Strengthening Research in Adult Education Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1268 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 25, 2023 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 02:12 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1268.IS S1268 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1268 IS (1) in section 102 (20 U.S.C. 9501)— 1 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 2 through (8), (9) through (13), (14) through 3 (22), and (23), as paragraphs (3) through (9), 4 (11) through (15), (17) through (25), and (27), 5 respectively; 6 (B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 7 following: 8 ‘‘(2) ADULT EDUCATION; ADULT EDUCATION 9 AND LITERACY ACTIVITIES.—The terms ‘adult edu- 10 cation’ and ‘adult education and literacy activities’ 11 have the meanings given the terms in section 203 of 12 the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (29 13 U.S.C. 3272).’’; 14 (C) by inserting after paragraph (9), as re- 15 designated by subparagraph (A), the following: 16 ‘‘(10) DIGITAL LITERACY SKILLS.—The term 17 ‘digital literacy skills’ has the meaning given the 18 term in section 202 of the Museum and Library 19 Services Act (20 U.S.C. 9101).’’; 20 (D) by inserting after paragraph (15), as 21 redesignated by subparagraph (A) the following: 22 ‘‘(16) INFORMATION LITERACY SKILLS.—The 23 term ‘information literacy skills’ means the set of 24 skills needed to find, retrieve, understand, evaluate, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1268.IS S1268 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1268 IS analyze, discern the reliability and accuracy of, and 1 effectively use information (which encompasses spo- 2 ken and broadcast words and videos, printed mate- 3 rials, and digital content, data, and images).’’; and 4 (E) by inserting after paragraph (25), as 5 redesignated by subparagraph (A), the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘(26) STUDENT.—Unless otherwise provided, 8 the term ‘student’ means any elementary, secondary, 9 postsecondary, or adult education student.’’; 10 (2) in section 111(b)(1) (20 U.S.C. 11 9511(b)(1)), in the matter preceding subparagraph 12 (A), by inserting ‘‘, and adult education’’ after 13 ‘‘postsecondary study’’; 14 (3) in section 115(a) (20 U.S.C. 9515(a))— 15 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 16 by inserting ‘‘the Adult Education and Family 17 Literacy Act (29 U.S.C. 3271 et seq.),’’ after 18 ‘‘the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 19 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.),’’; and 20 (B) in paragraph (2)— 21 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 22 ‘‘children’’ and inserting ‘‘individuals’’; 23 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 24 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1268.IS S1268 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 1268 IS (iii) by redesignating subparagraph 1 (C) as subparagraph (D); and 2 (iv) by inserting after subparagraph 3 (B) the following: 4 ‘‘(C) access to, and opportunities for, adult 5 education and literacy activities; and’’; 6 (4) in section 116(c)(4)(A)(ii) (20 U.S.C. 7 9516(c)(4)(A)(ii))— 8 (A) by inserting ‘‘adult educators,’’ after 9 ‘‘professional educators,’’; and 10 (B) by inserting ‘‘State directors of adult 11 education,’’ after ‘‘postsecondary education ex- 12 ecutives,’’; 13 (5) in section 131(b)(1) (20 U.S.C. 14 9531(b)(1))— 15 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking 16 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 17 (B) in subparagraph (D), by inserting 18 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; and 19 (C) by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘(E) improve the literacy, numeracy, dig- 21 ital literacy skills, and information literacy 22 skills of individuals who need adult education;’’; 23 (6) in section 133 (20 U.S.C. 9533)— 24 (A) in subsection (a)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1268.IS S1268 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 1268 IS (i) in paragraph (10)(D), by striking 1 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 2 (ii) in paragraph (11), by striking the 3 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 4 and 5 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘(12) carry out research initiatives regarding 8 the impact of adult education and literacy activities, 9 including— 10 ‘‘(A) research into successful State and 11 local adult education and literacy activities 12 that— 13 ‘‘(i) result in increased literacy, 14 numeracy, digital literacy skills, informa- 15 tion literacy skills, and educational attain- 16 ment for adult learners; or 17 ‘‘(ii) prepare students for postsec- 18 ondary education or employment; and 19 ‘‘(B) research to determine which indica- 20 tors of performance and measurable skills gains 21 are most effective, valid, reliable, and accessible 22 for use across a broad range of adult education 23 and literacy programs to assess the progress of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1268.IS S1268 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 1268 IS adult learners and improve instruction in adult 1 education and literacy programs.’’; and 2 (B) in subsection (c)— 3 (i) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘At 4 least 1 center shall be assigned the topic of 5 adult education.’’ after ‘‘paragraph (2).’’; 6 and 7 (ii) in paragraph (2)— 8 (I) by striking subparagraph (A) 9 and inserting the following: 10 ‘‘(A) Adult education.’’; 11 (II) by redesignating subpara- 12 graphs (C) through (K) as subpara- 13 graphs (E) through (M), respectively; 14 and 15 (III) by inserting after subpara- 16 graph (B) the following: 17 ‘‘(C) Digital literacy skills.’’; 18 ‘‘(D) Information literacy skills.’’; 19 (7) in section 153(a)(1) (20 U.S.C. 20 9543(a)(1))— 21 (A) by striking subparagraph (D) and in- 22 serting the following: 23 ‘‘(D) secondary school graduation and 24 completion rates, including the four-year ad- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1268.IS S1268 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 1268 IS justed cohort graduation rate and the extended- 1 year adjusted cohort graduation rate (as de- 2 fined in section 8101 of the Elementary and 3 Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. 7801)), 4 school dropout rates, and adult literacy;’’; 5 (B) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) 6 through (O) as subparagraphs (G) through (P), 7 respectively; 8 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (E) 9 the following: 10 ‘‘(F) access to, and opportunity for, adult 11 education and literacy activities;’’; and 12 (D) in subparagraph (L), as redesignated 13 by subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘and in 14 adult education’’ after ‘‘secondary schools’’; 15 (8) in section 154(b)(2)(A) (20 U.S.C. 16 9544(b)(2)(A)), by striking ‘‘vocational and adult 17 education,’’ and inserting ‘‘career and technical edu- 18 cation, adult education,’’; and 19 (9) in section 172(a)(2) (20 U.S.C. 20 9562(a)(2))— 21 (A) in subparagraph (D), by striking 22 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 23 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as 24 subparagraph (F); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1268.IS S1268 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 1268 IS (C) by inserting after subparagraph (D) 1 the following: 2 ‘‘(E) educational practices that improve 3 digital literacy skills and information literacy 4 skills; and’’. 5 (b) EDUCATIONAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE ACT OF 6 2002.—Section 206(b)(2) of the Educational Technical 7 Assistance Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9605(b)(2)) is amend- 8 ed— 9 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) 10 through (F) as subparagraphs (C) through (G), re- 11 spectively; and 12 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the fol- 13 lowing: 14 ‘‘(B) Representatives of local or regional 15 adult education providers.’’. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1268.IS S1268 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB