I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1224 

To improve the literacy and English skills of limited English proficient 

individuals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2009 

Mr. GRIJALVA (for himself, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. HINOJOSA, and Mr. FILNER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To improve the literacy and English skills of limited English 

proficient individuals, 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 ‘‘Families Learning and 

5 Understanding English Together Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Census Bureau reports that in 2007, 

9 19.7 percent of United States households speak a 

10 language other than English at home. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
2 

•HR 1224 IH

1 (2) Many parents in many recently immigrated 

2 families speak little to no English, possess low lit3 eracy skills in their native language due to limited 

4 education, and frequently struggle to assist their 

5 children’s English language development. 

6 (3) The United States is a nation of immi7 grants, and even today, according to the 2007 up8 date of the Census, over 38,000,000 individuals who 

9 live in the United States were born outside the coun10 try. 

11 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

12 The purpose of this Act is to improve the educational, 

13 social, and economic advancement of families with limited 

14 English proficient individuals in need of literacy skills by 

15 expanding and enhancing family literacy services for such 

16 families. 

17 SEC. 4. COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM. 

18 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—From funds made 

19 available pursuant to section 9, and after reserving funds 

20 under section 9(b), the Secretary may award grants to 

21 family literacy providers to provide, directly or through a 

22 contract with another provider, family literacy services de23 signed for families with limited English proficient individ24 uals. Each grant under this Act shall be for a period of 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
3 

•HR 1224 IH

1 1 year and may be renewed for a total of 5 additional 

2 years. 

3 (b) APPLICATION.—Family literacy providers who de4 sire to receive a grant under this Act shall submit an ap5 plication at such time, containing such information, and 

6 in such manner as the Secretary may require. Such appli7 cation shall include the following: 

8 (1) An assurance that services provided with 

9 funds under this Act shall be provided to the hard10 est-to-reach populations, including populations with 

11 the greatest economic and social need. 

12 (2) A description of the services that will be 

13 provided with funds under this Act, including how 

14 the services will be based on research-based reading 

15 instruction for limited English proficient children 

16 and parents. 

17 (3) A description of the outcome measures, con18 sistent with section 6, that are based on scientifically 

19 based research and will be employed by the family 

20 literacy provider to measure the effectiveness of 

21 services provided with funds under this Act. 

22 (4) An assurance that, in providing family lit23 eracy services through the grant, the family literacy 

24 provider will collaborate with one or more of the fol25 lowing: 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
4 

•HR 1224 IH

1 (A) A local educational agency. 

2 (B) An elementary school. 

3 (C) A secondary school. 

4 (D) A nonprofit entity. 

5 (c) GRANT AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant under 

6 this Act for a fiscal year shall not be less than $150,000 

7 or more than $1,000,000. 

8 (d) SERVICES REQUIREMENTS.—Family literacy 

9 services under this Act shall be provided in sufficient in10 tensity in terms of hours, and shall be of sufficient dura11 tion, to make sustainable changes in a family and shall 

12 integrate all of the following activities: 

13 (1) Interactive literacy activities between par14 ents and their children. 

15 (2) Training for parents regarding how to be 

16 the primary teacher for their children and full part17 ners in the education of their children. 

18 (3) Parent literacy training that leads to eco19 nomic self-sufficiency. 

20 (4) An age-appropriate education to prepare 

21 children for success in school and life experiences. 

22 (e) SPECIAL RULE.—Family literacy services under 

23 this Act may be provided to a family only if— 

24 (1) each parent in the family has attained 16 

25 years of age; and 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
5 

•HR 1224 IH

1 (2) the family has at least one child from birth 

2 who has not yet attained 8 years of age. 

3 SEC. 5. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING. 

4 (a) ACTIVITIES BY SECRETARY.—The Secretary, act5 ing through the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and 

6 Secondary Education, shall, through grants or contracts 

7 as described in subsection (b), provide technical assistance 

8 and training to grantees under this Act for the purposes 

9 described in subsection (c). 

10 (b) ACTIVITIES BY NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 

12 grants to, or enter into contracts with, at least 2 eli13 gible national organizations to provide technical as14 sistance and training to grantees under this Act for 

15 the purposes described in subsection (c). 

16 (2) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘el17 igible national organization’’ means a national orga18 nization with expertise in providing family literacy 

19 services to limited English proficient populations. 

20 (c) PURPOSES.—The purposes of technical assistance 

21 and training provided under this section are the following: 

22 (1) Assisting grantees under this Act to im23 prove the quality of their family literacy services. 

24 (2) Enabling such grantees that demonstrate 

25 the effective provision of family literacy services, 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
6 

•HR 1224 IH

1 based on improved outcomes for children and their 

2 parents, to provide technical assistance and training 

3 to government agencies and to family literacy pro4 viders that work in collaboration with such agencies 

5 to improve the quality of their family literacy serv6 ices. 

7 (3) Assisting such grantees in the implementa8 tion of literacy curriculum and training activities, in9 cluding curriculum and training activities that sup10 port building on a child’s native language. 

11 (d) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 90 days 

12 after the end of each fiscal year, the Secretary shall sub13 mit to the Committee on Education and Labor of the 

14 House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, 

15 Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a report 

16 on the technical assistance and training provided pursuant 

17 to subsections (a) and (b). Each such report shall describe 

18 the actions taken by the Secretary to ensure that such 

19 technical assistance and training is of high-quality and is 

20 responsive to the needs of grantees under this Act. 

21 SEC. 6. OUTCOME MEASURES. 

22 The Secretary shall require each family literacy pro23 vider receiving a grant under this Act to meet culturally 

24 appropriate and competent outcome measures described in 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
7 

•HR 1224 IH

1 the provider’s application under section 4, including out2 come measures with respect to— 

3 (1) acquisition of the English language, includ4 ing improved educational levels; 

5 (2) literacy skills and building of a home lan6 guage; 

7 (3) improved parenting and life skills; 

8 (4) the improved ability of parents with limited 

9 English proficiency to effectively interact with offi10 cials of the schools their children attend; 

11 (5) improved developmental skills and inde12 pendent learning of the children; and 

13 (6) increased parental participation in their 

14 children’s education and home environments that are 

15 supportive of educational endeavors. 

16 SEC. 7. EVALUATION. 

17 The Secretary shall conduct an annual evaluation of 

18 the grant program under this Act. Such evaluation shall 

19 be used by the Secretary— 

20 (1) for program improvement; 

21 (2) to further define the program’s goals and 

22 objectives; and 

23 (3) to determine program effectiveness. 

24 SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 

25 For purposes of this Act: 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
8 

•HR 1224 IH

1 (1) APPLICATION OF ESEA TERMS.—The terms 

2 ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘limited English proficient’’, 

3 ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘scientifically based re4 search’’, and ‘‘secondary school’’ have the meanings 

5 given such terms in section 9101 of the Elementary 

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

7 7801). The term ‘‘scientifically based reading re8 search’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

9 1208 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

10 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6368). 

11 (2) FAMILY LITERACY PROVIDER.—The term 

12 ‘‘family literacy provider’’ means an entity that— 

13 (A) is located in a geographic area con14 taining at least one public elementary school or 

15 secondary school with a majority enrollment of 

16 children with limited English proficiency; and 

17 (B) is one of the following: 

18 (i) A current grantee under subpart 3 

19 of part B of title I of the Elementary and 

20 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

21 U.S.C. 6381 et seq.) (commonly referred 

22 to as ‘‘William F. Goodling Even Start 

23 Family Literacy Programs’’), the Head 

24 Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.), or any 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
9 

•HR 1224 IH

1 other Federal or State early childhood pro2 gram. 

3 (ii) An adult education provider. 

4 (iii) A local educational agency. 

5 (iv) A public or private nonprofit 

6 agency. 

7 (v) Another entity that has the dem8 onstrated ability to provide family literacy 

9 services to limited English proficient adults 

10 and families. 

11 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

12 the Secretary of Education. 

13 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro15 priated to carry out this Act $50,000,000 for each of fiscal 

16 years 2010 through 2014. 

17 (b) RESERVATIONS.—From funds made available 

18 pursuant to subsection (a) for a fiscal year, the Secretary 

19 shall reserve— 

20 (1) not more than 2 percent of such funds for 

21 conducting the annual evaluation required by section 

22 7; and 

23 (2) $5,000,000 for technical assistance and 

24 training under section 5(a). 

Æ 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS