147 
er who has demonstrated competency to perform 
functions that include— 
‘‘(A) planning and implementing learning 
experiences that advance the intellectual and 
physical development of children, including im-
proving the readiness of children for school by 
developing their literacy, phonemic, and print 
awareness, their understanding and use of lan-
guage, their understanding and use of increas-
ingly complex and varied vocabulary, their ap-
preciation of books, their understanding of early 
math and early science, their problem solving 
abilities, and their approaches to learning; 
‘‘(B) establishing and maintaining a safe, 
healthy learning environment; 
‘‘(C) supporting the social and emotional 
development of children; and 
‘‘(D) encouraging the involvement of the 
families of the children in a Head Start pro-
gram and supporting the development of rela-
tionships between children and their families. 
‘‘(2) DEGREE REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
ensure that not later than September 30, 2013, 
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at least 50 percent of all Head Start teachers 
nationwide in center-based programs have— 
‘‘(i) a baccalaureate, or advanced de-
gree in early childhood education; 
‘‘(ii) a baccalaureate or advanced de-
gree in a field related to early childhood 
education, with experience in teaching pre-
school children; or 
‘‘(iii) except that teachers providing 
services in migrant and seasonal Head 
Start classrooms that serve children under 
age 3 shall be required to meet the teacher 
requirements described in section 645A(h). 
‘‘(B) PROGRESS.—Each Head Start agen-
cy shall provide to the Secretary a report indi-
cating the number and percentage of teachers 
and teacher’s aides with child development as-
sociate credentials and associate, baccalaureate, 
or advanced degrees. The Secretary shall com-
pile all program reports and make them avail-
able to the Committee on Education and Labor 
of the House of Representatives and the Com-
mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pen-
sions of the Senate. 
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‘‘(C) REQUIREMENT
FOR
NEW
HEAD 
START
TEACHERS.—In accordance with rules 
issued by the Secretary and made effective 2 
years after the effective date of this subpara-
graph, all Head Start agencies shall require 
that all Head Start teachers hired after such 
rules take effect to provide Head Start services 
in center-based programs— 
‘‘(i) have an associate, baccalaureate, 
or advanced degree in early childhood edu-
cation or a related field; or 
‘‘(ii) be currently enrolled in a pro-
gram of study leading to an associate de-
gree in early childhood education or a re-
lated field, and agree to complete degree 
requirements not later than 3 years after 
the date of hire. 
‘‘(D) SERVICE REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec-
retary shall establish requirements to ensure 
that individuals who receive financial assistance 
under this subchapter in order to comply with 
the requirements under section 648A(a)(2) 
shall subsequently teach in a Head Start center 
for a period of time equivalent to the period for 
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which they received assistance or repay the 
amount of the funds. 
‘‘(E) LIMITATION.—The Secretary shall 
require that any Federal funds provided directly 
or indirectly to comply with subparagraph (A) 
shall be used toward degrees awarded by an in-
stitution of higher education, as defined by sec-
tions 101 or 102 of the Higher Education Act 
(20 U.S.C. 1001, 1002).’’, 
(2) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(c) FAMILY SERVICE WORKERS.—To improve the 
quality and effectiveness of staff providing in-home and 
other services (including needs assessment, development of 
service plans, family advocacy, and coordination of service 
delivery) to families of children participating in Head 
Start programs, the Secretary, in coordination with con-
cerned public and private agencies and organizations ex-
amining the issues of standards and training for family 
service workers, shall— 
‘‘(1) review and, as necessary, revise or develop 
new qualification standards for Head Start staff 
providing such services; 
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151 
‘‘(2) review, and as necessary, review or develop 
maximum caseload requirements, as suggested by 
best practices; 
‘‘(3) promote the development of model cur-
ricula (on subjects including parenting training and 
family literacy) designed to ensure the attainment of 
appropriate competencies by individuals working or 
planning to work in the field of early childhood and 
family services; and 
‘‘(4) promote the establishment of a credential 
that indicates attainment of the competencies and 
that is accepted nationwide’’, and 
(3) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(f) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS.—Each 
Head Start agency and program shall create, in consulta-
tion with an employee, a professional development plan for 
all full-time Head Start employees who provide direct serv-
ices to children and shall ensure that such plans are regu-
larly evaluated for their impact on teacher and staff effec-
tiveness.’’. 
SEC. 19. RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATIONS, AND EVALUATION. 
Section 649 of the of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 
9844) is amended— 
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(1) by amending subsection (a)(1)(B) to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(B) use the Head Start programs to de-
velop, test, and disseminate new ideas and 
based on existing scientifically based research, 
for addressing the needs of low-income pre-
school children (including children with disabil-
ities, homeless children, children who have been 
abused or neglected, and children in foster care) 
and their families and communities (including 
demonstrations of innovative non-center-based 
program models such as home-based and mobile 
programs), and otherwise to further the pur-
poses of this subchapter;’’, 
(2) in subsection (d)— 
(A) in paragraph (7) by adding ‘‘and’’ at 
the end, 
(B) in paragraph (8) by striking ‘‘; and’’ 
at the end and inserting a period, 
(C) by striking paragraphs (9) and (10), 
and 
(D) by striking the last sentence, 
(3) in subsection (g)— 
(A) in paragraph(1)(A)— 
(i) by striking clause (i), and 
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(ii) by redesignating clauses (ii) and 
(iii) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, 
and 
(B) by amending paragraph (7)(C) to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(C) TRANSMITTAL OF REPORT TO CON-
GRESS.—Not later than September 30, 2009, 
the Secretary shall transmit the final report to 
the Committee on Education and Labor of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 
the Senate.’’, and 
(4) by amending subsection (h) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(h) LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT CHILDREN.— 
‘‘(1) STUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of the Improving Head Start Act 
of 2007, the Secretary shall conduct a study on the 
status of limited English proficient children and 
their families in participating Head Start programs 
and Early Head Start programs. 
‘‘(2) REPORT.—The Secretary shall prepare 
and submit to Congress, not later than September 
2008, a report containing the results of such study, 
including information on— 
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‘‘(A)(i) 
the 
demographics 
of 
limited 
English proficient children less than 5 years of 
age and the geographical distribution of such 
children; and 
‘‘(ii) the number of such children receiving 
Head Start services and the number of such 
children receiving Early Head Start services, 
and the geographical distribution of such chil-
dren receiving such services; 
‘‘(B) the nature of the Head Start services 
and of the Early Head Start services provided 
to limited English proficient children and their 
families, including the types, content, duration, 
intensity, and costs of family services, language 
assistance, and educational services; 
‘‘(C) procedures in Head Start programs 
for assessing language needs and for making 
the transition of limited English proficient chil-
dren to kindergarten, including the extent to 
which Head Start programs meet the require-
ments of section 642A for limited English pro-
ficient children; 
‘‘(D) the qualifications and training pro-
vided to Head Start teachers and Early Head 
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Start teachers who serve limited English pro-
ficient children and their families; 
‘‘(E) the rate of progress made by limited 
English proficient children and their families in 
Head Start programs and in Early Head Start 
programs, including— 
‘‘(i) the rate of progress made by lim-
ited English proficient children toward 
meeting the additional educational stand-
ards described in section 641A(a)(1)(B)(ii) 
while enrolled in Head Start programs; 
‘‘(ii) the correlation between such 
progress and the type and quality of in-
struction and educational programs pro-
vided to limited English proficient children; 
and 
‘‘(iii) the correlation between such 
progress and the health and family services 
provided by Head Start programs to lim-
ited English proficient children and their 
families; and 
‘‘(F) the extent to which Head Start pro-
grams make use of funds under section 
640(a)(3) to improve the quality of Head Start 
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services provided to limited English proficient 
children and their families.’’. 
SEC. 20. REPORTS. 
Section 650 of the of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 
9846) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘Committee on Education 
and the Workforce of the House of Representa-
tives and the Committee on Labor and Human 
Resources of the Senate’’ each place it appears 
and inserting ‘‘Committee on Education and 
Labor of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions of the Senate’’, 
(B) by striking ‘‘and non-English language 
background children’’ and inserting ‘‘children, 
homeless children, children in foster care, and 
limited English proficient children’’, and 
(C) in paragraph (8) by inserting ‘‘home-
lessness, whether the child is in foster care or 
was referred by a child welfare agency,’’ after 
‘‘, background’’, and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(c) SET-ASIDE ACTIVITIES.—Not later than 60 days 
after the end of each fiscal year, the Secretary shall sub-
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mit to the Committee on Education and Labor of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, a report 
detailing the different amounts of expenditures under sec-
tion 640(a)(2) and the activities carried out thereunder. 
‘‘(d) FISCAL PROTOCOL.—The Secretary shall con-
duct an annual review to assess whether the design and 
implementation of the triennial reviews described in sec-
tion 641A(c) include compliance procedures that provide 
reasonable assurance that Head Start agencies are com-
plying with applicable fiscal laws and regulations. The 
Secretary shall report the findings and conclusions of the 
annual review to the House Committee on Education and 
Labor, and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor and Pensions within 30 days of completing the re-
view.’’. 
SEC. 21. WAGES AND COMPENSATION. 
Section 653 of the of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 
9848) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 653. WAGES AND COMPENSATION. 
‘‘(a) COMPARABILITY
OF WAGES.—The Secretary 
shall take such action as may be necessary to assure that 
persons employed in carrying out programs financed 
under this subchapter shall not receive compensation at 
a rate which is (1) in excess of the average rate of com-
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pensation paid in the area where the program is carried 
out to a substantial number of the persons providing sub-
stantially comparable services, or in excess of the average 
rate of compensation paid to a substantial number of the 
persons providing substantially comparable services in the 
area of the person’s immediately preceding employment, 
whichever is higher; or (2) less than the minimum wage 
rate prescribed in section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Stand-
ards Act of 1938. The Secretary shall encourage Head 
Start agencies to provide compensation according to salary 
scales that are based on training and experience. 
‘‘(b) FEDERAL RATE LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding 
any other provision of law, no Federal funds shall be used 
to pay all or any part of the compensation of an individual 
employed by a Head Start agency in carrying out pro-
grams under this subchapter, either as direct or indirect 
costs of any proration thereof, at a rate in excess of the 
rate then payable for level II of the Executive Schedule 
under section 5316 of title 5, United State Code.’’. 
Æ 
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