Teachers Are Leaders Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 235 To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to establish teacher leader development programs. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 28, 2019 Mr. COONS (for himself, Ms. ERNST, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. JONES, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. INHOFE, and Mr. REED) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to establish teacher leader development programs. 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 ‘‘Teachers Are Leaders 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TEACHER LEADER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM. 6 Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 7 U.S.C. 1021 et seq.) is amended— 8 (1) in section 200— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:36 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S235.IS S235 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 235 IS (A) by redesignating paragraphs (21), 1 (22), and (23), as paragraphs (22), (23), and 2 (24), respectively; and 3 (B) by inserting after paragraph (20) the 4 following: 5 ‘‘(21) TEACHER LEADER.—The term ‘teacher 6 leader’ means a teacher who carries out formalized 7 leadership responsibilities based on demonstrated 8 school needs, while maintaining a role as a class- 9 room instructor.’’; and 10 (2) in section 202— 11 (A) in subsection (b)(6)(C), by striking 12 ‘‘subsection (f) or (g)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 13 section (g) or (h)’’; 14 (B) in subsection (c)— 15 (i) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘a 16 teacher leader development program under 17 subsection (f),’’ after ‘‘subsection (e),’’; 18 and 19 (ii) in paragraph (2), by striking 20 ‘‘subsection (f)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 21 (g)’’; 22 (C) by redesignating subsections (f), (g), 23 (h), (i), (j), and (k), as subsections (g), (h), (i), 24 (j), (k), and (l), respectively; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:36 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S235.IS S235 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 235 IS (D) by inserting after subsection (e) the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(f) TEACHER LEADER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.— 3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A teacher leader develop- 4 ment program carried out with a grant awarded 5 under this section shall involve the professional de- 6 velopment of teachers, as described in paragraph 7 (2), who maintain their roles as classroom teachers 8 but who also carry out formalized leadership respon- 9 sibilities to increase the academic achievement of 10 students and promote data-driven instructional prac- 11 tices that address the demonstrated needs at their 12 schools, such as— 13 ‘‘(A) development of curriculum and cur- 14 ricular resources; 15 ‘‘(B) facilitating the work of committees 16 and teams; 17 ‘‘(C) family and community engagement; 18 ‘‘(D) school discipline and culture; 19 ‘‘(E) peer observations and coaching; or 20 ‘‘(F) dual enrollment instruction. 21 ‘‘(2) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.—The pro- 22 fessional development of teachers in a teacher leader 23 development program carried out with a grant 24 awarded under this section shall include— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:36 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S235.IS S235 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 235 IS ‘‘(A) one year of professional development, 1 training, and support that may— 2 ‘‘(i) include— 3 ‘‘(I) the engagement of teachers 4 in rigorous coursework and fieldwork 5 relevant to their role as a teacher 6 leader, including available teacher 7 leader standards; and 8 ‘‘(II) regular observations and 9 professional support from— 10 ‘‘(aa) a principal, vice prin- 11 cipal, or a designated instruc- 12 tional leader of the school; 13 ‘‘(bb) a representative from 14 the institution of higher edu- 15 cation that is a partner in the eli- 16 gible entity; 17 ‘‘(cc) a representative from 18 another entity that is a partner 19 in the eligible entity; and 20 ‘‘(dd) another member of 21 the teacher leader cohort, if ap- 22 plicable, or a peer teacher; and 23 ‘‘(ii) result in the awarding of a cre- 24 dential in teacher leadership; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:36 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S235.IS S235 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 235 IS ‘‘(B) one or 2 additional years of support 1 from a principal, vice principal, or a designated 2 instructional leader of the school, a representa- 3 tive from the institution of higher education 4 that is a partner in the eligible entity, and a 5 representative from another entity that is a 6 partner in the eligible entity. 7 ‘‘(3) TEACHER LEADER DEVELOPMENT PRO- 8 GRAM PLAN.—In carrying out a teacher leader devel- 9 opment program under this section, an eligible entity 10 shall develop a plan that shall describe— 11 ‘‘(A) how the work hours of teacher leaders 12 will be allocated between their classroom re- 13 sponsibilities and responsibilities as a teacher 14 leader, which may include a description of 15 whether the teacher leader will be relieved from 16 teaching duties during the teacher leader’s par- 17 ticipation in the teacher leader development 18 program; 19 ‘‘(B) how the partnership will support 20 teacher leaders after the first year of profes- 21 sional development in the program; and 22 ‘‘(C) how teacher leader activities could be 23 sustained by the eligible partnership after the 24 program concludes, which may include a de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:36 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S235.IS S235 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 235 IS scription of opportunities for the teacher lead- 1 ers to assist in the educator preparation pro- 2 gram at the institution of higher education in 3 the partnership. 4 ‘‘(4) SELECTION OF TEACHER LEADERS; USE 5 OF FUNDS.—In carrying out a teacher leader devel- 6 opment program under this section, an eligible enti- 7 ty— 8 ‘‘(A) shall select a teacher for participation 9 in the program— 10 ‘‘(i) who— 11 ‘‘(I) is fully certified to teach in 12 the State in which the high-need local 13 educational agency that is a partner 14 in the eligible entity is located; 15 ‘‘(II) is employed by a high-need 16 local educational agency that is a 17 partner in the eligible entity; 18 ‘‘(III) has not less than 3 years 19 of teaching experience; and 20 ‘‘(IV) submits an application for 21 participation to the eligible entity; and 22 ‘‘(ii) based on selection criteria that 23 includes— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:36 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S235.IS S235 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 235 IS ‘‘(I) demonstration of strong con- 1 tent knowledge or a record of accom- 2 plishment in the field or subject area 3 the teacher will support as a teacher 4 leader; and 5 ‘‘(II) demonstration of attributes 6 linked to effective teaching that is de- 7 termined through interviews, observa- 8 tions, artifacts, student achievement, 9 or performance assessments, such as 10 those leading to an advanced creden- 11 tial; 12 ‘‘(B) may develop admissions goals and 13 priorities for the teacher leader development 14 program that— 15 ‘‘(i) are aligned with the demonstrated 16 needs of the school or high-need local edu- 17 cational agency in which the teacher is em- 18 ployed; 19 ‘‘(ii) consider cultural competencies 20 that would make the applicant effective in 21 the applicant’s teacher leader role; and 22 ‘‘(iii) consider whether the teacher has 23 substantial teaching experience in the 24 school in which the teacher is employed or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:36 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S235.IS S235 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 235 IS in a school that is similar to the school in 1 which the teacher is employed; 2 ‘‘(C) shall use the grant funds to pay for 3 costs of training and supporting teacher leaders 4 for not less than 2 years and not more than 3 5 years; 6 ‘‘(D) may use the grant funds to pay for 7 a portion of a stipend for teacher leaders if 8 such grant funds are matched by additional 9 non-Federal public or private funds as follows: 10 ‘‘(i) during each of the first and sec- 11 ond years of the grant period, grant funds 12 may pay not more than 50 percent of such 13 stipend; and 14 ‘‘(ii) during the third year of the 15 grant period, grant funds may pay not 16 more than 33 percent of such stipend; and 17 ‘‘(E) may require teacher leaders to pay 18 back the cost of attaining a credential if they 19 do not complete their term of service in the 20 teacher leader development program.’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:36 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S235.IS S235 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS