I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1600
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to reserve 
funds to provide special training, technical assistance, and professional 
development to eligible entities implementing Even Start programs and 
to the staff of such programs, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 3, 2003
Mrs. DAVIS of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 to reserve funds to provide special training, 
technical assistance, and professional development to eli-
gible entities implementing Even Start programs and 
to the staff of such programs, 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 ‘‘Even Start Quality 
Improvement Act’’.
SEC. 2. RESERVATION FOR SPECIAL TRAINING AND TECH-
NICAL ASSISTANCE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1232(b) of Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
6381a(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) SPECIAL TRAINING AND TECHNICAL AS-
SISTANCE.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—For the first fiscal 
year after fiscal year 2003 for which the 
amount appropriated under section 1002(b)(3) 
exceeds the amount appropriated under such 
section for the preceding fiscal year by 
$8,000,000 or more, the Secretary shall reserve 
from such excess amount $5,000,000. The Sec-
retary shall use such reserved amount to pro-
vide special training, technical assistance, and 
professional development to eligible entities im-
plementing Even Start programs, and to the 
staff of such programs, in order to improve the 
quality of services for eligible participants, and 
to assist personnel in meeting the professional 
development requirements described in section 
1235(5). 
‘‘(B) GRANT
OR
CONTRACT.—The Sec-
retary shall carry out subparagraph (A) by en-
tering into a grant or contract with not less
than 2 eligible organizations with experience 
and expertise in the provision of training, tech-
nical assistance, and professional development 
to family literacy providers, particularly eligible 
organizations with experience in the provision of 
such services to Even Start programs. Such en-
tities may include the National Even Start As-
sociation, the National Center for Family Lit-
eracy, and the William F. Goodling Institute for 
Research in Family Literacy. In awarding 
grants or contracts under this subparagraph, 
the Secretary shall give priority to eligible orga-
nizations that work cooperatively with other eli-
gible organizations. 
‘‘(C) ACTIVITIES.—Activities carried out 
with amounts reserved under this paragraph 
shall include—
‘‘(i) training and technical assistance; 
‘‘(ii) assistance to personnel in meet-
ing the professional development require-
ments described in section 1235(5); and 
‘‘(iii) training and the development of 
materials to ensure that instructional pro-
grams are based on scientifically based 
reading research.
‘‘(D) IDENTIFICATION
OF
PROGRAMS.—
States shall identify, based on the indicators of 
program quality developed by the State under 
section 1240 and other information available to 
the State, a list of the Even Start programs in 
the State that are in need of training, technical 
assistance, and professional development. 
‘‘(E) APPLICATION
FOR
ASSISTANCE.—
Even Start programs identified under subpara-
graph (D) may submit an application for assist-
ance under this paragraph to the Secretary. 
Based on need and the quality of the applica-
tion, the Secretary shall select the programs to 
be assisted and refer each approved application 
to an eligible organization described in subpara-
graph (B) that has expertise and experience in 
providing the type of assistance required by 
such Even Start programs. 
‘‘(F) CONSULTATION.—In providing serv-
ices under this paragraph, eligible organizations 
shall consult with the National Institute of 
Child Health and Human Development and the 
National Institute for Literacy for guidance in 
identifying—