IIB 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 601 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JANUARY 30, 2017 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
AN ACT 
To enhance the transparency and accelerate the impact of 
assistance provided under the Foreign Assistance Act 
of 1961 to promote quality basic education in developing 
countries, to better enable such countries to achieve uni-
versal access to quality basic education and improved 
learning outcomes, to eliminate duplication and waste, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development 
Act’’ or the ‘‘READ Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions. 
Sec. 3. Assistance to promote sustainable, quality basic education. 
Sec. 4. Comprehensive integrated United States strategy to promote basic edu-
cation. 
Sec. 5. Improving coordination and oversight. 
Sec. 6. Monitoring and evaluation of programs. 
Sec. 7. Transparency and reporting to Congress. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
(a) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.— 
In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit-
tees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Appropriations of the 
Senate; 
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
Senate; 
(3) the Committee on Appropriations of the 
House of Representatives; and 
(4) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 
House of Representatives. 
(b) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—In this Act, the terms 
‘‘basic education’’, ‘‘marginalized children and vulnerable 
groups’’, ‘‘national education plan’’, ‘‘partner country’’, 
and ‘‘relevant Executive branch agencies and officials’’ 
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have the meanings given such terms in section 105(c) of 
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 
3. 
SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE, QUALITY 
BASIC EDUCATION. 
Section 105 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 
(22 U.S.C. 2151c) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(c) ASSISTANCE
TO
PROMOTE
SUSTAINABLE, 
QUALITY BASIC EDUCATION.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) BASIC EDUCATION.—The term ‘basic 
education’ includes— 
‘‘(i) measurable improvements in lit-
eracy, numeracy, and other basic skills de-
velopment that prepare an individual to be 
an active, productive member of society 
and the workforce; 
‘‘(ii) workforce development, voca-
tional training, and digital literacy in-
formed by real market needs and opportu-
nities and that results in measurable im-
provements in employment; 
‘‘(iii) programs and activities designed 
to demonstrably improve— 
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‘‘(I) early childhood, preprimary 
education, primary education, and 
secondary education, which can be de-
livered in formal or nonformal edu-
cation settings; and 
‘‘(II) learning for out-of-school 
youth and adults; and 
‘‘(iv) capacity building for teachers, 
administrators, 
counselors, 
and 
youth 
workers that results in measurable im-
provements in student literacy, numeracy, 
or employment. 
‘‘(B) COMMUNITIES
OF
LEARNING.—The 
term ‘communities of learning’ means a holistic 
approach to education and community engage-
ment in which schools act as the primary re-
source center for delivery of a service to the 
community at large, leveraging and maximizing 
the impact of other development efforts and re-
ducing duplication and waste. 
‘‘(C) GENDER
PARITY
IN
BASIC
EDU-
CATION.—The term ‘gender parity in basic edu-
cation’ means that girls and boys have equal ac-
cess to quality basic education. 
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‘‘(D) MARGINALIZED CHILDREN AND VUL-
NERABLE
GROUPS.—The term ‘marginalized 
children and vulnerable groups’ includes girls, 
children affected by or emerging from armed 
conflict or humanitarian crises, children with 
disabilities, children in remote or rural areas 
(including those who lack access to safe water 
and sanitation), religious or ethnic minorities, 
indigenous peoples, orphans and children af-
fected by HIV/AIDS, child laborers, married 
adolescents, and victims of trafficking. 
‘‘(E) NATIONAL
EDUCATION
PLAN.—The 
term ‘national education plan’ means a com-
prehensive national education plan developed by 
partner country governments in consultation 
with other stakeholders as a means for wide- 
scale improvement of the country’s education 
system, including explicit, credible strategies in-
formed by effective practices and standards to 
achieve quality universal basic education. 
‘‘(F) NONFORMAL EDUCATION.—The term 
‘nonformal education’ means organized edu-
cational activities outside the established formal 
system, whether operating separately or as an 
important feature of a broader activity, that are 
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