Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110
§19172 National Science Foundation Rural Stem Activities
Title 42 › CHAPTER 163 — RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, COMPETITION, AND INNOVATION › SUBCHAPTER V — BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN SCIENCE › Part B — Rural STEM Education Research › § 19172
Summary
The Director must award competitive, merit-reviewed grants to colleges, nonprofits, or their partners to fund research and projects that improve and keep high-quality STEM teaching in rural prekindergarten through grade 12 schools. Grant funds may pay for teacher and leader training, research on what works in rural schools, creating pre-service and in-service teaching materials, using local community and natural resources for place-based learning, hands-on training at labs or industry, support for teachers who teach multiple grades, blended in-person and online professional development, and a pilot of regional cohorts that offer peer support, mentoring, and hands-on research experiences. The Director must also fund projects to find and fix barriers that stop rural students from accessing good STEM learning and to build ways to increase their participation. Grants can support community college partnerships, school-wide STEM programs, coordination with community groups like Cooperative Extension and 4-H, lab access, broadband impact studies, and extracurricular STEM activities such as makerspaces and coding. Applicants must describe who will be served, how participants will be chosen, how work will boost student engagement, and plans for lasting partnerships. Grants must include outcome-based evaluation plans, annual and final reports, and the Director will evaluate all awards and report results and recommendations to Congress within 180 days after the evaluation. The Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering must include a review of rural participation in its first report after August 9, 2022. The program must coordinate with other federal agencies. Authorized funding is $8,000,000 per year for subsection (a) and $12,000,000 per year for subsection (b) for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027.
Full Legal Text
Title 42, §19172
The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Preparing rural STEM educators
(1)In general
The Director shall make awards on a merit-reviewed, competitive basis to institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations (or a consortium thereof) for research and development activities to advance innovative approaches to support and sustain high-quality STEM teaching in rural schools.
(2)Use of funds
(A)In general
Awards made under this subsection shall be used for the research and development activities referred to in paragraph (1), which may include—
(i)engaging rural educators, principals, or other school leaders of students in prekindergarten through grade 12 in professional learning opportunities to enhance STEM knowledge, including computer science, and develop best practices;
(ii)supporting research on effective STEM teaching and school leadership practices in rural settings, including the use of rubrics and mastery- based grading practices to assess student performance when employing the transdisciplinary teaching approach for STEM disciplines;
(iii)designing and developing pre-service and in-service training resources to assist such rural educators, principals, and other school leaders in adopting transdisciplinary teaching practices across STEM courses;
(iv)coordinating with local partners to adapt STEM teaching practices to leverage local, natural, and community assets in order to support in-place learning in rural areas;
(v)providing hands-on training and research opportunities for rural educators described in clause (i) at Federal laboratories or institutions of higher education, or in industry;
(vi)developing training and best practices for educators who teach multiple grade levels within a STEM discipline;
(vii)designing and implementing professional development courses and experiences, including mentoring, for rural educators, principals, and other school leaders described in clause (i) that combine face-to-face and online experiences; and
(viii)any other activity the Director determines will accomplish the goals of this paragraph.
(B)Rural stem collaborative
The Director shall establish a pilot program of regional cohorts in rural areas that will provide peer support, mentoring, and hands-on research experiences for rural STEM educators, principals, and other school leaders of students in prekindergarten through grade 12, in order to build an ecosystem of cooperation among educators, principals, other school leaders, researchers, academia, and local industry.
(b)Broadening participation of rural students in STEM
(1)In general
The Director shall make awards on a merit-reviewed, competitive basis to institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations (or a consortium thereof) for— (A)
(B)development of innovative solutions to improve the participation and advancement of rural students in prekindergarten through grade 12 in STEM studies.
(2)Use of funds
(A)In general
Awards made under this subsection shall be used for the research and development activities referred to in paragraph (1), which may include—
(i)developing partnerships with community colleges to offer advanced STEM course work, including computer science, to rural high school students;
(ii)supporting research on effective STEM practices in rural settings;
(iii)implementing a school-wide STEM approach, including preparation and support for principals and other school leaders;
(iv)improving the Foundation’s Advanced Technology Education program’s coordination and engagement with rural communities;
(v)collaborating with existing community partners and networks, such as the Cooperative Extension System services and extramural research programs of the Department of Agriculture and youth serving organizations like 4-H, after school STEM programs, and summer STEM programs, to leverage community resources and develop place-based programming;
(vi)connecting rural school districts and institutions of higher education, to improve precollegiate STEM education and engagement;
(vii)supporting partnerships that offer hands-on inquiry-based science activities, including coding, and access to lab resources for students studying STEM in prekindergarten through grade 12 in a rural area;
(viii)evaluating the role of broadband connectivity and its associated impact on the STEM and technology literacy of rural students;
(ix)building capacity to support extracurricular STEM programs in rural schools, including mentor-led engagement programs, STEM programs held during non-school hours, STEM networks, makerspaces, coding activities, and competitions;
(x)creating partnerships with local industries and local educational agencies to tailor STEM curricula and educational experiences to the needs of a particular local or regional economy; and
(xi)any other activity the Director determines will accomplish the goals of this paragraph.
(c)Application
An applicant seeking an award under subsection (a) or (b) shall submit an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Director may require. The application may include the following:
(1)A description of the target population to be served by the research activity or activities for which such award is sought.
(2)A description of the process for recruitment and selection of students, educators, principals, and other school leaders, or schools from rural areas to participate in such activity or activities.
(3)A description of how such activity or activities may inform efforts to promote the engagement and achievement of rural students in prekindergarten through grade 12 in STEM studies.
(4)In the case of a proposal consisting of a partnership or partnerships with one or more rural schools and one or more researchers, a plan for establishing a sustained partnership that is jointly developed and managed, draws from the capacities of each partner, and is mutually beneficial.
(d)Partnerships
In making awards under subsection (a) or (b), the Director shall—
(1)encourage applicants which, for the purpose of the activity or activities funded through the award, include or partner with a nonprofit organization or an institution of higher education (or a consortium thereof) that has extensive experience and expertise in increasing the participation of rural students in prekindergarten through grade 12 in STEM;
(2)encourage applicants which, for the purpose of the activity or activities funded through the award, include or partner with a consortium of rural schools or rural school districts; and
(3)encourage applications which, for the purpose of the activity or activities funded through the award, include commitments from school principals, other school leaders, and administrators to making reforms and activities proposed by the applicant a priority.
(e)Evaluations
All proposals for awards under subsections (a) and (b) shall include an evaluation plan that includes the use of outcome-oriented measures to assess the impact and efficacy of the award. Each recipient of an award under this subsection shall include results from these evaluative activities in annual and final projects.
(f)Accountability and dissemination
(1)Evaluation required
The Director shall evaluate the portfolio of awards made under subsections (a) and (b). Such evaluation shall—
(A)use a common set of benchmarks and tools to assess the results of research conducted under such awards and identify best practices; and
(B)to the extent practicable, integrate the findings of research resulting from the activity or activities funded through such awards with the findings of other research on rural students’ pursuit of degrees or careers in STEM.
(2)Report on evaluations
Not later than 180 days after the completion of the evaluation under paragraph (1), the Director shall submit to Congress and make widely available to the public a report that includes—
(A)the results of the evaluation; and
(B)any recommendations for administrative and legislative action that could optimize the effectiveness of the awards made under this subsection.
(g)Report by Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering
As part of the first report required by section 1885c(e) of this title transmitted to Congress after August 9, 2022, the Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering, in consultation with the Chief Diversity Officer of the National Science Foundation, shall include—
(1)a description of past and present policies and activities of the Foundation to encourage full participation of students in rural communities in science, mathematics, engineering, and computer science fields;
(2)an assessment of trends in participation of rural students in prekindergarten through grade 12 in Foundation activities; and
(3)an assessment of the policies and activities of the Foundation, along with proposals for new strategies or the broadening of existing successful strategies towards facilitating the goal of increasing participation of rural students in prekindergarten through grade 12 in Foundation activities.
(h)Coordination
In carrying out this subsection, the Director shall, for purposes of enhancing program effectiveness and avoiding duplication of activities, consult, cooperate, and coordinate with the programs and policies of other relevant Federal agencies.
(i)Authorization of appropriations
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Director— (1)
(2)$12,000,000 to carry out the activities under subsection (b) for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
42 U.S.C. § 19172
Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110