Advisory board

(a) In general The Secretary shall establish within the Department of Education an Advisory Board to carry out the duties described in subsection (d). (b) Membership The Advisory Board shall be composed of not fewer than 5 members, appointed by the Secretary— (1) who have— (A) expertise in designing and administering elementary and secondary tutoring programs; or (B) experience in program evaluation and evidence-based policy development; and (2) including at least 1 member who is an educator or representative of an educator union. (c) Terms Each member shall be appointed for a term of 4 years and may be reappointed for additional 4-year terms. (d) Duties The Advisory Board shall: (1) Evaluate and approve, in coordination with State educational agencies, plans submitted under section 4(c)(2) to ensure that local educational agencies— (A) will meet the tutoring program requirements under section 6(b) and will implement programs so as to have the greatest impact on student academic outcomes, including by considering— (i) the quality and appropriateness of the instructional method; and (ii) the degree to which instructional choices are supported by evidence or are appropriate to the setting, such as using virtual tutoring when in-person tutoring is not feasible; and (B) will conduct evaluations of the tutoring programs in partnership with State educational agencies and government or nonprofit research organizations or researchers. (2) Provide technical assistance and guidance to State and local educational agencies receiving a grant or subgrant under this Act with respect to— (A) maintaining the student-to-tutor ratio required by the Advisory Board; (B) meeting the requirement of 30 minutes of tutoring per student per day for at least 3 days per week; (C) in the case of a local educational agency requesting to partner with a nonprofit provider to implement tutoring programs, recommendations for such nonprofit providers; and (D) best practices for the establishment and administration of tutoring programs and implementation of such programs by local educational agencies and not in partnership with nonprofit providers. (3) Review and issue, in coordination with State educational agencies, a decision with respect to— (A) a request by a local educational agency under section 4(c)(2)(D)(i)(II) to maintain an alternative timing format, approving such request only if available evidence supports that alternative format as likely to be effective in boosting student outcomes; (B) a request by a local educational agency under section 4(c)(2)(D)(ii)(II) to maintain a student-to-tutor ratio that is higher than the ratio required by the Advisory Board; (C) the government or nonprofit research organization or researchers submitted by a local educational agency under section 4(c)(2)(I); and (D) in the case of a local educational agency seeking to partner with a nonprofit provider, the nonprofit provider submitted by such agency under section 4(c)(2)(G)(i). (4) In the case of a local educational agency that chooses an experimental research design with respect to the evaluation required under section 6(b)(4), provide the organization with which the local educational agency partnered pursuant to such section additional resources to carry out the evaluation. (5) Coordinate, with State and local educational agencies, the training and professional development for tutors described in section 4(c)(2)(F)(i) to ensure such training and professional development maximizes the sharing of best practices and dissemination of evidence-based tutoring methods, provided that the Advisory Board does not require such agencies to adhere to any allocations of time or resources with respect to such training and professional development. (6) Periodically assess and update— (A) based on the most up-to-date research at the time of assessment, the student-to-tutor ratio; and (B) on a program-by-program basis and based on the effectiveness, evaluation status, and number of years of existence of such program, the required frequency of tutor trainings, professional development, and observation. (7) Develop and publish, based on the evaluations of tutoring programs under section 6(b)(4) and outside evaluations and studies of such tutoring programs, a database of— (A) different tutoring methods and the impact of each such method on the academic achievement and recovery of students as defined by each State educational agency’s academic standards pursuant to section 1111 of part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et seq.); and (B) evidence-based models for structuring the timing of tutoring sessions, including— (i) how to create, in addition to regular classes, a tutoring class; (ii) how to allocate, at the discretion of the teacher, time during regular classes during which students may receive tutoring; and (iii) how to identify an optimal time during the school day for tutoring outside of regular classes. (8) Develop, in coordination with the Secretary and the State educational agencies receiving a grant under this Act, a nationwide tutoring workforce in accordance with section 7.