From the funds reserved under section 6671(4) of this title for a fiscal year, the Secretary may award grants to—

(1) State educational agencies to enable such agencies to support the development of a State-wide STEM master teacher corps; or

(2) State educational agencies, or nonprofit organizations in partnership with State educational agencies, to support the implementation, replication, or expansion of effective science, technology, engineering, and mathematics professional development programs in schools across the State through collaboration with school administrators, principals, and STEM educators.

In this section, the term “STEM master teacher corps” means a State-led effort to elevate the status of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teaching profession by recognizing, rewarding, attracting, and retaining outstanding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teachers, particularly in high-need and rural schools, by—

selecting candidates to be master teachers in the corps on the basis of—

(A) content knowledge based on a screening examination; and

(B) pedagogical knowledge of and success in teaching;

offering such teachers opportunities to—

(A) work with one another in scholarly communities; and

(B) participate in and lead high-quality professional development; and

(3) providing such teachers with additional appropriate and substantial compensation for the work described in paragraph (2) and in the master teacher community.

(Pub. L. 89–10, title II, § 2245, as added Pub. L. 114–95, title II, § 2002, Dec. 10, 2015, 129 Stat. 1952.)