[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 377 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 377

To strengthen the role of the Federal Government in helping to identify 
 children with reading deficiencies and to provide grants to State and 
  local governments to implement early reading intervention programs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 15, 2001

  Ms. Collins introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To strengthen the role of the Federal Government in helping to identify 
 children with reading deficiencies and to provide grants to State and 
  local governments to implement early reading intervention programs.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Early Literacy Intervention 
Initiative Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) It is estimated that at a minimum 10,000,000 children 
        have difficulty learning to read. 10 to 15 percent of those 
        children eventually drop out of high school, and only 2 percent 
        complete a 4-year college program.
            (2) In line with the promise that every child be able to 
        read by 3rd grade, it is critical that the tools for assessing 
        whether children have developed the fundamental skills 
        necessary for early reading and appropriate skill building 
        support services be available to younger children.
            (3) Early screening and intervention will help to ensure 
        that children, their families, and local schools have the best 
        available resources to assess and address reading readiness in 
        young children, even prior to entering elementary school.
            (4) In order to hold local schools accountable in meeting 
        clear, measurable goals focused on the development of basic 
        literacy skills, parents and early childhood educators should 
        work to devise local strategies to close the achievement gap.
            (5) Local community partnerships should be given the 
        flexibility to develop outcome goals once they have assessed 
        the early literacy and learning needs of young children as well 
        as their community resources for addressing these learning 
        needs.
            (6) It is estimated that the number of children, who are 
        typically identified as poor readers, could be reduced by at 
        least 70 to 80 percent through the application of scientific 
        research based early identification and prevention programs.
            (7) To ensure that teachers have the training necessary to 
        teach young children to be ready to read, methods based on the 
        most current scientifically-based research should be made 
        available to local communities, along with resources to improve 
        teacher quality through classroom and practical experiences in 
        addressing early literacy needs.
            (8) Reading, writing, listening, and other literacy skills 
        are essential for success in school, in the workplace, and 
        throughout life. Studies have shown that learning to read is a 
        process that begins very early in a child's development, and 
        that by providing young children with high quality emergent 
        literacy and pre-reading experiences, children can be helped to 
        become independent and skilled readers.
            (9) Reading difficulties vary in severity. With early 
        identification and effective instruction, less serious 
        difficulties can be prevented from becoming serious 
        disabilities. Even more serious disabilities can be meliorated 
        with early identification and appropriate instruction.
            (10) Enormous benefits derive to individuals and society as 
        a whole when reading difficulties are prevented or lessened. 
        Developing assessments and effective interventions depend on 
        scientifically based reading research.
            (11) Seventy-five percent of children with reading 
        difficulties who are not identified by the age of 9 will still 
        have poor reading skills at the end of high school.
    (b) Purposes.--It is the purpose of this Act to--
            (1) provide assistance to State and local educational 
        agencies in establishing comprehensive research based reading 
        programs in kindergarten through 2nd grade, to ensure that 
        every student can read by the 3rd grade;
            (2) provide assistance to State and local educational 
        agencies in selecting or developing a set of tools or 
        protocols, based on reliable research on the early predictors 
        of reading and literacy success in preschool children, to 
        ensure that children have the necessary building blocks to 
        reading readiness and the fundamental knowledge to begin to 
        read.
            (3) provide assistance to State and local educational 
        agencies to prepare teachers, through professional development 
        and other support, to identify specific reading barriers with 
        respect to their students, and to give such teachers 
        instructional tools necessary to effectively help these 
        students become competent readers;
            (4) provide assistance to State and local educational 
        agencies in selecting or developing effective instructional 
        materials, programs, and strategies which have been proven 
        effective in preventing reading failure within a State and 
        across States;
            (5) hold State and local educational agencies that receive 
        early literacy intervention funds under this Act accountable 
        for making measurable yearly progress toward ensuring that all 
        children are able to read by the 3rd grade and that less 
        students require special education intervention; and
            (6) allow for the collection of evaluative data and its 
        analysis and dissemination so that local communities, the 
        States, and the United States can better understand the 
        literacy skills and needs of early learners in the United 
        States.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    The definitions contained in section 14101 of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801) shall apply for 
purposes of this Act.

SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATES.

    (a) Formula Grants.--From the amount appropriated under section 
8(a) for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall allot to a State that 
submits an application under section 5 an amount that bears the same 
ratio to the amount appropriated for the fiscal year as the total 
number of children in kindergarten through 2nd grade in the State in 
the school year involved bears to the total number of such children in 
all States that have submitted applications under section 5 for such 
fiscal year.
    (b) Competitive Grants.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall use amounts 
        appropriate under section 8(b) for each fiscal year to award 
        competitive grants to eligible States that have most 
        effectively implemented early literacy intervention activities 
        in the State.
            (2) Eligibility.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
        paragraph (1), a State shall--
                    (A) prepare and submit to the Secretary an 
                application under section 5; and
                    (B) have demonstrated that the State has 
                effectively implemented early literacy intervention 
                activities in the State and--
                            (i) made significant progress toward 
                        ensuring that all students in the State are 
                        able to read fluently and with comprehension by 
                        the 3rd grade; or
                            (ii) made significant progress toward 
                        reducing the reading deficit among students in 
                        low socioeconomic student populations in the 
                        State.
            (3) Determinations on grant recipients.--
                    (A) Peer review.--The peer review panel established 
                under section 2253(c)(2) of the Elementary and 
                Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6661b(c)(2)) 
                shall evaluate the States that are eligible to receive 
                grants under this subsection in each fiscal year and 
                make recommendations to the Secretary based on such 
                evaluations.
                    (B) Use of data.--In making determinations on which 
                States will receive grants under this subsection, the 
                Secretary and the peer review panel under subparagraph 
                (A) shall utilize data from the State assessments 
                submitted under part A of title I of the Elementary and 
                Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311 et 
                seq.) relating to reading, as well as other information 
                submitted by States that demonstrate success in 
                ensuring that every student can read by the 3rd grade.

SEC. 5. STATE APPLICATIONS.

    To be eligible to receive a formula grant under section 4(a) or a 
competitive grant under section 4(b) a State shall prepare and submit 
to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and 
containing such information as the Secretary may require including an 
assurance that--
            (1) the State will--
                    (A) establish a reading partnership, or utilize the 
                State partnership utilized for purposes of part C of 
                title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
                of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6661 et seq.), to coordinate the 
                development of the State plan for the use of funds 
                awarded to the State under this Act; and
                    (B) participate in the oversight and evaluation of 
                the activities funded in the State under this Act;
            (2) the State will provide support for professional 
        development activities that provide instruction to teachers in 
        all the major components of scientific research based reading, 
        including--
                    (A) the use of scientifically valid assessment 
                tools and procedures which effectively identify 
                students who are at-risk for reading failure;
                    (B) the use of early intervention and accelerated 
                reading programs that are based on valid scientific 
                research as defined for purposes of part C of title II 
                of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
                (20 U.S.C. 6661 et seq.); and
                    (C) the use of scientific research-based reading 
                instructional materials and practices;
            (3) the State will utilize scientific research-based 
        reading instructional practices that address the need for 
        children with reading difficulties who--
                    (A) based on valid reading assessments, are at risk 
                of being referred to special education based on those 
                difficulties or are assessed to be significantly 
                delayed in their early learning; or
                    (B) based upon a research-based, early intervention 
                screening tool, lack the necessary components of early 
                literacy development (as defined by State benchmarks); 
                and
            (4) the State will provide the Secretary with an annual 
        report on the implementation of the early literacy intervention 
        initiative under this Act that includes evidence that the 
        assurances described in this section are being achieved and an 
        identification of local educational agencies that report the 
        largest gains in reading achievement.
The information described in paragraph (4) shall be made available by 
the State to parents, shall be published in school profiles, and shall 
be published in a local journal of public record.

SEC. 6. USE OF FUNDS.

    (a) State Use.--
            (1) In general.--A State that receives a grant (or grants) 
        under subsection (a) or (b) of section 4 for a fiscal year 
        shall use--
                    (A) not less than 80 percent of the amount received 
                under the grant (or grants) to make grants to local 
                educational agencies under subsection (b); and
                    (B) not more than 20 percent of the amount received 
                under the grant (or grants) to carry out State 
                activities under paragraph (2).
            (2) Permissible activities.--From amounts made available 
        under paragraph (1)(B) for State activities, a State may carry 
        out activities to assist local educational agencies in 
        designing and implementing early literacy intervention 
        initiatives such as--
                    (A) selecting and implementing scientific research-
                based screening tools and reading instructional 
                materials that use the guidelines developed under part 
                C of title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
                Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6661 et seq.);
                    (B) the implementation of local grant competitions; 
                and
                    (C) collecting and summarizing data from 
                scientifically-based assessments to document the 
                effectiveness of early literacy intervention in school 
                districts as well as the State as a whole, and to spur 
                improvement by reporting on local educational agencies 
                that produce large gains in achievement.
            (3) Administration.--A State may use not more than 5 
        percent of the amount available under paragraph (1)(B) for a 
        fiscal year to pay the costs related to the administration of 
        the activities carried out in the State under this Act.
    (b) Grants to Local Educational Agencies.--
            (1) Formula grants.--
                    (A) In general.--From amounts made available under 
                subsection (a)(1)(A) for grant activities, a State 
                shall award formula grants to local educational 
                agencies that submit applications under subsection (c) 
                to enable such agencies to carry out activities to 
                ensure that all children are able to read by 3rd grade.
                    (B) Fiscal year 2000.--From amounts made available 
                under subsection (a)(1)(A) for fiscal year 2002, the 
                State shall allot to a local educational agency that 
                submits an application under subsection (c) an amount 
                that is based equally on--
                            (i) the poverty level of the local 
                        educational agency;
                            (ii) the number of students in kindergarten 
                        through 2nd grade in the local educational 
                        agency; and
                            (iii) the percentage of 3rd graders in the 
                        local educational agency who do not read at 3rd 
                        grade level (or a State defined proxy that 
reflects the relative proportion of children in the early grades, 
within each local educational agency, not reading at a basic level);
                relative to all other local educational agencies that 
                submit applications under such subsection in the State.
                    (C) Subsequent fiscal years.--Except as provided in 
                paragraph (2), from amounts made available under 
                subsection (a)(1)(A) for each of fiscal years 2003 
                through 2006, the State shall allot to a local 
                educational agency that submits an application under 
                subsection (c) an amount for each such fiscal year that 
                is based on the relative success of the local 
                educational agency in increasing the percentage of 
                students reading at grade level by the 3rd grade as 
                determined by testing instruments that meet established 
                standards of reliability and validity.
            (2) Competitive grants.--From amounts made available under 
        subsection (a)(1)(A) for each of fiscal years 2003 through 
        2006, the State shall utilize 25 percent of such amount in each 
        such fiscal year to award competitive grants to local 
        educational agencies that submit applications under subsection 
        (c) to enable such agencies to carry out activities to ensure 
        that all children are able to read by 3rd grade. The State 
        shall award such grants based on the relative success of a 
        local educational agency in increasing the percentage of 
        students who are reading at grade level by the 3rd grade, or to 
        those local educational agencies that are making progress 
        toward reducing the reading deficit among students in diverse 
        populations.
    (c) Local Educational Agency Application.--To be eligible to 
receive a formula grant under subsection (b)(1) or a competitive grant 
under subsection (b)(2) a local educational agency shall prepare and 
submit to the State an application at such time, in such manner, and 
containing such information as the State may require. Such application 
shall including the following assurance:
            (1) An assurance that the local educational agency will 
        implement an early literacy intervention initiative in each 
        school that receives funds under this Act. Such initiative 
        shall include--
                    (A) a rigorous, scientifically-based accountability 
                and intervention capability;
                    (B) a reading assessment program in kindergarten 
                through 2nd grade that, at a minimum, includes 
                scientifically-based research, to determine which 
                students may be at risk for reading failure or having 
                difficulties with reading;
                    (C) a comprehensive diagnostic assessment of those 
                students identified under subparagraph (B), to 
                determine the specific reading difficulties in order to 
                focus early intervention and classroom individualized 
                instruction in areas where students need assistance; 
                and
                    (D) the provision of early intervention reading 
                assistance, classroom instruction and reading 
                curriculum materials, appropriate to the needs of each 
                student identified under subparagraph (B), including 
                added interventions for targeted students who continue 
                to experience difficulty in reading.
            (2) An assurance that the local educational agency will 
        provide professional development for teachers in kindergarten 
        through 2nd grade that will prepare such teachers in all the 
        major components of reading instruction, as defined by State 
        benchmarks. Such activities shall include familiarizing such 
        teachers with--
                    (A) assessment instruments that meet established 
                standards of reliability and validity;
                    (B) procedures that effectively identify students 
                at-risk for reading failure; and
                    (C) interventions, and instructional materials, 
                programs, and approaches that are based on the findings 
                of scientific research on reading as determined under 
                part C of title II of the Elementary and Secondary 
                Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6661 et seq.).
            (3) An assurance that the local educational agency will 
        ensure that scientific research-based reading instruction is 
        provided to children with reading difficulties who--
                    (A) based upon reading assessments, are at risk of 
                being referred to special education based on those 
                difficulties; or
                    (B) based upon a research-based, early intervention 
                screening tools, are determined to lack the necessary 
                components of early literacy development, as defined by 
                State benchmarks.
    (d) Local Use of Funds.--
            (1) In general.--A local educational agency that receives a 
        grant (or grants) under paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (b) 
        for a fiscal year shall use amounts received under such grant 
        (or grants) to conduct activities that will contribute toward 
        the goal of ensuring that all children are able to read by the 
        3rd grade and otherwise carry out the purposes of this Act, 
        including--
                    (A) the establishment and implementation of 
                professional development programs for teachers as 
                described in the application of the agency;
                    (B) the selection and distribution of scientific 
                research-based reading instructional materials, as 
                determined under part C of title II of the Elementary 
                and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6661 et 
                seq.);
                    (C) the selection or development of assessment 
                tools that meet established standards of reliability 
                and validity which shall measure elements of early 
                reading skills at the end of kindergarten and 1st and 
                2nd grades;
                    (D) the selection of pre- and post-assessment 
                inventories to measure student progress in the 
                acquisition of reading skills at the beginning and end 
                of each school year; and
                    (E) the collection and summarization of data from 
                scientifically-based assessments to document the 
                effectiveness of early literacy intervention in schools 
                as well as the school district served by the local 
                educational agency as a whole, and to spur improvement 
                in literacy by reporting on schools that produce large 
                gains in achievement.
            (2) Requirement.--A local educational agency shall use not 
        less than 50 percent of the amount received under a grant (or 
        grants) under paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (b) as 
        provided for in paragraph (1)(A).
            (3) Permissible use.--A local educational agency may use 
        amounts received under a grant (or grants) under paragraph (1) 
        or (2) of subsection (b) for the development of collaborative 
        teams that include school principals, to modify instruction 
        that has not produced the necessary gains in student literacy.

SEC. 7. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES.

    The Secretary may use not more than 1 percent of the amount 
appropriated for each fiscal year under section 8 to carry out the 
following activities:
            (1) Activities to evaluate the early literacy intervention 
        initiative that are conducted under this Act.
            (2) Providing resources at the national level, that are 
        accessible to local communities, in the form of training and 
        technical assistance to teachers, parents, and early childhood 
        care providers in the use of the early intervention screening 
        tools, materials, and activities.
            (3) Providing training and technical assistance with 
        respect to the use of scientifically-based teaching methods and 
        activities to address the early reading needs of young children 
        at the pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and 1st grade levels.
            (4) Providing the infrastructure for the dissemination of 
        different elements of the early literacy intervention 
        initiative through a variety of media including the Internet, 
        and other distance-learning mechanisms.

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Formula Grants.--There is authorized to be appropriated to 
carry out section 4(a), $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 
through 2006.
    (b) Competitive Grants.--There is authorized to be appropriated to 
carry out section 4(b), $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 
through 2006.
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