‘‘(C) The Secretary shall publish a notification of the 
consultations in the Federal Register before conducting 
the consultations. 
‘‘(D) A detailed report of each consultation shall be 
prepared and made available within 90 days of the annual 
consultation to all Indian tribes that receive assistance 
under this subchapter.’’. 
(e) ENROLLMENT OF HOMELESS CHILDREN; RULE 
OF CONSTRUCTION; MATERIALS.—Section 640 of the 
Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9835) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘(m) ENROLLMENT OF HOMELESS CHILDREN.—The 
Secretary shall issue rules to establish policies and proce-
dures to remove barriers to the enrollment and participa-
tion of homeless children in Head Start programs. Such 
rules shall require Head Start agencies— 
‘‘(1) to implement policies and procedures to 
ensure that homeless children are identified and 
prioritized for enrollment; 
‘‘(2) to allow homeless families to apply to, en-
roll in and attend Head Start programs while re-
quired documents, such as proof of residency, immu-
nization and other medical records, birth certificates 
and other documents, are obtained within a reason-
able time frame; and 
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‘‘(3) coordinate individual Head Start programs 
with efforts to implement subtitle B of title VII of 
the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 
U.S.C. 11431–11435). 
‘‘(n) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sub-
chapter shall be construed to require a State to establish 
a program of early education for children in the State, 
to require any child to participate in a program of early 
education, to attend school, or to participate in any initial 
screening before participating in such program, except as 
provided under sections 612(a)(3) and 635(a)(5) of the 
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 
‘‘(o) MATERIALS.—All curricula and instructional 
materials funded under this subchapter shall be based on 
scientifically based research, age and developmentally ap-
propriate, and focused on all areas of development (cog-
nitive, social, emotional, and physical), learning (language 
and literacy, mathematics, science, and creative arts) and 
approaches to learning. Parents shall be permitted to in-
spect, upon request, any curricula or instructional mate-
rials used to carry out this subchapter.’’. 
SEC. 6. DESIGNATION OF HEAD START AGENCIES. 
Section 641 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9836) 
is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘SEC. 641. DESIGNATION OF HEAD START AGENCIES. 
‘‘(a) AUTHORITY TO DESIGNATE.—The Secretary is 
authorized to designate as a Head Start agency any local 
public or private nonprofit agency, including community- 
based and faith-based organizations, or for-profit agency, 
within a community, pursuant to the requirements of this 
section, except that until such time that the Secretary de-
velops and implements the system of application review 
under this section, the Secretary is authorized to designate 
as a Head Start agency, any local public or private non-
profit agency, including community-based and faith-based 
organizations, or for-profit agency, within a community, 
in the manner and process utilized by the Secretary prior 
to the enactment of the Improving Head Start Act of 
2007. 
‘‘(b) APPLICATION FOR GRANTS.—Each entity shall 
submit a plan to the Secretary, at such time and in such 
manner as the Secretary may require. 
‘‘(c) DEVELOPMENT OF APPLICATION REVIEW SYS-
TEM.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop 
a system that integrates the recommendations of the 
expert panel convened under paragraph (3) to deter-
mine if a Head Start agency is providing a quality 
comprehensive early learning program that meets 
the educational, health, and nutritional needs of the 
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children and families it serves, and meets program 
and financial management requirements and per-
formance standards described in section 641A(a)(1), 
based on— 
‘‘(A) annual budget data; 
‘‘(B) program reviews conducted under 
section 641A(c); 
‘‘(C) annual audits required under section 
647; 
‘‘(D) classroom quality as measured under 
section 640A(c)(2)(H); and 
‘‘(E) Program Information Report. 
‘‘(2) EXPERT
PANEL.—No later than six 
months after the enactment of the Improving Head 
Start Act of 2007, the Secretary shall convene an 
expert panel of 7 members to make recommenda-
tions to the Secretary on the development of a trans-
parent, reliable, and valid system for evaluating 
grant renewal applications. 
‘‘(3) COMPOSITION
OF
EXPERT
PANEL.—The 
Secretary, in convening such panel, shall appoint the 
following: 
‘‘(A) 5 members, who are competent, by 
virtue of their training, expertise, and experi-
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ence, in each of at least one of the following 
areas: 
‘‘(i) Early childhood program accredi-
tation or quality assessment. 
‘‘(ii) Research on early childhood de-
velopment. 
‘‘(iii) Governance and finance of non- 
profit organizations. 
‘‘(iv) Delivery of services to children 
and families with limited English pro-
ficiency. 
‘‘(v) Delivery of services to children 
with disabilities. 
‘‘(B) An employee from the Office of Head 
Start. 
‘‘(C) An executive director of a Head Start 
agency. 
‘‘(4) EXPERT
PANEL
REPORT.—Within 12 
months of being convened by the Secretary, the ex-
pert panel shall issue a report to the Secretary that 
provides recommendations on a proposed system of 
grant review that takes into account the criteria in 
paragraph (1) to evaluate whether a Head Start 
grantee is meeting mission to provide a high quality 
comprehensive early education program, including 
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