II 
Calendar No. 116 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 601 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JANUARY 30, 2017 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
JUNE 5, 2017 
Reported by Mr. CORKER, with amendments 
[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 
AN ACT 
To enhance the transparency and accelerate the impact of 
assistance provided under the Foreign Assistance Act 
of 1961 to promote quality basic education in developing 
countries, to better enable such countries to achieve uni-
versal access to quality basic education and improved 
learning outcomes, to eliminate duplication and waste, 
and for other purposes. 
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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development 
Act’’ or the ‘‘READ Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions. 
Sec. 3. Assistance to promote sustainable, quality basic education. 
Sec. 4. Comprehensive integrated United States strategy to promote basic edu-
cation. 
Sec. 5. Improving coordination and oversight. 
Sec. 6. Monitoring and evaluation of programs. 
Sec. 7. Transparency and reporting to Congress. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
(a) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.— 
In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional commit-
tees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Appropriations of the 
Senate; 
(2) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
Senate; 
(3) the Committee on Appropriations of the 
House of Representatives; and 
(4) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 
House of Representatives. 
(b) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—In this Act, the terms 
‘‘basic education’’, ‘‘marginalized children and vulnerable 
groups’’, ‘‘national education plan’’, ‘‘partner country’’, 
and ‘‘relevant Executive branch agencies and officials’’ 
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have the meanings given such terms in section 105(c) of 
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as added by section 
3. 
SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE, QUALITY 
BASIC EDUCATION. 
Section 105 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 
(22 U.S.C. 2151c) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(c) ASSISTANCE
TO
PROMOTE
SUSTAINABLE, 
QUALITY BASIC EDUCATION.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) BASIC EDUCATION.—The term ‘basic 
education’ includes— 
‘‘(i) measurable improvements in lit-
eracy, numeracy, and other basic skills de-
velopment that prepare an individual to be 
an active, productive member of society 
and the workforce; 
‘‘(ii) workforce development, voca-
tional training, and digital literacy in-
formed by real market needs and opportu-
nities and that results in measurable im-
provements in employment; 
‘‘(iii) programs and activities designed 
to demonstrably improve— 
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‘‘(I) early childhood, preprimary 
education, primary education, and 
secondary education, which can be de-
livered in formal or nonformal edu-
cation settings; and 
‘‘(II) learning for out-of-school 
youth and adults; and 
‘‘(iv) capacity building for teachers, 
administrators, 
counselors, 
and 
youth 
workers that results in measurable im-
provements in student literacy, numeracy, 
or employment. 
‘‘(B) COMMUNITIES
OF
LEARNING.—The 
term ‘communities of learning’ means a holistic 
approach to education and community engage-
ment in which schools act as the primary re-
source center for delivery of a service to the 
community at large, leveraging and maximizing 
the impact of other development efforts and re-
ducing duplication and waste. 
‘‘(C) GENDER
PARITY
IN
BASIC
EDU-
CATION.—The term ‘gender parity in basic edu-
cation’ means that girls and boys have equal ac-
cess to quality basic education. 
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‘‘(D) MARGINALIZED CHILDREN AND VUL-
NERABLE
GROUPS.—The term ‘marginalized 
children and vulnerable groups’ includes girls, 
children affected by or emerging from armed 
conflict or humanitarian crises, children with 
disabilities, children in remote or rural areas 
(including those who lack access to safe water 
and sanitation), religious or ethnic minorities, 
indigenous peoples, orphans and children af-
fected by HIV/AIDS, child laborers, married 
adolescents, and victims of trafficking. 
‘‘(E) NATIONAL
EDUCATION
PLAN.—The 
term ‘national education plan’ means a com-
prehensive national education plan developed by 
partner country governments in consultation 
with other stakeholders as a means for wide- 
scale improvement of the country’s education 
system, including explicit, credible strategies in-
formed by effective practices and standards to 
achieve quality universal basic education. 
‘‘(F) NONFORMAL EDUCATION.—The term 
‘nonformal education’ means organized edu-
cational activities outside the established formal 
system, whether operating separately or as an 
important feature of a broader activity, that are 
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intended to provide students with measurable 
improvements in literacy, numeracy, and other 
basic skills development that prepare an indi-
vidual to be an active, productive member of so-
ciety and the workforce. 
‘‘(G) 
PARTNER
COUNTRY.—The 
term 
‘partner country’ means a developing country 
that participates in or benefits from basic edu-
cation programs under this subsection pursuant 
to the prioritization criteria described in para-
graph (4), including level of need, opportunity 
for impact, and the availability of resources. 
‘‘(H) 
RELEVANT
EXECUTIVE
BRANCH 
AGENCIES AND OFFICIALS.—The term ‘relevant 
Executive branch agencies and officials’ means 
the Department of State, the United States 
Agency for International Development, the De-
partment of the Treasury, the Department of 
Labor, the Department of Education, the De-
partment of Agriculture, and the Department of 
Defense, the Chief Executive Officer of the Mil-
lennium Challenge Corporation, the National 
Security Advisor, and the Director of the Peace 
Corps. 
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‘‘(I) SUSTAINABILITY.—The term ‘sustain-
ability’ means, with respect to any basic edu-
cation program that receives funding pursuant 
to this section, the ability of a service delivery 
system, community, partner, or beneficiary to 
maintain, over time, such basic education pro-
gram without the use of foreign assistance. 
‘‘(2) POLICY.—In carrying out this section, it 
shall be the policy of the United States to work with 
partner countries, as appropriate, other donors, mul-
tilateral institutions, the private sector, and non-
governmental and civil society organizations, includ-
ing faith-based organizations and organizations that 
represent teachers, students, and parents, to pro-
mote sustainable, quality basic education through 
programs and activities that— 
‘‘(A) take into consideration and help re-
spond to the needs, capacities, and commitment 
of developing countries to achieve measurable 
improvements in literacy, numeracy, and other 
basic skills development that prepare an indi-
vidual to be an active, productive member of so-
ciety and the workforce; 
‘‘(B) strengthen educational systems, pro-
mote communities of learning, as appropriate, 
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expand access to safe learning environments, in-
cluding by breaking down specific barriers to 
basic education for women and girls, ensure 
continuity of education, including in conflict 
settings, measurably improve teacher skills and 
learning outcomes, and support the engagement 
of parents in the education of their children to 
help partner countries ensure that all children, 
including marginalized children and other vul-
nerable groups, have access to and benefit from 
quality basic education; 
‘‘(C) promote education as a foundation 
for sustained economic growth and development 
within a comprehensive assistance strategy that 
places partner countries on a trajectory toward 
graduation from assistance provided under this 
section with clearly defined benchmarks of suc-
cess that are used as requirements for related 
procurement vehicles, such as grants, contracts, 
and cooperative agreements; and 
‘‘(D) monitor and evaluate the effective-
ness and quality of basic education programs in 
partner countries. 
‘‘(3) PRINCIPLES.—In carrying out the policy 
referred to in paragraph (2), the United States shall 
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