A bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to address and take action to combat rural teacher shortages across the United States.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · November 18, 2019
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Classrooms Reflecting Communities Act of 2019
This bill directs the Department of Education to award grants to eligible partnerships to develop and run a Grow Your Own Program to recruit diverse teacher candidates from the community into the teaching profession and support them through high-quality preparation to full teacher certification or licensure. The program is particularly aimed at growing the educator workforce in rural communities.
Such a program includes
targeted recruitment efforts, including promotion of the teaching profession at high schools, minority-serving institutions, and community centers; creation of curriculum and coursework with principles of culturally responsive education woven throughout; mentorship and assistance with the teacher licensure and certification process, including test preparation; and direct financial assistance, including reduced tuition and in-kind financial support, such as childcare, especially for teachers being certified or licensed to teach in high-need fields or high-need communities. The bill requires a partnership, at the end of each grant year, to submit a report that includes (1) a description of activities undertaken; (2) graduation rates; (3) the percentage and total number of teacher candidates who have been certified or licensed to teach; (4) the three- and five-year teacher retention rate in the same school and local educational agency, within the profession, and in the subjects for which the teachers were trained; and (5) surveys of teachers and community members.
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