II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 556 

To reauthorize the Head Start Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2007 

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself, Mr. ENZI, Mr. DODD, and Mr. ALEXANDER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To reauthorize the Head Start Act, 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 ‘‘Head Start for School 

5 Readiness Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 

7 Section 636 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831) 

8 is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 636. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 

2 ‘‘It is the purpose of this subchapter to promote the 

3 school readiness of low-income children by enhancing their 

4 cognitive and social development— 

5 ‘‘(1) with a learning environment that supports 

6 cognitive development (including the growth of lan7 guage, pre-literacy, and premathematics skills) and 

8 the growth of social, emotional, and physical skills; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(2) through the provision to low-income chil11 dren and their families of health, educational, nutri12 tional, social, and other services that are determined, 

13 based on family needs assessments, to be nec14 essary.’’. 

15 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

16 Section 637 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9832) 

17 is amended— 

18 (1) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘(including a 

19 community-based organization, as defined in section 

20 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

21 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801))’’ after ‘‘nonprofit’’; 

22 (2) in paragraph (3)(C), by inserting ‘‘, includ23 ing financial literacy,’’ after ‘‘Parent literacy’’; 

24 (3) in paragraph (17), by striking ‘‘Mariana Is25 lands,’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘Mariana 

26 Islands.’’; and 


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1 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(18) The term ‘deficiency’ means— 

3 ‘‘(A) a systemic or substantial material 

4 failure of an agency in an area of performance 

5 that the Secretary determines involves— 

6 ‘‘(i) a threat to the health, safety, or 

7 civil rights of children or staff; 

8 ‘‘(ii) a denial to parents of the exer9 cise of their full roles and responsibilities 

10 related to program operations; 

11 ‘‘(iii) a failure to comply with stand12 ards related to early childhood development 

13 and health services, family and community 

14 partnerships, or program design and man15 agement; 

16 ‘‘(iv) the misuse of funds under this 

17 subchapter; 

18 ‘‘(v) loss of legal status or financial 

19 viability, loss of permits, debarment from 

20 receiving Federal grants or contracts, or 

21 the improper use of Federal funds; or 

22 ‘‘(vi) failure to meet any other Fed23 eral or State requirement that the agency 

24 has shown an unwillingness or inability to 


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1 correct, after notice from the Secretary, 

2 within the period specified; 

3 ‘‘(B) systemic failure of the board of direc4 tors of an agency to fully exercise its legal and 

5 fiduciary responsibilities; 

6 ‘‘(C) substantial failure of an agency to 

7 meet the administrative requirements of section 

8 644(b); 

9 ‘‘(D) failure of an agency to demonstrate 

10 that the agency attempted to meet the coordi11 nation and collaboration requirements with enti12 ties described in section 640(a)(5)(D)(ii)(I); or 

13 ‘‘(E) having an unresolved area of non14 compliance. 

15 ‘‘(19) The term ‘homeless child’ means a child 

16 described in section 725(2) of the McKinney-Vento 

17 Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a(2)). 

18 ‘‘(20) The term ‘institution of higher education’ 

19 has the meaning given the term in section 101(a) of 

20 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

21 1001(a)). 

22 ‘‘(21) The term ‘interrater reliability’ means 

23 the extent to which 2 or more independent raters or 

24 observers consistently obtain the same result when 

25 using the same assessment tool. 


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1 ‘‘(22) The term ‘limited English proficient’, 

2 used with respect to a child, means a child— 

3 ‘‘(A) who is enrolled or preparing to enroll 

4 in a Head Start program, Early Head Start 

5 program, or other early care and education pro6 gram; 

7 ‘‘(B)(i) who was not born in the United 

8 States or whose native language is a language 

9 other than English; 

10 ‘‘(ii)(I) who is a Native American, Alaska 

11 Native, or a native resident of an outlying area 

12 (as defined in section 9101 of the Elementary 

13 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

14 U.S.C. 7801)); and 

15 ‘‘(II) who comes from an environment 

16 where a language other than English has had 

17 a significant impact on the child’s level of 

18 English language proficiency; or 

19 ‘‘(iii) who is migratory, whose native lan20 guage is a language other than English, and 

21 who comes from an environment where a lan22 guage other than English is dominant; and 

23 ‘‘(C) whose difficulties in speaking or un24 derstanding the English language may be suffi25 cient to deny such child— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the ability to successfully achieve 

2 in a classroom in which the language of in3 struction is English; or 

4 ‘‘(ii) the opportunity to participate 

5 fully in society. 

6 ‘‘(23) The term ‘unresolved area of noncompli7 ance’ means failure to correct a noncompliance item 

8 within 120 days, or within such additional time (if 

9 any) authorized by the Secretary, after receiving 

10 from the Secretary notice of such noncompliance 

11 item, pursuant to section 641A(d).’’. 

12 SEC. 4. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR HEAD START PRO13 GRAMS. 

14 Section 638 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9833) 

15 is amended by inserting ‘‘for a period of 5 years’’ after 

16 ‘‘provide financial assistance to such agency’’. 

17 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

18 Section 639 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9834) 

19 is amended to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 639. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap22 propriated for carrying out the provisions of this sub23 chapter $7,350,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, 

24 $7,650,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, $7,995,000,000 for 


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1 fiscal year 2010, and such sums as may be necessary for 

2 each of fiscal years 2011 and 2012. 

3 ‘‘(b) SPECIFIC PROGRAMS.—From the amount ap4 propriated under subsection (a), the Secretary shall make 

5 available to carry out research, demonstration, and evalua6 tion activities, including longitudinal studies under section 

7 649, not more than $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, and 

8 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 

9 2009 through 2012, of which not more than $7,000,000 

10 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012 shall be avail11 able to carry out impact studies under section 649(g).’’. 

12 SEC. 6. ALLOTMENT OF FUNDS. 

13 (a) ALLOTMENT.—Section 640(a) of the Head Start 

14 Act (42 U.S.C. 9835(a)) is amended— 

15 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

16 (A) by striking subparagraph (A) and in17 serting the following: 

18 ‘‘(A) Indian Head Start programs, services for 

19 children with disabilities, and migrant and seasonal 

20 Head Start programs, except that the Secretary 

21 shall reserve for each fiscal year for use by Indian 

22 Head Start and migrant and seasonal Head Start 

23 programs (referred to in this paragraph as ‘covered 

24 programs’), on a nationwide basis, a sum that is the 

25 total of a percentage specified by the Secretary that 


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1 is not less than 4 percent of the amount appro2 priated under section 639 for that fiscal year (for 

3 Indian Head Start programs) and a percentage 

4 specified by the Secretary that is not less than 5 

5 percent of that appropriated amount (for migrant 

6 and seasonal Head Start programs) (referred to in 

7 this paragraph as the ‘specified percentages’), except 

8 that— 

9 ‘‘(i) if reserving the specified percentages 

10 would reduce the number of children served by 

11 Head Start programs, relative to the number of 

12 children served on the date of enactment of the 

13 Head Start for School Readiness Act, taking 

14 into consideration an appropriate adjustment 

15 for inflation, the Secretary shall reserve per16 centages that approach, as closely as prac17 ticable, the specified percentages and that do 

18 not cause such a reduction; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) notwithstanding any other provision 

20 of this subparagraph, the Secretary shall re21 serve for each fiscal year for use by Indian 

22 Head Start programs and by migrant and sea23 sonal Head Start programs, on a nationwide 

24 basis, not less than the amount that was obli25 gated for use by Indian Head Start programs 


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1 and by migrant and seasonal Head Start pro2 grams for the previous fiscal year;’’; 

3 (B) by striking subparagraph (C) and in4 serting the following: 

5 ‘‘(C) training and technical assistance activities 

6 that are sufficient to meet the needs associated with 

7 program expansion and to foster program and man8 agement improvement activities as described in sec9 tion 648, in an amount for each fiscal year that is 

10 not less than 2 percent of the amount appropriated 

11 under section 639 for such fiscal year, of which— 

12 ‘‘(i) 50 percent shall be made available to 

13 Head Start agencies to use directly, or by es14 tablishing local or regional agreements with 

15 community experts, institutions of higher edu16 cation, or private consultants, for any of the 

17 following training and technical assistance ac18 tivities, including— 

19 ‘‘(I) activities that ensure that Head 

20 Start programs meet or exceed the pro21 gram performance standards described in 

22 section 641A(a)(1); 

23 ‘‘(II) activities that ensure that Head 

24 Start programs have adequate numbers of 

25 trained, qualified staff who have skills in 


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1 working with children and families, includ2 ing children and families who are limited 

3 English proficient and children with dis4 abilities; 

5 ‘‘(III) activities to pay expenses, in6 cluding direct training for expert consult7 ants working with any staff, to improve the 

8 management and implementation of Head 

9 Start services and systems; 

10 ‘‘(IV) activities that help ensure that 

11 Head Start programs have qualified staff 

12 who can promote language skills and lit13 eracy growth of children and who can pro14 vide children with a variety of skills that 

15 have been identified as predictive of later 

16 reading achievement, school success, and 

17 the skills, knowledge, abilities, develop18 ment, and progress described in section 

19 641A(a)(1)(B)(ii); 

20 ‘‘(V) activities to improve staff quali21 fications and to assist with the implemen22 tation of career development programs and 

23 to encourage the staff to continually im24 prove their skills and expertise, including 

25 developing partnerships with programs 


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1 that recruit, train, place, and support col2 lege students in Head Start centers to de3 liver an innovative early learning program 

4 to preschool children; 

5 ‘‘(VI) activities that help local pro6 grams ensure that the arrangement, condi7 tion, and implementation of the learning 

8 environments in Head Start programs are 

9 conducive to providing effective program 

10 services to children and families; 

11 ‘‘(VII) activities to provide training 

12 necessary to improve the qualifications of 

13 Head Start staff and to support staff 

14 training, child counseling, health services, 

15 and other services necessary to address the 

16 needs of children enrolled in Head Start 

17 programs, including children from families 

18 in crises, children who experience chronic 

19 violence or homelessness, children who ex20 perience substance abuse in their families, 

21 and children under 3 years of age, where 

22 applicable; 

23 ‘‘(VIII) activities to provide classes or 

24 in-service-type programs to improve or en25 hance parenting skills, job skills, adult and 


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1 family literacy, including financial literacy, 

2 or training to become a classroom aide or 

3 bus driver in a Head Start program; 

4 ‘‘(IX) additional activities deemed ap5 propriate to the improvement of Head 

6 Start agencies’ programs, as determined by 

7 the agencies’ technical assistance and 

8 training plans; or 

9 ‘‘(X) any other activities regarding 

10 the use of funds as determined by the Sec11 retary; 

12 ‘‘(ii) 50 percent shall be made available to 

13 the Secretary— 

14 ‘‘(I) to provide directly early childhood 

15 education training and technical assistance 

16 or to support, through grants or other ar17 rangements, a State system of early child18 hood education training and technical as19 sistance (which may include such a system 

20 for a consortium of States within a re21 gion); and 

22 ‘‘(II) to assist local programs (includ23 ing Indian Head Start programs and mi24 grant and seasonal Head Start programs) 


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1 in meeting the standards described in sec2 tion 641A(a)(1); and 

3 ‘‘(iii) not less than $3,000,000 of the 

4 amount in clause (ii) appropriated for such fis5 cal year shall be made available to carry out ac6 tivities described in section 648(d)(4);’’; 

7 (C) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

8 ‘‘agencies;’’ and inserting ‘‘agencies);’’; and 

9 (D) by adding at the end of the flush mat10 ter at the end the following: ‘‘In no case shall 

11 the Secretary use funds appropriated under this 

12 subchapter to expand or create additional slots 

13 or services in non-Indian and non-migrant and 

14 seasonal Head Start programs until the 

15 amounts based on the specified percentages for 

16 Indian Head Start programs and migrant and 

17 seasonal Head Start programs pursuant to sub18 paragraph (A) are reached. The Secretary shall 

19 require each Head Start agency to report at the 

20 end of each budget year on how funds provided 

21 to carry out subparagraph (C)(i) were used.’’; 

22 (2) in paragraph (3)— 

23 (A) in subparagraph (A)(i)(I)— 


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1 (i) by striking ‘‘60 percent of such ex2 cess amount for fiscal year 1999’’ and all 

3 that follows through ‘‘2003;’’; and 

4 (ii) by inserting the following: ‘‘30 

5 percent of such excess amount for fiscal 

6 year 2008, and 40 percent of such excess 

7 amount for each of fiscal years 2009 

8 through 2012;’’; 

9 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 

10 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘perform11 ance standards’’ and all that follows and 

12 inserting ‘‘standards and measures pursu13 ant to section 641A.’’; 

14 (ii) by striking clause (ii) and insert15 ing the following: 

16 ‘‘(ii) Ensuring that such programs have ade17 quate numbers of qualified staff, and that such staff 

18 is furnished adequate training, including training to 

19 promote the development of language, premathemat20 ics, and pre-literacy skills in young children and in 

21 working with limited English proficient children, 

22 children in foster care, children referred by child 

23 welfare services, and children with disabilities, when 

24 appropriate.’’; 


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1 (iii) by striking clause (iii) and insert2 ing the following: 

3 ‘‘(iii) Developing and financing the salary scales 

4 and benefits standards under section 644(a) and 

5 section 653, in order to ensure that salary levels and 

6 benefits are adequate to attract and retain qualified 

7 staff for such programs.’’; 

8 (iv) by striking clause (iv) and insert9 ing the following: 

10 ‘‘(iv) Using salary increases to— 

11 ‘‘(I) assist with the implementation of 

12 quality programs and improve staff qualifica13 tions; 

14 ‘‘(II) ensure that staff can promote the 

15 language skills and literacy growth of children 

16 and can provide children with a variety of skills 

17 that have been identified, through scientifically 

18 based early reading research, as predictive of 

19 later reading achievement, as well as the skills, 

20 knowledge, abilities, development, and progress 

21 described in section 641A(a)(1)(B)(ii); and 

22 ‘‘(III) encourage the staff to continually 

23 improve their skills and expertise— 

24 ‘‘(aa) through the implementation of 

25 career development programs; and 


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1 ‘‘(bb) through the completion of post2 secondary coursework in early childhood 

3 education.’’; 

4 (v) in clause (v)— 

5 (I) by striking ‘‘community-wide’’ 

6 and inserting ‘‘communitywide’’; and 

7 (II) by inserting ‘‘, including col8 laborations to increase program par9 ticipation by underserved populations 

10 of eligible children’’ before the period; 

11 and 

12 (vi) by striking clauses (vii) and (viii) 

13 and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘(vii) Providing assistance to complete postsec15 ondary coursework, to enable Head Start teachers to 

16 improve competencies and the resulting child out17 comes, including informing the teachers of the avail18 ability of Federal and State incentive and loan for19 giveness programs. 

20 ‘‘(viii) Promoting the regular attendance and 

21 stability of all Head Start children with particular 

22 attention to highly mobile children, including chil23 dren from migrant and seasonal farmworking fami24 lies (where appropriate), homeless children, and chil25 dren in foster care. 


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1 ‘‘(ix) Making such other improvements in the 

2 quality of such programs as the Secretary may des3 ignate.’’; 

4 (C) in subparagraph (C)— 

5 (i) in clause (i)(I), by striking the last 

6 sentence and inserting ‘‘Salary increases, 

7 in excess of cost-of-living allowances, pro8 vided with such funds shall be subject to 

9 the specific standards governing salaries 

10 and salary increases established pursuant 

11 to section 644(a).’’; 

12 (ii) in clause (ii)— 

13 (I) in the matter preceding sub14 clause (I), by striking ‘‘education per15 formance’’ and all that follows 

16 through ‘‘641A(a)(1)(B)’’ and insert17 ing ‘‘standards and measures de18 scribed in section 641A’’; 

19 (II) in subclause (I), by inserting 

20 ‘‘, pre-literacy,’’ after ‘‘language’’; 

21 (III) by striking subclause (II) 

22 and inserting the following: 

23 ‘‘(II) to help limited English proficient 

24 children attain the knowledge, skills, abilities, 

25 and development specified in section 


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1 641A(a)(1)(B)(ii) and to promote the acquisi2 tion of the English language by such children 

3 and families;’’; and 

4 (IV) by striking subclause (IV) 

5 and inserting the following: 

6 ‘‘(IV) to provide education and training 

7 necessary to improve the qualifications of Head 

8 Start staff, particularly assistance to enable 

9 more instructors to be fully competent and to 

10 meet the degree requirements under section 

11 648A(a)(2)(A), and to support staff training, 

12 child counseling, and other services necessary to 

13 address the challenges of children participating 

14 in Head Start programs, including children 

15 from immigrant, refugee, and asylee families, 

16 children from families in crisis, homeless chil17 dren, children in foster care, children referred 

18 to Head Start programs by child welfare agen19 cies, and children who are exposed to chronic 

20 violence or substance abuse.’’; 

21 (iii) in clause (iii), by inserting ‘‘, edu22 cational staff who have the qualifications 

23 described in section 648A(a),’’ after 

24 ‘‘ratio’’; 


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1 (iv) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘pro2 grams, including’’ and all that follows and 

3 inserting ‘‘programs.’’; 

4 (v) by redesignating clause (vi) as 

5 clause (x); and 

6 (vi) by inserting after clause (v) the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(vi) To conduct outreach to homeless families 

9 in an effort to increase the program participation of 

10 eligible homeless children. 

11 ‘‘(vii) To conduct outreach to migrant and sea12 sonal farmworking families and families with limited 

13 English proficient children. 

14 ‘‘(viii) To partner with institutions of higher 

15 education and nonprofit organizations, including 

16 community-based organizations, that recruit, train, 

17 place, and support college students, to serve as men18 tors and reading partners to preschool children in 

19 Head Start programs. 

20 ‘‘(ix) To upgrade the qualifications and skills of 

21 educational personnel to meet the professional 

22 standards described in section 648A(a)(1), including 

23 certification and licensure as bilingual education 

24 teachers, teachers of English as a second language, 


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1 and for other educational personnel who serve lim2 ited English proficient students.’’; 

3 (3) in paragraph (4), in the first sentence— 

4 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

5 ‘‘1998’’ and inserting ‘‘2007’’; and 

6 (B) by striking subparagraph (B) and in7 serting the following: 

8 ‘‘(B) any amount available after all allotments 

9 are made under subparagraph (A) for such fiscal 

10 year shall be distributed as follows: 

11 ‘‘(i) Each State shall receive an amount 

12 sufficient to serve the same number of children 

13 in Head Start programs in each State as were 

14 served on the date of enactment of the Head 

15 Start for School Readiness Act, taking into con16 sideration an appropriate adjustment for infla17 tion. 

18 ‘‘(ii) After ensuring that each State has re19 ceived the amount described in clause (i), the 

20 Secretary shall distribute the remaining bal21 ance, by— 

22 ‘‘(I) distributing 65 percent of the 

23 balance among the States serving less than 

24 60 percent (as determined by the Sec25 retary) of children who are 3 or 4 years of 


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1 age from families whose income is below 

2 the poverty line, by allotting to each of 

3 those States an amount that bears the 

4 same relationship to that 65 percent as the 

5 number of children who are less than 5 

6 years of age from families whose income is 

7 below the poverty line (referred to in this 

8 clause as ‘young low-income children’) in 

9 that State bears to the number of young 

10 low-income children in all those States; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(II) distributing 35 percent of the 

13 balance among the States, by allotting to 

14 each State an amount that bears the same 

15 relationship to that 35 percent as the num16 ber of young low-income children in that 

17 State bears to the number of young low-in18 come children in all the States.’’; 

19 (4) in paragraph (5)— 

20 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (E) 

21 and (F) as subparagraphs (G) and (H), respec22 tively; and 

23 (B) by striking subparagraphs (B), (C), 

24 and (D) and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(B)(i) From the reserved sums, the Secretary shall 

2 award a collaboration grant to each State and to each na3 tional administrative office serving Indian Head Start pro4 grams and migrant and seasonal Head Start programs to 

5 facilitate collaboration between Head Start agencies and 

6 entities (including the State or national administrative of7 fice) that carry out other activities designed to benefit low8 income families and children from birth to school entry. 

9 The national administrative offices shall use the funds 

10 made available through the grants to carry out the au11 thorities and responsibilities described in subparagraphs 

12 (B) and (C). 

13 ‘‘(ii) Grants described in clause (i) shall be used to— 

14 ‘‘(I) assist Head Start agencies to collaborate 

15 with entities involved in State and local planning 

16 processes to better meet the needs of low-income 

17 families and children from birth to school entry; 

18 ‘‘(II) assist Head Start agencies to coordinate 

19 activities with the State agency responsible for ad20 ministering the State program carried out under the 

21 Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 

22 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.) and entities providing 

23 resource and referral services in the State, to make 

24 full-working-day and full calendar year services 

25 available to children; 


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1 ‘‘(III) promote alignment of Head Start serv2 ices with State early learning standards, as appro3 priate, and the Head Start Child Outcomes Frame4 work; 

5 ‘‘(IV) promote better linkages between Head 

6 Start agencies and other child and family agencies, 

7 including agencies that provide health, mental 

8 health, or family services, or other child or family 

9 supportive services, such as services provided under 

10 section 619 or part C of the Individuals with Dis11 abilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1419, 1431 et 

12 seq.); and 

13 ‘‘(V) carry out the activities of the State Direc14 tor of Head Start Collaboration authorized in sub15 paragraph (D). 

16 ‘‘(C) In order to improve coordination and delivery 

17 of early education services to children in the State, a State 

18 that receives a collaboration grant under subparagraph 

19 (B) shall— 

20 ‘‘(i) appoint or designate an individual to serve 

21 as, or carry out the responsibilities of, the State Di22 rector of Head Start Collaboration; 

23 ‘‘(ii) ensure that the State Director of Head 

24 Start Collaboration holds a position with sufficient 

25 authority and access to ensure that the collaboration 


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1 described in subparagraph (B) is effective and in2 volves a range of State agencies; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) involve the State Head Start Association 

4 in the selection of the Director and involve the Asso5 ciation in determinations relating to the ongoing di6 rection of the collaboration office. 

7 ‘‘(D) The State Director of Head Start Collaboration, 

8 reporting to the State Advisory Council described in sub9 paragraph (E), shall— 

10 ‘‘(i) not later than 1 year after the State re11 ceives a collaboration grant under subparagraph (B), 

12 conduct an assessment that— 

13 ‘‘(I) addresses the needs of Head Start 

14 agencies in the State with respect to collabora15 tion, coordination of services, and alignment of 

16 services with State early learning standards, as 

17 appropriate, and the Head Start Child Out18 comes Framework; 

19 ‘‘(II) shall be updated on an annual basis; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(III) shall be made available to the gen22 eral public within the State; 

23 ‘‘(ii) develop a strategic plan that is based on 

24 the assessment described in clause (i) that will— 


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1 ‘‘(I) enhance collaboration and coordina2 tion of Head Start services with other entities 

3 providing early childhood programs and services 

4 (such as child care or services offered by muse5 ums), health care, mental health care, welfare, 

6 child protective services, education and commu7 nity service activities, family literacy services, 

8 reading readiness programs (including such 

9 programs offered by public and school librar10 ies), services relating to children with disabil11 ities, other early childhood programs and serv12 ices for limited English proficient children and 

13 homeless children, and services provided for 

14 children in foster care and children referred to 

15 Head Start programs by child welfare agencies, 

16 including agencies and State officials respon17 sible for such services; 

18 ‘‘(II) assist Head Start agencies to develop 

19 a plan for the provision of full-working-day, full 

20 calendar year services for children enrolled in 

21 Head Start programs who need such care; 

22 ‘‘(III) assist Head Start agencies to align 

23 services with State early learning standards, as 

24 appropriate, and the Head Start Child Out25 comes Framework; and 


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1 ‘‘(IV) enable Head Start agencies in the 

2 State to better access professional development 

3 opportunities for Head Start staff, such as 

4 by— 

5 ‘‘(aa) working with local Head Start 

6 agencies to meet the degree requirements 

7 described in section 648A(a)(2)(A), includ8 ing providing distance learning opportuni9 ties for Head Start staff, where needed to 

10 make higher education more accessible to 

11 Head Start staff; and 

12 ‘‘(bb) enabling the State Head Start 

13 agencies to better conduct outreach to eli14 gible families; 

15 ‘‘(iii) promote partnerships between Head Start 

16 agencies, State and local governments, and the pri17 vate sector to help ensure that children from low-in18 come families, who are in Head Start programs or 

19 are preschool age, are receiving comprehensive serv20 ices to prepare the children to enter school ready to 

21 learn; 

22 ‘‘(iv) consult with the chief State school officer, 

23 local educational agencies, and providers of early 

24 childhood education and care, regarding early care 


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1 and education services at both the State and local 

2 levels; 

3 ‘‘(v) promote partnerships (such as the partner4 ships involved with the Free to Grow initiative) be5 tween Head Start agencies, schools, law enforce6 ment, relevant community-based organizations, and 

7 substance abuse and mental health treatment agen8 cies to strengthen family and community environ9 ments and to reduce the impact on child develop10 ment of substance abuse, child abuse, domestic vio11 lence, and other high risk behaviors that compromise 

12 healthy development; 

13 ‘‘(vi) promote partnerships between Head Start 

14 agencies and other organizations in order to enhance 

15 the Head Start curriculum, including partnerships 

16 to promote inclusion of more books in Head Start 

17 classrooms and partnerships to promote coordination 

18 of activities with the Ready-to-Learn Television pro19 gram carried out under subpart 3 of part D of title 

20 II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

21 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6775 et seq.); and 

22 ‘‘(vii) identify other resources and organizations 

23 (both public and private) for the provision of in-kind 

24 services to Head Start agencies in the State. 

25 ‘‘(E)(i) The Governor of the State shall— 


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1 ‘‘(I) designate or establish a council to serve as 

2 the State advisory council on collaboration on early 

3 care and education activities for children from birth 

4 to school entry (in this subchapter referred to as the 

5 ‘State Advisory Council’); and 

6 ‘‘(II) designate an individual to coordinate ac7 tivities of the State Advisory Council, as described in 

8 clause (iv)(I). 

9 ‘‘(ii) The Governor may designate an existing entity 

10 to serve as the State Advisory Council, if the entity in11 cludes representatives consistent with clause (iii). 

12 ‘‘(iii) Members of the State Advisory Council shall in13 clude, to the maximum extent possible— 

14 ‘‘(I) the State Director of Head Start Collabo15 ration; 

16 ‘‘(II) a representative of the appropriate re17 gional office of the Administration for Children and 

18 Families; 

19 ‘‘(III) a representative of the State educational 

20 agency and local educational agencies; 

21 ‘‘(IV) a representative of institutions of higher 

22 education; 

23 ‘‘(V) a representative (or representatives) of the 

24 State agency (or agencies) responsible for health or 

25 mental health care; 


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1 ‘‘(VI) a representative of the State agency re2 sponsible for professional standards, certification, 

3 and licensing for early childhood educators; 

4 ‘‘(VII) a representative of the State agency re5 sponsible for child care; 

6 ‘‘(VIII) early childhood educators, including 

7 professionals with expertise in second language ac8 quisition and instructional strategies in teaching lim9 ited English proficient children; 

10 ‘‘(IX) kindergarten teachers and teachers in 

11 grades 1 through 3; 

12 ‘‘(X) health care professionals; 

13 ‘‘(XI) child development specialists, including 

14 specialists in prenatal, infant, and toddler develop15 ment; 

16 ‘‘(XII) a representative of the State agency re17 sponsible for assisting children with developmental 

18 disabilities; 

19 ‘‘(XIII) a representative of the State agency re20 sponsible for programs under section 619 or part C 

21 of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 

22 (20 U.S.C. 1419, 1431 et seq.); 

23 ‘‘(XIV) a representative of the State inter24 agency coordinating councils established under secVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:25 Feb 16, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S556.IS S556

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1 tion 641 of the Individuals with Disabilities Edu2 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1441); 

3 ‘‘(XV) a representative of the State Head Start 

4 Association (where appropriate), and other rep5 resentatives of Head Start programs in the State; 

6 ‘‘(XVI) a representative of the State network of 

7 child care resource and referral agencies; 

8 ‘‘(XVII) a representative of community-based 

9 organizations; 

10 ‘‘(XVIII) a representative of State and local 

11 providers of early childhood education and child 

12 care; 

13 ‘‘(XIX) a representative of Indian Head Start 

14 programs (where appropriate) and a representative 

15 of migrant and seasonal Head Start programs 

16 (where appropriate); 

17 ‘‘(XX) parents; 

18 ‘‘(XXI) religious and business leaders; 

19 ‘‘(XXII) the head of the State library adminis20 trative agency; 

21 ‘‘(XXIII) representatives of State and local or22 ganizations and other entities providing professional 

23 development to early care and education providers; 


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1 ‘‘(XXIV) a representative from the Office of 

2 Coordinator for Education of Homeless Children and 

3 Youths in the State; 

4 ‘‘(XXV) a State legislator; and 

5 ‘‘(XXVI) a representative of other entities de6 termined to be relevant by the Governor of the 

7 State. 

8 ‘‘(iv)(I) The State Advisory Council shall be respon9 sible for, in addition to responsibilities assigned to the 

10 council by the Governor of the State— 

11 ‘‘(aa) conducting a periodic statewide needs as12 sessment concerning early care and education pro13 grams for children from birth to school entry; 

14 ‘‘(bb) identifying barriers to, and opportunities 

15 for, collaboration and coordination among entities 

16 carrying out federally-funded and State-funded child 

17 development, child care, and early childhood edu18 cation programs; 

19 ‘‘(cc) developing recommendations regarding 

20 means of establishing a unified data collection sys21 tem for early care and education programs through22 out the State; 

23 ‘‘(dd) developing a statewide professional devel24 opment and career ladder plan for early care and 

25 education in the State; 


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1 ‘‘(ee) reviewing and approving the strategic 

2 plan, regarding collaborating and coordinating serv3 ices to better serve children enrolled in Head Start 

4 programs, developed by the State Director of Head 

5 Start Collaboration under subparagraph (D)(iii); 

6 ‘‘(ff) assessing the availability of high quality 

7 prekindergarten services for low-income children in 

8 the State; 

9 ‘‘(gg) assisting 2- and 4-year public and private 

10 institutions of higher education to develop articula11 tion agreements; 

12 ‘‘(hh) awarding grants to assist institutions of 

13 higher education to develop model early childhood 

14 education programs, including practica or intern15 ships for students to spend time in a Head Start or 

16 prekindergarten program; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) undertaking collaborative efforts to de18 velop, and make recommendations for improvements 

19 in, State early learning standards. 

20 ‘‘(II) The State Advisory Council shall hold public 

21 hearings and provide an opportunity for public comment 

22 on the activities described in subclause (I). The State Ad23 visory Council shall submit a statewide strategic report ad24 dressing the activities described in subclause (I) to the 


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1 State Director of Head Start Collaboration and the Gov2 ernor of the State. 

3 ‘‘(III) After submission of a statewide strategic re4 port under subclause (II), the State Advisory Council shall 

5 meet periodically to review any implementation of the rec6 ommendations in such report and any changes in State 

7 and local needs. 

8 ‘‘(F)(i)(I) Prior to carrying out paragraph (4), the 

9 Secretary shall reserve a portion to carry out this subpara10 graph for a fiscal year. The Secretary shall reserve the 

11 portion from the amount (if any) by which the funds ap12 propriated under section 639(a) for the fiscal year exceed 

13 the adjusted prior year appropriation (as defined in para14 graph (3)(A)(ii)), without reducing the share available for 

15 quality improvement funds described in paragraph (3)(B). 

16 ‘‘(II) To the extent consistent with subclause (I), the 

17 Secretary shall reserve $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

18 Funds reserved under this subclause shall remain avail19 able for obligation through fiscal year 2012. 

20 ‘‘(ii) The Secretary shall use the portion reserved 

21 under clause (i) to award, on a competitive basis, one-time 

22 startup grants of not less than $500,000 to eligible States 

23 to enable such States to pay for the Federal share of the 

24 cost of further developing and implementing the rec25 ommendations and plans for which the State’s State AdviVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:25 Feb 16, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S556.IS S556

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1 sory Council is responsible under subparagraph (E)(iv)(I). 

2 Such grants shall— 

3 ‘‘(I) facilitate the development of high-quality 

4 systems of early care and early education programs 

5 and activities designed to improve school prepared6 ness; 

7 ‘‘(II) increase and make effective use of existing 

8 and new delivery systems and funds for early care 

9 and early education; and 

10 ‘‘(III) enhance existing early care and early 

11 education services (in existence on the date on which 

12 the grant involved is awarded). 

13 ‘‘(iii) To be eligible to receive a grant under this sub14 paragraph, a State shall prepare and submit to the Sec15 retary an application, for a 3-year period, at such time, 

16 in such manner, and containing such information as the 

17 Secretary shall require, including— 

18 ‘‘(I) a description of the State’s State Advisory 

19 Council’s responsibilities under subparagraph 

20 (E)(iv)(I); 

21 ‘‘(II) a description, for each fiscal year, of how 

22 the State will make effective use of funds available 

23 under this subparagraph, with funds described in 

24 clause (iv), to create an early childhood education 


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1 system, by developing or enhancing programs and 

2 activities described in subparagraph (E)(iv)(I); 

3 ‘‘(III) a description of the State early learning 

4 standards and the State’s goals for increasing the 

5 number of children entering kindergarten ready to 

6 learn; 

7 ‘‘(IV) information identifying the agency or 

8 joint interagency office and individual designated to 

9 carry out the activities under this subparagraph, 

10 which may be the individual designated under sub11 paragraph (E)(i)(II); and 

12 ‘‘(V) a description of how the State plans to 

13 sustain activities under this subparagraph beyond 

14 the grant period. 

15 ‘‘(iv) The Federal share of the cost described in 

16 clause (ii) shall be 30 percent, and the State shall provide 

17 the non-Federal share. 

18 ‘‘(v) Funds made available under this subparagraph 

19 shall be used to supplement, and not supplant, other Fed20 eral, State, and local funds expended to carry out activities 

21 related to early childhood education and care in the State. 

22 ‘‘(vi) Not later than 18 months after the date a State 

23 receives a grant under this subparagraph, the State shall 

24 submit an interim report to the Secretary. A State that 

25 receives a grant under this subparagraph shall submit a 


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1 final report to the Secretary at the end of the grant pe2 riod.’’; and 

3 (5) in paragraph (6)— 

4 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘7.5 

5 percent’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘not 

6 less than 12 percent for fiscal year 2008, not 

7 less than 14 percent for fiscal year 2009, not 

8 less than 16 percent for fiscal year 2010, not 

9 less than 18 percent for fiscal year 2011, and 

10 not less than 20 percent for fiscal year 2012, 

11 of the amount appropriated pursuant to section 

12 639(a).’’; 

13 (B) by striking subparagraph (B); 

14 (C) in subparagraph (C)(i), by striking 

15 ‘‘required to be’’ each place it appears; and 

16 (D) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 

17 subparagraph (B). 

18 (b) SERVICE DELIVERY MODELS.—Section 640(f) of 

19 the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9835(f)) is amended— 

20 (1) by striking ‘‘(f) The’’ and inserting ‘‘(f)(1) 

21 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

22 of the Head Start for School Readiness Act, the’’; 

23 (2) by striking ‘‘needs.’’ and inserting ‘‘needs, 

24 including models that leverage the capacity and caVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:25 Feb 16, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S556.IS S556

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1 pabilities of the delivery system of early childhood 

2 education and child care.’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(2) In establishing the procedures the Secretary 

5 shall establish procedures to provide for— 

6 ‘‘(A) the conversion of part-day programs to 

7 full-day programs or part-day slots to full-day slots; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(B) serving additional infants and toddlers 

10 pursuant to section 645(a)(5).’’. 

11 (c) ADDITIONAL FUNDS.—Section 640(g)(2) of the 

12 Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9835(g)(2)) is amended— 

13 (1) by striking subparagraph (C) and inserting 

14 the following: 

15 ‘‘(C) the extent to which the applicant has un16 dertaken communitywide strategic planning and 

17 needs assessments involving other community orga18 nizations and Federal, State, and local public agen19 cies serving children and families (including organi20 zations and agencies providing family support serv21 ices and protective services to children and families 

22 and organizations serving families in whose homes 

23 English is not the language customarily spoken), 

24 and individuals, organizations, and public entities 

25 serving children with disabilities, children in foster 


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1 care, and homeless children including the local edu2 cational agency liaison designated under section 

3 722(g)(1)(J)(ii) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless 

4 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii));’’; 

5 (2) in subparagraph (D)— 

6 (A) by striking ‘‘community’’ and inserting 

7 ‘‘communitywide’’; and 

8 (B) by striking ‘‘other local’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘the State and local’’; 

10 (3) in subparagraph (E), by inserting ‘‘would 

11 like to participate but’’ after ‘‘community who’’; 

12 (4) in subparagraph (G), by inserting ‘‘leverage 

13 the existing delivery systems of such services and’’ 

14 after ‘‘manner that will’’; and 

15 (5) in subparagraph (H), by inserting ‘‘, includ16 ing the local educational agency liaison designated 

17 under section 722(g)(1)(J)(ii) of the McKinney18 Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

19 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii)),’’ after ‘‘community involved’’. 

20 (d) VEHICLE SAFETY REQUIREMENTS.—Section 

21 640(i) of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9835(i)) is 

22 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘The regula23 tions shall also establish requirements to ensure the appro24 priate supervision of, and appropriate background checks 


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1 for, individuals with whom the agencies contract to trans2 port those children.’’. 

3 (e) MIGRANT AND SEASONAL HEAD START PRO4 GRAMS.—Section 640(l) of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 9835(l)) is amended by striking paragraph (3) and insert6 ing the following: 

7 ‘‘(3) In carrying out this subchapter, the Secretary 

8 shall continue the administrative arrangement at the na9 tional level for meeting the needs of Indian children and 

10 children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and shall 

11 ensure— 

12 ‘‘(A) that appropriate funding is provided to 

13 meet such needs, including training and technical as14 sistance provided by staff with knowledge of and ex15 perience in working with such populations; and 

16 ‘‘(B) the appointment of a national Indian 

17 Head Start collaboration director and a national mi18 grant and seasonal Head Start program collabora19 tion director. 

20 ‘‘(4)(A) For the purposes of paragraph (3), the Sec21 retary shall conduct an annual consultation in each af22 fected Head Start region, with tribal governments oper23 ating Head Start and Early Head Start programs. 

24 ‘‘(B) The consultations shall be for the purpose of 

25 better meeting the needs of American Indian and Alaska 


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1 Native children and families pertinent to subsection 

2 (a)(2)(A), taking into consideration funding allocations, 

3 distribution formulas, and other issues affecting the deliv4 ery of Head Start services within tribal communities. 

5 ‘‘(C) The Secretary shall publish a notification of the 

6 consultations in the Federal Register prior to conducting 

7 the consultations. 

8 ‘‘(D) A detailed report of each consultation shall be 

9 prepared and made available, on a timely basis, to all trib10 al governments receiving funds under this subchapter. 

11 ‘‘(5)(A) In order to increase access to Head Start 

12 services for children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers, 

13 the Secretary shall work in collaboration with providers 

14 of migrant and seasonal Head Start programs, the Sec15 retary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Labor, and the Sec16 retary of Education to— 

17 ‘‘(i) collect, report, and share data on farm18 workers and their families in order to adequately ac19 count for the number of children of migrant and 

20 seasonal farmworkers who are eligible for Head 

21 Start services and determine how many of such chil22 dren receive the services; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) identify barriers that prevent children of 

24 migrant and seasonal farmworkers who are eligible 

25 for Head Start services from accessing Head Start 


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1 services, and develop a plan for eliminating such 

2 barriers, including certain requirements relating to 

3 tracking, health records, and educational documents. 

4 ‘‘(B) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact5 ment of the Head Start for School Readiness Act, the Sec6 retary shall publish in the Federal Register a notice about 

7 how the Secretary plans to carry out the activities identi8 fied in subparagraph (A) and shall provide a period for 

9 public comment. To the extent practicable, the Secretary 

10 shall consider comments received before implementing any 

11 of the activities identified in subparagraph (A). 

12 ‘‘(C) Not later than 18 months after the date of en13 actment of the Head Start for School Readiness Act, the 

14 Secretary shall submit a report to the Committee on Edu15 cation and Labor of the House of Representatives and the 

16 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 

17 the Senate detailing how the Secretary plans to carry out 

18 the activities identified in subparagraph (A). 

19 ‘‘(D) The Secretary shall take appropriate caution to 

20 ensure the protection of the confidentiality of any person21 ally identifiable data, information, and records collected 

22 or maintained regarding children and families served by 

23 migrant and seasonal Head Start programs. 

24 ‘‘(E) Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed 

25 to authorize the development of a nationwide database of 


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1 personally identifiable data, information, or records on in2 dividuals involved in studies or other collections of data 

3 under this paragraph.’’. 

4 (f) HOMELESS CHILDREN.—Section 640 of the Head 

5 Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9835) is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following: 

7 ‘‘(m) ENROLLMENT OF HOMELESS CHILDREN.—The 

8 Secretary shall issue regulations to remove barriers to the 

9 enrollment and participation of homeless children in Head 

10 Start programs. Such regulations shall require Head Start 

11 agencies to— 

12 ‘‘(1) implement policies and procedures to en13 sure that homeless children are identified and re14 ceive appropriate priority for enrollment; 

15 ‘‘(2) allow homeless children to apply to, enroll 

16 in, and attend Head Start programs while required 

17 documents, such as proof of residency, proof of im18 munization, and other medical records, birth certifi19 cates, and other documents, are obtained within a 

20 reasonable timeframe; and 

21 ‘‘(3) coordinate individual Head Start programs 

22 with efforts to implement subtitle B of title VII of 

23 the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 

24 U.S.C. 11431 et seq.). 


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1 ‘‘(n) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sub2 chapter shall be construed to require a State to establish 

3 a program of early education for children in the State, 

4 to require any child to participate in a program of early 

5 education in order to attend preschool, or to participate 

6 in any initial screening prior to participation in such pro7 gram, except as provided under section 612(a)(3) of the 

8 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 

9 1412(a)(3)) and consistent with section 635(a)(5) of such 

10 Act (20 U.S.C. 1435(a)(5)). 

11 ‘‘(o) CURRICULA.—All curricula funded under this 

12 subchapter shall be scientifically based, developmentally 

13 and linguistically based (to the extent practicable), and 

14 age appropriate. The curricula shall reflect all areas of 

15 child development and learning. Parents shall have the op16 portunity to examine any such curricula or instructional 

17 materials funded under this subchapter.’’. 

18 SEC. 7. DESIGNATION OF HEAD START AGENCIES. 

19 Section 641 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9836) 

20 is amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 641. DESIGNATION OF HEAD START AGENCIES. 

22 ‘‘(a) DESIGNATION.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized 

24 to designate as a Head Start agency any local public 

25 or private nonprofit or for-profit agency, within a 


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1 community, including a community-based organiza2 tion that— 

3 ‘‘(A) has power and authority to carry out 

4 the purpose of this subchapter and perform the 

5 functions set forth in section 642 within a com6 munity; and 

7 ‘‘(B) is determined to have the capacity to 

8 plan, conduct, administer, and evaluate, either 

9 directly or by other arrangements, a Head Start 

10 program. 

11 ‘‘(2) REQUIRED GOALS FOR DESIGNATION.—In 

12 order to be designated as a Head Start agency, an 

13 entity described in paragraph (1) shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) establish program goals for improving 

15 the school readiness of children participating in 

16 a program under this subchapter, including 

17 goals for meeting the performance standards 

18 and additional educational standards described 

19 in section 641A and shall establish results20 based school readiness goals that are aligned 

21 with the Head Start Child Outcomes Frame22 work, State early learning standards (as appro23 priate), and requirements and expectations for 

24 local public schools; and 

25 ‘‘(B) have a governing body— 


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1 ‘‘(i) with legal and fiscal responsibility 

2 for administering and overseeing programs 

3 under this subchapter; 

4 ‘‘(ii) that fully participates in the de5 velopment, planning, and evaluation of the 

6 programs to ensure the operation of pro7 grams of high quality; 

8 ‘‘(iii) that is responsible for ensuring 

9 compliance with Federal laws and regula10 tions, including the performance standards 

11 described in section 641A, as well as appli12 cable State, tribal, and local laws and reg13 ulations, including laws defining the nature 

14 and operations of the governing body; and 

15 ‘‘(iv) that has procedures to facilitate 

16 meaningful consultation and collaboration 

17 about decisions of the governing body and 

18 the policy council established under para19 graph (3). 

20 ‘‘(3) ESTABLISHMENT OF POLICY COUNCIL

21 UPON DESIGNATION.—Upon receiving designation as 

22 a Head Start agency, the agency shall establish a 

23 policy council that— 

24 ‘‘(A) in accordance with paragraph (5)(C), 

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1 acter of programs consistent with paragraph 

2 (5)(F); and 

3 ‘‘(B) with the governing body, shall estab4 lish processes to resolve internal disputes. 

5 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBILITY FOR SUBSEQUENT GRANTS.— 

6 In order to receive a grant under this subchapter 

7 subsequent to the initial grant provided following the 

8 date of enactment of the Head Start for School 

9 Readiness Act, an entity described in paragraph (1) 

10 shall demonstrate that the entity has met or is mak11 ing progress toward meeting the goals described in 

12 paragraph (2)(A). 

13 ‘‘(5) GOVERNING BODY AND POLICY COUN14 CIL.— 

15 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT OF GOVERNING

16 BODY.—Each Head Start agency shall establish 

17 a governing body in accordance with paragraph 

18 (2)(B). 

19 ‘‘(B) COMPOSITION OF GOVERNING

20 BODY.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The governing 

22 body shall be composed as follows: 

23 ‘‘(I) Not less than 1 member of 

24 the governing body shall have a back25 ground in fiscal management. 


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1 ‘‘(II) Not less than 1 member of 

2 the governing body shall have a back3 ground in early childhood develop4 ment. 

5 ‘‘(III) Not less than 1 member of 

6 the governing body shall be a licensed 

7 attorney familiar with issues that 

8 come before the governing body. 

9 ‘‘(IV) Additional members shall 

10 reflect the community to be served, 

11 and include parents of children who 

12 are currently, or were formerly, en13 rolled in Head Start programs. 

14 ‘‘(V) In the case in which the 

15 governing body is a part of a Head 

16 Start agency that is a public agency, 

17 members of the governing body shall 

18 include elected or appointed public of19 ficials. 

20 ‘‘(ii) CONSULTANTS.—In the case that 

21 persons described in clause (i) are not 

22 available to serve as members of the gov23 erning body, the governing body shall 

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1 scribed in clause (i) to work directly with 

2 the governing body. 

3 ‘‘(iii) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.— 

4 Members of the governing body shall— 

5 ‘‘(I) not have a conflict of inter6 est with the Head Start agency or del7 egate agencies; and 

8 ‘‘(II) not receive compensation 

9 for the purposes of serving on the 

10 governing body or for providing serv11 ices to the Head Start agency. 

12 ‘‘(C) RESPONSIBILITIES OF GOVERNING

13 BODY.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The governing 

15 body shall be responsible for— 

16 ‘‘(I) the selection of delegate 

17 agencies and such agencies’ service 

18 areas; 

19 ‘‘(II) establishing procedures and 

20 criteria for recruitment, selection, and 

21 enrollment; 

22 ‘‘(III) all funding applications 

23 and amendments to funding applica24 tions for programs under this sub25 chapter; 


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1 ‘‘(IV) establishing procedures 

2 and guidelines to access and collect 

3 the information described in para4 graph (6); 

5 ‘‘(V) review and approval of— 

6 ‘‘(aa) the annual self-assess7 ment, financial audit, and find8 ings from the Federal monitoring 

9 review, of the Head Start agency 

10 or delegate agency; and 

11 ‘‘(bb) such agency’s progress 

12 in carrying out the programmatic 

13 and fiscal intent of such agency’s 

14 grant application; 

15 ‘‘(VI) developing procedures for 

16 how members of the policy council of 

17 the Head Start agency are selected, 

18 consistent with subparagraph (E)(ii); 

19 ‘‘(VII) financial audits, account20 ing, and reporting; 

21 ‘‘(VIII) personnel policies and 

22 procedures regarding hiring, termi23 nation, salary scales (and changes 

24 made to the scale), and salaries of the 

25 Executive Director, Head Start DirecVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:25 Feb 16, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S556.IS S556

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1 tor, the Director of Human Re2 sources, the Chief Fiscal Officer, and 

3 any equivalent position; and 

4 ‘‘(IX) review and approval of the 

5 community assessment, including any 

6 updates to such assessment. 

7 ‘‘(ii) CONDUCT OF RESPONSIBIL8 ITIES.—The governing body shall ensure 

9 the development and approval of an inter10 nal control structure to facilitate those re11 sponsibilities in order to— 

12 ‘‘(I) safeguard Federal funds; 

13 ‘‘(II) comply with laws and regu14 lations that have an impact on finan15 cial statements; 

16 ‘‘(III) detect or prevent non17 compliance with this subchapter; and 

18 ‘‘(IV) receive financial audit re19 ports and direct and monitor staff im20 plementation of corrective actions. 

21 ‘‘(iii) COMMITTEES.—The governing 

22 body shall, to the extent practicable and 

23 appropriate, establish— 

24 ‘‘(I) advisory committees to over25 see responsibilities related to financial 


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1 auditing and finances of the Head 

2 Start agency, as well as compliance 

3 with Federal, State, and local laws 

4 and regulations; and 

5 ‘‘(II) at the discretion of the gov6 erning body, additional advisory com7 mittees to study and make rec8 ommendations on areas related to the 

9 improvement of the Head Start pro10 gram. 

11 ‘‘(D) ESTABLISHMENT OF POLICY COUN12 CIL.—Each Head Start agency shall establish a 

13 policy council in accordance with paragraph (3). 

14 ‘‘(E) COMPOSITION OF POLICY COUNCIL.— 

15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The policy council 

16 shall consist of— 

17 ‘‘(I) parents of children currently 

18 enrolled in the Head Start agency or 

19 delegate agency’s programs, which 

20 shall constitute a majority of the 

21 membership of the policy council; and 

22 ‘‘(II) members at large of the 

23 community served by the Head Start 

24 agency, which may include parents of 

25 children previously enrolled in the 


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1 Head Start agency or delegate agen2 cy’s programs. 

3 ‘‘(ii) SELECTION.—Parents serving on 

4 the policy council shall be elected by par5 ents of children currently enrolled in the 

6 Head Start agency or delegate agency’s 

7 programs and shall represent, proportion8 ately, all program options and settings op9 erated by the Head Start agency or dele10 gate agency. 

11 ‘‘(iii) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.— 

12 Members of the policy council shall— 

13 ‘‘(I) not have a conflict of inter14 est with the Head Start agency or del15 egate agencies; and 

16 ‘‘(II) not receive compensation 

17 for serving on the policy council or for 

18 providing services to the Head Start 

19 agency. 

20 ‘‘(F) RESPONSIBILITIES OF POLICY COUN21 CIL.—The policy council shall be responsible 

22 for— 

23 ‘‘(i) program planning, including— 

24 ‘‘(I) program design, including 

25 long- and short-term program goals, 


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1 all funding applications and amend2 ments to funding applications, and ob3 jectives based on the annual com4 munitywide assessment and self-as5 sessment; 

6 ‘‘(II) program recruitment, selec7 tion, and enrollment priorities; and 

8 ‘‘(III) budget planning for pro9 gram expenditures consistent with 

10 subparagraph (C)(i)(VII), including 

11 polices for reimbursement and partici12 pation in policy council activities; 

13 ‘‘(ii) program operation consistent 

14 with subparagraph (C)(i)(VIII), including 

15 implementation of standards of conduct for 

16 program staff, contractors, and volunteers 

17 and criteria for the employment and dis18 missal of program staff; and 

19 ‘‘(iii) activities to support the active 

20 involvement of parents in supporting pro21 gram operations, including policies to en22 sure that the Head Start program is re23 sponsive to community and parent needs. 

24 ‘‘(6) INFORMATION SHARING.—The governing 

25 body and the policy council shall share with each 


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1 other regular and accurate information for use by 

2 both entities about program planning, policies, and 

3 Head Start agency operations, including— 

4 ‘‘(A) monthly financial statements (includ5 ing detailed credit card account expenditures 

6 for any employee with a Head Start agency 

7 credit card or who seeks reimbursement for 

8 charged expenses); 

9 ‘‘(B) monthly program information sum10 maries; 

11 ‘‘(C) program enrollment reports, including 

12 attendance reports for children whose care is 

13 partially subsidized by another public agency; 

14 ‘‘(D) monthly reports of meals and snacks 

15 provided through programs of the Department 

16 of Agriculture; 

17 ‘‘(E) the financial audit; 

18 ‘‘(F) the annual self-assessment, including 

19 any findings related to the annual self-assess20 ment; 

21 ‘‘(G) the community assessment of the 

22 Head Start agency’s service area and any appli23 cable updates; 

24 ‘‘(H) communication and guidance from 

25 the Secretary; and 


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1 ‘‘(I) the program information reports. 

2 ‘‘(7) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

3 Appropriate training and technical assistance shall 

4 be provided to the members of the governing body 

5 and the policy council to ensure that the members 

6 understand the information the members receive and 

7 can effectively oversee and participate in the pro8 grams of the Head Start agency. 

9 ‘‘(b) COMMUNITIES.—For purposes of this sub10 chapter, a community may be a city, county, or multicity 

11 or multicounty unit within a State, an Indian reservation 

12 (including Indians in any off-reservation area designated 

13 by an appropriate tribal government in consultation with 

14 the Secretary), or a neighborhood or other area (irrespec15 tive of boundaries or political subdivisions) that provides 

16 a suitable organizational base and possesses the com17 monality of interest needed to operate a Head Start pro18 gram. 

19 ‘‘(c) REDESIGNATION.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In administering the provi21 sions of this section, the Secretary shall, in consulta22 tion with the Governor of the State involved, redes23 ignate as a Head Start agency any Head Start agen24 cy or delegate agency that is high performing, as de25 termined by meeting each of the following criteria: 


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1 ‘‘(A) Is receiving assistance under this sub2 chapter. 

3 ‘‘(B) Meets or exceeds program and finan4 cial management requirements or standards de5 scribed in section 641A(a)(1). 

6 ‘‘(C) Has no unresolved deficiencies, in7 cluding having resolved any deficiencies found 

8 during the last triennial review under section 

9 641A(c). 

10 ‘‘(D) Can demonstrate, through agree11 ments such as memoranda of understanding, 

12 active collaboration with the State or local com13 munity in the provision of services for children 

14 (such as the provision of extended day services, 

15 education, professional development and train16 ing for staff, and other types of cooperative en17 deavors). 

18 ‘‘(E) Completes and submits the appro19 priate reapplication forms as required by the 

20 Secretary. 

21 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—A Head Start agency with 

22 a triennial review under section 641A(c) scheduled 

23 not later than 18 months after the date of enact24 ment of the Head Start for School Readiness Act 

25 shall not be subject to the criteria described in paraVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:25 Feb 16, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S556.IS S556

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1 graph (1) for that review in order to be redesig2 nated. The Head Start agency shall be subject to the 

3 criteria for any subsequent triennial review. 

4 ‘‘(d) DESIGNATION WHEN NO ENTITY IS REDESIG5 NATED.—If no entity in a community is redesignated ac6 cording to subsection (c), the Secretary shall, after con7 ducting an open competition, designate a Head Start 

8 agency from among qualified applicants in such commu9 nity. 

10 ‘‘(e) PROHIBITION AGAINST NON-INDIAN HEAD

11 START AGENCY RECEIVING A GRANT FOR AN INDIAN

12 HEAD START PROGRAM.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

14 provision of law except as provided in paragraph (2), 

15 under no condition may a non-Indian Head Start 

16 agency receive a grant to carry out an Indian Head 

17 Start program. 

18 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—In a community in which 

19 there is no Indian Head Start agency available for 

20 designation to carry out an Indian Head Start pro21 gram, a non-Indian Head Start agency may receive 

22 a grant to carry out an Indian Head Start program 

23 but only until such time as an Indian Head Start 

24 agency in such community becomes available and is 

25 designated pursuant to this section. 


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1 ‘‘(f) EFFECTIVENESS.—In selecting from among 

2 qualified applicants for designation as a Head Start agen3 cy, the Secretary shall consider the effectiveness of each 

4 such applicant to provide Head Start services, based on— 

5 ‘‘(1) any past performance of such applicant in 

6 providing services comparable to Head Start serv7 ices, including how effectively such applicant pro8 vided such comparable services; 

9 ‘‘(2) the plan of such applicant to provide com10 prehensive health, educational, nutritional, social, 

11 and other services needed to aid participating chil12 dren in attaining their full potential, and to prepare 

13 children to succeed in school; 

14 ‘‘(3) the capacity of such applicant to serve eli15 gible children with programs that use scientifically 

16 based research that promote school readiness of chil17 dren participating in the program; 

18 ‘‘(4) the plan of such applicant to meet stand19 ards set forth in section 641A(a)(1), with particular 

20 attention to the standards set forth in subpara21 graphs (A) and (B) of such section; 

22 ‘‘(5) the plan of such applicant to coordinate 

23 the Head Start program the applicant proposes to 

24 carry out with other preschool programs, includ25 ing— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the Early Reading First and Even 

2 Start programs under subparts 2 and 3 of part 

3 B of title I of the Elementary and Secondary 

4 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6371 et seq., 

5 6381 et seq.); 

6 ‘‘(B) other preschool program under title I 

7 of that Act (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.); 

8 ‘‘(C) programs under section 619 and part 

9 C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education 

10 Act (20 U.S.C. 1419, 1431 et seq.); 

11 ‘‘(D) State prekindergarten programs; 

12 ‘‘(E) child care programs; 

13 ‘‘(F) the educational programs that the 

14 children in the Head Start program involved 

15 will enter at the age of compulsory school at16 tendance; and 

17 ‘‘(G) reading readiness programs such as 

18 those conducted by public and school libraries; 

19 ‘‘(6) the plan of such applicant to coordinate 

20 the Head Start program that the applicant proposes 

21 to carry out with public and private entities who are 

22 willing to commit resources to assist the Head Start 

23 program in meeting its program needs; 


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1 ‘‘(7) the plan of such applicant to collaborate 

2 with a local library, where available, that is inter3 ested in that collaboration, to— 

4 ‘‘(A) develop innovative programs to excite 

5 children about the world of books, such as pro6 grams that involve— 

7 ‘‘(i) taking children to the library for 

8 a story hour; 

9 ‘‘(ii) promoting the use of library 

10 cards; 

11 ‘‘(iii) developing a lending library or 

12 using a mobile library van; and 

13 ‘‘(iv) providing fresh books in the 

14 Head Start classroom on a regular basis; 

15 ‘‘(B) assist in literacy training for Head 

16 Start teachers; and 

17 ‘‘(C) support parents and other caregivers 

18 in literacy efforts; 

19 ‘‘(8) the plan of such applicant— 

20 ‘‘(A) to seek the involvement of parents of 

21 participating children in activities (at home and 

22 in the center involved where practicable) de23 signed to help such parents become full part24 ners in the education of their children; 


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1 ‘‘(B) to afford such parents the oppor2 tunity to participate in the development and 

3 overall conduct of the program at the local 

4 level, including through providing transpor5 tation costs; 

6 ‘‘(C) to offer (directly or through referral 

7 to local entities, such as entities carrying out 

8 Even Start programs under subpart 3 of part 

9 B of title I of the Elementary and Secondary 

10 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6381 et 

11 seq.), public and school libraries, and entities 

12 carrying out family support programs) to such 

13 parents— 

14 ‘‘(i) family literacy services; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) parenting skills training; 

16 ‘‘(D) to offer to parents of participating 

17 children substance abuse counseling (either di18 rectly or through referral to local entities), in19 cluding information on the effect of drug expo20 sure on infants and fetal alcohol syndrome; 

21 ‘‘(E) at the option of such applicant, to 

22 offer (directly or through referral to local enti23 ties) to such parents— 

24 ‘‘(i) training in basic child develop25 ment (including cognitive development); 


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1 ‘‘(ii) assistance in developing literacy 

2 and communication skills; 

3 ‘‘(iii) opportunities to share experi4 ences with other parents (including parent 

5 mentor relationships); 

6 ‘‘(iv) regular in-home visitation; or 

7 ‘‘(v) any other activity designed to 

8 help such parents become full partners in 

9 the education of their children; 

10 ‘‘(F) to provide, with respect to each par11 ticipating family, a family needs assessment 

12 that includes consultation with such parents 

13 about the benefits of parent involvement and 

14 about the activities described in subparagraphs 

15 (C), (D), and (E) in which such parents may 

16 choose to become involved (taking into consider17 ation their specific family needs, work sched18 ules, and other responsibilities); and 

19 ‘‘(G) to extend outreach to fathers, in ap20 propriate cases, in order to strengthen the role 

21 of fathers in families, in the education of their 

22 young children, and in the Head Start program, 

23 by working directly with fathers and father fig24 ures through activities such as— 


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1 ‘‘(i) in appropriate cases, including fa2 thers in home visits and providing opportu3 nities for direct father-child interactions; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(ii) targeting increased male partici6 pation in the conduct of the program; 

7 ‘‘(9) the ability of such applicant to carry out 

8 the plans described in paragraphs (2), (4), and (5); 

9 ‘‘(10) other factors related to the requirements 

10 of this subchapter; 

11 ‘‘(11) the plan of such applicant to meet the 

12 needs of limited English proficient children and their 

13 families, including procedures to identify such chil14 dren, plans to provide trained personnel, and plans 

15 to provide services to assist the children in making 

16 progress toward the acquisition of the English lan17 guage; 

18 ‘‘(12) the plan of such applicant to meet the 

19 needs of children with disabilities; 

20 ‘‘(13) the plan of such applicant who chooses to 

21 assist younger siblings of children who will partici22 pate in the Head Start program, to obtain health 

23 services from other sources; 


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1 ‘‘(14) the plan of such applicant to collaborate 

2 with other entities carrying out early childhood edu3 cation and child care programs in the community; 

4 ‘‘(15) the plan of such applicant to meet the 

5 needs of homeless children and children in foster 

6 care, including the transportation needs of such chil7 dren; and 

8 ‘‘(16) the plan of such applicant to recruit and 

9 retain qualified staff. 

10 ‘‘(g) INTERIM BASIS.—If there is not a qualified ap11 plicant in a community for designation as a Head Start 

12 agency, the Secretary shall designate a qualified agency 

13 to carry out the Head Start program in the community 

14 on an interim basis until a qualified applicant from the 

15 community is so designated. 

16 ‘‘(h) INVOLVEMENT OF PARENTS AND AREA RESI17 DENTS.—The Secretary shall continue the practice of in18 volving parents and area residents who are affected by 

19 programs under this subchapter in the selection of quali20 fied applicants for designation as Head Start agencies. 

21 ‘‘(i) PRIORITY.—In selecting from among qualified 

22 applicants for designation as a Head Start agency, the 

23 Secretary shall give priority to applicants that have dem24 onstrated capacity in providing effective, comprehensive, 


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1 and well-coordinated early childhood services to children 

2 and their families.’’. 

3 SEC. 8. QUALITY STANDARDS; MONITORING OF HEAD 

4 START AGENCIES AND PROGRAMS. 

5 Section 641A of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 9836a) is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (a)— 

8 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking 

9 ‘‘642(d)’’ and inserting ‘‘642(c)’’; 

10 (B) in paragraph (1)(B)— 

11 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘edu12 cation performance standards’’ and insert13 ing ‘‘educational performance standards’’; 

14 and 

15 (ii) by striking clause (ii) and insert16 ing the following: 

17 ‘‘(ii) additional educational standards 

18 based on the recommendations of the National 

19 Academy of Sciences panel described in section 

20 649(h) and other experts in the field, to ensure 

21 that the curriculum involved addresses, and 

22 that the children participating in the program 

23 show appropriate progress toward developing 

24 and applying, the recommended educational 

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1 priateness of additional educational standards 

2 relating to— 

3 ‘‘(I) language skills related to listen4 ing, understanding, speaking, and commu5 nicating; 

6 ‘‘(II) pre-literacy knowledge and 

7 skills; 

8 ‘‘(III) premathematics knowledge and 

9 skills; 

10 ‘‘(IV) scientific abilities; 

11 ‘‘(V) general cognitive abilities related 

12 to academic achievement and child develop13 ment; 

14 ‘‘(VI) social and emotional develop15 ment related to early learning and school 

16 success; 

17 ‘‘(VII) physical development; and 

18 ‘‘(VIII) in the case of limited English 

19 proficient children, progress toward acqui20 sition of the English language (which may 

21 include progress made with linguistically 

22 appropriate instructional services) while 

23 making meaningful progress in attaining 

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1 ment described in subclauses (I) through 

2 (VII);’’; 

3 (C) in paragraph (1)(D), by striking 

4 ‘‘projects; and’’ and inserting ‘‘projects, includ5 ing regulations that require that the facilities 

6 used by Head Start agencies (including Early 

7 Head Start agencies) and delegate agencies for 

8 regularly scheduled center-based and combina9 tion program option classroom activities— 

10 ‘‘(i) shall be in compliance with State 

11 and local requirements concerning licensing 

12 for such facilities; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) shall be accessible by State and 

14 local authorities for purposes of monitoring 

15 and ensuring compliance; and’’; 

16 (D) in paragraph (2)— 

17 (i) in subparagraph (B)— 

18 (I) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘the 

19 date of enactment of this section’’ and 

20 inserting ‘‘the date of enactment of 

21 the Head Start for School Readiness 

22 Act’’; 

23 (II) in clause (ii), by striking 

24 ‘‘the date of enactment of this Act’’ 

25 and inserting ‘‘the date of enactment 


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1 of the Head Start for School Readi2 ness Act’’; 

3 (III) in clause (iii), by inserting 

4 ‘‘homeless children, children in foster 

5 care,’’ after ‘‘children with disabil6 ities,’’; 

7 (IV) in clause (vi), by striking 

8 ‘‘including the language’’ and all that 

9 follows and inserting ‘‘including 

10 changes in the language background 

11 and family structure of such children, 

12 and changes in the population and 

13 number of such children who are in 

14 foster care or are homeless children;’’; 

15 (V) by striking clause (vii) and 

16 inserting the following: 

17 ‘‘(vii) the unique challenges faced by 

18 individual programs, including those pro19 grams that are seasonal or short term and 

20 those programs that serve rural popu21 lations;’’; 

22 (ii) in subparagraph (C)(ii), by strik23 ing ‘‘the date of enactment of the Coats 

24 Human Services Reauthorization Act of 

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1 ment of the Head Start for School Readi2 ness Act; and’’; and 

3 (iii) by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(D) consult with Indian tribes, American 

6 Indian and Alaska Native experts in early child7 hood development, linguists, and the National 

8 Indian Head Start Directors Association on the 

9 review and promulgation of program standards 

10 and measures (including standards and meas11 ures for language acquisition and school readi12 ness).’’; 

13 (E) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(4) EVALUATIONS AND CORRECTIVE ACTIONS

15 FOR DELEGATE AGENCIES.— 

16 ‘‘(A) PROCEDURES.— 

17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 

18 (ii), the Head Start agency shall establish 

19 procedures relating to its delegate agen20 cies, including— 

21 ‘‘(I) procedures for evaluating 

22 delegate agencies; 

23 ‘‘(II) procedures for defunding 

24 delegate agencies; and 


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1 ‘‘(III) procedures for appealing a 

2 defunding decision relating to a dele3 gate agency. 

4 ‘‘(ii) TERMINATION.—The Head Start 

5 agency may not terminate a delegate agen6 cy’s contract or reduce a delegate agency’s 

7 service area without showing cause or dem8 onstrating the cost-effectiveness of such a 

9 decision. 

10 ‘‘(B) EVALUATIONS.—Each Head Start 

11 agency— 

12 ‘‘(i) shall evaluate its delegate agen13 cies using the procedures established pur14 suant to this section, including subpara15 graph (A); and 

16 ‘‘(ii) shall inform the delegate agen17 cies of the deficiencies identified through 

18 the evaluation that shall be corrected. 

19 ‘‘(C) REMEDIES TO ENSURE CORRECTIVE

20 ACTIONS.—In the event that the Head Start 

21 agency identifies a deficiency for a delegate 

22 agency through the evaluation, the Head Start 

23 agency shall take action, which may include— 


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1 ‘‘(i) initiating procedures to terminate 

2 the designation of the agency unless the 

3 agency corrects the deficiency; 

4 ‘‘(ii) conducting monthly monitoring 

5 visits to such delegate agency until all defi6 ciencies are corrected or the Head Start 

7 agency decides to defund such delegate 

8 agency; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) releasing funds to such delegate 

10 agency— 

11 ‘‘(I) only as reimbursements, 

12 until all deficiencies are corrected or 

13 the Head Start agency decides to 

14 defund such delegate agency; and 

15 ‘‘(II) only if there is continuity of 

16 services for children and families. 

17 ‘‘(D) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 

18 in this paragraph shall be construed to impact 

19 or obviate the responsibilities of the Secretary 

20 with respect to Head Start agencies or delegate 

21 agencies receiving funding under this sub22 chapter.’’; 

23 (2) in subsection (b)— 

24 (A) in paragraph (2)— 


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1 (i) by striking the paragraph heading 

2 and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(2) CHARACTERISTICS AND USE OF MEAS4 URES.—’’; 

5 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

6 ‘‘, not later than July 1, 1999; and’’ and 

7 inserting a semicolon; 

8 (iii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

9 the period and inserting a semicolon; 

10 (iv) by striking the flush matter fol11 lowing subparagraph (C); and 

12 (v) by adding at the end the following: 

13 ‘‘(D) measure characteristics that are 

14 strongly predictive (as determined on a sci15 entific basis) of a child’s school readiness and 

16 later performance in school; 

17 ‘‘(E) be appropriate for the population 

18 served; and 

19 ‘‘(F) be reviewed not less than every 4 

20 years, based on advances in the science of early 

21 childhood development. 

22 The performance measures shall be issued by regula23 tion and shall include the performance standards 

24 and additional educational standards described in 


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1 subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (a)(1).’’; 

2 and 

3 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

4 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘; 

5 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

6 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

7 the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (iii) by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(C) to enable Head Start agencies to indi11 vidualize programs of instruction to better meet 

12 the needs of the child involved.’’; 

13 (3) in subsection (c)— 

14 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

15 (i) by striking subparagraph (C) and 

16 inserting the following: 

17 ‘‘(C) Unannounced site inspections of 

18 Head Start programs for health and safety rea19 sons, as appropriate.’’; 

20 (ii) by redesignating subparagraph 

21 (D) as subparagraph (E); and 

22 (iii) by inserting after subparagraph 

23 (C) the following: 

24 ‘‘(D) Notwithstanding subparagraph (C), 

25 followup reviews, including— 


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1 ‘‘(i) prompt return visits as necessary 

2 to agencies and programs that fail to meet 

3 1 or more of the performance measures de4 veloped by the Secretary under subsection 

5 (b); 

6 ‘‘(ii) a review of programs with cita7 tions that include findings of deficiencies 

8 not later than 6 months after the date of 

9 such citation; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) followup reviews that incor11 porate a monitoring visit without prior no12 tice of the visit to the agency involved or 

13 with such limited prior notice as is nec14 essary to ensure the participation of par15 ents and key staff members.’’; and 

16 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert17 ing the following: 

18 ‘‘(2) CONDUCT OF REVIEWS.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

20 ensure that reviews described in paragraph 

21 (1)— 

22 ‘‘(i) are performed, to the maximum 

23 extent practicable, by employees of the De24 partment of Health and Human Services 


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1 who are knowledgeable about Head Start 

2 programs; 

3 ‘‘(ii) are conducted by review teams 

4 that shall include individuals who are 

5 knowledgeable about Head Start and other 

6 early childhood education programs and, to 

7 the maximum extent practicable, the di8 verse (including linguistic and cultural) 

9 needs of eligible children (including chil10 dren with disabilities, homeless children, 

11 and children in foster care) and limited 

12 English proficient children and their fami13 lies, and personnel management, financial 

14 accountability, and systems development 

15 and monitoring; 

16 ‘‘(iii) include as part of the reviews of 

17 the programs, a review and assessment of 

18 program effectiveness, including strengths 

19 and weaknesses, as measured in accord20 ance with the results-based performance 

21 measures developed by the Secretary pur22 suant to subsection (b) and with the stand23 ards established pursuant to subpara24 graphs (A) and (B) of subsection (a)(1); 


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1 ‘‘(iv) seek information from the com2 munities and States where Head Start pro3 grams exist about innovative or effective 

4 collaborative efforts, barriers to collabora5 tion, and the efforts of the Head Start 

6 agencies to collaborate with the entities 

7 carrying out early childhood education and 

8 child care programs in the community; 

9 ‘‘(v) include as part of the reviews of 

10 the programs, a review and assessment of 

11 whether the programs are in conformity 

12 with the income eligibility requirements 

13 under section 645 and regulations promul14 gated under such section; 

15 ‘‘(vi) include as part of the reviews of 

16 the programs, a review and assessment of 

17 whether programs have adequately ad18 dressed population and community needs 

19 (including needs of populations of limited 

20 English proficient children and children of 

21 migrant and seasonal farmworking fami22 lies); 

23 ‘‘(vii) include as part of the reviews of 

24 the programs, a review and assessment of 

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1 dressed the needs of children with disabil2 ities; 

3 ‘‘(viii) include as part of the reviews 

4 of the programs, data from the results of 

5 periodic child assessments, and a review 

6 and assessment of child outcomes and per7 formance as they relate to agency-deter8 mined school readiness goals described in 

9 section 641(a)(2)(A); and 

10 ‘‘(ix) in the case of Early Head Start 

11 programs, are conducted by a review team 

12 that includes individuals who are knowl13 edgeable about the development of infants 

14 and toddlers. 

15 ‘‘(B) TRAINING; QUALITY AND CONSIST16 ENCY.—The Secretary, from funds available 

17 under section 640(a)(2)(C)(ii), shall provide 

18 periodic training for supervisors and members 

19 of review teams in such topics as program man20 agement and financial audit performance. The 

21 Secretary shall ensure the quality and consist22 ency across and within regions of reviews and 

23 non-compliance and deficiency determinations 

24 by conducting periodic interrater reliability 

25 checks.’’; 


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1 (4) in subsection (d)(1)— 

2 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

3 (A), by inserting ‘‘or fails to address the com4 munitywide strategic plan and needs assessment 

5 identified in section 640(g)(2)(C),’’ after ‘‘sub6 section (b),’’; and 

7 (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 

8 ‘‘and identify the technical assistance to be pro9 vided consistent with paragraph (3)’’ after ‘‘cor10 rected’’; 

11 (5) in subsection (e), by striking the last sen12 tence and inserting ‘‘The information contained in 

13 such report shall be made available to all parents 

14 with children receiving assistance under this sub15 chapter in an understandable and uniform format, 

16 and to the extent practicable, in a language that the 

17 parents can understand. Such information shall be 

18 made widely available through public means such as 

19 distribution through public agencies, and, at a min20 imum, by posting such information on the Internet 

21 immediately upon publication.’’; and 

22 (6) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(f) SELF-ASSESSMENTS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than 

25 once each program year, with the consultation and 


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1 participation of policy councils, and, as applicable, 

2 policy committees, and, as appropriate, other com3 munity members, each agency receiving funds under 

4 this subchapter shall conduct a comprehensive self5 assessment of the effectiveness and progress in 

6 meeting program goals and objectives and in imple7 menting and complying with Head Start program 

8 performance standards. 

9 ‘‘(2) REPORT AND IMPROVEMENT PLANS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) REPORT.—An agency conducting a 

11 self-assessment shall report the findings of the 

12 self-assessment to the relevant policy council, 

13 policy committee, governing body, and regional 

14 office of the Administration for Children and 

15 Families of the Department of Health and 

16 Human Services. Each self-assessment shall 

17 identify areas of strength and weakness. 

18 ‘‘(B) IMPROVEMENT PLAN.—The agency 

19 shall develop an improvement plan approved by 

20 the governing body of the agency to strengthen 

21 any areas identified in the self-assessment as 

22 weaknesses or in need of improvement. The 

23 agency shall report the areas to the appropriate 

24 regional office of the Administration for Chil25 dren and Families. 


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1 ‘‘(3) ONGOING MONITORING.—Each Head Start 

2 agency, Early Head Start agency, and delegate 

3 agency shall establish and implement procedures for 

4 the ongoing monitoring of their Head Start and 

5 Early Head Start programs, to ensure that the oper6 ations of the programs work toward meeting pro7 gram goals and objectives and Head Start perform8 ance standards. 

9 ‘‘(4) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

10 Funds may be made available, through section 

11 648(d)(13), for training and technical assistance to 

12 assist agencies in conducting self-assessments. 

13 ‘‘(g) REDUCTION OF GRANTS AND REDISTRIBUTION

14 OF FUNDS IN CASES OF UNDER-ENROLLMENT.— 

15 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

16 ‘‘(A) ACTUAL ENROLLMENT.—The term 

17 ‘actual enrollment’ means, with respect to the 

18 program of a Head Start agency, the actual 

19 number of children enrolled in such program 

20 and reported by the agency (as required in 

21 paragraph (2)) in a given month. 

22 ‘‘(B) BASE GRANT.—The term ‘base grant’ 

23 means, with respect to a Head Start agency for 

24 a fiscal year, that portion of the grant de25 rived— 


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1 ‘‘(i) from amounts reserved for use in 

2 accordance with section 640(a)(2)(A), for a 

3 Head Start agency administering an In4 dian Head Start program or migrant and 

5 seasonal Head Start program; 

6 ‘‘(ii) from amounts reserved for pay7 ments under section 640(a)(2)(B); or 

8 ‘‘(iii) from amounts available under 

9 section 640(a)(2)(D) or allotted among 

10 States under section 640(a)(4). 

11 ‘‘(C) FUNDED ENROLLMENT.—The term 

12 ‘funded enrollment’ means, with respect to the 

13 program of a Head Start agency in a fiscal 

14 year, the number of children that the agency is 

15 funded to serve through a grant for the pro16 gram during such fiscal year, as indicated in 

17 the grant award. 

18 ‘‘(2) ENROLLMENT REPORTING REQUIREMENT

19 FOR CURRENT FISCAL YEAR.—Each entity carrying 

20 out a Head Start program shall report on a monthly 

21 basis to the Secretary and the relevant Head Start 

22 agency— 

23 ‘‘(A) the actual enrollment in such pro24 gram; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) if such actual enrollment is less than 

2 the funded enrollment, any apparent reason for 

3 such enrollment shortfall. 

4 ‘‘(3) SECRETARIAL REVIEW AND PLAN.—The 

5 Secretary shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) on a semiannual basis, determine 

7 which Head Start agencies are operating with 

8 an actual enrollment that is less than the fund9 ed enrollment based on not less than 4 consecu10 tive months of data; 

11 ‘‘(B) for each such Head Start agency op12 erating a program with an actual enrollment 

13 that is less than 95 percent of its funded enroll14 ment, as determined under subparagraph (A), 

15 develop, in collaboration with such agency, a 

16 plan and timetable for reducing or eliminating 

17 under-enrollment taking into consideration— 

18 ‘‘(i) the quality and extent of the out19 reach, recruitment, and communitywide 

20 needs assessment conducted by such agen21 cy; 

22 ‘‘(ii) changing demographics, mobility 

23 of populations, and the identification of 

24 new underserved low-income populations; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) facilities-related issues that may 

2 impact enrollment; 

3 ‘‘(iv) the ability to provide full-day 

4 programs, where needed, through Head 

5 Start funds or through collaboration with 

6 entities carrying out other preschool or 

7 child care programs, or programs with 

8 other funding sources (where available); 

9 ‘‘(v) the availability and use by fami10 lies of other preschool and child care op11 tions (including parental care) in the local 

12 catchment area; and 

13 ‘‘(vi) agency management procedures 

14 that may impact enrollment; and 

15 ‘‘(C) provide timely and ongoing technical 

16 assistance to each agency described in subpara17 graph (B) for the purpose of implementing the 

18 plan described in such subparagraph. 

19 ‘‘(4) IMPLEMENTATION.—Upon receipt of the 

20 technical assistance described in paragraph (3)(C), a 

21 Head Start agency shall immediately implement the 

22 plan described in paragraph (3)(B). 

23 ‘‘(5) SECRETARIAL ACTION FOR CONTINUED

24 UNDER-ENROLLMENT.—If, 1 year after the date of 

25 implementation of the plan described in paragraph 


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1 (3)(B), the Head Start agency continues to operate 

2 a program at less than full enrollment, the Secretary 

3 shall, where determined appropriate, continue to 

4 provide technical assistance to such agency. 

5 ‘‘(6) SECRETARIAL REVIEW AND ADJUSTMENT

6 FOR CHRONIC UNDER-ENROLLMENT.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If, after receiving 

8 technical assistance and developing and imple9 menting a plan to the extent described in para10 graphs (3), (4), and (5) for 9 months, a Head 

11 Start agency is still operating a program with 

12 an actual enrollment that is less than 95 per13 cent of its funded enrollment, the Secretary 

14 may— 

15 ‘‘(i) designate such agency as chron16 ically under-enrolled; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) recapture, withhold, or reduce 

18 the base grant for the program by a per19 centage equal to the percentage difference 

20 between funded enrollment and actual en21 rollment for the program for the most re22 cent year in which the agency is deter23 mined to be under-enrolled under para24 graph (3)(A). 


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1 ‘‘(B) WAIVER OR LIMITATION OF REDUC2 TIONS.—If the Secretary, after the implementa3 tion of the plan described in paragraph (3)(B), 

4 finds that— 

5 ‘‘(i) the causes of the enrollment 

6 shortfall, or a portion of the shortfall, are 

7 beyond the agency’s control (such as serv8 ing significant numbers of migrant or sea9 sonal farmworker children, homeless chil10 dren, children in foster care, or other high11 ly mobile children); 

12 ‘‘(ii) the shortfall can reasonably be 

13 expected to be temporary; or 

14 ‘‘(iii) the number of slots allotted to 

15 the agency is small enough that under-en16 rollment does not constitute a significant 

17 shortfall, the Secretary may, as appro18 priate, waive or reduce the percentage re19 capturing, withholding, or reduction other20 wise required by subparagraph (A). 

21 ‘‘(C) PROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS; EF22 FECTIVE DATE.—The actions taken by the Sec23 retary under this paragraph with respect to a 

24 Head Start agency shall take effect 1 day after 

25 the date on which— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the time allowed for appeal under 

2 section 646(a) expires without an appeal 

3 by the agency; or 

4 ‘‘(ii) the action is upheld in an admin5 istrative hearing under section 646. 

6 ‘‘(7) REDISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

8 use amounts recovered from a Head Start agen9 cy through recapturing, withholding, or reduc10 tion under paragraph (6) in a fiscal year— 

11 ‘‘(i) in the case of a Head Start agen12 cy administering an Indian Head Start 

13 program or a migrant and seasonal Head 

14 Start program, whose base grant is derived 

15 from amounts specified in paragraph 

16 (1)(B)(i), to redirect funds to 1 or more 

17 agencies that— 

18 ‘‘(I) are administering Head 

19 Start programs serving the same spe20 cial population; and 

21 ‘‘(II) demonstrate that the agen22 cies will use such redirected funds to 

23 increase enrollment in their Head 

24 Start programs in such fiscal year; or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a Head Start agen2 cy in a State, whose base grant is derived 

3 from amounts specified in clause (ii) or 

4 (iii) of paragraph (1)(B), to redirect funds 

5 to 1 or more agencies that— 

6 ‘‘(I) are administering Head 

7 Start programs in the same State; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(II) make the demonstration de10 scribed in clause (i)(II). 

11 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE.—If there is no agen12 cy located in a State that meets the require13 ments of subclauses (I) and (II) of subpara14 graph (A)(ii), the Secretary shall use amounts 

15 described in subparagraph (A) to redirect funds 

16 to Head Start agencies located in other States 

17 that make the demonstration described in sub18 paragraph (A)(i)(II). 

19 ‘‘(C) ADJUSTMENT TO FUNDED ENROLL20 MENT.—The Secretary shall adjust as necessary 

21 the requirements relating to funded enrollment 

22 indicated in the grant agreement of a Head 

23 Start agency receiving redistributed amounts 

24 under this paragraph. 


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1 ‘‘(h) CONTRACT WITH NONPROFIT INTERMEDIARY

2 ORGANIZATION.—From funds reserved under clause (i) or 

3 (ii) of section 640(a)(2)(C) or from whatever other re4 sources the Secretary determines appropriate, in carrying 

5 out the provisions of this section, the Secretary or a Head 

6 Start agency may contract with a nonprofit intermediary 

7 organization that— 

8 ‘‘(1) provides evaluations and technical assist9 ance to improve overall performance management; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(2) has an exclusive focus of improving the 

12 performance management and the use of technology 

13 in assessing performance and meeting Head Start 

14 regulations and can provide on-site, hands-on guid15 ance with the implementation of the recommenda16 tions.’’. 

17 SEC. 9. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN EARLY CHILDHOOD. 

18 The Head Start Act is amended by inserting after 

19 section 641A (42 U.S.C. 9836a) the following: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 641B. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE IN EARLY CHILD21 HOOD. 

22 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘center 

23 of excellence’ means a Center of Excellence in Early Child24 hood designated under subsection (b). 


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1 ‘‘(b) DESIGNATION AND BONUS GRANTS.—The Sec2 retary shall, subject to the availability of funds under this 

3 subchapter, including under subsection (f), establish a 

4 program under which the Secretary shall— 

5 ‘‘(1) designate not more than 200 exemplary 

6 Head Start agencies (including Early Head Start 

7 agencies, Indian Head Start agencies, and migrant 

8 and seasonal Head Start agencies) as Centers of Ex9 cellence in Early Childhood; and 

10 ‘‘(2) make bonus grants to the centers of excel11 lence to carry out the activities described in sub12 section (d). 

13 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION AND DESIGNATION.— 

14 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION.— 

15 ‘‘(A) NOMINATION AND SUBMISSION.— 

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to 

17 receive a designation as a center of excel18 lence under subsection (b), except as pro19 vided in clause (ii), a Head Start agency in 

20 a State shall be nominated by the Gov21 ernor of the State and shall submit an ap22 plication to the Secretary at such time, in 

23 such manner, and containing such infor24 mation as the Secretary may require. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) INDIAN AND MIGRANT AND SEA2 SONAL HEAD START PROGRAMS.—In the 

3 case of an Indian Head Start agency or a 

4 migrant or seasonal Head Start agency, to 

5 be eligible to receive a designation as a 

6 center of excellence under subsection (b), 

7 such an agency shall be nominated by the 

8 head of the appropriate regional office of 

9 the Department of Health and Human 

10 Services and shall submit an application to 

11 the Secretary in accordance with clause (i). 

12 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—At a minimum, the ap13 plication shall include— 

14 ‘‘(i) evidence that the Head Start pro15 gram carried out by the agency has signifi16 cantly improved the school readiness of, 

17 and enhanced academic outcomes for, chil18 dren who have participated in the program; 

19 ‘‘(ii) evidence that the program meets 

20 or exceeds standards and performance 

21 measures described in subsections (a) and 

22 (b) of section 641A, as evidenced by suc23 cessful completion of programmatic and 

24 monitoring reviews, and has no findings of 


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1 deficiencies with respect to the standards 

2 and measures; 

3 ‘‘(iii) evidence that the program is 

4 making progress toward meeting the re5 quirements described in section 648A; 

6 ‘‘(iv) evidence demonstrating the ex7 istence of a collaborative partnership 

8 among the Head Start agency, the State 

9 (or a State agency), and other early care 

10 and education providers in the local com11 munity involved; 

12 ‘‘(v) a nomination letter from the 

13 Governor, or appropriate regional office, 

14 demonstrating the agency’s ability to carry 

15 out the coordination, transition, and train16 ing services of the program to be carried 

17 out under the bonus grant involved, includ18 ing coordination of activities with State 

19 and local agencies that provide early child20 hood services to children and families in 

21 the community served by the agency; 

22 ‘‘(vi) information demonstrating the 

23 existence of a local council for excellence in 

24 early childhood, which shall include rep25 resentatives of all the institutions, agenVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:25 Feb 16, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00091 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S556.IS S556

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1 cies, and groups involved in the work of 

2 the center for, and the local provision of 

3 services to, eligible children and other at4 risk children, and their families; and 

5 ‘‘(vii) a description of how the Center, 

6 in order to expand accessibility and con7 tinuity of quality early care and education, 

8 will coordinate the early care and edu9 cation activities assisted under this section 

10 with— 

11 ‘‘(I) programs carried out under 

12 the Child Care and Development 

13 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 

14 9858 et seq.); 

15 ‘‘(II) other programs carried out 

16 under this subchapter, including the 

17 Early Head Start programs carried 

18 out under section 645A; 

19 ‘‘(III)(aa) Early Reading First 

20 and Even Start programs carried out 

21 under subparts 2 and 3 of part B of 

22 title I of the Elementary and Sec23 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

24 U.S.C. 6371 et seq., 6381 et seq.); 


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1 ‘‘(bb) other preschool programs 

2 carried out under title I of that Act 

3 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.); and 

4 ‘‘(cc) the Ready-to-Learn Tele5 vision program carried out under sub6 part 3 of part D of title II of that Act 

7 (20 U.S.C. 6775 et seq.); 

8 ‘‘(IV) programs carried out 

9 under section 619 and part C of the 

10 Individuals with Disabilities Edu11 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1419, 1431 et 

12 seq.); 

13 ‘‘(V) State prekindergarten pro14 grams; and 

15 ‘‘(VI) other early care and edu16 cation programs. 

17 ‘‘(2) SELECTION.—In selecting agencies to des18 ignate as centers of excellence under subsection (b), 

19 the Secretary shall designate not less than 1 from 

20 each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, an 

21 Indian Head Start program, a migrant and seasonal 

22 Head Start program, and the Commonwealth of 

23 Puerto Rico. 

24 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—In making bonus grant deter25 minations under this section, the Secretary shall give 


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1 priority to programs that, through their applications, 

2 demonstrate that they are of exceptional quality and 

3 would serve as exemplary models for programs in 

4 the same geographic region. The Secretary may also 

5 consider the populations served by the applicants, 

6 such as programs that serve large proportions of 

7 limited English proficient students or other under8 served populations, and may make bonus grants to 

9 programs that do an exceptional job meeting the 

10 needs of such children. 

11 ‘‘(4) TERM OF DESIGNATION.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara13 graph (B), the Secretary shall designate a Head 

14 Start agency as a center of excellence for a 5- 

15 year term. During the period of that designa16 tion, subject to the availability of appropria17 tions, the agency shall be eligible to receive a 

18 bonus grant under subsection (b). 

19 ‘‘(B) REVOCATION.—The Secretary may 

20 revoke an agency’s designation under subsection 

21 (b) if the Secretary determines that the agency 

22 is not demonstrating adequate performance or 

23 has had findings of deficiencies described in 

24 paragraph (1)(B)(ii). 


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1 ‘‘(5) AMOUNT OF BONUS GRANT.—The Sec2 retary shall base the amount of funding provided 

3 through a bonus grant made under subsection (b) to 

4 a center of excellence on the number of children eli5 gible for Head Start services in the community in6 volved. The Secretary shall, subject to the avail7 ability of funding, make such a bonus grant in an 

8 amount of not less than $200,000 per year. 

9 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) ACTIVITIES.—A center of excellence that 

11 receives a bonus grant under subsection (b)— 

12 ‘‘(A) shall use the funds made available 

13 through the bonus grant to model and dissemi14 nate, to other Head Start centers in the State 

15 involved, best practices for achieving early aca16 demic success, including achieving school readi17 ness and developing pre-literacy and 

18 premathematics skills for at-risk children and 

19 achieving the acquisition of the English lan20 guage for limited English proficient children, 

21 and to provide seamless service delivery for eli22 gible children and their families; 

23 ‘‘(B) may use the funds made available 

24 through the bonus grant— 


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1 ‘‘(i) to provide Head Start services to 

2 additional eligible children; 

3 ‘‘(ii) to better meet the needs of work4 ing families in the community served by 

5 the center by serving more children in ex6 isting Early Head Start programs (existing 

7 as of the date the center is designated 

8 under this section) or in full-working-day, 

9 full calendar year Head Start programs; 

10 ‘‘(iii) to further coordinate early child11 hood and social services available in the 

12 community served by the center for at-risk 

13 children (birth through age 8), their fami14 lies, and pregnant women; 

15 ‘‘(iv) to provide training and cross 

16 training for Head Start teachers and staff, 

17 child care providers, public and private 

18 preschool and elementary school teachers, 

19 and other providers of early childhood serv20 ices, and training and cross training to de21 velop agency leaders; 

22 ‘‘(v) to provide effective transitions 

23 between Head Start programs and elemen24 tary school, to facilitate ongoing commu25 nication between Head Start and elemenVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:25 Feb 16, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00096 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S556.IS S556

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1 tary school teachers concerning children 

2 receiving Head Start services, and to pro3 vide training and technical assistance to 

4 providers who are public elementary school 

5 teachers and other staff of local edu6 cational agencies, child care providers, 

7 family service providers, and other pro8 viders of early childhood services, to help 

9 the providers described in this clause in10 crease their ability to work with low-in11 come, at-risk children and their families; 

12 ‘‘(vi) to develop or maintain partner13 ships with institutions of higher education 

14 and nonprofit organizations, including 

15 community-based organizations, that re16 cruit, train, place, and support college stu17 dents to serve as mentors and reading 

18 partners to preschool children in Head 

19 Start programs; and 

20 ‘‘(vii) to carry out other activities de21 termined by the center to improve the 

22 overall quality of the Head Start program 

23 carried out by the agency and the program 

24 carried out under the bonus grant involved. 


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1 ‘‘(2) INVOLVEMENT OF OTHER HEAD START

2 AGENCIES AND PROVIDERS.—A center that receives 

3 a bonus grant under subsection (b), in carrying out 

4 activities under this subsection, shall work with the 

5 center’s delegate agencies and several additional 

6 Head Start agencies (especially agencies that are 

7 low-performing on the standards or performance 

8 measures established under this subchapter), and 

9 other providers of early childhood services in the 

10 community involved, to encourage the agencies and 

11 providers described in this sentence to carry out 

12 model programs. 

13 ‘‘(e) RESEARCH AND REPORTS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) RESEARCH.—The Secretary shall, subject 

15 to the availability of funds to carry out this sub16 section, award a grant or contract to an independent 

17 organization to conduct research on the ability of the 

18 centers of excellence to improve the school readiness 

19 of children receiving Head Start services, and to 

20 positively impact school results in the earliest 

21 grades. The organization shall also conduct research 

22 to measure the success of the centers of excellence 

23 at encouraging the center’s delegate agencies, addi24 tional Head Start agencies, and other providers of 

25 early childhood services in the communities involved 


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1 to meet measurable improvement goals, particularly 

2 in the area of school readiness. 

3 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 48 months after 

4 the date of enactment of the Head Start for School 

5 Readiness Act, the organization shall prepare and 

6 submit to the Secretary and Congress a report con7 taining the results of the research described in para8 graph (1). 

9 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

10 are authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 

11 2008 through 2012— 

12 ‘‘(1) $90,000,000 to make bonus grants to cen13 ters of excellence under subsection (b) to carry out 

14 activities described in subsection (d); 

15 ‘‘(2) $500,000 to pay for the administrative 

16 costs of the Secretary in carrying out this section; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(3) $2,000,000 for research activities de19 scribed in subsection (e).’’. 

20 SEC. 10. POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF HEAD START AGEN21 CIES. 

22 Section 642 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9837) 

23 is amended— 

24 (1) by striking all that precedes ‘‘In order’’ the 

25 first place it appears and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 642. POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF HEAD START AGEN2 CIES. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—’’; and 

4 (2) by striking subsections (b) through (e) and 

5 inserting the following: 

6 ‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—In order to be 

7 designated as a Head Start agency under this subchapter, 

8 a Head Start agency shall also— 

9 ‘‘(1) establish a program with all standards set 

10 forth in section 641A(a)(1), with particular atten11 tion to the standards set forth in subparagraphs (A) 

12 and (B) of such section; 

13 ‘‘(2) demonstrate the capacity to serve eligible 

14 children with scientifically based curricula and other 

15 interventions and support services that help promote 

16 the school readiness of children participating in the 

17 program; 

18 ‘‘(3) establish effective procedures and provide 

19 for the regular assessment of Head Start children, 

20 including observational and direct formal assess21 ment, where appropriate; 

22 ‘‘(4) establish effective procedures, for deter23 mining the needs of children, that include high qual24 ity research based developmental screening tools that 

25 have been demonstrated to be valid, reliable, and ac26 curate for children from a range of backgrounds; 


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1 ‘‘(5) require each delegate agency to create a 

2 policy committee, which shall— 

3 ‘‘(A) be comprised of members of the com4 munity to be served, including parents of chil5 dren who are currently enrolled in the Head 

6 Start programs of the Head Start agency; and 

7 ‘‘(B) serve in an advisory capacity to the 

8 delegate agency, to make decisions and rec9 ommendations regarding program planning and 

10 operation and parental involvement. 

11 ‘‘(6) seek the involvement of parents, area resi12 dents, and local business in the design and imple13 mentation of the program; 

14 ‘‘(7) provide for the regular participation of 

15 parents and area residents in the implementation of 

16 the program; 

17 ‘‘(8) provide technical and other support needed 

18 to enable such parents and area residents to secure, 

19 on their own behalf, available assistance from public 

20 and private sources; 

21 ‘‘(9) establish effective procedures to facilitate 

22 the involvement of parents of participating children 

23 in activities designed to help such parents become 

24 full partners in the education of their children, and 

25 to afford such parents the opportunity to participate 


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1 in the development and overall conduct of the pro2 gram at the local level; 

3 ‘‘(10) conduct outreach to schools in which 

4 Head Start children will enroll, local educational 

5 agencies, the local business community, community6 based organizations, faith-based organizations, mu7 seums, and libraries to generate support and lever8 age the resources of the entire local community in 

9 order to improve school readiness; 

10 ‘‘(11) offer (directly or through referral to local 

11 entities, such as entities carrying out Even Start 

12 programs under subpart 3 of part B of title I of the 

13 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

14 (20 U.S.C. 6381 et seq.)), to parents of partici15 pating children, family literacy services, and par16 enting skills training; 

17 ‘‘(12) offer to parents of participating children 

18 substance abuse and other counseling (either directly 

19 or through referral to local entities), if needed, in20 cluding information on the effect of drug exposure 

21 on infants and fetal alcohol syndrome; 

22 ‘‘(13) at the option of such agency, offer (di23 rectly or through referral to local entities), to such 

24 parents— 


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1 ‘‘(A) training in basic child development 

2 (including cognitive development); 

3 ‘‘(B) assistance in developing literacy and 

4 communication skills; 

5 ‘‘(C) opportunities to share experiences 

6 with other parents (including parent mentor re7 lationships); 

8 ‘‘(D) regular in-home visitation; or 

9 ‘‘(E) any other activity designed to help 

10 such parents become full partners in the edu11 cation of their children; 

12 ‘‘(14) provide, with respect to each partici13 pating family, a family needs assessment that in14 cludes consultation with such parents (including fos15 ter parents and grandparents, where applicable) 

16 about the benefits of parent involvement and about 

17 the activities described in this subsection in which 

18 such parents may choose to be involved (taking into 

19 consideration their specific family needs, work sched20 ules, and other responsibilities); 

21 ‘‘(15) consider providing services to assist 

22 younger siblings of children participating in its Head 

23 Start program, to obtain health services from other 

24 sources; 


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1 ‘‘(16) perform community outreach to encour2 age individuals previously unaffiliated with Head 

3 Start programs to participate in its Head Start pro4 gram as volunteers; 

5 ‘‘(17)(A) inform custodial parents in single-par6 ent families that participate in programs, activities, 

7 or services carried out or provided under this sub8 chapter about the availability of child support serv9 ices for purposes of establishing paternity and ac10 quiring child support; and 

11 ‘‘(B) refer eligible parents to the child support 

12 offices of State and local governments; 

13 ‘‘(18) provide parents of limited English pro14 ficient children outreach and information in an un15 derstandable and uniform format and, to the extent 

16 practicable, in a language that the parents can un17 derstand; and 

18 ‘‘(19) at the option of such agency, partner 

19 with an institution of higher education and a non20 profit organization to provide college students with 

21 the opportunity to serve as mentors or reading part22 ners to Head Start participants. 

23 ‘‘(c) TRANSITION ACTIVITIES TO FACILITATE CON24 TINUED PROGRESS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each Head Start agency 

2 shall collaborate with the entities listed in this sub3 section, to the maximum extent possible, to ensure 

4 the successful transition of Head Start children to 

5 school, so that such children are able to build upon 

6 the developmental and educational gains achieved in 

7 Head Start programs in further schooling. 

8 ‘‘(2) COORDINATION.— 

9 ‘‘(A) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—In 

10 communities where both public prekindergarten 

11 programs and Head Start programs operate, a 

12 Head Start agency shall collaborate and coordi13 nate activities with the local educational agency 

14 or other public agency responsible for the oper15 ation of the prekindergarten program and pro16 viders of prekindergarten, including outreach 

17 activities to identify eligible children. 

18 ‘‘(B) ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.—Head Start 

19 staff shall, with the permission of the parents 

20 of children enrolled in Head Start programs, 

21 regularly communicate with the elementary 

22 schools such children will be attending to— 

23 ‘‘(i) share information about such 

24 children; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) collaborate with the teachers in 

2 such elementary schools regarding teaching 

3 strategies and options; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) ensure a smooth transition to el5 ementary school for such children. 

6 ‘‘(C) OTHER PROGRAMS.—The head of 

7 each Head Start agency shall coordinate activi8 ties and collaborate with the State agency re9 sponsible for administering the State program 

10 carried out under the Child Care and Develop11 ment Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 

12 et seq.), other entities carrying out early child13 hood education and development programs, and 

14 the agencies responsible for administering sec15 tion 106 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

16 Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a), parts B and 

17 E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 

18 U.S.C. 621 et seq. and 670 et seq.), programs 

19 under subtitle B of title VII of the McKinney20 Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

21 11431 et seq.), Even Start programs under 

22 subpart 3 of part B of title I of the Elementary 

23 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

24 U.S.C. 6381 et seq.), and programs under sec25 tion 619 and part C of the Individuals with 


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1 Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1419, 

2 1431 et seq.), serving the children and families 

3 served by the Head Start agency. 

4 ‘‘(3) COLLABORATION.—A Head Start agency 

5 shall take steps to coordinate activities with the local 

6 educational agency serving the community involved 

7 and with schools in which children participating in 

8 a Head Start program operated by such agency will 

9 enroll following such program, including— 

10 ‘‘(A) collaborating on the shared use of 

11 transportation and facilities, in appropriate 

12 cases; 

13 ‘‘(B) collaborating to reduce the duplica14 tion of services while increasing the program 

15 participation of underserved populations of eli16 gible children; and 

17 ‘‘(C) exchanging information on the provi18 sion of noneducational services to such children. 

19 ‘‘(4) PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.—In order to 

20 promote the continued involvement of the parents of 

21 children that participate in Head Start programs in 

22 the education of their children, the Head Start agen23 cy shall— 

24 ‘‘(A) provide training to the parents— 


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1 ‘‘(i) to inform the parents about their 

2 rights and responsibilities concerning the 

3 education of their children; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) to enable the parents, upon the 

5 transition of their children to school— 

6 ‘‘(I) to understand and work with 

7 schools in order to communicate with 

8 teachers and other school personnel; 

9 ‘‘(II) to support the schoolwork 

10 of their children; and 

11 ‘‘(III) to participate as appro12 priate in decisions relating to the edu13 cation of their children; and 

14 ‘‘(B) take other actions, as appropriate 

15 and feasible, to support the active involvement 

16 of the parents with schools, school personnel, 

17 and school-related organizations. 

18 ‘‘(d) ASSESSMENT OR EVALUATION.—Each Head 

19 Start agency shall adopt, in consultation with experts in 

20 child development and with classroom teachers, an assess21 ment or evaluation to measure whether classroom teachers 

22 have mastered the functions described in section 

23 648A(a)(1) and have attained a level of literacy appro24 priate to implement Head Start curricula. 


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1 ‘‘(e) FUNDED ENROLLMENT; WAITING LIST.—Each 

2 Head Start agency shall enroll 100 percent of its funded 

3 enrollment and maintain an active waiting list at all times 

4 with ongoing outreach to the community and activities to 

5 identify underserved populations. 

6 ‘‘(f) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING

7 PLAN.—In order to receive funds under this subchapter, 

8 a Head Start agency shall develop an annual technical as9 sistance and training plan. Such plan shall be based on 

10 the agency’s self-assessment, the communitywide needs as11 sessment, and the needs of parents to be served by such 

12 agency.’’. 

13 SEC. 11. HEAD START TRANSITION. 

14 Section 642A of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 

15 9837a) is amended to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘SEC. 642A. HEAD START TRANSITION AND ALIGNMENT 

17 WITH K–12 EDUCATION. 

18 ‘‘Each Head Start agency shall take steps to coordi19 nate activities with the local educational agency serving 

20 the community involved and with schools in which children 

21 participating in a Head Start program operated by such 

22 agency will enroll following such program, which may in23 clude— 

24 ‘‘(1) developing and implementing a systematic 

25 procedure for transferring, with parental consent, 


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1 Head Start program records for each participating 

2 child to the school in which such child will enroll; 

3 ‘‘(2) establishing ongoing channels of commu4 nication between Head Start staff and their counter5 parts in the schools (including teachers, social work6 ers, health staff, and local educational agency liai7 sons designated under section 722(g)(1)(J)(ii) of the 

8 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii))) to facilitate coordination 

10 of programs; 

11 ‘‘(3) establishing comprehensive transition poli12 cies and procedures that support children 

13 transitioning to school, including by engaging the 

14 local education agency in the establishment of such 

15 policies; 

16 ‘‘(4) developing a continuity of developmentally 

17 appropriate curricular objectives and practices be18 tween the Head Start agency and local educational 

19 agency, that reflect shared expectations for chil20 dren’s learning and development for the transition to 

21 school; 

22 ‘‘(5) conducting outreach to parents, elemen23 tary school (such as kindergarten) teachers, and 

24 Head Start teachers to discuss the educational, de25 velopmental, and other needs of individual children; 


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1 ‘‘(6) organizing and participating in joint train2 ing, including transition-related training of school 

3 staff and Head Start staff; 

4 ‘‘(7) developing and implementing a family out5 reach and support program, in cooperation with en6 tities carrying out parental involvement efforts 

7 under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Edu8 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), and 

9 family outreach and support efforts under subtitle B 

10 of title VII of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assist11 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 11431 et seq.), taking into con12 sideration the language needs of limited English pro13 ficient parents; 

14 ‘‘(8) assisting families, administrators, and 

15 teachers in enhancing educational and developmental 

16 continuity and continuity of parental involvement in 

17 activities between Head Start services and elemen18 tary school classes; 

19 ‘‘(9) linking the services provided in such Head 

20 Start program with the education services, including 

21 services relating to language, literacy, and 

22 numeracy, provided by such local educational agen23 cy; 

24 ‘‘(10) helping parents understand the impor25 tance of parental involvement in a child’s academic 


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1 success while teaching the parents strategies for 

2 maintaining parental involvement as their child 

3 moves from the Head Start program to elementary 

4 school; 

5 ‘‘(11) helping parents understand the instruc6 tional and other services provided by the school in 

7 which their child will enroll after participation in the 

8 Head Start program; and 

9 ‘‘(12) coordinating activities and collaborating 

10 to ensure that curricula used in the Head Start pro11 gram are aligned with State early learning standards 

12 and the Head Start Child Outcomes Framework 

13 with regard to cognitive development (including lan14 guage, pre-literacy, and premathematics com15 petencies), and social, emotional, and physical com16 petencies that children entering kindergarten are ex17 pected to demonstrate.’’. 

18 SEC. 12. SUBMISSION OF PLANS TO GOVERNORS. 

19 Section 643 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9838) 

20 is amended— 

21 (1) in the first sentence— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘chief executive officer’’ 

23 and inserting ‘‘Governor’’; and 

24 (B) by striking ‘‘45’’ and inserting ‘‘30’’; 


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1 (2) in the last sentence, by striking ‘‘, how2 ever,’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘This 

4 section shall not apply to contracts, agreements, 

5 grants, loans, or other assistance for Indian Head 

6 Start programs and migrant and seasonal Head 

7 Start programs.’’. 

8 SEC. 13. COSTS OF DEVELOPING AND ADMINISTERING A 

9 PROGRAM. 

10 Section 644(b) of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 

11 9839(b)) is amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘Except’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) Ex13 cept’’; and 

14 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(2)(A) The limitation prescribed by paragraph (1) 

16 shall not prohibit a Head Start agency from expending 

17 an amount in excess of allowable direct costs associated 

18 with developing and administering a program assisted 

19 under this subchapter, if— 

20 ‘‘(i) the agency submits an application for a 

21 grant year containing an assurance that— 

22 ‘‘(I) the agency will serve a greater per23 centage of children in the community involved 

24 than were served in the preceding grant year; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(II) the agency will not diminish services 

2 provided to currently enrolled children (as of 

3 the date of the application), including the num4 ber of hours and days such services are pro5 vided; 

6 ‘‘(ii) any such excess amount does not exceed 5 

7 percent of the total costs, including the required 

8 non-Federal contributions to such costs, of such pro9 gram; and 

10 ‘‘(iii) in the event that the applicant applies to 

11 expend any such excess amount in a subsequent 

12 grant year, the applicant continues to serve the same 

13 number of children as proposed in the initial applica14 tion submitted under this paragraph and accom15 plishes, relative to the prior Head Start agency, at 

16 least 3 of the 5 improved outcomes. 

17 ‘‘(B) In subparagraph (A), the term ‘improved out18 come’ means— 

19 ‘‘(i) an increase in average teacher salary; 

20 ‘‘(ii) an increase in the number of qualified 

21 teachers; 

22 ‘‘(iii) a significant increase in the number of 

23 children who receive full-day Head Start services; 

24 ‘‘(iv) a decrease in the caseload for family work25 ers; or 


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1 ‘‘(v) an increase in transportation options for 

2 families. 

3 ‘‘(C) The Secretary shall approve not more than 10 

4 applications described in subparagraph (A) for a fiscal 

5 year, and to the extent practicable shall ensure participa6 tion under this paragraph of a diverse group of Head 

7 Start agencies, including public, private nonprofit, and 

8 for-profit agencies operating Head Start programs.’’. 

9 SEC. 14. PARTICIPATION IN HEAD START PROGRAMS. 

10 Section 645 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9840) 

11 is amended— 

12 (1) in subsection (a)— 

13 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

14 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 

15 ‘‘130 percent of’’ after ‘‘below’’; and 

16 (ii) in the flush matter at the end, by 

17 adding at the end the following: ‘‘A home18 less child shall be deemed eligible for Head 

19 Start services.’’; and 

20 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(3)(A) In this paragraph: 

22 ‘‘(i) The term ‘dependent’ has the meaning 

23 given the term in paragraphs (2)(A) and (4)(A)(i) of 

24 section 401(a) of title 37, United States Code. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) The terms ‘member’ and ‘uniformed serv2 ices’ have the meanings given the terms in para3 graphs (23) and (3), respectively, of section 101 of 

4 title 37, United States Code. 

5 ‘‘(B) The following amounts of pay and allowance of 

6 a member of the uniformed services shall not be consid7 ered to be income for purposes of determining the eligi8 bility of a dependent of such member for programs funded 

9 under this subchapter: 

10 ‘‘(i) The amount of any special pay payable 

11 under section 310 of title 37, United States Code, 

12 relating to duty subject to hostile fire or imminent 

13 danger. 

14 ‘‘(ii) The amount of basic allowance payable 

15 under section 403 of such title, including any such 

16 amount that is provided on behalf of the member for 

17 housing that is acquired or constructed under the al18 ternative authority for the acquisition and improve19 ment of military housing under subchapter IV of 

20 chapter 169 of title 10, United States Code, or any 

21 other related provision of law. 

22 ‘‘(4) After demonstrating a need through a com23 munitywide needs assessment, a Head Start agency may 

24 apply to the Secretary to convert part-day sessions, parVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:25 Feb 16, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00116 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S556.IS S556

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1 ticularly consecutive part-day sessions, into full-day ses2 sions. 

3 ‘‘(5)(A) Consistent with a communitywide needs as4 sessment, a Head Start agency may apply to the Secretary 

5 to serve additional infants and toddlers if the agency sub6 mits an application to the Secretary containing— 

7 ‘‘(i) a description of how the needs of pregnant 

8 women, infants, and toddlers will be addressed in ac9 cordance with section 645A(b), and with regulations 

10 prescribed by the Secretary pursuant to section 

11 641A in areas including the agency’s approach to 

12 child development and provision of health services, 

13 approach to family and community partnerships, 

14 and approach to program design and management; 

15 ‘‘(ii) a description of how the needs of eligible 

16 Head Start children are being and will be served; 

17 ‘‘(iii) assurances that the agency will participate 

18 in technical assistance activities (including a plan19 ning period, start-up site visits, and national train20 ing activities) in the same manner as recipients of 

21 grants under section 645A; and 

22 ‘‘(iv) evidence that the agency meets the same 

23 eligibility criteria as recipients of grants under sec24 tion 645A. 


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1 ‘‘(B) In approving such applications, the Secretary 

2 shall take into account the costs of serving persons under 

3 section 645A. 

4 ‘‘(C) Any Head Start agency designated under this 

5 section and permitted to use grant funds under subpara6 graph (A) to serve additional infants and toddlers shall 

7 be considered to be an Early Head Start agency and shall 

8 be subject to the same rules, regulations, and conditions 

9 as apply to recipients of grants under section 645A for 

10 those grant funds.’’; and 

11 (2) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, 

14 an Indian tribe that operates both a Head Start program 

15 and an Early Head Start program under section 645A 

16 may, at its discretion, at any time during the grant period 

17 involved, reallocate funds between the Head Start pro18 gram and the Early Head Start program in order to ad19 dress fluctuations in client population, including pregnant 

20 women and children birth to compulsory school age. The 

21 reallocation of such funds between programs by an Indian 

22 tribe shall not serve as the basis for the Secretary to re23 duce a base grant (as defined in section 641A(g)(1)) for 

24 either program in succeeding years.’’. 


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1 SEC. 15. EARLY HEAD START PROGRAMS. 

2 Section 645A of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 9840a) is amended— 

4 (1) by striking the section heading and insert5 ing the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 645A. EARLY HEAD START PROGRAMS.’’; 

7 (2) in subsection (b)— 

8 (A) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘provide 

9 services to parents to support their role as par10 ents’’ and inserting ‘‘provide additional services 

11 and research-based activities to parents to sup12 port their role as parents (including parenting 

13 skills training and training in basic child devel14 opment)’’; 

15 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (5), (6), 

16 (7), (8), and (9) as paragraphs (6), (8), (11), 

17 (12), and (13), respectively; 

18 (C) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(5) where appropriate and in conjunction with 

21 services provided under this section to the children’s 

22 immediate families (or as approved by the Sec23 retary), provide home-based services to family child 

24 care homes, and kin caregivers, caring for infants 

25 and toddlers who also participate in Early Head 

26 Start programs, to provide continuity in supporting 


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1 the children’s cognitive, social, emotional, and phys2 ical development;’’; 

3 (D) in paragraph (6), as redesignated by 

4 subparagraph (B)— 

5 (i) by inserting ‘‘(including home6 based services)’’ after ‘‘with services’’; 

7 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and homeless infants 

8 and toddlers’’ after ‘‘disabilities’’; and 

9 (iii) by inserting ‘‘, and family sup10 port services’’ after ‘‘health services’’; 

11 (E) by inserting after paragraph (6), as re12 designated by subparagraph (B), the following: 

13 ‘‘(7) ensure that children with documented be14 havioral problems, including problems involving be15 havior related to prior or existing trauma, receive 

16 appropriate screening and deferral;’’; 

17 (F) by inserting after paragraph (8), as re18 designated by subparagraph (B), the following: 

19 ‘‘(9) develop and implement a systematic proce20 dure for transitioning children and parents from an 

21 Early Head Start program into a Head Start pro22 gram or another local early childhood education pro23 gram; 

24 ‘‘(10) establish channels of communication be25 tween staff of Early Head Start programs and staff 


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1 of Head Start programs or other local early child2 hood education programs, to facilitate the coordina3 tion of programs;’’; and 

4 (G) in paragraph (12), as redesignated by 

5 subparagraph (B)— 

6 (i) by striking ‘‘and providers’’ and in7 serting ‘‘, providers’’; and 

8 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, and the agencies 

9 responsible for administering section 106 

10 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treat11 ment Act (42 U.S.C. 5106a) and parts B 

12 and E of title IV of the Social Security Act 

13 (42 U.S.C. 621 et seq. and 670 et seq.)’’ 

14 after ‘‘(20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.)’’; 

15 (3) in subsection (d)— 

16 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, in17 cluding tribal governments and entities oper18 ating migrant and seasonal Head Start pro19 grams’’ after ‘‘subchapter’’; and 

20 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, in21 cluding community-based organizations’’ after 

22 ‘‘private entities’’; 

23 (4) in subsection (g)(2)(B), by striking clause 

24 (iv) and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(iv) providing professional develop2 ment and personnel enhancement activi3 ties, including the provision of funds to re4 cipients of grants under subsection (a), re5 lating to— 

6 ‘‘(I) effective methods of con7 ducting parent education, home vis8 iting, and promoting quality early 

9 childhood development; 

10 ‘‘(II) recruiting and retaining 

11 qualified staff; and 

12 ‘‘(III) increasing program partici13 pation for underserved populations of 

14 eligible children.’’; 

15 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(h) STAFF QUALIFICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT.— 

17 ‘‘(1) CENTER-BASED STAFF.—The Secretary 

18 shall establish staff qualification goals to ensure 

19 that, not later than September 30, 2012, all teachers 

20 providing direct services to Early Head Start chil21 dren and families in Early Head Start centers have 

22 a minimum of a child development associate creden23 tial or an associate degree, and have been trained 

24 (or have equivalent course work) in early childhood 


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1 development with a focus on infant and toddler de2 velopment. 

3 ‘‘(2) HOME VISITOR STAFF.— 

4 ‘‘(A) STANDARDS.—In order to further en5 hance the quality of home visiting services pro6 vided to families of children participating in 

7 home-based, center-based, or combination pro8 gram options under this subchapter, the Sec9 retary shall establish standards for training, 

10 qualifications, and the conduct of home visits 

11 for home visitor staff in Early Head Start pro12 grams. 

13 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The standards for 

14 training, qualifications, and the conduct of 

15 home visits shall include content related to— 

16 ‘‘(i) structured child-focused home vis17 iting that promotes parents’ ability to sup18 port the child’s cognitive, social, emotional, 

19 and physical development; 

20 ‘‘(ii) effective strengths-based parent 

21 education, including methods to encourage 

22 parents as their child’s first teachers; 

23 ‘‘(iii) early childhood development 

24 with respect to children from birth through 

25 age 3; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) methods to help parents promote 

2 emergent literacy in their children from 

3 birth through age 3, including use of re4 search-based strategies to support the de5 velopment of literacy and language skills 

6 for children who are limited English pro7 ficient; 

8 ‘‘(v) health, vision, hearing, and devel9 opmental screenings; 

10 ‘‘(vi) strategies for helping families 

11 coping with crisis; and 

12 ‘‘(vii) the relationship of health and 

13 well-being of pregnant women to prenatal 

14 and early child development.’’. 

15 SEC. 16. APPEALS, NOTICE, AND HEARING AND RECORDS 

16 AND FINANCIAL AUDITS. 

17 (a) APPEALS, NOTICE, AND HEARING.—Section 

18 646(a) of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9841(a)) is 

19 amended by striking paragraphs (3) and (4) and inserting 

20 the following: 

21 ‘‘(3) financial assistance under this subchapter 

22 may be terminated or reduced, and an application 

23 for refunding may be denied, after the recipient has 

24 been afforded reasonable notice and opportunity for 

25 a full and fair hearing, including— 


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1 ‘‘(A) a right to file a notice of appeal of a 

2 decision within 30 days of notice of the decision 

3 from the Secretary; and 

4 ‘‘(B) access to a full and fair hearing of 

5 the appeal, not later than 120 days from receipt 

6 by the Secretary of the notice of appeal; 

7 ‘‘(4) the Secretary shall develop and publish 

8 procedures (including mediation procedures) to be 

9 used in order to— 

10 ‘‘(A) resolve in a timely manner conflicts 

11 potentially leading to an adverse action be12 tween— 

13 ‘‘(i) recipients of financial assistance 

14 under this subchapter; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) delegate agencies, or policy coun16 cils of Head Start agencies; 

17 ‘‘(B) avoid the need for an administrative 

18 hearing on an adverse action; and 

19 ‘‘(C) prohibit a Head Start agency from 

20 expending financial assistance awarded under 

21 this subchapter for the purpose of paying legal 

22 fees pursuant to an appeal under paragraph 

23 (3), except that such fees shall be reimbursed 

24 by the Secretary if the agency prevails in such 

25 decision; and 


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1 ‘‘(5) the Secretary may suspend funds to a 

2 grantee under this subchapter— 

3 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 

4 (B), for not more than 30 days; or 

5 ‘‘(B) in the case of a grantee under this 

6 subchapter that has multiple and recurring de7 ficiencies for 180 days or more and has not 

8 made substantial and significant progress to9 ward meeting the goals of the grantee’s quality 

10 improvement plan or eliminating all deficiencies 

11 identified by the Secretary, during the hearing 

12 of an appeal described in paragraph (3), for 

13 any amount of time, including permanently.’’. 

14 (b) RECORDS AND FINANCIAL AUDITS.— 

15 (1) HEADING.—Section 647 of the Head Start 

16 Act (42 U.S.C. 9842) is amended by striking the 

17 section heading and inserting the following: 

18 ‘‘RECORDS AND FINANCIAL AUDITS’’. 

19 (2) RECIPIENTS.—Section 647(a) of the Head 

20 Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9842(a)) is amended by strik21 ing ‘‘Each recipient of’’ and inserting ‘‘Each Head 

22 Start agency, Head Start center, or Early Head 

23 Start center receiving’’. 

24 (3) FINANCIAL AUDITS.—Subsections (a) and 

25 (b) of section 647 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 


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1 9842) are amended by striking ‘‘audit’’ and insert2 ing ‘‘financial audit’’. 

3 (4) ACCOUNTING.—Section 647 of the Head 

4 Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9842) is amended by adding 

5 at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(c) Each Head Start agency, Head Start center, or 

7 Early Head Start center receiving financial assistance 

8 under this subchapter shall maintain, and annually submit 

9 to the Secretary, a complete accounting of its administra10 tive expenses, including expenses for salaries and com11 pensation funded under this subchapter and provide such 

12 additional documentation as the Secretary may require.’’. 

13 SEC. 17. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING. 

14 Section 648 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9843) 

15 is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (a)(2), by striking ‘‘(b) and 

17 (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘(b), (c), and (d)’’; 

18 (2) by redesignating subsections (b) through (e) 

19 as subsections (c) through (f), respectively; 

20 (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol21 lowing: 

22 ‘‘(b) The Secretary shall make available funds set 

23 aside in section 640(a)(2)(C)(ii) to support a State system 

24 of early childhood education training and technical assist25 ance (which may include such a system for a consortium 


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1 of States within a region) that improves the capacity of 

2 Head Start programs to deliver services in accordance 

3 with the standards described in section 641A(a)(1), with 

4 particular attention to the standards described in subpara5 graphs (A) and (B) of such section. The Secretary shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) ensure that agencies with demonstrated 

7 expertise in providing high-quality training and tech8 nical assistance to improve the delivery of Head 

9 Start services, including the State Head Start Asso10 ciations, State agencies, Indian Head Start agencies, 

11 migrant and seasonal Head Start agencies, and 

12 other entities providing training and technical assist13 ance in early education, for the State (including 

14 such a consortium of States within a region) are in15 cluded in the planning and coordination of the sys16 tem; and 

17 ‘‘(2) encourage States (including such con18 sortia) to supplement the funds authorized in section 

19 640(a)(2)(C)(ii) with Federal, State, or local funds 

20 other than Head Start funds, to expand training and 

21 technical assistance activities beyond Head Start 

22 agencies to include other providers of other early 

23 childhood services within a State (including such a 

24 consortium).’’; 

25 (4) in subsection (d), as so redesignated— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1)(B)(ii), by striking 

2 ‘‘educational performance measures’’ and in3 serting ‘‘measures’’; 

4 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘and 

5 for activities described in section 1222(d) of the 

6 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

7 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6372(d))’’ after ‘‘children with 

8 disabilities’’; 

9 (C) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘, in10 cluding assessing the needs of homeless children 

11 and their families’’ after ‘‘needs assessment’’; 

12 (D) by striking paragraph (7) and insert13 ing the following: 

14 ‘‘(7) assist Head Start agencies in better serv15 ing the needs of families with very young children, 

16 including providing support and program planning 

17 and implementation assistance for Head Start agen18 cies that apply to serve or are serving additional in19 fants and toddlers with funds previously used for 3- 

20 and 4-year-olds in accordance with section 

21 645(a)(5);’’; 

22 (E) in paragraph (10), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

23 and inserting a semicolon; 

24 (F) in paragraph (11), by striking the pe25 riod and inserting a semicolon; and 


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1 (G) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(12) assist Head Start agencies in increasing 

3 the program participation of homeless children; 

4 ‘‘(13) provide training and technical assistance 

5 to members of governing bodies, policy councils, and, 

6 as appropriate, policy committees, to ensure that the 

7 members can fulfill their functions; 

8 ‘‘(14) provide training and technical assistance 

9 to Head Start agencies to assist such agencies in 

10 conducting self-assessments; 

11 ‘‘(15) assist Head Start agencies in improving 

12 outreach to, and the quality of services available to, 

13 limited English proficient children and their families, 

14 including such services to help such families learn 

15 English, particularly in communities that have expe16 rienced a large percentage increase in the population 

17 of limited English proficient individuals, as meas18 ured by the Bureau of the Census; 

19 ‘‘(16) provide activities that help ensure that 

20 Head Start programs have qualified staff who can 

21 promote prevention of childhood obesity by inte22 grating into the programs developmentally appro23 priate research-based initiatives that stress the im24 portance of physical activity and nutrition choices 


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1 made by children and family, through daily class2 room and family routines; and 

3 ‘‘(17) assist Indian Head Start agencies to pro4 vide on-site and off-site training to staff, using ap5 proaches that identify and enhance the positive re6 sources and strengths of Indian children and fami7 lies, to improve parent and family engagement and 

8 staff development, particularly with regard to child 

9 and family development.’’; 

10 (5) in subsection (e), as so redesignated, by in11 serting ‘‘including community-based organizations,’’ 

12 after ‘‘nonprofit entities,’’; 

13 (6) in subsection (f), as so redesignated, by in14 serting ‘‘or providing services to children determined 

15 to be abused or neglected, training for personnel 

16 providing services to children referred by entities 

17 providing child welfare services or receiving child 

18 welfare services,’’ after ‘‘English language)’’; and 

19 (7) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(g) The Secretary shall provide, either directly or 

21 through grants or other arrangements, funds for training 

22 of Head Start personnel in addressing the unique needs 

23 of migrant and seasonal farmworking families, families 

24 with limited English proficiency, and homeless families. 


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1 ‘‘(h) Funds used under this section shall be used to 

2 provide high quality, sustained, and intensive, training 

3 and technical assistance in order to have a positive and 

4 lasting impact on classroom instruction. Funds shall be 

5 used to carry out activities related to 1 or more of the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘(1) Education and early childhood develop8 ment. 

9 ‘‘(2) Child health, nutrition, and safety. 

10 ‘‘(3) Family and community partnerships. 

11 ‘‘(4) Other areas that impact the quality or 

12 overall effectiveness of Head Start programs. 

13 ‘‘(i) Funds used under this section for training shall 

14 be used for needs identified annually by a grant applicant 

15 or delegate agency in its program improvement plan, ex16 cept that funds shall not be used for long-distance travel 

17 expenses for training activities— 

18 ‘‘(1) available locally or regionally; or 

19 ‘‘(2) substantially similar to locally or regionally 

20 available training activities. 

21 ‘‘(j)(1) To support local efforts to enhance early lan22 guage and preliteracy development of children in Head 

23 Start programs, and to provide the children with high24 quality oral language skills, and environments that are 

25 rich in literature, in which to acquire language and 


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1 preliteracy skills, each Head Start agency, in coordination 

2 with the appropriate State office and the relevant State 

3 Head Start collaboration office, shall ensure that all of 

4 the agency’s Head Start teachers receive ongoing training 

5 in language and emergent literacy (referred to in this sub6 section as ‘literacy training’), including appropriate cur7 ricula and assessments to improve instruction and learn8 ing. Such training shall include training in methods to 

9 promote phonological awareness (including phonemic 

10 awareness) and vocabulary development in an age-appro11 priate and culturally and linguistically appropriate man12 ner. 

13 ‘‘(2) The literacy training shall be provided at the 

14 local level in order— 

15 ‘‘(A) to be provided, to the extent feasible, in 

16 the context of the Head Start programs of the State 

17 involved and the children the program involved 

18 serves; and 

19 ‘‘(B) to be tailored to the early childhood lit20 eracy background and experience of the teachers in21 volved. 

22 ‘‘(3) The literacy training shall be culturally and lin23 guistically appropriate and support children’s development 

24 in their home language. 


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1 ‘‘(4) The literacy training shall include training in 

2 how to work with parents to enhance positive language 

3 and early literacy development at home. 

4 ‘‘(5) The literacy training shall include specific meth5 ods to best address the needs of children who are limited 

6 English proficient. 

7 ‘‘(6) The literacy training shall include training on 

8 how to best address the language and literacy needs of 

9 children with disabilities, including training on how to 

10 work with specialists in language development.’’. 

11 SEC. 18. STAFF QUALIFICATION AND DEVELOPMENT. 

12 Section 648A of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 

13 9843a) is amended— 

14 (1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (2) 

15 and inserting the following: 

16 ‘‘(2) DEGREE REQUIREMENTS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

18 establish staff qualification goals to ensure 

19 that— 

20 ‘‘(i) not later than September 30, 

21 2012, all Head Start teachers nationwide 

22 in center-based programs have at least— 

23 ‘‘(I)(aa) an associate degree (or 

24 equivalent coursework) relating to 

25 early childhood; or 


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1 ‘‘(bb) an associate degree in a re2 lated educational area and, to the ex3 tent practicable, coursework relating 

4 to early childhood; and 

5 ‘‘(II) demonstrated teaching com6 petencies, as determined by the pro7 gram director involved (including, at a 

8 minimum, an appropriate level of lit9 eracy, a demonstrated capacity to be 

10 highly engaged with children, and a 

11 demonstrated ability to effectively im12 plement an early childhood cur13 riculum); 

14 ‘‘(ii) not later than September 30, 

15 2010, all Head Start curriculum specialists 

16 and education coordinators nationwide in 

17 center-based programs have— 

18 ‘‘(I) the capacity to offer assist19 ance to other teachers in the imple20 mentation and adaptation of curricula 

21 to the group and individual needs of a 

22 class; and 

23 ‘‘(II)(aa) a baccalaureate or ad24 vanced degree relating to early child25 hood; or 


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1 ‘‘(bb) a baccalaureate or ad2 vanced degree and coursework equiva3 lent to a major relating to early child4 hood; 

5 ‘‘(iii) not later than September 30, 

6 2010, all Head Start teaching assistants 

7 nationwide in center-based programs 

8 have— 

9 ‘‘(I) at least a child development 

10 associate credential; 

11 ‘‘(II) enrolled in a program lead12 ing to an associate or baccalaureate 

13 degree; or 

14 ‘‘(III) enrolled in a child develop15 ment associate credential program to 

16 be completed within 2 years; and 

17 ‘‘(iv) not later than September 30, 

18 2013, 50 percent of all Head Start teach19 ers in center-based programs in each State 

20 (and geographic region for Indian Head 

21 Start programs and for migrant and sea22 sonal Head Start programs) have a bacca23 laureate degree relating to early childhood 

24 (or a related educational area), and dem25 onstrated teaching competencies, as deterVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:25 Feb 16, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00136 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S556.IS S556

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1 mined by the program director involved 

2 (including, at a minimum, an appropriate 

3 level of literacy, a demonstrated capacity 

4 to be highly engaged with children, and a 

5 demonstrated ability to effectively imple6 ment an early childhood curriculum). 

7 ‘‘(B) TEACHER IN-SERVICE REQUIRE8 MENT.—Each Head Start teacher shall attend 

9 not less than 15 clock hours of professional de10 velopment per year. Such professional develop11 ment shall be high quality, sustained, intensive, 

12 and classroom-focused in order to have a posi13 tive and lasting impact on classroom instruction 

14 and the teacher’s performance in the classroom, 

15 and regularly evaluated for effectiveness. 

16 ‘‘(C) PROGRESS.— 

17 ‘‘(i) REPORT.—The Secretary shall— 

18 ‘‘(I) require Head Start agencies 

19 to— 

20 ‘‘(aa) describe continuing 

21 progress each year toward achiev22 ing the goals described in sub23 paragraph (A); 

24 ‘‘(bb) submit to the Sec25 retary a report indicating the 


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1 number and percentage of class2 room instructors in center-based 

3 programs with child development 

4 associate credentials or associate, 

5 baccalaureate, or graduate de6 grees; and 

7 ‘‘(II) compile and submit a sum8 mary of all program reports described 

9 in subclause (I)(bb) to the Committee 

10 on Education and Labor of the House 

11 of Representatives and the Committee 

12 on Health, Education, Labor, and 

13 Pensions of the Senate. 

14 ‘‘(ii) DEMONSTRATE PROGRESS.—A 

15 Head Start agency may demonstrate 

16 progress by partnering with institutions of 

17 higher education or other programs that 

18 recruit, train, place, and support college 

19 students to deliver an innovative early 

20 learning program to preschool children. 

21 ‘‘(D) SERVICE REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec22 retary shall establish requirements to ensure 

23 that, in order to enable Head Start agencies to 

24 comply with the requirements of subparagraph 

25 (A), individuals who receive financial assistance 


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1 under this subchapter to pursue a degree de2 scribed in subparagraph (A) shall— 

3 ‘‘(i) teach or work in a Head Start 

4 program for a minimum of 3 years after 

5 receiving the degree; or 

6 ‘‘(ii) repay the total or a prorated 

7 amount of the financial assistance received 

8 based on the length of service completed 

9 after receiving the degree.’’; 

10 (2) in subsection (c)— 

11 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

12 the end; 

13 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe14 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

15 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(4) promote the use of appropriate strategies 

17 to meet the needs of special populations (including 

18 limited English proficient populations).’’; 

19 (3) in subsection (d)(3)(C) by inserting ‘‘, in20 cluding a center,’’ after ‘‘any agency’’; and 

21 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(f) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS.—Every 

23 Head Start agency and center shall create, in consultation 

24 with employees of the agency or center (including family 

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1 ployees who provide direct services to children, including 

2 a plan for classroom teachers, curriculum specialists, and 

3 education coordinators to meet the requirements set forth 

4 in subsection (a).’’. 

5 SEC. 19. TRIBAL COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES HEAD 

6 START PARTNERSHIP. 

7 The Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.) is 

8 amended by inserting after section 648A the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 648B. TRIBAL COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY HEAD START 

10 PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM. 

11 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to 

12 promote social competencies and school readiness in In13 dian children. 

14 ‘‘(b) TRIBAL COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY HEAD START

15 PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM.— 

16 ‘‘(1) GRANTS.—The Secretary is authorized to 

17 award grants, for periods of not less than 5 years, 

18 to Tribal Colleges and Universities to— 

19 ‘‘(A) implement education programs that 

20 include education concerning tribal culture and 

21 language and increase the number of associate, 

22 baccalaureate, and graduate degrees in early 

23 childhood education and related fields that are 

24 earned by Indian Head Start agency staff mem25 bers, parents of children served by such an 


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1 agency, and members of the tribal community 

2 involved; 

3 ‘‘(B) develop and implement the programs 

4 under subparagraph (A) in technology-mediated 

5 formats, including providing the programs 

6 through such means as distance learning and 

7 use of advanced technology, as appropriate; and 

8 ‘‘(C) provide technology literacy programs 

9 for Indian Head Start agency staff members 

10 and children and families of children served by 

11 such an agency. 

12 ‘‘(2) STAFFING.—The Secretary shall ensure 

13 that the American Indian Programs Branch of the 

14 Head Start Bureau of the Department of Health 

15 and Human Services shall have staffing sufficient to 

16 administer the programs under this section and to 

17 provide appropriate technical assistance to Tribal 

18 Colleges and Universities receiving grants under this 

19 section. 

20 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—Each Tribal College or Univer21 sity desiring a grant under this section shall submit an 

22 application to the Secretary, at such time, in such manner, 

23 and containing such information as the Secretary may re24 quire, including a certification that the Tribal College or 

25 University has established a partnership with 1 or more 


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1 Indian Head Start agencies for the purpose of conducting 

2 the activities described in subsection (b). 

3 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

5 $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums as may 

6 be necessary for each of fiscal years 2009 through 2012. 

7 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 ‘‘(1) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 

9 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 

10 meaning given such term in section 101(a) of the 

11 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

12 ‘‘(2) TRIBAL COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY.—The 

13 term ‘Tribal College or University’— 

14 ‘‘(A) has the meaning given such term in 

15 section 316 of the Higher Education Act of 

16 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c); and 

17 ‘‘(B) means an institution determined to 

18 be accredited or a candidate for accreditation 

19 by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or 

20 association.’’. 

21 SEC. 20. RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATIONS, AND EVALUATION. 

22 Section 649 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9844) 

23 is amended— 

24 (1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by inserting ‘‘, chil25 dren determined to be abused or neglected, homeless 


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1 children, and children in foster care’’ after ‘‘children 

2 with disabilities’’; 

3 (2) in subsection (d)— 

4 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (5), (6), 

5 (7), (8), (9), and (10), as paragraphs (6), (7), 

6 (8), (9), (10), and (11); 

7 (B) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(5) identify successful strategies that promote 

10 good oral health and provide effective linkages to 

11 quality dental services through pediatric dental re12 ferral networks, for infants and toddlers partici13 pating in Early Head Start programs and children 

14 participating in Head Start programs;’’; 

15 (C) in paragraph (9), as redesignated by 

16 subparagraph (A), by adding ‘‘and’’ after the 

17 semicolon; 

18 (D) by striking paragraph (10), as redesig19 nated by subparagraph (A); 

20 (E) by redesignating paragraph (11), as 

21 redesignated by subparagraph (A), as para22 graph (10); and 

23 (F) by striking the last sentence; 

24 (3) in subsection (g)— 

25 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 


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1 (i) by striking clause (i); and 

2 (ii) by redesignating clauses (ii) and 

3 (iii) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively; 

4 and 

5 (B) in paragraph (7)(C)— 

6 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘2003’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘2008’’; and 

8 (ii) in clause (ii)— 

9 (I) by striking ‘‘Education and 

10 the Workforce’’ and inserting ‘‘Edu11 cation and Labor’’; and 

12 (II) by striking ‘‘Labor and 

13 Human Resources’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘Health, Education, Labor, and Pen15 sions’’; and 

16 (4) by striking subsection (h) and inserting the 

17 following: 

18 ‘‘(h) REVIEW OF ASSESSMENTS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION OF STUDY.—When the study 

20 on Developmental Outcomes and Assessments for 

21 Young Children by the National Academy of 

22 Sciences is made available to the Secretary, the Sec23 retary shall— 

24 ‘‘(A) incorporate the results of the study, 

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1 graphs (2) and (3), into each assessment used 

2 in the Head Start programs; and 

3 ‘‘(B) use the results of the study to de4 velop, inform, and revise the standards and 

5 measures described in section 641A. 

6 ‘‘(2) DEVELOPMENT AND REFINEMENT.—In de7 veloping and refining any assessment used in the 

8 Head Start programs, the Secretary shall— 

9 ‘‘(A) receive recommendations from the 

10 Panel on Developmental Outcomes and Assess11 ments for Young Children of the National 

12 Academy of Sciences; and 

13 ‘‘(B) with respect to the development or 

14 refinement of such assessment, ensure— 

15 ‘‘(i) consistency with relevant, nation16 ally recognized professional and technical 

17 standards; 

18 ‘‘(ii) validity and reliability for all 

19 purposes for which assessments under this 

20 subchapter are designed and used; 

21 ‘‘(iii) developmental and linguistic ap22 propriateness of such assessments for chil23 dren assessed, including children who are 

24 limited English proficient; and 


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1 ‘‘(iv) that the results can be used to 

2 improve the quality of, accountability of, 

3 and training and technical assistance in, 

4 Head Start programs. 

5 ‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec6 retary, in carrying out the process described under 

7 paragraph (2), shall ensure that— 

8 ‘‘(A) staff administering any assessments 

9 under this subchapter have received appropriate 

10 training to administer such assessments; 

11 ‘‘(B) appropriate accommodations for chil12 dren with disabilities and children who are lim13 ited English proficient are made; 

14 ‘‘(C) the English and Spanish (and any 

15 other language, as appropriate) forms of such 

16 assessments are valid and reliable; and 

17 ‘‘(D) such assessments are not used to ex18 clude children from Head Start programs. 

19 ‘‘(4) SUSPENDED IMPLEMENTATION OF NA20 TIONAL REPORTING SYSTEM.—The Secretary shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) suspend implementation and termi22 nate further development and use of the Na23 tional Reporting System; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) incorporate, as appropriate, rec2 ommendations under paragraph (2)(A) into any 

3 assessment used in the Head Start programs. 

4 ‘‘(i) SPECIAL RULE.—The use of assessment items 

5 and data on any assessment authorized under this sub6 chapter by an agent or agents of the Federal Government 

7 to rank, compare, or otherwise evaluate individual children 

8 or teachers, or to provide rewards or sanctions for indi9 vidual children or teachers is prohibited. The Secretary 

10 shall not use the results of a single assessment as the sole 

11 method for assessing program effectiveness or making 

12 grantee funding determinations at the national, regional, 

13 or local level. 

14 ‘‘(j) SERVICES TO LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT

15 CHILDREN AND FAMILIES.— 

16 ‘‘(1) STUDY.—The Secretary shall conduct a 

17 study on the status of limited English proficient 

18 children and their families in Head Start or Early 

19 Head Start programs. 

20 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—The Secretary shall prepare 

21 and submit to Congress, not later than September 

22 2011, a report containing the results of the study, 

23 including information on— 

24 ‘‘(A) the demographics of limited English 

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1 cluding the number of such children receiving 

2 Head Start or Early Head Start services and 

3 the geographic distribution of children described 

4 in this subparagraph; 

5 ‘‘(B) the nature of Head Start or Early 

6 Head Start services provided to limited English 

7 proficient children and their families, including 

8 the types, content, duration, intensity, and costs 

9 of family services, language assistance, and 

10 educational services; 

11 ‘‘(C) procedures in Head Start programs 

12 for the assessment of language needs and the 

13 transition of limited English proficient children 

14 to kindergarten, including the extent to which 

15 Head Start programs meet the requirements of 

16 section 642A for limited English proficient chil17 dren; 

18 ‘‘(D) the qualifications of and training pro19 vided to Head Start and Early Head Start 

20 teachers serving limited English proficient chil21 dren and their families; 

22 ‘‘(E) the rate of progress made by limited 

23 English proficient children and their families in 

24 Head Start programs and Early Head Start 

25 programs, including— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the rate of progress of the limited 

2 English proficient children toward meeting 

3 the additional educational standards de4 scribed in section 641A(a)(1)(B)(ii) while 

5 enrolled in Head Start programs, meas6 ured between 1990 and 2006; 

7 ‘‘(ii) the correlation between such 

8 progress and the type of instruction and 

9 educational program provided to the lim10 ited English proficient children; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) the correlation between such 

12 progress and the health and family services 

13 provided by Head Start programs to lim14 ited English proficient children and their 

15 families; and 

16 ‘‘(F) the extent to which Head Start pro17 grams make use of funds under section 

18 640(a)(3) to improve the quality of Head Start 

19 services provided to limited English proficient 

20 children and their families.’’. 

21 SEC. 21. REPORTS. 

22 Section 650 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9846) 

23 is amended— 

24 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph 

2 (1)— 

3 (i) by striking ‘‘Education and the 

4 Workforce’’ and inserting ‘‘Education and 

5 Labor’’; 

6 (ii) by striking ‘‘Labor and Human 

7 Resources’’ and inserting ‘‘Health, Edu8 cation, Labor, and Pensions’’; and 

9 (iii) by striking ‘‘(including disabled 

10 and non-English language background chil11 dren)’’ and inserting ‘‘(including children 

12 with disabilities, limited English proficient 

13 children, and children participating in In14 dian Head Start programs and migrant 

15 and seasonal Head Start programs)’’; 

16 (B) in paragraph (8), by inserting ‘‘home17 lessness, children in foster care,’’ after ‘‘ethnic 

18 background,’’; and 

19 (C) in the flush matter at the end— 

20 (i) by striking ‘‘Education and the 

21 Workforce’’ and inserting ‘‘Education and 

22 Labor’’; and 

23 (ii) by striking ‘‘Labor and Human 

24 Resources’’ and inserting ‘‘Health, Edu25 cation, Labor, and Pensions’’; and 


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1 (2) in subsection (b)— 

2 (A) by striking ‘‘Education and the Work3 force’’ and inserting ‘‘Education and Labor’’; 

4 and 

5 (B) by striking ‘‘Labor and Human Re6 sources’’ and inserting ‘‘Health, Education, 

7 Labor, and Pensions’’. 

8 SEC. 22. COMPARABILITY OF WAGES. 

9 Section 653 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9848) 

10 is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary shall take’’ and 

12 inserting ‘‘(a) The Secretary shall take’’; and 

13 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(b) No Federal funds shall be used to pay the com15 pensation of an individual employed by a Head Start agen16 cy in carrying out programs under this subchapter, either 

17 as direct or indirect costs or any proration of such costs, 

18 in an amount in excess of an amount based on the rate 

19 payable for level II of the Executive Schedule under sec20 tion 5313 of title 5, United States Code.’’. 

21 SEC. 23. LIMITATION WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN UNLAW22 FUL ACTIVITIES. 

23 Section 655 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9850) 

24 is amended by inserting ‘‘or in’’ after ‘‘assigned by’’. 


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1 SEC. 24. POLITICAL ACTIVITIES. 

2 Section 656 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9851) 

3 is amended— 

4 (1) by striking all that precedes ‘‘chapter 15’’ 

5 and inserting the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 656. POLITICAL ACTIVITIES. 

7 ‘‘(a) STATE OR LOCAL AGENCY.—For purposes of’’; 

8 and 

9 (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 

10 following: 

11 ‘‘(b) RESTRICTIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A program assisted under 

13 this subchapter, and any individual employed by, or 

14 assigned to, a program assisted under this sub15 chapter (during the hours in which such individual 

16 is working on behalf of such program), shall not en17 gage in— 

18 ‘‘(A) any partisan or nonpartisan political 

19 activity or any other political activity associated 

20 with a candidate, or contending faction or 

21 group, in an election for public or party office; 

22 or 

23 ‘‘(B) any activity to provide voters or pro24 spective voters with transportation to the polls 

25 or similar assistance in connection with any 

26 such election. 


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1 ‘‘(2) RULES AND REGULATIONS.—The Sec2 retary, after consultation with the Director of the 

3 Office of Personnel Management, may issue rules 

4 and regulations to provide for the enforcement of 

5 this section, which may include provisions for sum6 mary suspension of assistance or other action nec7 essary to permit enforcement on an emergency 

8 basis.’’. 

9 SEC. 25. PARENTAL CONSENT REQUIREMENT FOR HEALTH 

10 SERVICES. 

11 The Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.) is 

12 amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 657A. PARENTAL CONSENT REQUIREMENT FOR NON14 EMERGENCY INTRUSIVE PHYSICAL EXAMINA15 TIONS. 

16 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—The term ‘nonemergency intru17 sive physical examination’ means, with respect to a child, 

18 a physical examination that— 

19 ‘‘(1) is not immediately necessary to protect the 

20 health or safety of the child or the health or safety 

21 of another individual; and 

22 ‘‘(2) requires incision or is otherwise invasive, 

23 or involves exposure of private body parts. 

24 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT.—A Head Start agency shall ob25 tain written parental consent before administration of, or 


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1 referral for, any health care service provided or arranged 

2 to be provided, including any nonemergency intrusive 

3 physical examination of a child in connection with partici4 pation in a program under this subchapter. 

5 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec6 tion shall be construed to prohibit agencies from using es7 tablished methods, for handling cases of suspected or 

8 known child abuse and neglect, that are in compliance 

9 with applicable Federal, State, or tribal law.’’. 

Æ 


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