The Striving Readers Act seeks to improve student achievement and high school graduation rates by ensuring that students in grades 4-12 who struggle to read at grade level receive the literacy interventions needed to succeed in school. Specifically, Striving Readers would provide funding to states to create statewide literacy initiatives for students in grades 4–12, share data on student progress with parents and the public, and improve teacher training and professional development in literacy so that all students receive high-quality instruction. Striving Readers would also provide funding to districts to create plans to improve literacy, develop top notch assessments, train teachers in every subject area in literacy strategies, and use regular data to improve teaching and learning.

The Graduation Promise Act (GPA) authorizes $2.5 billion in new funding to turn around low-performing high schools. The GPA provides money to districts and states in order to implement effective, research-based reforms tailored to a low-performing school’s specific needs.

Title I of the GPA authorizes a $2.4 billion High School Improvement and Dropout Reduction Fund to support the development of statewide systems of differentiated high school improvement in every state. Title II authorizes $60 million in competitive grants for the development, implementation, and replication of effective secondary school models for struggling students and dropouts. Title III authorizes $40 million in competitive grants to states to remove barriers and create innovative incentives to improve student outcomes for every young person in the state.

The Every Student Counts Act, H.R. 2955, seeks to hold high schools responsible for graduating students by improving the calculation of and accountability for high school graduation rates. Specifically, the legislation requires states, schools, and districts to use a common, accurate, graduation rate calculation. It would also require high schools with graduation rates less than 90 percent to make aggressive but attainable increases in their graduation rates as part of the annual accountability requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act. To ensure that schools are held accountable for the graduation of all students, this requirement applies to both the overall graduation rate and the graduation rate of each subgroup of students.

The GRADUATES Act would create a $500 million Secondary School Innovation Fund to support partnerships to create models of innovation in secondary schools to increase student achievement and prepare students for success in post-secondary education and the workforce.  The partnerships would consist of state education agencies or local education agencies with institutes of higher education, community based organizations, non-profits, business, or school development organizations to create innovative models of reform in our nation’s secondary schools.

This legislation would provide $100 million in competitive grants for states for the development and implementation of statewide longitudinal data systems that include all ten essential elements recommended by the Data Quality Campaign and $100 million in formula grants to states for alignment, professional development, and other efforts to improve the use of data.  The legislation also authorizes funding to support a state education data center and state educational data coordinators to improve data collection, reporting, and compliance processes.

The Success in the Middle Act is the first school improvement bill of its kind directed specifically at the middle grades. The bill targets the schools that have middle level grades that feed into the nearly 2,000 “dropout factories” that are spread throughout the country. Dropout factories are high schools in which 60 percent (or fewer) of freshmen will have become seniors three years after finishing their ninth-grade year. These schools account for approximately half of the nation’s dropouts.

The Measuring and Evaluating Trends for Reliability, Integrity, and Continued Success Act (METRICS) would authorize $150 million in formula grants to states for the development and implementation of statewide longitudinal data systems. The bill includes a set-aside of up to $2 million for a state education data center to support states in developing these systems, disseminating best practices, and serving as a central repository for education and school safety related data.

The ACCESS Act provides $500 million to states to improve college access for low-income students. With the grants, states would provide early notification to low-income students of their potential eligibility for financial aid and to create partnerships with businesses, colleges, and non-profit organizations to provide students with financial aid, information, support, and greater access to colleges and the college application process.

The ATTAIN Act improves support for disadvantaged schools and students by ensuring that teachers are properly equipped to use technology effectively by revamping the current policy delineated in Enhancing Education Through Technology (Title II-D of NCLB).  The proposed changes include focusing funds on professional development and systemic reform that leverage 21st century technologies, prioritizing funding to schools in need of improvement, and requiring states to assess whether students have attained technological literacy by the eighth grade.

The CURE Act amends the Higher Education Act to authorize grants to rural institutes of higher education to improve the academic opportunities that prepare students for careers in high-need jobs and careers important to the local region.