II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 375
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to award
grants to eligible entities to establish, expand, or support school-based
mentoring programs to assist at-risk middle school students with the
transition from middle school to high school.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY3, 2025
Mr. B
OOKERintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 to award grants to eligible entities to establish,
expand, or support school-based mentoring programs to
assist at-risk middle school students with the transition
from middle school to high school.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transition-to-Success 4
Mentoring Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. TRANSITION-TO-SUCCESS MENTORING PROGRAM. 1
(a) T
RANSITION-TO-SUCCESSMENTORING PRO-2
GRAM.—Part D of title I of the Elementary and Secondary 3
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6421 et seq.) is amend-4
ed by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘Subpart 4—Transition-to-Success Mentoring 6
Program 7
‘‘SEC. 1441. TRANSITION-TO-SUCCESS MENTORING PRO-8
GRAM. 9
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 10
grants to eligible entities to establish, expand, or support 11
school-based mentoring programs to assist eligible stu-12
dents with the transition from middle school to high 13
school. 14
‘‘(b) A
PPLICATION.— 15
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—To receive a grant under 16
this section, an eligible entity shall submit an appli-17
cation to the Secretary at such time, in such man-18
ner, and containing such information as the Sec-19
retary may require. 20
‘‘(2) P
RIORITY.—In selecting grant recipients, 21
the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities 22
that— 23
‘‘(A) serve children and youth with the 24
greatest need living in high-poverty, high-crime 25
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areas, or rural areas, or who attend schools 1
with high rates of community violence; 2
‘‘(B) provide eligible students with oppor-3
tunities for postsecondary education prepara-4
tion and career development, including— 5
‘‘(i) job training, professional develop-6
ment, work shadowing, internships, net-7
working, re´sume´writing and review, inter-8
view preparation, transition services for 9
students with disabilities, application as-10
sistance and visits to institutions of higher 11
education, and leadership development 12
through community service; and 13
‘‘(ii) partnerships with the private sec-14
tor and local businesses to provide intern-15
ship and career exploration activities and 16
resources; 17
‘‘(C) seek to provide match lengths be-18
tween eligible students and success coaches for 19
at least 1 academic year; and 20
‘‘(D) indicate how, and the degree to 21
which, children were consulted and engaged in 22
the development, design, and implementation of 23
the school-based mentoring program. 24
‘‘(c) U
SES OFFUNDS.— 25
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‘‘(1) REQUIRED USES OF FUNDS .—An eligible 1
entity that receives a grant under this section shall 2
use the grant funds to establish a school-based men-3
toring program, or to expand or provide technical 4
support to an existing school-based mentoring pro-5
gram, in all middle schools served by the entity, 6
under which each eligible student is assigned to a 7
success coach who— 8
‘‘(A) creates a plan for success for the stu-9
dent that— 10
‘‘(i) is created with the student, men-11
tor, relevant school staff (such as a teacher 12
or school counselor), and parents of the 13
student; 14
‘‘(ii) includes, for each academic year, 15
the student’s academic, personal, college, 16
and career exploration goals, and a strat-17
egy on how to accomplish such goals; 18
‘‘(iii) identifies the student’s 19
strengths, areas for improvement, and aca-20
demic progress; and 21
‘‘(iv) includes a plan to educate and 22
support the student’s college or career ex-23
ploration goals; 24
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‘‘(B) enters into a signed, written agree-1
ment with the parents of the student that de-2
scribes how the parents should assist the stu-3
dent in carrying out the plan for success; 4
‘‘(C) meets with the student at least once 5
per month to— 6
‘‘(i) assist the student in achieving the 7
goals under the plan for success; 8
‘‘(ii) identify the student’s academic 9
areas for improvement; 10
‘‘(iii) connect the student with the 11
tools and resources necessary to help im-12
prove the student’s potential for academic 13
success; 14
‘‘(iv) ensure the student’s successful 15
transition from middle school to high 16
school by identifying opportunities to help 17
the student develop a positive attitude to-18
ward school, improve classroom behavior, 19
complete coursework, and socialize with 20
peers; and 21
‘‘(v) in the case of a student with be-22
havioral issues, assist the student in behav-23
ior management techniques; 24
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‘‘(D) at least quarterly, meets with the stu-1
dent and the parents, teachers, or counselors of 2
the student to— 3
‘‘(i) evaluate the student’s progress in 4
achieving the goals under the plan for the 5
current academic year; and 6
‘‘(ii) revise or establish new goals for 7
the next academic year; and 8
‘‘(E) assists the student in exploring high-9
er education and career exposure opportunities. 10
‘‘(2) A
UTHORIZED USES OF FUNDS .—An eligi-11
ble entity that receives a grant under this section 12
may use such funds to— 13
‘‘(A) develop and carry out regular train-14
ing for success coaches, including on— 15
‘‘(i) the impact of adverse childhood 16
experiences; 17
‘‘(ii) trauma-informed practices and 18
interventions; 19
‘‘(iii) supporting homeless children 20
and youths; 21
‘‘(iv) supporting children and youth in 22
foster care; 23
‘‘(v) cultural competency; 24
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‘‘(vi) meeting all appropriate privacy 1
and confidentiality requirements for stu-2
dents, including students in foster care; 3
‘‘(vii) working in coordination with a 4
public school system; 5
‘‘(viii) positive youth development and 6
engagement practices; and 7
‘‘(ix) disability inclusion practices to 8
ensure access and participation by students 9
with disabilities; 10
‘‘(B) recruit, screen, match, compensate, 11
and train success coaches, and pay for costs re-12
lated to success coach and mentee participation 13
in the program; 14
‘‘(C) hire staff to perform or support the 15
objectives of the school-based mentoring pro-16
gram; 17
‘‘(D) provide inclusive and accessible youth 18
engagement activities, such as— 19
‘‘(i) enrichment field trips to cultural 20
destinations; 21
‘‘(ii) career awareness activities, in-22
cluding job site visits, informational inter-23
views, re´sume´writing, interview prepara-24
tion, and networking; and 25
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‘‘(iii) academic or postsecondary edu-1
cation preparation activities, including 2
trade or vocational school visits, visits to 3
institutions of higher education, and assist-4
ance in applying to institutions of higher 5
education; 6
‘‘(E) provide activities or programming 7
with the purpose of engaging and connecting 8
the student to the school community; and 9
‘‘(F) conduct program evaluation, includ-10
ing by acquiring and analyzing the data de-11
scribed under subsection (e). 12
‘‘(d) G
RANTDURATION.—A grant under this section 13
shall be awarded for a period of not more than 5 years. 14
‘‘(e) R
EPORTINGREQUIREMENTS.— 15
‘‘(1) E
LIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An eligible entity 16
receiving a grant under this section shall submit to 17
the Secretary, at the end of each academic year dur-18
ing the grant period, a report that includes— 19
‘‘(A) the number of students who partici-20
pated in the school-based mentoring program 21
that was funded in whole or in part with the 22
grant funds under this section; 23
‘‘(B) demographic data on such students; 24
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‘‘(C) data on the academic achievement, 1
dropout rates, truancy, absenteeism, outcomes 2
of arrests for violent crime, summer employ-3
ment, and postsecondary education enrollment 4
of such students; 5
‘‘(D) the number of contact hours between 6
such students and their success coaches; 7
‘‘(E) the number of students with disabil-8
ities connected to transition services; 9
‘‘(F) data on social-emotional development 10
of students as assessed with a validated social- 11
emotional assessment tool; and 12
‘‘(G) any other information that the Sec-13
retary may require to evaluate the success of 14
the school-based mentoring program. 15
‘‘(2) S
ECRETARY.— 16
‘‘(A) I
NTERIM REPORT.—At the end of the 17
third fiscal year for which funds are made 18
available to carry out this section, the Secretary 19
shall submit to Congress an interim report on 20
the success of the school-based mentoring pro-21
grams funded under this section that includes 22
the information received under paragraph (1). 23
‘‘(B) F
INAL REPORT.—At the end of the 24
fifth fiscal year for which funds are made avail-25
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able to carry out this section, the Secretary 1
shall submit to Congress a final report on the 2
success of the school-based mentoring programs 3
funded under this section that includes the in-4
formation received under paragraph (1). 5
‘‘(f) M
ENTORINGRESOURCES AND COMMUNITY 6
S
ERVICECOORDINATION.—The Secretary shall work with 7
the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 8
to— 9
‘‘(1) refer grantees under this section to the 10
National Mentoring Resource Center to obtain re-11
sources on best practices and research related to 12
mentoring and to request no-cost training and tech-13
nical assistance; and 14
‘‘(2) provide grantees under this section with 15
information regarding transitional services for eligi-16
ble students returning from correctional facilities 17
and transition services for students with disabilities. 18
‘‘(g) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 19
‘‘(1) E
LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en-20
tity’ means— 21
‘‘(A) a local educational agency that— 22
‘‘(i) receives, or is eligible to receive, 23
funds under part A of this title; or 24
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‘‘(ii) is a high-need local educational 1
agency; or 2
‘‘(B) a partnership between a local edu-3
cational agency described in subparagraph (A) 4
and a nonprofit, community-based organization. 5
‘‘(2) E
LIGIBLE STUDENT.—The term ‘eligible 6
student’ means a student who— 7
‘‘(A) is enrolled in a middle school served 8
by an eligible entity; and 9
‘‘(B) is an at-risk student. 10
‘‘(3) H
IGH-NEED LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN -11
CY.—The term ‘high-need local educational agency’ 12
means a local educational agency that serves at least 13
one high-need school. 14
‘‘(4) H
IGH-NEED SCHOOL.—The term ‘high- 15
need school’ has the meaning given the term in sec-16
tion 2211(b)(2). 17
‘‘(5) M
IDDLE SCHOOL.—The term ‘middle 18
school’ means a nonprofit institutional day or resi-19
dential school, including a public charter school, that 20
provides middle school education, as determined 21
under State law, except that the term does not in-22
clude any education below grade 6 or beyond grade 23
9. 24
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‘‘(6) SCHOOL-BASED MENTORING .—The term 1
‘school-based mentoring’ means mentoring activities 2
that— 3
‘‘(A) are closely coordinated with a school 4
by involving teachers, counselors, and other 5
school staff who may identify and refer stu-6
dents for mentoring services; and 7
‘‘(B) assist at-risk students in improving 8
academic achievement and attitudes toward 9
school and reducing disciplinary referrals. 10
‘‘(7) S
UCCESS COACH.—The term ‘success 11
coach’ means an individual who— 12
‘‘(A) is— 13
‘‘(i) an employee or volunteer of a 14
local educational agency in which a men-15
toring program receiving support under 16
this section is being carried out; or 17
‘‘(ii) a volunteer or employee from a 18
nonprofit, community-based organization 19
that provides volunteers for mentoring pro-20
grams in secondary schools; and 21
‘‘(B) prior to becoming a success coach— 22
‘‘(i) received training from an eligible 23
entity, which, at a minimum, was 2 hours 24
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in length and covered the roles and respon-1
sibilities of a success coach; and 2
‘‘(ii) underwent a screening by an eli-3
gible entity that included— 4
‘‘(I) appropriate job reference 5
checks; 6
‘‘(II) child and domestic abuse 7
record checks; and 8
‘‘(III) criminal background 9
checks.’’. 10
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents in 11
section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 12
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended by inserting 13
after the item relating to section 1432 the following: 14
‘‘SUBPART 4—TRANSITION-TO-SUCCESS MENTORING PROGRAM
‘‘Sec. 1441. Transition-to-success mentoring program.’’.
Æ
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