate students, a partnership between a20

State educational agency, on behalf of 1 or21

more low-income local educational agencies, and22

1 or more eligible graduate institutions.23

(6) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.The24

term institution of higher education has the25


25/27

25

ROM14364 S.L.C.

meaning given such term in section 102 of the High-1

er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002), but ex-2

cludes any institution of higher education described3

in section 102(a)(1)(C) of such Act.4

(7) LOW-INCOME LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN-5

CY.The term low-income local educational agen-6

cy means a local educational agency7

(A) in which not less than 20 percent of8

the students served by such agency are from9

families with incomes below the poverty line as10

determined by the Bureau of the Census on the11

basis of the most recent satisfactory data avail-12

able;13

(B) that has existing ratios of school coun-14

selors, school social workers, and school psy-15

chologists to students served by the agency that16

are not more than 1 school counselor per 27517

students, not more than 1 school psychologist18

per 770 students, and not more than 1 school19

social worker per 440 students.20

(8) PARTICIPATING ELIGIBLE GRADUATE INSTI-21

TUTION.The term participating eligible graduate22

institution means an eligible graduate institution23

that is part of an eligible partnership awarded a24

grant under section 4.25


26/27

26

ROM14364 S.L.C.

(9) PARTICIPATING GRADUATE.The term1

participating graduate means an individual who2

(A) has received a masters or other grad-3

uate degree in elementary or secondary school4

counseling, school social work, or school psy-5

chology from a participating eligible graduate6

institution and has obtained a State license or7

credential in school counseling, school social8

work, or school psychology; and9

(B) as a graduate student of school coun-10

seling, school social work, or school psychology11

was placed in a school served by a participating12

low-income local educational agency to complete13

required field work, credit hours, internships, or14

related training as applicable.15

(10) PARTICIPATING LOW-INCOME LOCAL EDU-16

CATIONAL AGENCY.The term participating low-in-17

come local educational agency means a low-income18

local educational agency that is part of an eligible19

partnership awarded a grant under section 4.20

(11) SECRETARY.The term Secretary21

means the Secretary of Education.22

(12) STUDENT SUPPORT PERSONNEL TARGET23

RATIOS.The term student support personnel tar-24

get ratios means the ratios of school counselors,25


27/27

increasing student achievement by increasing student support act

Documents