Subpart 8 – Ready to Teach

SEC. 5481. GRANTS.

(a) IN GENERAL- The Secretary is authorized to award grants to a nonprofit telecommunications entity, or partnership of such entities, for the purpose of carrying out a national telecommunications-based program to improve teaching in core curriculum areas. The program shall be designed to assist elementary school and secondary school teachers in preparing all students to achieve challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards in core curriculum areas.

(b) DIGITAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING- The Secretary is authorized to award grants, as provided for in section 5484, to eligible entities described in subsection (b) of such section, to enable such entities to develop, produce, and distribute innovative educational and instructional video programming that is designed for use by elementary schools and secondary schools and based on challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards. In awarding such grants, the Secretary shall ensure that eligible entities enter into multiyear content development collaborative arrangements with State educational agencies, local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, businesses, or other agencies or organizations.

SEC. 5482. APPLICATION REQUIRED.

(a) GENERAL APPLICATION-

(1) IN GENERAL- To be eligible to receive a grant under section 5481(a), a nonprofit telecommunications entity, or partnership of such entities shall submit an application to the Secretary. Each such application shall —

(A) demonstrate that the applicant will use the public broadcasting infrastructure, the Internet, and school digital networks, where available, to deliver video and data in an integrated service to train teachers in the use of materials and learning technologies for achieving challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards;

(B) ensure that the project for which assistance is sought will be conducted in cooperation with appropriate State educational agencies, local educational agencies, and State or local nonprofit public telecommunications entities;

(C) ensure that a significant portion of the benefits available for elementary schools and secondary schools from the project for which assistance is sought will be available to schools of local educational agencies that have a high percentage of children counted for the purpose of part A of title I; and

(D) contain such additional assurances as the Secretary may reasonably require.

(2) SITES- In approving applications under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall ensure that the program authorized by section 5481(a) is conducted at elementary school and secondary school sites throughout the United States.

(b) PROGRAMMING APPLICATION- To be eligible to receive a grant under section 5481(b), an entity shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such information as the Secretary may reasonably require.

SEC. 5483. REPORTS AND EVALUATION.

An entity receiving a grant under section 5481(a) shall prepare and submit to the Secretary an annual report that contains such information as the Secretary may require. At a minimum, such report shall describe the program activities undertaken with funds received under the grant, including —

(1) the core curriculum areas for which program activities have been undertaken and the number of teachers using the program in each core curriculum area; and

(2) the States in which teachers using the program are located.

SEC. 5484. DIGITAL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING GRANTS.

(a) GRANTS- The Secretary is authorized to award grants under section 5481(b) to eligible entities to facilitate the development of educational programming that shall —

(1) include student assessment tools to provide feedback on student academic achievement;

(2) include built-in teacher utilization and support components to ensure that teachers understand and can easily use the content of the programming with group instruction or for individual student use;

(3) be created for, or adaptable to, challenging State academic content standards and student academic achievement standards; and

(4) be capable of distribution through digital broadcasting and school digital networks.

(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES- To be eligible to receive a grant under section 5481(b), an entity shall be a local public telecommunications entity, as defined in section 397(12) of the Communications Act of 1934, that is able to demonstrate a capacity for the development and distribution of educational and instructional television programming of high quality.

(c) COMPETITIVE BASIS- Grants under section 5481(b) shall be awarded on a competitive basis as determined by the Secretary.

(d) MATCHING REQUIREMENT- To be eligible to receive a grant under section 5481(b), an entity shall contribute to the activities assisted under such grant non-Federal matching funds in an amount equal to not less than 100 percent of the amount of the grant. Such matching funds may include funds provided for the transition to digital broadcasting, as well as in-kind contributions.

(e) DURATION- A grant under section 5481(b) shall be awarded for a period of 3 years in order to provide a sufficient period of time for the creation of a substantial body of significant content.

SEC. 5485. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.

An entity that receives a grant under this subpart may not use more than 5 percent of the amount received under the grant for administrative costs.

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