The Every Student Counts Act (ESCA) creates a graduation rate calculation that is consistent across states, requires reporting of subgroup graduation rates, sets meaningful graduation rate goals and targets, and removes incentives for schools to push out low-performing and at-risk students.

The Secondary School Innovation Fund Act would create a $500 million Secondary School Innovation Fund to support partnerships to create innovative models and programs 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, businesses, or school development organizations to create innovative models and programs of reform in the nation’s secondary schools.

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 two thousand “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. The legislation would authorize $1 billion a year in formula grants for states to improve low-performing schools that contain middle grades. It would require states that receive grants to develop early-warning data systems to identify students who are most at risk of dropping out and intervene to help them succeed. Interventions could include extended learning time and personal graduation plans that enable all students to stay on the path to graduation. It would also authorize an additional $100 million to facilitate the generation, dissemination, and application of research needed to identify and implement effective practices that lead to continual student learning and high academic achievement at the middle level.

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 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 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.