I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 523 

To aid and support pediatric involvement in reading and education. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 26, 2015 

Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself and Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 

Workforce 

A BILL 

To aid and support pediatric involvement in reading and 

education. 

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 ‘‘Prescribe A Book 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PEDIATRIC INVOLVEMENT IN READING AND EDU7 CATION. 

8 Part D of title V of the Elementary and Secondary 

9 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7241 et seq.) is amend10 ed by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘Subpart 22—Pediatric Early Literacy Programs 

2 ‘‘SEC. 5621. DEFINITIONS. 

3 ‘‘In this subpart: 

4 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en5 tity’ means a nonprofit organization that has, as de6 termined by the Secretary, demonstrated effective7 ness in the following areas: 

8 ‘‘(A) Providing peer-to-peer training to 

9 healthcare providers in research-based methods 

10 of literacy promotion as part of routine pedi11 atric health supervision visits. 

12 ‘‘(B) Delivering a training curriculum 

13 through a variety of medical education settings, 

14 including residency training, continuing medical 

15 education, and national pediatric conferences. 

16 ‘‘(C) Providing technical assistance to local 

17 healthcare facilities to effectively implement a 

18 high-quality Pediatric Early Literacy Program. 

19 ‘‘(D) Offering opportunities for local 

20 healthcare facilities to obtain books at signifi21 cant discounts, as described in section 5626. 

22 ‘‘(E) Integrating the latest developmental 

23 and educational research into the training cur24 riculum for healthcare providers described in 

25 subparagraph (B). 


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1 ‘‘(2) PEDIATRIC EARLY LITERACY PROGRAM.— 

2 The term ‘Pediatric Early Literacy Program’ means 

3 a program that— 

4 ‘‘(A) creates and implements a 3-part 

5 model through which— 

6 ‘‘(i) healthcare providers, doctors, and 

7 nurses, trained in research-based methods 

8 of early language and literacy promotion, 

9 encourage parents to read aloud to their 

10 young children, and offer developmentally 

11 appropriate recommendations and strate12 gies to parents for the purpose of reading 

13 aloud to their children; 

14 ‘‘(ii) healthcare providers, at health 

15 supervision visits, provide each child be16 tween the ages of 6 months and 5 years a 

17 new, developmentally appropriate chil18 dren’s book to take home and keep; and 

19 ‘‘(iii) healthcare facilities create lit20 eracy-rich environments that include gently 

21 used books for waiting room use or volun22 teer readers to model for parents the tech23 niques of reading aloud to young children; 

24 ‘‘(B) demonstrates, through research pub25 lished in peer-reviewed journals, effectiveness in 


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1 positively altering parent behavior regarding 

2 reading aloud to children, and improving ex3 pressive and receptive language in young chil4 dren; and 

5 ‘‘(C) receives the endorsement of nationally 

6 recognized medical associations and academies. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 5622. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

8 ‘‘The Secretary is authorized to award grants to eligi9 ble entities to enable the eligible entities to implement Pe10 diatric Early Literacy Programs. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 5623. APPLICATIONS. 

12 ‘‘An eligible entity that desires to receive a grant 

13 under section 5622 shall submit an application to the Sec14 retary at such time, in such manner, and including such 

15 information as the Secretary may reasonably require. 

16 ‘‘SEC. 5624. MATCHING REQUIREMENT. 

17 ‘‘An eligible entity receiving a grant under section 

18 5622 shall provide, either directly or through private con19 tributions, non-Federal matching funds equal to not less 

20 than 50 percent of the grant received by the eligible entity 

21 under section 5622. Such matching funds may be in cash 

22 or in-kind. 

23 ‘‘SEC. 5625. USE OF GRANT FUNDS. 

24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity receiving a 

25 grant under section 5622 shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) enter into contracts with private nonprofit 

2 organizations, or with public agencies, selected based 

3 on the criteria described in subsection (b), under 

4 which each contractor will agree to establish and op5 erate a Pediatric Early Literacy Program; 

6 ‘‘(2) provide such training and technical assist7 ance to each contractor of the eligible entity as may 

8 be necessary to carry out this subpart; and 

9 ‘‘(3) include such other terms and conditions in 

10 an agreement with a contractor as the Secretary de11 termines to be appropriate to ensure the effective12 ness of such program. 

13 ‘‘(b) CONTRACTOR CRITERIA.—Each contractor shall 

14 be selected under subsection (a)(1) on the basis of the ex15 tent to which the contractor gives priority to serving a 

16 substantial number or percentage of at-risk children, in17 cluding— 

18 ‘‘(1) children from families with an income 

19 below 200 percent of the poverty line applicable to 

20 a family of the size involved, particularly such chil21 dren in high-poverty areas; 

22 ‘‘(2) children without adequate medical insur23 ance; 

24 ‘‘(3) children enrolled in a State Medicaid pro25 gram, established under title XIX of the Social SeVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:25 Jan 30, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H523.IH H523

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1 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.), or in the State 

2 Children’s Health Insurance Program established 

3 under title XXI of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et 

4 seq.); 

5 ‘‘(4) children living in rural areas; 

6 ‘‘(5) migrant children; and 

7 ‘‘(6) children with limited access to libraries. 

8 ‘‘SEC. 5626. RESTRICTION ON PAYMENTS. 

9 ‘‘The Secretary shall make no payment to an eligible 

10 entity under this subpart unless the Secretary determines 

11 that the eligible entity or a contractor of the eligible entity, 

12 as the case may be, has made arrangements with book 

13 publishers or distributors to obtain books at discounts that 

14 are at least as favorable as discounts that are customarily 

15 given by such publisher or distributor for book purchases 

16 made under similar circumstances in the absence of Fed17 eral assistance. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 5627. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 

19 ‘‘An eligible entity receiving a grant under section 

20 5622 shall report annually to the Secretary on the effec21 tiveness of the program implemented by the eligible entity 

22 and the programs instituted by each contractor of the eli23 gible entity, and shall include in the report a description 

24 of each program.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 

2 The table of contents in section 2 of the Elementary 

3 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is amended by in4 serting after the item relating to section 5618 the fol5 lowing: 

‘‘SUBPART 22—PEDIATRIC EARLY LITERACY PROGRAMS

‘‘Sec. 5621. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 5622. Program authorized. 

‘‘Sec. 5623. Applications. 

‘‘Sec. 5624. Matching requirement. 

‘‘Sec. 5625. Use of grant funds. 

‘‘Sec. 5626. Restriction on payments. 

‘‘Sec. 5627. Reporting requirement.’’. 

Æ 


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