Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Oct 4, 2007
Getting Retention and Diplomas Up Among Today's Enrolled Students Act or the GRADUATES Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to authorize the Secretary of Education to establish a Secondary School Innovation Fund program awarding competitive matching grants to partnerships, which must include at least one state or local educational agency, for the implementation of innovative strategies to improve the achievement of at-risk students in secondary schools. Permits partnerships to award subgrants to schools for the implementation of such strategies.
Lists activities, one or more of which grantees or subgrantees must implement, that include: (1) creating multiple pathways that offer students a range of educational options aligned with their needs and interests and preparing them for postsecondary education and the workforce; (2) creating expanded learning time opportunities, such as arts, service, higher, and work-based education; (3) improving student transitions from middle school to high school or from high school to postsecondary education and the workforce; (4) increasing the autonomy and flexibility of secondary schools; (5) improving rural education through educational technology; (6) redesigning middle schools; and (7) improving teaching and increasing academic rigor at the secondary school level.
Requires the Secretary to disseminate best practices in improving secondary school student achievement.
Source last updated: Dec 5, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze H.R.3763 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine H.R.3763 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine H.R.3763 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine H.R.3763 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.