I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1365

To amend title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

1965 to provide for digital education partnerships.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 3, 2001

Mrs. ROUKEMA (for herself, Mr. FLETCHER, Mr. WU, Mr. CALLAHAN, Mr.

GILMAN, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. CONYERS, and Mr. BOEHLERT) introduced

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

the Workforce

A BILL

To amend title III of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide for digital education partnerships.

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 ‘‘Ready to Learn, Ready

5 to Teach Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. REVISION OF PART C OF TITLE III.

7 Part C of title III of the Elementary and Secondary

8 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6921 et seq.) is amend9 ed to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘PART C—READY-TO-LEARN DIGITAL TELEVISION

2 ‘‘SEC. 3301. FINDINGS.

3 ‘‘Congress makes the following findings:

4 ‘‘(1) In 1994, Congress and the Department

5 collaborated to make a long-term, meaningful and

6 public investment in the principle that high quality

7 preschool television programming will help children

8 be ready to learn by the time the children entered

9 first grade.

10 ‘‘(2) The Ready to Learn Television Program

11 through the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and

12 local public television stations has proven to be an

13 extremely cost-effective national response to improv14 ing early childhood cognitive development and help15 ing parents, caregivers, and professional child care

16 providers learn how to use television as a means to

17 help children learn and develop social skills and val18 ues.

19 ‘‘(3) Independent research shows that parents

20 who participate in Ready to Learn workshops are

21 more selective of the programs that they choose for

22 their children, limit the number of hours of tele23 vision viewing of their children, and use the tele24 vision programs as a catalyst for learning.

25 ‘‘(4) The Ready to Learn (RTL) Television

26 Program is supporting and creating commercial-free
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1 broadcast programs for young children that are of

2 the highest possible educational quality.

3 ‘‘(5) Through the Nation’s 350 local public tele4 vision stations, these programs and other program5 ming elements reach tens of millions of children,

6 their parents, and caregivers without regard to their

7 economic circumstances, location, or access to cable.

8 Public television is a partner with Federal policy to

9 make television an instrument of preschool children’s

10 education and early development.

11 ‘‘(6) The Ready to Learn Television Program

12 supports thousands of local workshops organized and

13 run by local public television stations, child care

14 service providers, Head Start Centers, Even Start

15 family literacy centers and schools. These workshops

16 have trained 630,587 parents and professionals who,

17 in turn, serve and support over 6,312,000 children

18 across the Nation.

19 ‘‘(7) The Ready to Learn Television Program

20 has published and distributed a periodic magazine

21 entitled ‘PBS Families’ that contains develop22 mentally appropriate material to strengthen reading

23 skills and enhance family literacy.

24 ‘‘(8) Ready to Learn Television stations also

25 have distributed millions of age-appropriate books in
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1 their communities. Each station receives a minimum

2 of 300 books each month for free local distribution.

3 Some stations are now distributing more than 1,000

4 books per month. Nationwide, more than 653,494

5 books have been distributed in low-income and dis6 advantaged neighborhoods free of charge.

7 ‘‘(9) Demand for Ready To Learn Television

8 Program outreach and training has increased from

9 10 Public Broadcasting Service stations to 133 sta10 tions in 5 years. This growth has put a strain on

11 available resources resulting in an inability to meet

12 the demand for the service and to reach all the chil13 dren who would benefit from the service.

14 ‘‘(10) Federal policy played a crucial role in the

15 evolution of analog television by funding the tele16 vision program entitled ‘Sesame Street’ in the

17 1960’s. Federal policy should continue to play an

18 equally crucial role for children in the digital tele19 vision age.

20 ‘‘SEC. 3302. READY-TO-LEARN.

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to

22 award grants to eligible entities described in section

23 3303(b) to develop, produce, and distribute educational

24 and instructional video programming for preschool and el-
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1 ementary school children and their parents in order to fa2 cilitate the achievement of the National Education Goals.

3 ‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY.—In making such grants, the

4 Secretary shall ensure that eligible entities make program5 ming widely available, with support materials as appro6 priate, to young children, their parents, child care work7 ers, and Head Start providers to increase the effective use

8 of such programming.

9 ‘‘SEC. 3303. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING.

10 ‘‘(a) AWARDS.—The Secretary shall award grants

11 under section 3302 to eligible entities to—

12 ‘‘(1) facilitate the development directly, or

13 through contracts with producers of children and

14 family educational television programming, of—

15 ‘‘(A) educational programming for pre16 school and elementary school children; and

17 ‘‘(B) accompanying support materials and

18 services that promote the effective use of such

19 programming;

20 ‘‘(2) facilitate the development of programming

21 and digital content especially designed for nation22 wide distribution over public television stations’ dig23 ital broadcasting channels and the Internet, con24 taining Ready to Learn-based children’s program25 ming and resources for parents and caregivers; and
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1 ‘‘(3) enable eligible entities to contract with en2 tities (such as public telecommunications entities) so

3 that programs developed under this section are dis4 seminated and distributed—

5 (A) to the widest possible audience appro6 priate to be served by the programming; and

7 (B) by the most appropriate distribution

8 technologies.

9 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive

10 a grant under subsection (a), an entity shall be—

11 ‘‘(1) a public telecommunications entity that is

12 able to demonstrate a capacity for the development

13 and national distribution of educational and instruc14 tional television programming of high quality for

15 preschool and elementary school children;

16 ‘‘(2) able to demonstrate a capacity to contract

17 with the producers of children’s television program18 ming for the purpose of developing educational tele19 vision programming of high quality for preschool

20 and elementary school children; and

21 ‘‘(3) able to demonstrate a capacity to localize

22 programming and materials to meet specific State

23 and local needs and provide educational outreach at

24 the local level.
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1 ‘‘(c) CULTURAL EXPERIENCES.—Programming de2 veloped under this section shall reflect the recognition of

3 rural/urban cultural and ethnic diversity of the Nation’s

4 children and the needs of both boys and girls in preparing

5 young children for success in school.

6 ‘‘SEC. 3304. DUTIES OF SECRETARY.

7 ‘‘The Secretary is authorized—

8 ‘‘(1) to award grants to eligible entities de9 scribed in section 3303(b), local public television sta10 tions, or such public television stations that are part

11 of a consortium with 1 or more State educational

12 agencies, local educational agencies, local schools, in13 stitutions of higher education, or community-based

14 organizations of demonstrated effectiveness, for the

15 purpose of—

16 ‘‘(A) addressing the learning needs of

17 young children in limited English proficient

18 households, and developing appropriate edu19 cational and television programming to foster

20 the school readiness of such children;

21 ‘‘(B) developing programming and support

22 materials to increase family literacy skills

23 among parents to assist parents in teaching

24 their children and utilizing educational tele-
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1 vision programming to promote school readi2 ness; and

3 ‘‘(C) identifying, supporting, and enhanc4 ing the effective use and outreach of innovative

5 programs that promote school readiness;

6 ‘‘(D) developing and disseminating edu7 cation and training materials, including—

8 ‘‘(i) interactive programs and pro9 grams adaptable to distance learning tech10 nologies that are designed to enhance

11 knowledge of children’s social and cognitive

12 skill development and positive adult-child

13 interactions;

14 ‘‘(ii) teacher training and professional

15 development to ensure qualified caregivers;

16 and

17 ‘‘(iii) support materials to promote

18 the effective use of materials developed

19 under subparagraph (B) among parents,

20 Head Start providers, in-home and center21 based daycare providers, early childhood

22 development personnel, elementary school

23 teachers, public libraries, and after-school

24 program personnel caring for preschool

25 and elementary school children; and
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1 ‘‘(E) distributing books to low-income indi2 viduals to leverage high-quality television pro3 gramming;

4 ‘‘(2) to establish within the Department a clear5 inghouse to compile and provide information, refer6 rals, and model program materials and programming

7 obtained or developed under this part to parents,

8 child care providers, and other appropriate individ9 uals or entities to assist such individuals and entities

10 in accessing programs and projects under this part;

11 and

12 ‘‘(3) to coordinate activities assisted under this

13 part with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv14 ices in order to—

15 ‘‘(A) maximize the utilization of quality

16 educational programming by preschool and ele17 mentary school children, and make such pro18 gramming widely available to federally funded

19 programs serving such populations; and

20 ‘‘(B) provide information to recipients of

21 funds under Federal programs that have major

22 training components for early childhood devel23 opment, including programs under the Head

24 Start Act and Even Start, and State training

25 activities funded under the Child Care Develop-
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1 ment Block Grant Act of 1990, regarding the

2 availability and utilization of materials devel3 oped under paragraph (1)(D) to enhance parent

4 and child care provider skills in early childhood

5 development and education.

6 ‘‘SEC. 3305. APPLICATIONS.

7 ‘‘Each entity desiring a grant under section 3302 or

8 3304 shall submit an application to the Secretary at such

9 time, in such manner, and accompanied by such informa10 tion as the Secretary may reasonably require.

11 ‘‘SEC. 3306. REPORTS AND EVALUATION.

12 ‘‘(a) ANNUAL REPORT TO SECRETARY.—An eligible

13 entity receiving funds under section 3302 shall prepare

14 and submit to the Secretary an annual report which con15 tains such information as the Secretary may require. At

16 a minimum, the report shall describe the program activi17 ties undertaken with funds received under section 3302,

18 including—

19 ‘‘(1) the programming that has been developed

20 directly or indirectly by the eligible entity, and the

21 target population of the programs developed;

22 ‘‘(2) the support materials that have been de23 veloped to accompany the programming, and the

24 method by which such materials are distributed to

25 consumers and users of the programming;
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1 ‘‘(3) the means by which programming devel2 oped under this section has been distributed, includ3 ing the distance learning technologies that have been

4 utilized to make programming available and the geo5 graphic distribution achieved through such tech6 nologies; and

7 ‘‘(4) the initiatives undertaken by the eligible

8 entity to develop public-private partnerships to se9 cure non-Federal support for the development, dis10 tribution, and broadcast of educational and instruc11 tional programming.

12 ‘‘(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall

13 prepare and submit to the relevant committees of Con14 gress a biannual report which includes—

15 ‘‘(1) a summary of activities assisted under sec16 tion 3303(a); and

17 ‘‘(2) a description of the training materials

18 made available under section 3304(1)(D), the man19 ner in which outreach has been conducted to inform

20 parents and child care providers of the availability of

21 such materials, and the manner in which such mate22 rials have been distributed in accordance with such

23 section.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 3307. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.

2 ‘‘With respect to the implementation of section 3303,

3 eligible entities receiving a grant from the Secretary may

4 use not more than 5 percent of the amounts received

5 under such section for the normal and customary expenses

6 of administering the grant.

7 ‘‘SEC. 3308. DEFINITION.

8 ‘‘For the purposes of this part, the term ‘distance

9 learning’ means the transmission of educational or in10 structional programming to geographically dispersed indi11 viduals and groups via telecommunications.

12 ‘‘SEC. 3309. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap14 propriated to carry out this part, $50,000,000 for fiscal

15 year 2002, and such sums as may be necessary for each

16 of the 5 succeeding fiscal years.

17 ‘‘(b) FUNDING RULE.—Not less than 60 percent of

18 the amounts appropriated under subsection (a) for each

19 fiscal year shall be used to carry out section 3303.’’.

20 SEC. 3. REVISION OF PART D OF TITLE III.

21 Part D of title III of the Elementary and Secondary

22 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6951 et seq.) is amend23 ed to read as follows:

24 ‘‘PART D—THE TEACHERLINE PROGRAM

25 ‘‘SEC. 3401. FINDINGS.

26 ‘‘Congress makes the following findings:
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1 ‘‘(1) Since 1995, the Telecommunications Dem2 onstration Project for Mathematics (as established

3 under this part pursuant to the Improving America’s

4 Schools Act of 1994) (in this section referred to as

5 ‘MATHLINE’) has allowed the Public Broadcasting

6 Service to pioneer and refine a new model of teacher

7 professional development for kindergarten through

8 grade 12 teachers. MATHLINE uses video modeling

9 of standards-based lessons, combined with profes10 sionally facilitated online learning communities of

11 teachers, to help mathematics teachers from elemen12 tary school through secondary school adopt and im13 plement standards-based practices in their class14 rooms. This approach allows teachers to update their

15 skills on their own schedules through video, while

16 providing online interaction with peers and master

17 teachers to reinforce that learning. This integrated,

18 self-paced approach breaks down the isolation of

19 classroom teaching while making standards-based

20 best practices available to all participants.

21 ‘‘(2) MATHLINE was developed specifically to

22 disseminate the first national voluntary standards

23 for teaching and learning as developed by the Na24 tional Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).

25 During 3 years of actual deployment, more than
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1 5,800 teachers have participated for at least a full

2 year in the demonstration. These teachers, in turn,

3 have taught more than 1,500,000 students cumula4 tively.

5 ‘‘(3) Independent evaluations indicate that

6 teaching improves and students benefit as a result of

7 the MATHLINE program.

8 ‘‘(4) The MATHLINE program is ready to be

9 expanded to reach many more teachers in more sub10 ject areas under the broader title of Teacherline.

11 The Teacherline Program will link the digitized pub12 lic broadcasting infrastructure with education net13 works by working with the program’s digital mem14 bership, and Federal and State agencies, to expand

15 and build upon the successful MATHLINE model

16 and take advantage of greatly expanded access to

17 the Internet and technology in schools, including

18 digital television. Tens of thousands of teachers will

19 have access to the Teacherline Program to advance

20 their teaching skills and their ability to integrate

21 technology into teaching and learning. The

22 Teacherline Program also will leverage the Public

23 Broadcasting Service’s historic relationships with

24 higher education to improve preservice teacher train25 ing.
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1 ‘‘(5) The congressionally appointed Web-based

2 Education Commission recently issued a comprehen3 sive report on Internet learning that called for pow4 erful new Internet resources, especially broadband

5 access, to be made widely and equitably available

6 and affordable for all learners.

7 ‘‘(6) The Web-based Education Commission

8 also called for continuous and relevant training and

9 support for educators and administrators at all lev10 els.

11 ‘‘(7) The National Research Council recently

12 issued a report entitled ‘Adding It Up: Helping Chil13 dren Learn Mathematics’ that concluded that profes14 sional development in mathematics needs to be sus15 tained over years in order to be effective.

16 ‘‘(8) Furthermore, the Glenn Commission, ap17 pointed by the Secretary of Education to consider

18 ways of improving preparation and professional

19 growth for mathematics and science teachers con20 cluded that teacher training ‘depends upon sus21 tained, high-quality professional development’. The

22 Commission recommended the establishment of an

23 ongoing system to improve the quality of mathe24 matics and science teaching in grades K–12.
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1 ‘‘(9) Over the past several years tremendous

2 progress has been made in wiring classrooms, equip3 ping the classrooms with multimedia computers, and

4 connecting the classrooms to the Internet.

5 ‘‘(10) There is a great need for aggregating

6 high quality, curriculum-based digital content for

7 teachers and students to easily access and use in

8 order to meet State and local standards for student

9 performance.

10 ‘‘(11) The congressionally appointed Web-based

11 Education Commission called for the development of

12 high quality public-private online educational content

13 that meets the highest standards of educational ex14 cellence.

15 ‘‘(12) Most local public television stations and

16 State networks provide high-quality video programs,

17 and teacher professional development, as a part of

18 their mission to serve local schools. Programs dis19 tributed by public broadcast stations are used by

20 more classroom teachers than any other because of

21 their high quality and relevance to the curriculum.

22 ‘‘(13) Digital broadcasting can dramatically in23 crease and improve the types of services public

24 broadcasting stations can offer kindergarten through

25 grade 12 schools.
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1 ‘‘(14) Digital broadcasting can contribute to the

2 improvement of schools and student performance as

3 follows:

4 ‘‘(A) Broadcast of multiple video channels

5 and data information simultaneously.

6 ‘‘(B) Data can be transmitted along with

7 the video content enabling students to interact,

8 access additional information, communicate

9 with featured experts, and contribute their own

10 knowledge to the subject.

11 ‘‘(C) Both the video and data can be

12 stored on servers and made available on de13 mand to teachers and students.

14 ‘‘(15) Interactive digital education content will

15 be an important component of Federal support for

16 States in setting high standards and increasing stu17 dent performance.

18 ‘‘SEC. 3402. PROJECT AUTHORIZED.

19 ‘‘(a) The Secretary is authorized to make grants to

20 a nonprofit telecommunications entity, or partnership of

21 such entities, for the purpose of carrying out a national

22 telecommunications-based program to improve teaching in

23 core curriculum areas. The program shall be designed to

24 assist elementary school and secondary school teachers in
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1 preparing all students for achieving State and local con2 tent standards in core curriculum areas.

3 ‘‘(b) The Secretary is also authorized to award grants

4 to eligible entities described in section 3404(b) to develop,

5 produce, and distribute innovative educational and in6 structional video programming that is designed for use by

7 kindergarten through grade 12 schools and based on State

8 and local standards. In making the grants, the Secretary

9 shall ensure that eligible entities enter into multiyear con10 tent development collaborative arrangements with State

11 educational agencies, local educational agencies, institu12 tions of higher education, businesses, or other agencies

13 and organizations.

14 ‘‘SEC. 3403. APPLICATION REQUIRED.

15 ‘‘(a) Each nonprofit telecommunications entity, or

16 partnership of such entities, desiring a grant under section

17 3402(a) shall submit an application to the Secretary. Each

18 such application shall—

19 ‘‘(1) demonstrate that the applicant will use the

20 public broadcasting infrastructure and school digital

21 networks, where available, to deliver video and data

22 in an integrated service to train teachers in the use

23 of standards-based curricula materials and learning

24 technologies;
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1 ‘‘(2) ensure that the project for which assist2 ance is sought will be conducted in cooperation with

3 appropriate State educational agencies, local edu4 cational agencies, national, State or local nonprofit

5 public telecommunications entities, and national edu6 cation professional associations that have developed

7 content standards in the subject areas;

8 ‘‘(3) ensure that a significant portion of the

9 benefits available for elementary schools and sec10 ondary schools from the project for which assistance

11 is sought will be available to schools of local edu12 cational agencies which have a high percentage of

13 children counted for the purpose of part A of title

14 I; and

15 ‘‘(4) contain such additional assurances as the

16 Secretary may reasonably require.

17 ‘‘(b) In approving applications under section 3402(a),

18 the Secretary shall ensure that the program authorized by

19 section 3402(a) is conducted at elementary school and sec20 ondary school sites across the Nation.

21 ‘‘(c) Each eligible entity desiring a grant under sec22 tion 3402(b) shall submit an application to the Secretary

23 at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such

24 information as the Secretary may reasonably require.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 3404. REPORTS AND EVALUATION.

2 ‘‘An eligible entity receiving funds under section

3 3402(a) shall prepare and submit to the Secretary an an4 nual report which contains such information as the Sec5 retary may require. At a minimum, the report shall de6 scribe the program activities undertaken with funds re7 ceived under section 3402(a), including—

8 ‘‘(1) the core curriculum areas for which pro9 gram activities have been undertaken and the num10 ber of teachers using the program in each core cur11 riculum area; and

12 ‘‘(2) the States in which teachers using the pro13 gram are located.

14 ‘‘SEC. 3405. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING.

15 ‘‘(a) AWARDS.—The Secretary shall award grants

16 under section 3402(b) to eligible entities to—

17 ‘‘(1) facilitate the development of educational

18 programming that shall—

19 ‘‘(A) include student assessment tools to

20 give feedback on student performance;

21 ‘‘(B) include built-in teacher utilization

22 and support components to ensure that teachers

23 understand and can easily use the content of

24 the programming with group instruction or for

25 individual student use;
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1 ‘‘(C) be created for, or adaptable to, State

2 and local content standards; and

3 ‘‘(D) be capable of distribution through

4 digital broadcasting and school digital networks.

5 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive

6 a grant under section 3402(b), an entity shall be a local

7 public telecommunications entity as defined by section

8 397(12) of the Communications Act of 1934 that is able

9 to demonstrate a capacity for the development and dis10 tribution of educational and instructional television pro11 gramming of high quality.

12 ‘‘(c) COMPETITIVE BASIS.—Grants under section

13 3402(b) shall be awarded on a competitive basis as deter14 mined by the Secretary.

15 ‘‘(d) DURATION.—Each grant under section 3402(b)

16 shall be awarded for a period of 3 years in order to allow

17 time for the creation of a substantial body of significant

18 content.

19 ‘‘SEC. 3406. MATCHING REQUIREMENT.

20 ‘‘Each eligible entity desiring a grant under section

21 3402(b) shall contribute to the activities assisted under

22 section 3402(b) non-Federal matching funds equal to not

23 less than 100 percent of the amount of the grant. Match24 ing funds may include funds provided for the transition

25 to digital broadcasting, as well as in-kind contributions.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 3407. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.

2 ‘‘With respect to the implementation of section

3 3402(b), entities receiving a grant from the Secretary may

4 use not more than 5 percent of the amounts received

5 under the grant for the normal and customary expenses

6 of administering the grant.

7 ‘‘SEC. 3408. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

8 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

9 this part, $45,000,000 for the fiscal year 2002, and such

10 sums as may be necessary for each of the 5 succeeding

11 fiscal years. However, for any fiscal year in which appro12 priations for section 3402 exceeds the amount appro13 priated under such section for the preceding fiscal year,

14 the Secretary shall only award the amount of such excess

15 minus at least $500,000 to applicants under section

16 3402(b).’’.

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