Strengthening Research in Adult Education Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1126 To amend the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 and the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 to strengthen research in adult education. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 14, 2021 Mr. REED (for himself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 and the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 to strengthen research in adult education. 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 ‘‘Strengthening Re- 4 search in Adult Education Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. STRENGTHEN RESEARCH IN ADULT EDUCATION. 6 (a) EDUCATION SCIENCES REFORM ACT OF 2002.— 7 The Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 8 9501 et seq.) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:35 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1126.IS S1126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1126 IS (1) in section 102 (20 U.S.C. 9501)— 1 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 2 through (8), (9) through (22), and (23), as 3 paragraphs (3) through (9), (11) through (24), 4 and (26), respectively; 5 (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 6 following: 7 ‘‘(2) ADULT EDUCATION; ADULT EDUCATION 8 AND LITERACY ACTIVITIES.—The terms ‘adult edu- 9 cation’ and ‘adult education and literacy activities’ 10 have the meanings given the terms in section 203 of 11 the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (29 12 U.S.C. 3272).’’; 13 (C) by inserting after paragraph (9), as re- 14 designated by subparagraph (A), the following: 15 ‘‘(10) DIGITAL LITERACY SKILLS.—The term 16 ‘digital literacy skills’ has the meaning given the 17 term in section 202 of the Museum and Library 18 Services Act (20 U.S.C. 9101).’’; and 19 (D) by inserting after paragraph (24), as 20 redesignated by subparagraph (A), the fol- 21 lowing: 22 ‘‘(25) STUDENT.—Unless otherwise provided, 23 the term ‘student’ means any elementary, secondary, 24 postsecondary, or adult education student.’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:35 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1126.IS S1126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1126 IS (2) in section 111(b)(1) (20 U.S.C. 1 9511(b)(1)), in the matter preceding subparagraph 2 (A), by inserting ‘‘, including adult education’’ after 3 ‘‘postsecondary study’’; 4 (3) in section 115(a) (20 U.S.C. 9515(a))— 5 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 6 by inserting ‘‘the Adult Education and Family 7 Literacy Act (29 U.S.C. 3271 et seq.),’’ after 8 ‘‘the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 9 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.),’’; and 10 (B) in paragraph (2)— 11 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 12 ‘‘and adults’’ after ‘‘children’’; 13 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 14 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 15 (iii) by redesignating subparagraph 16 (C) as subparagraph (D); and 17 (iv) by inserting after subparagraph 18 (B) the following: 19 ‘‘(C) access to, and opportunities for, adult 20 education and literacy activities; and’’; 21 (4) in section 116(c)(4)(A)(ii) (20 U.S.C. 22 9516(c)(4)(A)(ii))— 23 (A) by inserting ‘‘adult educators,’’ after 24 ‘‘professional educators,’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:35 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1126.IS S1126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1126 IS (B) by inserting ‘‘State directors of adult 1 education,’’ after ‘‘postsecondary education ex- 2 ecutives,’’; 3 (5) in section 131(b)(1) (20 U.S.C. 4 9531(b)(1))— 5 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking 6 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 7 (B) in subparagraph (D), by inserting 8 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; and 9 (C) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(E) improve the literacy and numeracy 11 skills of individuals who need adult education;’’; 12 (6) in section 133 (20 U.S.C. 9533)— 13 (A) in subsection (a)— 14 (i) in paragraph (10)(D), by striking 15 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 16 (ii) in paragraph (11), by striking the 17 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 18 and 19 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 20 lowing: 21 ‘‘(12) carry out research on successful State 22 and local adult education and literacy activities 23 that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:35 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1126.IS S1126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1126 IS ‘‘(A) result in increased literacy and 1 numeracy and educational attainment for adult 2 learners; or 3 ‘‘(B) prepare students for postsecondary 4 education or employment.’’; and 5 (B) in subsection (c)— 6 (i) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘At 7 least 1 center shall be assigned the topic of 8 adult education.’’ after ‘‘paragraph (2).’’; 9 and 10 (ii) in paragraph (2)— 11 (I) by striking subparagraph (A) 12 and inserting the following: 13 ‘‘(A) Adult education.’’; 14 (II) by redesignating subpara- 15 graphs (C) through (K) as subpara- 16 graphs (D) through (L), respectively; 17 and 18 (III) by inserting after subpara- 19 graph (B) the following: 20 ‘‘(C) Digital literacy skills.’’; 21 (7) in section 153(a)(1) (20 U.S.C. 22 9543(a)(1))— 23 (A) by striking subparagraph (D) and in- 24 serting the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:35 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1126.IS S1126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1126 IS ‘‘(D) secondary school graduation and 1 completion rates, including the four-year ad- 2 justed cohort graduation rate and the extended- 3 year adjusted cohort graduation rate (as de- 4 fined in section 8101 of the Elementary and 5 Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. 7801)), 6 school dropout rates, and adult literacy;’’; 7 (B) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) 8 through (O) as subparagraphs (G) through (P), 9 respectively; 10 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (E) 11 the following: 12 ‘‘(F) access to, and opportunity for, adult 13 education and literacy activities;’’; and 14 (D) in subparagraph (L), as redesignated 15 by subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘and in 16 adult education’’ after ‘‘secondary schools’’; 17 (8) in section 154(b)(2)(A) (20 U.S.C. 18 9544(b)(2)(A)), by striking ‘‘vocational and adult 19 education,’’ and inserting ‘‘career and technical edu- 20 cation, adult education,’’; and 21 (9) in section 172(a)(2) (20 U.S.C. 22 9562(a)(2))— 23 (A) in subparagraph (D), by striking 24 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:35 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1126.IS S1126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1126 IS (B) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as 1 subparagraph (F); and 2 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (D) 3 the following: 4 ‘‘(E) educational practices that improve 5 digital literacy skills; and’’. 6 (b) EDUCATIONAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACT OF 7 2002.—Section 206(b)(2) of the Educational Technical 8 Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9605(b)(2)) is amend- 9 ed— 10 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) 11 through (F) as subparagraphs (C) through (G), re- 12 spectively; and 13 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol- 14 lowing: 15 ‘‘(B) Representatives of local or regional 16 adult education providers.’’. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:35 Apr 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1126.IS S1126 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS