Sec. 2. Innovation grants
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Part B of title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1138 et seq.) is amended— by redesignating section 745 as section 746; and by inserting after section 744 the following: The purposes of this section are to— increase access to, retention in, and completion of postsecondary education opportunities for high-need students; address the adverse impacts on postsecondary educational access and attainment for high-need students brought about as a result of the COVID–19 pandemic; identify and support the most effective interventions to increase postsecondary degree attainment and career success of high-need students, particularly those adversely impacted by the COVID–19 pandemic; and improve the efficiency of postsecondary education, including by reducing the percentage of students enrolling in postsecondary remediation and increasing the effectiveness of postsecondary remediation.
In this section: The term eligible entity means any of the following: A State educational agency. A public or private nonprofit institution of higher education. The Bureau of Indian Education. A consortium of any of the entities described in subparagraphs
(A)through (C). A partnership between a State educational agency or public or private nonprofit institution of higher education and one or more of the following: A nonprofit organization. An intermediary organization. A business. A sponsor of a program receiving assistance under the National and Community Service Act of 1990 ( 42 U.S.C. 12501 et seq.). A local educational agency. The term first generation college student means— an individual both of whose parents did not complete a baccalaureate degree; or in the case of any individual who regularly resided with and received support from only one parent, an individual whose only such parent did not complete a baccalaureate degree. The term high-need student — means a postsecondary student who is at risk of educational failure or otherwise in need of special assistance and support; and may include an adult learner, working student, part-time student, student from a low-income background, student of color, former foster youth, first generation college student, student with a disability, student who is deaf or blind or visually impaired, or student who is an English learner. The term intermediary organization means an entity— with strong skills and a track record of success in— identifying effective interventions to address State, regional, or local problems; managing high-quality subgrant processes; and providing technical assistance and support to subgrantees to ensure quality and improve outcomes; and that utilizes an evidence-based decisionmaking strategy when selecting high-performing entities, on a competitive basis, to receive subgrants in order to validate and grow effective interventions. From amounts made available to carry out this section, the Secretary shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities to enable the eligible entities to create, develop, implement, replicate, or scale evidence-based and field-initiated innovations, including through pay for success initiatives (as defined in section 124(a)), in order to improve postsecondary access and completion or career success for high-need students. The grants awarded under this section shall implement and evaluate programs, interventions, and strategies that address the purposes described under subsection
(a)and, to the extent practicable based on the strength of the applications, include— early-phase grants to fund the development, implementation, and feasibility testing of a practice, program, or intervention that prior research suggests has promise, for the purpose of determining whether the practice, program, or innovation can successfully improve, for high-need students— access to, retention in, and completion of a postsecondary program of study; or career success; mid-phase grants to fund implementation and a rigorous evaluation of a practice, program, or intervention that has been successfully implemented under an early phase grant described in subparagraph
(A)or another effort meeting similar criteria, for the purpose of measuring (using existing administrative data where possible) the impact and cost-effectiveness of the practice, program, or intervention; or expansion grants to fund implementation and a rigorous replication evaluation of a practice, program, or intervention that has been found to produce sizable, important impacts under a mid-phase grant described in subparagraph
(B)or another effort meeting similar criteria, for the purposes of— determining whether such impacts can be successfully reproduced and sustained over time; and identifying the conditions in which the practice, program, or initiative is most effective. An eligible entity desiring a grant under this section shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require. An application submitted under paragraph
(1)shall include— a description of the high-need students that the eligible entity is proposing to serve through the grant; and a description of the outcome measures, including explicit outcome measures for high-need students, that the eligible entity will use, in addition to the outcome measures described in subsection (f)(2)(A), to evaluate the success of the grant. In awarding grants under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities that— propose to serve the largest number of high-need students; or serve a high proportion of students from one or more school districts with a school district locale code of 31, 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, as determined by the Secretary using the school district locale codes in effect on December 1, 2021. Each recipient of a grant under this section shall conduct, and submit to the Secretary, a rigorous, independent evaluation of— the effectiveness of the practice, program, or intervention carried out under such grant; the outcomes achieved by such grant, which shall include— the numbers and percentages, in the aggregate and disaggregated by each subgroup of students (as defined in section 1111(c)(2) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 6311(c)(2) )), of— students supported by the grant entering, persisting, and completing postsecondary education; such students enrolling in remedial coursework at the institution; such students enrolling and completing such remedial coursework; and such students enrolling in and completing such remedial coursework and successfully completing first-year credit-bearing coursework within 16 months of enrollment in an institution of higher education; and the recipient's performance on any other outcome measures described in the application in accordance with subsection (d)(2)(B); and the activities carried out under such grant. Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of the Fund for Innovation and Success in Higher Education Act , and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary shall prepare and submit to the authorizing committees a report on the grants carried out under this section. Each report issued under this subsection shall— include— information from the outcomes reported in the evaluations submitted under subsection
(f)for the reporting period about the success of the grants supported under this section; and the number of high-need students served through the grants under this section during the reporting period; disaggregate all data on student outcomes related to the grants by, at a minimum, race and income, and, to the extent practicable, any other relevant student characteristic, as determined by the Secretary; and consider— how the tiered-evidence grant structure described in subsection (c)(2) can be applied to other grant programs authorized under this Act, in order to strengthen those programs; and how the evidence generated by the projects, programs, and interventions supported by grants under this section can inform how to carry out other grants authorized under this Act. The Secretary shall make each report issued under this subsection available to the public through the website of the Department. .
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