I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2123
To reauthorize the Head Start Act to improve the school readiness of 
disadvantaged children, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 5, 2005
Mr. CASTLE (for himself, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. WILSON of South 
Carolina, Mr. REGULA, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. PUTNAM, and Mr. SUL-
LIVAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To reauthorize the Head Start Act to improve the school 
readiness of disadvantaged children, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘School Readiness Act 
of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
Section 636 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831) 
is amended to read as follows:
‘‘SEC. 636. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE. 
‘‘It is the purpose of this subchapter to promote 
school readiness by enhancing the development of low-in-
come children, through educational instruction in 
prereading skills, premathematics skills, and language, 
and through the provision to low-income children and their 
families of health, educational, nutritional, social and 
other services that are determined, based on family needs 
assessments, to be necessary.’’. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
Section 637 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9832) 
is amended—
(1) in paragraph (17) by striking ‘‘, but for fis-
cal years’’ and all that follows down to the period; 
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (15), (16), and 
(17) as paragraphs (19), (20), and (21), respec-
tively; 
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (10) through 
(14) as paragraphs (13) through (17), respectively; 
(4) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through 
(9) as paragraphs (5) through (11), respectively; 
(5) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para-
graph (3); 
(6) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(2) The term ‘deficiency’ means—
‘‘(A) failure of a Head Start agency in an 
area of performance that the Secretary deter-
mines involves—
‘‘(i) a threat to the health, safety, or 
civil rights of children or staff; 
‘‘(ii) a denial to parents of the exer-
cise of their full roles and responsibilities 
related to program governance; 
‘‘(iii) a failure to perform the require-
ments of this subchapter, as determined by 
the Secretary; 
‘‘(iv) the misuse of funds received 
under this subchapter; 
‘‘(v) loss of legal status (as deter-
mined by the Secretary) or financial viabil-
ity, loss of permits, debarment from receiv-
ing Federal grants or contracts, or the im-
proper use of Federal funds; or 
‘‘(vi) failure to meet any other of Fed-
eral or State requirement; 
‘‘(B) failure of the board of directors of a 
Head Start agency to fully exercise its legal and 
fiduciary responsibilities;
‘‘(C) failure of a Head Start agency to 
meet the administrative requirements of section 
644(b); or 
‘‘(D) failure of a Head Start agency to 
meet the integration requirements of 642B.’’; 
(7) by inserting after paragraph (3), as so re-
designated, the following: 
‘‘(4) The term ‘eligible entities’ means an insti-
tution of higher education or other agency with ex-
pertise in delivering training in early childhood de-
velopment, family support, and other assistance de-
signed to improve the quality of early childhood edu-
cations programs.’’; 
(8) by inserting after paragraph (11), as so re-
designated, the following: 
‘‘(12) The term ‘homeless children’ has the 
meaning given such term in subtitle B of title VII 
of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 
U.S.C. 11431 et seq.).’’; 
(9) by inserting after paragraph (17), as so re-
designated, the following: 
‘‘(18) 
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT.—The 
term ‘professional development’ includes activities 
that—
‘‘(A) assist teachers in meeting the profes-
sional requirements insection 648A(a)(1); 
‘‘(B) 
improve 
classroom 
management 
skills; 
‘‘(C) are high quality, sustained, intensive, 
and classroom-focused in order to have a posi-
tive and lasting impact on classroom instruction 
and the teacher’s performance in the classroom; 
‘‘(D) are not 1-day or short-term work-
shops or conferences; 
‘‘(E) assist teachers and staff in increasing 
their knowledge and skills in program adminis-
tration, program quality, and the provision of 
services and instruction in a manner that im-
proves service delivery to eligible children and 
families; 
‘‘(F) support the recruiting, hiring, and 
training of teachers that meet the requirements 
of section 648A(a)(2); 
‘‘(G) are part of a sustained effort to im-
prove overall program quality and outcomes for 
eligible children and families; 
‘‘(H) advance teacher understanding of ef-
fective instructional strategies that are—
‘‘(i) based on scientifically based re-
search; and 
‘‘(ii) strategies for improving school 
readiness or substantially increasing the 
knowledge and teaching skills of teachers; 
‘‘(I) are, where applicable, aligned with 
and directly related to—
‘‘(i) State academic content stand-
ards, student academic achievement stand-
ards, and assessments; and 
‘‘(ii) the curricula and programs tied 
to the standards described in section 
641(a)(1); 
‘‘(J) are developed with extensive partici-
pation of administrators and teachers from 
Head Start programs; 
‘‘(K) are appropriate for the children being 
served; 
‘‘(L) are designed to give teachers of non-
English language background children, and 
other teachers and instructional staff, the 
knowledge and skills to provide instruction and 
appropriate language and support services to 
those children;