I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1600

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to reserve 

funds to provide special training, technical assistance, and professional 

development to eligible entities implementing Even Start programs and 

to the staff of such programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 3, 2003

Mrs. DAVIS of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to reserve funds to provide special training, 

technical assistance, and professional development to eligible entities implementing Even Start programs and 

to the staff of such programs, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Even Start Quality 

5 Improvement Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. RESERVATION FOR SPECIAL TRAINING AND TECH2 NICAL ASSISTANCE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1232(b) of Elementary 

4 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

5 6381a(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL TRAINING AND TECHNICAL AS7 SISTANCE.—

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For the first fiscal 

9 year after fiscal year 2003 for which the 

10 amount appropriated under section 1002(b)(3) 

11 exceeds the amount appropriated under such 

12 section for the preceding fiscal year by 

13 $8,000,000 or more, the Secretary shall reserve 

14 from such excess amount $5,000,000. The Sec15 retary shall use such reserved amount to pro16 vide special training, technical assistance, and 

17 professional development to eligible entities im18 plementing Even Start programs, and to the 

19 staff of such programs, in order to improve the 

20 quality of services for eligible participants, and 

21 to assist personnel in meeting the professional 

22 development requirements described in section 

23 1235(5). 

24 ‘‘(B) GRANT OR CONTRACT.—The Sec25 retary shall carry out subparagraph (A) by en26 tering into a grant or contract with not less 
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1 than 2 eligible organizations with experience 

2 and expertise in the provision of training, tech3 nical assistance, and professional development 

4 to family literacy providers, particularly eligible 

5 organizations with experience in the provision of 

6 such services to Even Start programs. Such en7 tities may include the National Even Start As8 sociation, the National Center for Family Lit9 eracy, and the William F. Goodling Institute for 

10 Research in Family Literacy. In awarding 

11 grants or contracts under this subparagraph, 

12 the Secretary shall give priority to eligible orga13 nizations that work cooperatively with other eli14 gible organizations. 

15 ‘‘(C) ACTIVITIES.—Activities carried out 

16 with amounts reserved under this paragraph 

17 shall include—

18 ‘‘(i) training and technical assistance; 

19 ‘‘(ii) assistance to personnel in meet20 ing the professional development require21 ments described in section 1235(5); and 

22 ‘‘(iii) training and the development of 

23 materials to ensure that instructional pro24 grams are based on scientifically based 

25 reading research. 
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1 ‘‘(D) IDENTIFICATION OF PROGRAMS.—

2 States shall identify, based on the indicators of 

3 program quality developed by the State under 

4 section 1240 and other information available to 

5 the State, a list of the Even Start programs in 

6 the State that are in need of training, technical 

7 assistance, and professional development. 

8 ‘‘(E) APPLICATION FOR ASSISTANCE.—

9 Even Start programs identified under subpara10 graph (D) may submit an application for assist11 ance under this paragraph to the Secretary. 

12 Based on need and the quality of the applica13 tion, the Secretary shall select the programs to 

14 be assisted and refer each approved application 

15 to an eligible organization described in subpara16 graph (B) that has expertise and experience in 

17 providing the type of assistance required by 

18 such Even Start programs. 

19 ‘‘(F) CONSULTATION.—In providing serv20 ices under this paragraph, eligible organizations 

21 shall consult with the National Institute of 

22 Child Health and Human Development and the 

23 National Institute for Literacy for guidance in 

24 identifying—
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1 ‘‘(i) literacy and reading instructional 

2 approaches and practices that are based on 

3 scientifically based reading research; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) best practices for serving adult 

5 learners.’’. 

6 (b) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATION DEFINED.—Section 

7 1232(e)(2) of Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

8 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6381a(e)(2)) is amended by inserting 

9 ‘‘the National Even Start Association,’’ after ‘‘Center for 

10 Family Literacy,’’.

11 SEC. 3. STUDY OF EVEN START PARTICIPANTS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall contract with 

13 a qualified entity (such as a private organization, govern14 mental agency, or institution of higher education) with ex15 perience and expertise in family literacy services (as de16 fined in section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary 

17 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801)) to conduct a 

18 study of—

19 (1) children who participated in the program 

20 known as the ‘‘William F. Goodling Even Start 

21 Family Literacy Program’’ (authorized, on the date 

22 of the enactment of this Act, under subpart 3 of 

23 part B of title I of the Elementary and Secondary 

24 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6381–6381k)) 

25 and are in the 3rd or 4th grade during the study; 
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1 (2) the parents of such children; and 

2 (3) other adults who participated with such 

3 children in such program. 

4 (b) ASSESSING RESULTS OF CHILDREN’S PARTICIPA5 TION.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The study shall assess the 

7 impact of participation by such children in such pro8 gram with respect to—

9 (A) whether or not such children are read10 ing on grade level and otherwise performing on 

11 a level equal to or better than their peers; 

12 (B) school attendance; and 

13 (C) whether or not such children have been 

14 retained for more than 1 year in any grade and 

15 the reasons for such retention, if applicable. 

16 (2) PARENTAL CONSENT.—The consent of a 

17 child’s parent (as defined in section 9101 of the Ele18 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

19 U.S.C. 7801)) shall be obtained prior to commencing 

20 any effort to obtain data under paragraph (1) with 

21 respect to the child. 

22 (c) ASSESSING RESULTS OF ADULTS’ PARTICIPA23 TION.—

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The study shall also assess 

25 the long-term impact of participation by parents (or 
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1 other adults) in such program, through methods 

2 such as—

3 (A) personal interviews; and 

4 (B) testing of such individuals for retained 

5 or improved literacy skills (but only in cases in 

6 which there are baseline test results for an indi7 vidual available for comparison that were ob8 tained just prior to the individual’s commencing 

9 or ceasing participation in such program). 

10 (2) INFORMATION INCLUDED.—The study shall 

11 gather information regarding adult participants’ cur12 rent educational and employment endeavors and the 

13 perceived impact of participation in such program on 

14 the adult’s ability to participate in their child’s edu15 cation.

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