Fund for Innovation and Success in Higher Education Act or the FINISH Act
This bill establishes and revises programs to increase access to higher education for high-need students, increase their graduation rates, improve the efficiency of postsecondary education, and evaluate higher education programs.
Specifically, the bill authorizes the Department of Education to
The bill also encourages IHEs to make all forms of postsecondary instructional content, including open educational resources (e.g., textbooks), widely available. Open educational resources either reside in the public domain or have been released under a copyright license that permits their free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with others.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1521 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1521
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to support innovative,
evidence-based approaches that improve the effectiveness and efficiency
of postsecondary education for all students, to allow pay for success
initiatives, to provide additional evaluation authority, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 2, 2021
Ms. Sherrill (for herself, Mr. Katko, Mr. Sires, and Mr. Fitzpatrick)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Education and Labor
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to support innovative,
evidence-based approaches that improve the effectiveness and efficiency
of postsecondary education for all students, to allow pay for success
initiatives, to provide additional evaluation authority, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Fund for Innovation and Success in
Higher Education Act'' or the ``FINISH Act''.
SEC. 2. INNOVATION GRANTS.
Part B of title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1138 et seq.) is amended--
(1) by redesignating section 745 as section 746; and
(2) by inserting after section 744 the following:
``SEC. 745. INNOVATION GRANTS.
``(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are to--
``(1) increase access to, retention in, and completion of
postsecondary education opportunities for high-need students;
``(2) address the adverse impacts on postsecondary
educational access and attainment for high-need students
brought about as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic;
``(3) 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
``(4) improve the efficiency of postsecondary education,
including by reducing the percentage of students enrolling in
postsecondary remediation and increasing the effectiveness of
postsecondary remediation.
``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity' means
any of the following:
``(A) A State educational agency.
``(B) A public or private nonprofit institution of
higher education.
``(C) The Bureau of Indian Education.
``(D) A consortium of any of the entities described
in subparagraphs (A) through (C).
``(E) A partnership between a State educational
agency or public or private nonprofit institution of
higher education and one or more of the following:
``(i) A nonprofit organization.
``(ii) An intermediary organization.
``(iii) A business.
``(iv) A sponsor of a program receiving
assistance under the National and Community
Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12501 et seq.).
``(v) A local educational agency.
``(2) First generation college student.--The term `first
generation college student' means--
``(A) an individual both of whose parents did not
complete a baccalaureate degree; or
``(B) 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.
``(3) High-need student.--The term `high-need student'--
``(A) means a postsecondary student who is at risk
of educational failure or otherwise in need of special
assistance and support; and
``(B) 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.
``(4) Intermediary organization.--The term `intermediary
organization' means an entity--
``(A) with strong skills and a track record of
success in--
``(i) identifying effective interventions
to address State, regional, or local problems;
``(ii) managing high-quality subgrant
processes; and
``(iii) providing technical assistance and
support to subgrantees to ensure quality and
improve outcomes; and
``(B) 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.
``(c) Program Authorized.--
``(1) In general.--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.
``(2) Grants.--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--
``(A) 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--
``(i) access to, retention in, and
completion of a postsecondary program of study;
or
``(ii) career success;
``(B) 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
``(C) 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--
``(i) determining whether such impacts can
be successfully reproduced and sustained over
time; and
``(ii) identifying the conditions in which
the practice, program, or initiative is most
effective.
``(d) Application.--
``(1) In general.--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.
``(2) Contents.--An application submitted under paragraph
(1) shall include--
``(A) a description of the high-need students that
the eligible entity is proposing to serve through the
grant; and
``(B) 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.
``(e) Priority.--In awarding grants under this section, the
Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities that--
``(1) propose to serve the largest number of high-need
students; or
``(2) 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.
``(f) Evaluations.--Each recipient of a grant under this section
shall conduct, and submit to the Secretary, a rigorous, independent
evaluation of--
``(1) the effectiveness of the practice, program, or
intervention carried out under such grant;
``(2) the outcomes achieved by such grant, which shall
include--
``(A) 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--
``(i) students supported by the grant
entering, persisting, and completing
postsecondary education;
``(ii) such students enrolling in remedial
coursework at the institution;
``(iii) such students enrolling and
completing such remedial coursework; and
``(iv) 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
``(B) the recipient's performance on any other
outcome measures described in the application in
accordance with subsection (d)(2)(B); and
``(3) the activities carried out under such grant.
``(g) Reports.--
``(1) In general.--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.
``(2) Contents.--Each report issued under this subsection
shall--
``(A) include--
``(i) 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
``(ii) the number of high-need students
served through the grants under this section
during the reporting period;
``(B) 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
``(C) consider--
``(i) 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
``(ii) 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.
``(3) Public availability.--The Secretary shall make each
report issued under this subsection available to the public
through the website of the Department.''.
SEC. 3. OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES.
Section 741(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1138(a)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (12), by striking ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(2) in paragraph (13), by striking the period and inserting
``; and''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(14) making all forms of postsecondary instructional
content widely available, which may include the use of open
educational resources (defined, for purpose of this paragraph,
as teaching, learning, or research resources that reside in the
public domain or have been released under a copyright license
that permits their free use, reuse, modification, and sharing
with others).''.
SEC. 4. PAY FOR SUCCESS INITIATIVES.
Part B of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1011 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 124. PAY FOR SUCCESS INITIATIVES.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity' means a
partnership between--
``(A) a private entity (which may include a private
nonprofit entity); and
``(B) an institution of higher education, a
Federal, State, or local public entity, or a Tribal
entity.
``(2) Pay for success initiative.--
``(A) In general.--The term `pay for success
initiative' means a performance-based grant, contract,
or other agreement--
``(i) between an eligible entity and the
Secretary or a grant recipient, as authorized
under subsection (b)(1);
``(ii) in which--
``(I) a commitment is made to pay
the eligible entity for improved
outcomes, including measureable
improvement in the lives of service
recipients or meaningful output
measures strongly correlated to
outcomes, that result in increased
public value or social benefit to
students and the public sector, such as
increased effectiveness in improving
outcomes, direct cost savings or cost
avoidance, or increased public revenue;
and
``(II) the entity providing the
funds under the grant, contract, or
agreement imposes minimal
administrative requirements to allow
for maximum flexibility to achieve
improvement in the lives of service
recipients, or increased public value
and social benefit; and
``(iii) that requires--
``(I) a review or study describing
how the proposed intervention is based
on evidence of effectiveness, which may
be a review or study not exclusively
developed for the specific grant,
contract, or other agreement and may be
based on information already available;
``(II) a rigorous, third-party
evaluation that uses experimental or
quasi-experimental design or other
research methodologies that allow for
the strongest possible causal
inferences to determine whether the
initiative has met its expected
outcomes; or a third-party,
scientifically valid assessment or
analysis of administrative data that
verifies measurable improvements in the
lives of service recipients or is
correlated with improved long-term
positive outcomes, with safeguards
using available data to ensure that any
apparent improvements are not the
result of statistical differences in
the service recipients compared with
the target population at large;
``(III) an annual, publicly
available report on the progress of the
initiative; and
``(IV) that payments be made to the
recipient of the grant, contract, or
agreement only when agreed-upon
outcomes are achieved, except as
provided under paragraph (2) or (3) of
subsection (b).
``(B) Exclusion.--The term `pay for success
initiative' does not include any initiative that--
``(i) reduces the benefits to a student or
the obligations of an entity under this Act,
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 701
et seq.), the Americans with Disabilities Act
of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20
U.S.C. 1400 et seq.), or any other law; or
``(ii) reduces services that an individual
is entitled to receive under Federal, State, or
local law.
``(b) Pay for Success Initiative Authority.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
this Act and except as provided under subsection (c)--
``(A) any recipient of a grant under this Act may
request to use grant funds to carry out a pay for
success initiative that accomplishes the objectives of
the grant and meets all requirements of the grant
(except to the extent a requirement is specifically
modified by the pay for success initiative), if such
use is proposed in the application or plan submitted
for such grant; and
``(B) the Secretary may approve not more than 5
pilot demonstrations each fiscal year from the grant
applications or plans that contain a request to carry
out a pay for success initiative.
``(2) Use of funds for reviews or feasibility studies and
rigorous third-party evaluation.--If the Secretary, or a grant
recipient, is authorized to carry out a pay for success
initiative under paragraph (1), the Secretary or grant
recipient may use funds available for the pay for success
initiative--
``(A) to conduct the review or feasibility study
required under subsection (a)(2)(A)(iii)(I) or the
rigorous third-party evaluation required under
subsection (a)(2)(A)(iii)(II); or
``(B) to provide funds to the entity carrying out
the pay for success initiative for the costs of the
initial costs associated with starting the initiative.
``(3) Use of remaining funds.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, if the Secretary or a grant recipient is
carrying out a pay for success initiative under paragraph (1)
and the pay for success initiative has met or exceeded its
proposed outcomes, the Secretary or grant recipient may use any
funds remaining at the conclusion of the pay for success
initiative to enter into an additional agreement, through a
competitive process, with an eligible entity to expand capacity
under the pay for success initiative or to carry out additional
pilot demonstrations of pay for success initiatives.
``(c) Student Protections.--
``(1) No negative impact on student aid.--A pay for success
initiative shall not be supported with funds under this Act if
the pay for success initiative would adversely affect the
funding of, or student access to, individual student aid awards
made under section 401 or any other program supported under
this Act.
``(2) Noninclusion in determination of need.--A grant or
aid provided directly to a student under a pay for success
initiative supported with funds under this Act shall not be
considered in determining that student's need for grant, loan,
or work assistance under title IV of this Act, except that in
no case shall the total amount of student financial assistance
awarded to a student through a pay for success initiative and
under title IV exceed that student's cost of attendance, as
defined in section 472.
``(d) Availability of Funds.--Notwithstanding any other provision
of this Act, any funds made available for a fiscal year to an entity
for a pay for success initiative authorized under this section shall
remain available until expended.''.
SEC. 5. EVALUATION.
Part B of title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1011 et seq.), as amended by section 4, is further amended by adding at
the end the following:
``SEC. 125. EVALUATION AUTHORITY.
``(a) Evaluation Reservation.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the Director of
the Institute of Education Sciences, may, for each fiscal year,
reserve not more than 1 percent of the amount appropriated for
each discretionary grant program authorized under this Act
(except for the Federal Pell Grant program under section 401)
in order to rigorously and independently evaluate the
effectiveness and efficiency of the outcomes of all programs
authorized under this Act.
``(2) Effect on other requirements.--The amount reserved
under paragraph (1) shall be in addition to any other amounts
reserved for evaluation under this Act.
``(b) Evaluation Plan.--On a biennial basis, the Director of the
Institute of Education Sciences shall develop, submit to the
authorizing committees, and make publicly available on the website of
the Department, an evaluation plan for the next 2 fiscal years that--
``(1) describes the specific activities that will be
carried out under subsection (a) for the 2-year period
applicable to the plan, and the timelines of such activities;
``(2) contains the results of the activities carried out
under subsection (a) for the most recent 2-year period; and
``(3) describes how programs authorized under this Act will
be regularly evaluated, including the outcome measures to be
used to evaluate each program.
``(c) Pooling Authority.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the Director of the
Institute of Education Sciences--
``(1) may consolidate the funds reserved under subsection
(a) for purposes of carrying out the activities described in
subsection (b); and
``(2) shall not be required to evaluate each program
authorized under this Act each year.
``(d) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be
construed to conflict with or supercede any other evaluation
requirement for a specific program or activity authorized under this
Act.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
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