II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 65
To amend the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of
2006 to give the Department of Education the authority to award com-
petitive grants to eligible entities to establish, expand, or support school-
based mentoring programs to assist at-risk students in middle school
and high school in developing cognitive and social-emotional skills to
prepare them for success in high school, postsecondary education, and
the workforce.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY25, 2023
Mr. D
URBIN(for himself, Ms. DUCKWORTH, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Edu-
cation Act of 2006 to give the Department of Education
the authority to award competitive grants to eligible enti-
ties to establish, expand, or support school-based men-
toring programs to assist at-risk students in middle
school and high school in developing cognitive and social-
emotional skills to prepare them for success in high
school, postsecondary education, and the workforce.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mentoring to Succeed 2
Act of 2023’’. 3
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 4
The purpose of this Act is to make assistance avail-5
able for school-based mentoring programs for at-risk stu-6
dents in order to— 7
(1) establish, expand, or support school-based 8
mentoring programs; 9
(2) assist at-risk students in middle school and 10
high school in developing cognitive and social-emo-11
tional skills; and 12
(3) prepare such at-risk students for success in 13
high school, postsecondary education, and the work-14
force. 15
SEC. 3. SCHOOL-BASED MENTORING PROGRAM. 16
Part C of title I of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 17
Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2351 et seq.) 18
is amended by adding at the end the following: 19
‘‘SEC. 136. DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS FOR SCHOOL-BASED 20
MENTORING PROGRAMS. 21
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 22
‘‘(1) A
T-RISK STUDENT.—The term ‘at-risk stu-23
dent’ means a student who— 24
‘‘(A) is failing academically or at risk of 25
dropping out of school; 26
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‘‘(B) is pregnant or a parent; 1
‘‘(C) is a gang member; 2
‘‘(D) is a child or youth in foster care or 3
a youth who has been emancipated from foster 4
care, but is still enrolled in high school; 5
‘‘(E) is or has recently been a homeless 6
child or youth; 7
‘‘(F) is chronically absent; 8
‘‘(G) has changed schools 3 or more times 9
in the past 6 months; 10
‘‘(H) has come in contact with the juvenile 11
justice system in the past; 12
‘‘(I) has a history of multiple suspensions 13
or disciplinary actions; 14
‘‘(J) is an English learner; 15
‘‘(K) has one or both parents incarcerated; 16
‘‘(L) has experienced one or more adverse 17
childhood experiences, traumatic events, or 18
toxic stressors, as assessed through an evi-19
dence-based screening; 20
‘‘(M) lives in a high-poverty area with a 21
high rate of community violence; 22
‘‘(N) has a disability; or 23
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‘‘(O) shows signs of alcohol or drug misuse 1
or abuse or has a parent or guardian who is 2
struggling with substance abuse. 3
‘‘(2) D
ISABILITY.—The term ‘disability’ has the 4
meaning given the term for purposes of section 5
602(3) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education 6
Act (20 U.S.C. 1401(3)). 7
‘‘(3) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-8
tity’— 9
‘‘(A) means a high-need local educational 10
agency, high-need school, or local government 11
entity; and 12
‘‘(B) may include a partnership between 13
an entity described in subparagraph (A) and a 14
nonprofit, community-based, or faith-based or-15
ganization, or institution of higher education. 16
‘‘(4) E
NGLISH LEARNER.—The term ‘English 17
learner’ has the meaning given the term in section 18
8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 19
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 20
‘‘(5) F
OSTER CARE.—The term ‘foster care’ has 21
the meaning given the term in section 1355.20(a) of 22
title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc-23
cessor regulation). 24
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‘‘(6) HIGH-NEED LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN -1
CY.—The term ‘high-need local educational agency’ 2
means a local educational agency that serves at least 3
one high-need school. 4
‘‘(7) H
IGH-NEED SCHOOL.—The term ‘high- 5
need school’ has the meaning given the term in sec-6
tion 2211(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-7
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6631(b)). 8
‘‘(8) H
OMELESS CHILDREN AND YOUTHS .—The 9
term ‘homeless children and youths’ has the mean-10
ing given the term in section 725 of the McKinney- 11
Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a). 12
‘‘(9) S
CHOOL-BASED MENTORING .—The term 13
‘school-based mentoring’ means a structured, man-14
aged, evidenced-based program conducted in part-15
nership with teachers, administrators, school psy-16
chologists, school social workers or counselors, and 17
other school staff, in which at-risk students are ap-18
propriately matched with screened and trained pro-19
fessional or volunteer mentors who provide guidance, 20
support, and encouragement, involving meetings, 21
group-based sessions, and educational and work-22
force-related activities on a regular basis to prepare 23
at-risk students for success in high school, postsec-24
ondary education, and the workforce. 25
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‘‘(b) SCHOOL-BASEDMENTORING COMPETITIVE 1
G
RANTPROGRAM.— 2
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 3
grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities to 4
establish, expand, or support school-based mentoring 5
programs that— 6
‘‘(A) are designed to assist at-risk students 7
in high-need schools in developing cognitive 8
skills and promoting social-emotional learning 9
to prepare them for success in high school, 10
postsecondary education, and the workforce by 11
linking them with mentors who— 12
‘‘(i) have received mentor training, in-13
cluding on trauma-informed practices, 14
youth engagement, cultural competency, 15
and social-emotional learning; and 16
‘‘(ii) have been screened using appro-17
priate reference checks and criminal back-18
ground checks, in accordance with the re-19
quirements of paragraph (3)(B)(v)(ii); 20
‘‘(B) provide coaching and technical assist-21
ance to mentors in each such mentoring pro-22
gram; 23
‘‘(C) seek to— 24
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‘‘(i) improve the academic achieve-1
ment of at-risk students; 2
‘‘(ii) reduce dropout rates and absen-3
teeism and improve school engagement of 4
at-risk students and their families; 5
‘‘(iii) reduce juvenile justice involve-6
ment of at-risk students; 7
‘‘(iv) foster positive relationships be-8
tween at-risk students and their peers, 9
teachers, other adults, and family mem-10
bers; 11
‘‘(v) develop the workforce readiness 12
skills of at-risk students by exploring paths 13
to employment, including encouraging stu-14
dents with disabilities to explore transition 15
services; and 16
‘‘(vi) increase the participation of at- 17
risk students in community service activi-18
ties; and 19
‘‘(D) encourage at-risk students to set 20
goals and plan for their futures, including mak-21
ing plans and identifying goals for postsec-22
ondary education and the workforce. 23
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‘‘(2) DURATION.—The Secretary shall award 1
grants under this section for a period not to exceed 2
5 years. 3
‘‘(3) A
PPLICATION.—To receive a grant under 4
this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 5
Secretary an application that includes— 6
‘‘(A) a needs assessment that includes 7
baseline data on the measures described in 8
paragraph (6)(A)(ii); and 9
‘‘(B) a plan to meet the requirements of 10
paragraph (1), including— 11
‘‘(i) the targeted outcomes, mentee 12
age and eligibility, mentor type, and meet-13
ing frequency for the program; 14
‘‘(ii) the number of mentor-student 15
matches proposed to be established and 16
maintained annually under the program; 17
‘‘(iii) the capacity and expertise of the 18
program to serve children and youth in a 19
way that is responsive to children and 20
youth of color, expectant and parenting 21
youth, indigenous youth, youth who are 22
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or 23
queer, and youth with disabilities; 24
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‘‘(iv) actions taken to ensure that the 1
design of the program reflects input from 2
youth; and 3
‘‘(v) an assurance that mentors sup-4
ported under the program are appro-5
priately screened and have demonstrated a 6
willingness to comply with aspects of the 7
mentoring program, including— 8
‘‘(I) a written screening plan that 9
includes all of the policies and proce-10
dures used to screen and select men-11
tors, including eligibility requirements 12
and preferences for such applicants; 13
‘‘(II) a description of the meth-14
ods to be used to conduct criminal 15
background checks on all prospective 16
mentors, and the methods in place to 17
exclude mentors with convictions di-18
rectly related to child safety that 19
occur during the mentor’s participa-20
tion in the program or in the 10-year 21
period preceding the mentor’s partici-22
pation; and 23
‘‘(III) a description of the meth-24
ods to be used to ensure that the 25
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mentors are willing and able to serve 1
as a mentor on a long-term, con-2
sistent basis as defined in the applica-3
tion. 4
‘‘(4) P
RIORITY.—In selecting grant recipients, 5
the Secretary shall give priority to applicants that— 6
‘‘(A) serve children and youth with the 7
greatest need living in high-poverty, high-crime 8
areas, or rural areas, or who attend schools 9
with high rates of community violence; 10
‘‘(B) provide at-risk students with opportu-11
nities for postsecondary education preparation 12
and career development, including— 13
‘‘(i) job training, professional develop-14
ment, work shadowing, internships, net-15
working, re´sume´writing and review, inter-16
view preparation, transition services for 17
students with disabilities, application as-18
sistance and visits to institutions of higher 19
education, and leadership development 20
through community service; and 21
‘‘(ii) partnerships with the private sec-22
tor and local businesses to provide intern-23
ship and career exploration activities and 24
resources; 25
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‘‘(C) seek to provide match lengths be-1
tween at-risk students and mentors for at least 2
1 academic year; and 3
‘‘(D) consult and engage youth in the de-4
velopment, design, and implementation of the 5
program. 6
‘‘(5) U
SE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that 7
receives a grant under this section may use such 8
funds to— 9
‘‘(A) develop and carry out regular train-10
ing for mentors, including on— 11
‘‘(i) the impact of adverse childhood 12
experiences; 13
‘‘(ii) trauma-informed practices and 14
interventions; 15
‘‘(iii) supporting homeless children 16
and youths; 17
‘‘(iv) supporting children and youth in 18
foster care or youth who have been emanci-19
pated from foster care, but are still en-20
rolled in high school; 21
‘‘(v) cultural competency; 22
‘‘(vi) meeting all appropriate privacy 23
and confidentiality requirements for stu-24
dents, including students in foster care; 25
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‘‘(vii) working in coordination with a 1
public school system; 2
‘‘(viii) positive youth development and 3
engagement practices; and 4
‘‘(ix) disability inclusion practices to 5
ensure access and participation by students 6
with disabilities; 7
‘‘(B) recruit, screen, match, train, and 8
compensate mentors; 9
‘‘(C) hire staff to perform or support the 10
objectives of the school-based mentoring pro-11
gram; 12
‘‘(D) provide inclusive and accessible youth 13
engagement activities, such as— 14
‘‘(i) enrichment field trips to cultural 15
destinations; 16
‘‘(ii) career awareness activities, in-17
cluding job site visits, informational inter-18
views, re´sume´writing, interview prepara-19
tion, and networking; and 20
‘‘(iii) academic or postsecondary edu-21
cation preparation activities, including 22
trade or vocational school visits, visits to 23
institutions of higher education, and assist-24
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ance in applying to institutions of higher 1
education; and 2
‘‘(E) conduct program evaluation, includ-3
ing by acquiring and analyzing the data de-4
scribed under paragraph (6). 5
‘‘(6) R
EPORTING REQUIREMENTS .— 6
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 6 7
months after the end of each academic year 8
during the grant period, an eligible entity re-9
ceiving a grant under this section shall submit 10
to the Secretary a report that includes— 11
‘‘(i) the number of students and men-12
tors, and the demographics of the students 13
and mentors, who participated in the 14
school-based mentoring program that was 15
funded in whole or in part with the grant 16
funds; 17
‘‘(ii) data on the academic achieve-18
ment, dropout rates, truancy, absenteeism, 19
outcomes of arrests for violent crime, sum-20
mer employment, and postsecondary edu-21
cation enrollment of students in the pro-22
gram; 23
‘‘(iii) the number of group sessions 24
and number of one-to-one contacts between 25
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students in the program and their men-1
tors; 2
‘‘(iv) the average attendance of stu-3
dents enrolled in the program; 4
‘‘(v) the number of students with dis-5
abilities connected to transition services; 6
‘‘(vi) data on social-emotional develop-7
ment of students as assessed with a vali-8
dated social-emotional assessment tool; and 9
‘‘(vii) any other information that the 10
Secretary may require to evaluate the suc-11
cess of the school-based mentoring pro-12
gram. 13
‘‘(B) S
TUDENT PRIVACY.—An eligible enti-14
ty shall ensure that the report submitted under 15
subparagraph (A) is prepared in a manner that 16
protects the privacy rights of each student in 17
accordance with section 444 of the General 18
Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g; 19
commonly known as the ‘Family Educational 20
Rights and Privacy Act of 1974’). 21
‘‘(7) M
ENTORING RESOURCES AND COMMUNITY 22
SERVICE COORDINATION.— 23
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‘‘(A) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE .—The Sec-1
retary shall work with the Office of Juvenile 2
Justice and Delinquency Prevention to— 3
‘‘(i) refer grantees under this section 4
to the National Mentoring Resource Center 5
to obtain resources on best practices and 6
research related to mentoring and to re-7
quest no-cost training and technical assist-8
ance; and 9
‘‘(ii) provide grantees under this sec-10
tion with information regarding transi-11
tional services for at-risk students return-12
ing from correctional facilities and transi-13
tion services for students with disabilities. 14
‘‘(B) C
OORDINATION.—The Secretary 15
shall, to the extent possible, coordinate with the 16
Corporation for National and Community Serv-17
ice, including through entering into an inter-18
agency agreement or a memorandum of under-19
standing, to support mentoring and community 20
service-related activities for at-risk students. 21
‘‘(c) A
UTHORIZATION OFFUNDS.—There are author-22
ized to be appropriated to carry out this section such sums 23
as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2023 through 24
2028.’’. 25
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SEC. 4. INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION SCIENCES STUDY ON 1
SCHOOL-BASED MENTORING PROGRAMS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of Education, act-3
ing through the Director of the Institute of Education 4
Sciences, shall conduct a study to— 5
(1) identify successful school-based mentoring 6
programs and effective strategies for administering 7
and monitoring such programs; 8
(2) evaluate the role of mentors in promoting 9
cognitive development and social-emotional learning 10
to enhance academic achievement and to improve 11
workforce readiness; and 12
(3) evaluate the effectiveness of the grant pro-13
gram under section 136 of the Carl D. Perkins Ca-14
reer and Technical Education Act of 2006, as added 15
by section 3, on student academic outcomes and 16
youth career development. 17
(b) T
IMING.—Not later than 3 years after the date 18
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Education, act-19
ing through the Director of the Institute of Education 20
Sciences, shall submit the results of the study described 21
in subsection (a) to the appropriate congressional commit-22
tees. 23
Æ
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