II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1895 

To aid and support pediatric involvement in reading and education. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 30, 2007 

Mr. REED (for himself and Mr. GRASSLEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To aid and support pediatric involvement in reading and 

education. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prescribe A Book 

5 Act’’. 

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

8 Part B of title I of the Elementary and Secondary 

9 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6361 et seq.) is amend10 ed by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘Subpart 5—Pediatric Early Literacy Program 

2 ‘‘SEC. 1261. DEFINITIONS. 

3 ‘‘In this subpart: 

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

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

9 healthcare providers in research-based methods 

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

12 ‘‘(B) Delivering a training curriculum 

13 through a variety of medical education settings, 

14 including residency training, continuing medical 

15 education, and national pediatric conferences. 

16 ‘‘(C) Providing technical assistance to local 

17 healthcare facilities to effectively implement a 

18 high-quality Pediatric Early Literacy Program. 

19 ‘‘(D) Offering opportunities for local 

20 healthcare facilities to obtain books at signifi21 cant discounts, as described in section 1266. 

22 ‘‘(E) Integrating the latest developmental 

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

25 subparagraph (B). 


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

2 The term ‘Pediatric Early Literacy Program’ means 

3 a program that— 

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

5 model through which— 

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

7 nurses, trained in research-based methods 

8 of early language and literacy promotion, 

9 encourage parents to read aloud to their 

10 young children, and offer developmentally 

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

13 aloud to their children; 

14 ‘‘(ii) healthcare providers, at health 

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

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

19 ‘‘(iii) volunteers in waiting areas of 

20 healthcare facilities read aloud to children, 

21 modeling for parents the techniques and 

22 pleasures of sharing books together; 

23 ‘‘(B) demonstrates, through research pub24 lished in peer-reviewed journals, effectiveness in 

25 positively altering parent behavior regarding 


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1 reading aloud to children, and improving ex2 pressive and receptive language in young chil3 dren; and 

4 ‘‘(C) receives the endorsement of nation5 ally-recognized medical associations and acad6 emies. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 1262. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

8 ‘‘The Secretary is authorized to award grants to eligi9 ble entities under this subpart to enable the eligible enti10 ties to implement Pediatric Early Literacy Programs. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 1263. APPLICATION. 

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

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

15 information as the Secretary may reasonably require. 

16 ‘‘SEC. 1264. MATCHING REQUIREMENT. 

17 ‘‘An eligible entity receiving a grant under this sub18 part shall provide either directly or through private con19 tributions, in cash or in-kind, non-Federal matching funds 

20 equal to not less than 50 percent of the grant received 

21 by the eligible entity under this subpart. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 1265. USE OF GRANT FUNDS. 

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

24 grant under this subpart shall— 


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

2 organizations, or with public agencies, selected based 

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

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

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

8 be necessary to carry out this subpart; and 

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

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

13 ‘‘(b) CONTRACTOR CRITERIA.—Contractors shall be 

14 selected under subsection (a)(1) on the basis of the extent 

15 to which the contractors give priority to serving a substan16 tial number or percentage of at-risk children, including— 

17 ‘‘(1) low-income children (defined in this section 

18 as children from families with incomes below 200 

19 percent of the poverty line), particularly low-income 

20 children in high-poverty areas; 

21 ‘‘(2) children without adequate medical insur22 ance; 

23 ‘‘(3) children enrolled in a State Medicaid pro24 gram, established under title XIX of the Social Se25 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) or in the State 


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1 Children’s Health Insurance Program established 

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

3 seq.); 

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

5 ‘‘(5) migrant children; and 

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

7 ‘‘SEC. 1266. RESTRICTION ON PAYMENTS. 

8 ‘‘The Secretary shall make no payment to eligible en9 tities under this subpart unless the Secretary determines 

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

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

12 publishers or distributors to obtain books at discounts that 

13 are at least as favorable as discounts that are customarily 

14 given by such publisher or distributor for book purchases 

15 made under similar circumstances in the absence of Fed16 eral assistance. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 1267. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 

18 ‘‘An eligible entity receiving a grant under this sub19 part shall report annually to the Secretary on the effec20 tiveness of the program implemented by the eligible entity 

21 and the programs instituted by each contractor of the eli22 gible entity, and shall include in the report a description 

23 of each program. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 1268. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

3 this subpart— 

4 ‘‘(1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2009; 

5 ‘‘(2) $16,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; 

6 ‘‘(3) $17,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; 

7 ‘‘(4) $18,000,000 for fiscal year 2012; and 

8 ‘‘(5) $19,000,000 for fiscal year 2013.’’. 

Æ 


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