IB 
Union Calendar No. 38 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1429 
[Report No. 110–67] 
To reauthorize the Head Start Act, to improve program quality, to expand 
access, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 9, 2007 
Mr. KILDEE (for himself, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. CASTLE, 
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mrs. MCCARTHY 
of New York, Mr. WU, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ 
of California, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. SESTAK, Mr. LOEBSACK, Ms. HIRONO, 
Mr. ALTMIRE, Mr. YARMUTH, Ms. CLARKE, and Ms. SHEA-PORTER) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu-
cation and Labor 
MARCH 23, 2007 
Additional sponsors: Ms. WOOLSEY, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. SIRES, Mr. 
STARK, Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. HOLT, 
Mr. GRIJALVA, and Mr. CROWLEY 
MARCH 23, 2007 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 9, 2007] 
A BILL 
To reauthorize the Head Start Act, to improve program 
quality, to expand access, and for other purposes. 
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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 ‘‘Improving Head Start 
Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF 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 the 
school readiness of low-income children— 
‘‘(1) by enhancing their cognitive, social, and 
emotional development in a learning environment 
that supports children’s growth in language, literacy, 
mathematics, science, social and emotional func-
tioning, physical skills, and approaches to learning; 
and 
‘‘(2) through the provision to low-income chil-
dren and their families of health, educational, nutri-
tional, 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— 
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(1) by redesignating paragraphs (16) and (17) 
as paragraphs (22) and (23), respectively, 
(2) by redesignating paragraph (15) as para-
graph (20), respectively, 
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (11) through 
(14) as paragraphs (15) through (18), respectively, 
(4) by redesignating paragraph (10) as para-
graph (13), 
(5) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (9) 
as paragraphs (3) through (10), respectively, 
(6) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(2) The term ‘deficiency’ means— 
‘‘(A) systemic or significant material fail-
ure of a Head Start agency in an area of per-
formance that the Secretary determines in-
volves— 
‘‘(i) a threat to the health, safety, or 
civil rights of children or staff; 
‘‘(ii) a denial to parents of the exercise 
of their full roles and responsibilities related 
to program governance; 
‘‘(iii) a failure to perform the require-
ments of section 641A(a), as determined by 
the Secretary; 
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‘‘(iv) the misuse of funds received 
under this subchapter; 
‘‘(v) loss of legal status (as determined 
by the Secretary) or financial viability, loss 
of permits, debarment from receiving Fed-
eral grants or contracts, or the improper 
use of Federal funds; or 
‘‘(vi) failure to meet any other of Fed-
eral or State requirement; or 
‘‘(B) material failure of the board of direc-
tors of a Head Start agency to meet its legal and 
fiduciary responsibilities.’’, 
(7) by inserting after paragraph (10), as so re-
designated the following: 
‘‘(11) The term ‘homeless children’ has the mean-
ing given such term in section 725(2) of the McKin-
ney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
11434a(2)). 
‘‘(12) The term ‘homeless family’ means the fam-
ily of a homeless child.’’, 
(8) by inserting after paragraph (13), as so re-
designated the following: 
‘‘(14) The terms ‘limited English proficient’ and 
‘limited English proficiency’ mean with respect to an 
individual, that such individual— 
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‘‘(A)(i) was not born in the United States 
or has a native language that is not English; 
‘‘(ii)(I) is a Native American, an Alaska 
Native, or a native resident of a territory or pos-
session of the United States; and 
‘‘(II) comes from an environment in which 
a language that is not English has had a signifi-
cant impact on such individual’s level of English 
language proficiency; or 
‘‘(iii) is migratory, has a native language 
that is not English, and comes from an environ-
ment in which a language that is not English is 
dominant; and 
‘‘(B) has difficulty in speaking or under-
standing the English language to an extent that 
may be sufficient to prevent such individual 
from— 
‘‘(i) successful achievement in class-
rooms in which the language of instruction 
is English; or 
‘‘(ii) fully participating in society.’’, 
(9) by inserting after paragraph (18), as so re-
designated the following: 
‘‘(19) The term ‘professional development’ means 
high quality activities that will improve the knowl-
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edge and skills of Head Start teachers and staff, as 
relevant to their roles and functions, in program ad-
ministration and the provision of services and in-
struction, as appropriate, in a manner that improves 
service delivery to eligible children and families, in-
cluding activities that— 
‘‘(A) are part of a sustained effort to im-
prove overall program quality and outcomes for 
eligible children and families; 
‘‘(B) are developed or selected with extensive 
participation of administrators and teachers 
from Head Start programs; 
‘‘(C) are developmentally appropriate for 
the children being served; 
‘‘(D) include instruction in ways that Head 
Start personnel may work more effectively with 
parents, as appropriate; 
‘‘(E) are designed to give teachers and staff 
the knowledge and skills to provide instruction 
and appropriate support services to children of 
diverse backgrounds, as appropriate; 
‘‘(F) if a 1-day or short-term workshop or 
conference, must be as part of the professional 
development plan defined in section 648A(f) and 
be delivered by an institution of higher education 
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or other entity with expertise in delivering train-
ing in early childhood development, family sup-
port, and other assistance designed to improve 
the delivery of Head Start services; 
‘‘(G) assist teachers with— 
‘‘(i) the acquisition of the content 
knowledge and teaching strategies needed to 
provide effective instruction and other 
school readiness services in early language 
and literacy, early mathematics, early 
science, cognitive skills, approaches to learn-
ing, creative arts, science, physical health 
and development, and social and emotional 
development linked to school readiness; 
‘‘(ii) meeting the requirements in 
paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 648A(a), 
as appropriate; 
‘‘(iii) improving classroom manage-
ment skills, as appropriate; 
‘‘(iv) advancing understanding of effec-
tive instructional strategies that are— 
‘‘(I) based on scientifically based 
research; and 
‘‘(II) aligned with— 
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‘‘(aa) the Head Start Child 
Outcomes Framework developed 
by the Secretary and State early 
learning standards, as appro-
priate; and 
‘‘(bb) the curricula, ongoing 
assessments, and other instruction 
and services designed to help meet 
the standards described in section 
641A(a)(1); 
‘‘(v) acquiring the knowledge and skills 
to provide instruction and appropriate lan-
guage and support services to increase the 
English language skills of limited English 
proficient children, as appropriate; or 
‘‘(vi) methods of teaching children with 
disabilities, as appropriate.’’, 
(10) by inserting after paragraph (20), as so re-
designated, the following: 
‘‘(21) The term ‘scientifically based research’— 
‘‘(A) means research that involves the appli-
cation of rigorous, systematic and objective pro-
cedures to obtain reliable and valid knowledge 
relevant to education activities and programs; 
and 
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‘‘(B) includes research that— 
‘‘(i) employs systematic, empirical 
methods that draw on observation or experi-
ment; 
‘‘(ii) involves rigorous data analyses 
that are adequate to test the stated 
hypotheses and justify the general conclu-
sions drawn; 
‘‘(iii) relies on measurements or obser-
vational methods that provide reliable and 
valid data across evaluators and observers, 
across multiple measurements and observa-
tions, and across studies by the same or dif-
ferent investigators; 
‘‘(iv) is evaluated using experimental 
or quasi-experimental designs in which in-
dividuals, entities, programs or activities 
are assigned to different conditions and 
with appropriate controls to evaluate the ef-
fects of the condition of interest, with a 
preference for random assignment experi-
ments, or other designs to the extent that 
those designs contain within-condition or 
across-condition controls; 
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