H.R.3089: Success in the Middle Act of 2019

Success in the Middle Act (H.R. 3089) would direct the Department of Education (ED) to allot grants to states, based on their proportion of children aged 5 to 17 living below the poverty line. A minimum of 90 percent of these grants would be used to award competitive subgrants to local educational agencies (LEAs) or partnerships of LEAs and institutions of higher education, educational service agencies, or educational nonprofit organizations to implement a comprehensive middle school improvement plan for each eligible school. Priority would be given to LEAs that serve high proportions of low-income children and children attending eligible schools. Up to 10 percent of the bills grants can be used to prepare and implement the needs analysis and middle grades improvement plans.

Eligible schools are defined in H.R. 3089 as those where: (1) a high proportion of middle-grade students matriculate to secondary schools with graduation rates below 67 percent; (2) more than 25 percent of the students who finish grade six exhibit key risk factors for failure; and (3) a majority of middle-grade students are not rated proficient on required state assessments in mathematics, reading, or language arts.

The Department of Education would be appropriated with 250 million over the next five years to do the following:
1) contract studies that identify promising practices for, and review existing research to identify factors that might lead to, the improvement of middle grades education;
2) create a national clearinghouse in best middle-grade educational practices and a national database identifying factors that facilitate or impede middle-grade student achievement;
3) require particular educational field research designed to enhance the performance of middle-grade schools and students;
4) create a research and development center that addresses topics pertinent to the middle grades; and
5) provide grants to entities that partner with states and LEAs to develop, adapt, or replicate effective models for turning around low-performing schools serving students in the middle grades.

S.1704 is the Senate companion bill