20 U.S.C. § 901
Section 901 · Definitions
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 11 court decisions — leading case March v. United States (1974)
Most recently applied in Ferdik v. Department of Defense (December 2005)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
For the purposes of this chapter, the term—
“teaching position” means those duties and responsibilities which—
are performed on a school-year basis principally in a school operated by the Department of Defense in an overseas area for dependents of members of the Armed Forces and dependents of civilian employees of the Department of Defense, or are performed by an individual who carried out certain teaching activities identified in regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense; and
involve—
classroom or other instruction or the supervision or direction of classroom or other instruction; or
any activity (other than teaching) which requires academic credits in educational theory and practice equal to the academic credits in educational theory and practice required for a bachelor’s degree in education from an accredited institution of higher education; or
any activity in or related to the field of education notwithstanding that academic credits in educational theory and practice are not a formal requirement for the conduct of such activity.
“teacher” means an individual—
who is a citizen of the United States or, in the case of a teaching position that involves instruction in the host-nation language, a local national when a citizen of the United States is not reasonably available to provide such instruction,
who is a civilian, and
who is employed in a teaching position described in paragraph (1).
“overseas area” means any area situated outside the United States.
“United States”, when used in a geographical sense, means the several States of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Canal Zone, and the possessions of the United States (excluding the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and Midway Islands).
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
For definition of Canal Zone, referred to in par. (4), see section 3602(b) of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.
Codification
Section was formerly classified to section 2351 of Title 5 prior to the general revision and enactment of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, by Pub. L. 89–554, § 1, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 378.
Amendments
2014—Par. (2)(A). Pub. L. 113–291 inserted “or, in the case of a teaching position that involves instruction in the host-nation language, a local national when a citizen of the United States is not reasonably available to provide such instruction” before comma at end.
1997—Par. (1)(A). Pub. L. 105–85 made technical corrections to Pub. L. 104–201, § 1606(a)(1). See 1996 Amendment note below.
1996—Par. (1)(A). Pub. L. 104–201, § 1606(a)(1), as amended by Pub. L. 105–85, inserted “or are performed by an individual who carried out certain teaching activities identified in regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense;” after “Defense,”.
Par. (2)(C). Pub. L. 104–201, § 1606(a)(2), added subpar. (C) and struck out former subpar. (C) which read as follows: “whose services are required on a school-year basis in a teaching position.”
Effective Date of 1997 Amendment
Pub. L. 105–85, div. A, title X, § 1073(c), Nov. 18, 1997, 111 Stat. 1904, provided that the amendment made by that section is effective as of Sept. 23, 1996, and as if included in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997, Pub. L. 104–201, as enacted.
Short Title
Pub. L. 86–91, § 1, July 17, 1959, 73 Stat. 213, provided that: “This Act [enacting this chapter and provisions now contained in section 5102(c)(22) of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees] may be cited as the ‘Defense Department Overseas Teachers Pay and Personnel Practices Act’.”
Termination of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
For termination of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, see note set out preceding section 1681 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions.