I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3419 
To establish an Office of Specialized Instructional Support Services in the 
Department of Education and to provide grants to State educational 
agencies to reduce barriers to learning. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 3, 2007 
Mr. LOEBSACK (for himself, Mr. HARE, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. BARROW, Ms. ROY-
BAL-ALLARD, Ms. SHEA-PORTER, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. 
YARMUTH, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. KAGEN, Ms. 
MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. 
LARSEN of Washington, Mr. SIRES, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, 
Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. WELCH of 
Vermont, Mr. FILNER, Mr. BECERRA, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. AN-
DREWS, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. WAXMAN, and Ms. MATSUI) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
Labor 
A BILL 
To establish an Office of Specialized Instructional Support 
Services in the Department of Education and to provide 
grants to State educational agencies to reduce barriers 
to learning. 
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. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reducing Barriers to 
Learning Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Interventions to increase students’ bonding 
to school promote academic success by reducing bar-
riers to learning. 
(2) Interventions that foster students’ engage-
ment in school have been shown to reduce high 
school dropout rates. 
(3) Interventions that strengthen students’ so-
cial, emotional, and decision-making skills also posi-
tively impact their academic achievement, both in 
terms of higher standardized test scores and better 
grades. 
(4) Prevention and early intervention programs 
that target elementary school-aged students who are 
academically and socially at risk have been shown to 
produce declines in special education referrals and 
placement, suspension, grade retention, and discipli-
nary referrals. 
(5) Students with barriers to learning, such as 
low levels of resilience assets (such as high expecta-
tions and caring relationships at school), have lower 
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levels of academic achievement both in low- and 
high-performing schools. 
(6) Increasing students’ engagement and sense 
of community in the school produces reductions in 
problem behaviors, increased associations with 
prosocial peers, and better academic performance. 
(7) School mental health programs improve 
educational outcomes by decreasing absences and 
discipline referrals and improving test scores. 
(8) Students who receive social-emotional sup-
port and prevention services achieve better academi-
cally in school. 
(9) While it is well recognized that mental 
health directly affects children’s learning and devel-
opment, in a recent study one-third of school dis-
tricts reported decreased funding for school mental 
health services at the same time that two-thirds re-
ported increased need for such services. 
(10) School counseling programs are essential 
for students to achieve optimal personal growth, ac-
quire positive social skills and values, set appropriate 
career goals, and realize full academic potential to 
become productive, contributing members of the 
world community. 
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(11) 70 percent of children receiving services 
from speech-language pathologists make progress in 
emergent literacy skills, and 75 percent make 
progress in word recognition, an important compo-
nent of literacy skills; over two-thirds of classroom 
teachers report that students receiving these services 
show improved reading skills in the classroom. 
(12) Use of creative arts therapies (including 
art therapy, dance/movement therapy, and music 
therapy) promote learning and skill acquisition (in-
cluding enhanced literacy skills), increased attention, 
improved behavior, increased socialization, improved 
receptive/expressive language, self-expression, and a 
more positive attitude for learning. 
(13) 97 percent of children in the United States 
spend their days at school. Therefore, the school can 
be an important site where health and education 
risks (such as depression, absenteeism, and sub-
stance use) may be identified and timely interven-
tions initiated. 
(14) Whole-school interventions using positive 
behavior support have been shown to decrease be-
havior problems while improving academic perform-
ance, as measured by standardized tests in reading 
and mathematics. 
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(15) Branches of Federal agencies need to re- 
evaluate policies aimed at enhancing school-based 
mental health and become more proactive in pro-
viding leadership to achieve integrated, collaborative, 
and effective programs aimed at improving the men-
tal health of America’s children. 
(16) 20 percent of the 53 million children at-
tending school in the United States will, at some 
point, meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental ill-
ness at a level of impairment that requires some 
type of intervention. Thus, there is the potential that 
over 10 million children will need some type of help 
to meet the goals relating to emotional well-being in 
the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. 
(17) More than three-quarters of schools have 
a coordinator of mental health and social services in 
the school; nearly two-thirds of school districts have 
a coordinator who serves this role; and one-half of 
the States have a coordinator of school mental 
health and social services. However, there is cur-
rently no person responsible for overseeing or pro-
moting these services and supports in the Depart-
ment of Education. 
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