20 U.S.C. § 2324 — National activities

(a) Program performance information. (1) The Secretary, consulting the Director, must collect information about the condition of career and technical education and the effectiveness of State and local programs under this subchapter. The information must help the Secretary, Congress, and Federal, State, local, and Tribal agencies improve quality and effectiveness. Each year the Secretary must report to Congress an overall analysis of the performance information collected from eligible agencies under section 2323(b)(3)(C), including performance information about special populations. (2) To the extent feasible, the Secretary must make the performance-information system work with other Federal information systems. (3) As a regular part of its assessments, the National Center for Education Statistics must collect and report career-and-technical-education information from a nationally representative student sample. The assessment may include overall international comparisons. (b) Reasonable cost. The Secretary must take needed steps to obtain the information required by this subchapter at a reasonable cost. Consulting the National Center for Education Statistics and the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, the Secretary must decide how to collect the information and how often to collect it. (c) Single plan for research, development, dissemination, evaluation, and assessment. (1) The Secretary must, directly or through grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements, conduct research, development, dissemination, evaluation and assessment, capacity building, and technical assistance concerning career and technical education programs under this chapter. The Secretary must create one plan for these activities. (2) The plan must (A) identify the activities the Secretary will conduct; (B) explain how the Secretary, through the Director, will evaluate them under subsection (d)(2); and (C) include other information the Secretary, consulting the Director, considers appropriate. (d) Advisory panel; evaluation; reports. (1) Independent advisory panel. (A) The Secretary, through the Director, must appoint an independent panel to advise on the evaluation in paragraph (2) and the plan in subsection (c), including the issues and study methods, so the evaluation meets the highest quality standards. (B) The panel must include (i) educators, administrators, State career-and-technical-education directors, and chief executives, including people experienced in combining academic and career and technical education; (ii) evaluation, research, and assessment experts; (iii) representatives of labor organizations and businesses, including small businesses, economic-development entities, and workforce-investment entities; (iv) parents; (v) career-guidance and academic-counseling professionals; (vi) other people and qualified intermediaries with relevant expertise, possibly including expertise in unequal access to academic and technical skill opportunities; (vii) representatives of Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations; and (viii) representatives of special populations. (C) The panel must send the Secretary, the Director, the relevant congressional committees, and the Library of Congress an independent analysis of the evaluation’s findings and recommendations. (D) Chapter 10 of title 5 does not apply to this panel. (2) Evaluation. (A) Using funds under subsection (f), the Secretary, through the Director, must provide a series of research and evaluation efforts each year for which funds are appropriated under this chapter. They must follow the plan in subsection (c)(2) and cover programs under this chapter, including implementation of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act. To the extent practicable, the work must use independent studies and analyses funded competitively through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. When possible, each fiscal year’s evaluation must use data from the newest available fiscal year and the five years before it. (B) The evaluation must describe and assess (i) how much, and how successfully, challenging State academic standards adopted under section 1111(b)(1) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 are integrated with career and technical education, and the effect on students’ academic and technical proficiency, including the number who receive a regular high school diploma as defined in section 8101 of that Act or a State-defined alternative diploma described in section 8101(25)(A)(ii)(I)(bb), the number of high school students who receive a recognized postsecondary credential, and the number who earn credit toward one; (ii) how much programs and programs of study prepare students, including special populations, for later high-skill, high-wage jobs, including jobs needing mathematics and science skills and possibly computer science, or for postsecondary education; (iii) employer participation in, benefit from, and satisfaction with these programs and students’ preparation for work; (iv) efforts to expand access for all students; (v) innovative work-based-learning approaches that increase participation and fit employment in high-growth industries, including in rural and low-income areas; (vi) the effectiveness of different delivery systems and approaches, including comprehensive and technical high schools, area technical centers, career academies, community and technical colleges, early-college high schools, pre-apprenticeships, voluntary after-school programs, individual courses, and dual or concurrent enrollment courses, plus ways teachers, counselors, and parents or guardians communicate opportunities; (vii) how much programs supported by this chapter rest on evidence-based research; (viii) the effect of the 21st Century Act amendments, including, when appropriate, comparisons of use of the comprehensive needs assessment under section 2354(c), implementation of programs of study, and coordination with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; (ix) changes in accountability under section 2323 and their effects on delivery and quality; (x) changes in student enrollment patterns; and (xi) efforts to reduce disparities or performance gaps described in section 2323(b)(3)(C)(ii)(II). (C) Reports. (i) Consulting the Director, the Secretary must send the relevant congressional committees an interim report no later than two years after July 31, 2018, covering the evaluation and research summary and building on studies existing then; a final report no later than four years after that date summarizing the related studies and analyses; and an update every two years after that. (ii) Despite other law, these reports do not undergo review outside the Department of Education before being sent to the committees and the Secretary. The President, Secretary, Director, and panel may nevertheless make additional recommendations to Congress about the assessment. (iii) The Secretary must widely and promptly share the evaluation results so State and local officials and educators understand which supported programs and activities, and which career-and-technical-education programs and programs of study, are most likely to produce positive education and employment results. (3) Collection of State information and report. (A) The Secretary may collect and share State information about efforts to meet the State performance levels in section 2323(b), but the information may not reveal personally identifiable information. (B) The Secretary must gather that information and report it to the relevant congressional committees. (4) Research. (A) Using subsection (f) funds, and after consulting the Director, the Commissioner for Education Research, and the States and receiving input from the panel, the Secretary must competitively award a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement to an institution of higher education, or a consortium of such institutions and private nonprofit organizations or agencies, for one or more activities in subparagraph (B). (B) The recipient must use the funds for one or more of these activities: (i) evidence-based research and evaluation to develop, improve, and identify the most successful ways to (I) eliminate unequal access to and unequal opportunities for learning, skill development, or effective teaching in career and technical education, and (II) meet the education, employment, and training needs of participants, including special populations; (ii) research and evaluation of the 21st Century Act changes, including State-by-State comparisons when appropriate, concerning (I) the needs assessment under section 2354(c), (II) programs of study, (III) how States implemented this chapter’s fiscal and program rules, (IV) funding and finance models, and (V) coordination with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and the Higher Education Act; (iii) evidence-based longitudinal research and analysis about programs, programs of study, and student achievement; and (iv) implementation, evaluation, or evidence-based research on innovative methods supporting high-quality programs and student achievement, including (I) creating or expanding dual or concurrent enrollment and early-college high schools, (II) academic credit or alignment for industry-recognized credentials, competency-based education, or work-based learning, (III) open, searchable, comparable information about credential quality, related skills or competencies, attainment by CTE concentrators, employment and earnings, labor-market value, and employer use, and (IV) helping sub-baccalaureate students enter bachelor’s-degree programs, including addressing barriers for rural students and special populations. (C) Each recipient must annually prepare a report on its key findings and send it to the Secretary and Director. The Secretary must send copies to the relevant congressional committees, Library of Congress, and each eligible agency. (D) The recipient must promptly conduct research-based sharing and training, including through dissemination networks and, when appropriate, Department technical-assistance providers. (e) Innovation and modernization. (1) Grant program. To identify, support, and rigorously evaluate evidence-based and innovative strategies and activities to improve and modernize career and technical education and align workforce skills with labor-market needs as part of the State plan under section 2342, the local application under section 2354, and this subsection, the Secretary may use no more than 20 percent of the amounts appropriated under subsection (f) to award grants to eligible entities, eligible institutions, or eligible recipients for the activities in paragraph (7). (2) Non-Federal match. (A) Except as provided in (B), an eligible entity, institution, or recipient must provide matching funds from non-Federal sources, in cash or in-kind contributions, equal to at least 50 percent of the grant. (B) The Secretary may waive this requirement if the applicant demonstrates exceptional circumstances. (3) Application. An applicant must apply at the time, in the manner, and with the information the Secretary requires. At a minimum, the application must include (A) the agency, institution, or school responsible for administering and supervising the program; (B) the project budget, the source and amount of the matching funds, and, if applicable, how the project will continue after the grant period; (C) how the grant funds will be used and directly benefit the applicant's students, including special populations; (D) how the program will coordinate with activities under section 2344 or 2355; (E) how the programs or programs of study to be implemented reflect regional, State, or local employer needs shown by the comprehensive needs assessment under section 2354(c); (F) how the program will be evaluated and how that evaluation may inform the report under subsection (d)(2)(C); and (G) an assurance that the applicant will (i) provide information requested by the Secretary for evaluations the Secretary may conduct and (ii) make data available to third parties for validation under applicable data-privacy laws, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. (4) Priority. In awarding grants, the Secretary must give priority to applications that will predominantly serve students from low-income families. (5) Geographic diversity. (A) The Secretary must award at least 25 percent of the total available funds for each fiscal year to applicants proposing activities that serve (i) a local educational agency with an urban-centric district locale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, as determined by the Secretary; (ii) an institution of higher education primarily serving one or more areas served by such an agency; (iii) a consortium of such agencies or institutions; (iv) a partnership between an educational service agency or nonprofit organization and such an agency or institution; or (v) a partnership between an applicant described in clause (i) or (ii) and a State educational agency. (B) The Secretary must reduce that amount if there are not enough applications of sufficient quality. (6) Duration. (A) Grants may last no more than three years. (B) The Secretary may extend a grant for no more than one additional two-year period if the grantee shows that it is achieving its objectives and, when applicable, has improved education outcomes for career and technical education students, including special populations. (7) Uses of funds. A grantee must use the funds to create, develop, implement, replicate, or expand evidence-based, field-initiated innovations that modernize and improve the effectiveness and alignment of career and technical education, improve student outcomes, and are rigorously evaluated. The grantee may do this through one or more of these activities: (A) Design and implement courses or programs of study aligned with labor-market needs in new or emerging fields, and work with industry to upgrade equipment, technology, and related curriculum needed to develop, expand, and implement State-approved programs of study. This may include (i) developing or acquiring instructional materials associated with equipment and technology purchased with the grant and (ii) expanding, developing, or implementing programs that increase opportunities for rigorous coding or computer science courses, and statewide efforts to increase access to and implementation of those courses to meet local labor-market needs. (B) Improve student outcomes through activities such as (i) developing and enhancing innovative work-based-learning delivery models, including school-based simulated work sites, mentoring, work-site visits, job shadowing, project-based learning, and skills-based and paid internships; (ii) increasing effective technology use in programs and programs of study; (iii) supporting new models for integrating academic content at the secondary and postsecondary levels; and (iv) integrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, including computer science education, with career and technical education. (C) Improve transitions (i) from secondary education to postsecondary education or employment through programs, activities, or services that may include dual or concurrent enrollment, articulation agreements, credit-transfer agreements, and competency-based education; or (ii) from completing one postsecondary program to another that awards a recognized postsecondary credential. (D) Support innovative career-and-technical-education delivery models. (E) Work with industry to design and implement courses or programs of study aligned with labor-market needs in new or emerging fields. (F) Support innovative approaches by redesigning the high-school experience, which may include evidence-based transitional support for students who have not met postsecondary-education eligibility requirements. (G) Create or expand recruitment, retention, or professional-development activities for teachers, faculty, school leaders, administrators, specialized instructional support personnel, career-guidance and academic counselors, and paraprofessionals. These activities may include (i) resources and training to improve instruction for, and accommodations for, special populations; (ii) externships or site visits with business and industry; (iii) integrating coherent and rigorous academic standards and career-and-technical-education curricula, including joint curriculum and teaching-strategy development by academic and career-and-technical-education teachers; (iv) mentoring by experienced teachers; (v) resources or assistance for State teacher licensure and credential requirements; and (vi) secondary-level training for career-guidance and academic counselors to improve awareness of postsecondary education and career options and their ability to explain career opportunities and employment trends to students. (H) Improve employment outcomes for CTE concentrators in nontraditional fields. (I) Support coordinated use of programs and programs of study to address identified employer needs and workforce shortages, such as shortages in the early-childhood, elementary-school, and secondary-school education workforces. (J) Provide integrated student support addressing students' comprehensive needs, such as accelerated and differentiated learning opportunities supported by evidence-based strategies for special populations. (K) Establish an online portal for CTE students, including special populations, preparing for postsecondary career and technical education. The portal may include mentoring, financial-literacy skills, identifying career opportunities and interests, and a platform for online savings accounts used exclusively for postsecondary career and technical education programs and programs of study. (L) Develop and implement a pay-for-success initiative. (8) Evaluation. Each grantee must provide for an independent evaluation of the grant-funded activities and submit an annual report to the Secretary. The report must include (A) how the funds received under this paragraph were used; (B) the grantee's performance, at a minimum, on the applicable performance indicators under section 2323, disaggregated by (i) student subgroups described in section 1111(c)(2)(B) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, (ii) special populations, and (iii) when appropriate, each career and technical education program and program of study; and (C) a quantitative analysis of the project's effectiveness. (f) Authorization of appropriations. The following amounts are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section: (1) $7,651,051 for fiscal year 2019; (2) $7,758,166 for fiscal year 2020; (3) $7,866,780 for fiscal year 2021; (4) $7,976,915 for fiscal year 2022; (5) $8,088,592 for fiscal year 2023; and (6) $8,201,832 for fiscal year 2024. Terms such as “Secretary,” “Director,” “eligible agency,” “eligible entity,” “eligible institution,” “eligible recipient,” “special populations,” “programs of study,” and “recognized postsecondary credential” are used but this section does not define them. (g) Repealed. (h) Reserved.