Families Learning and Understanding English Together Act of 2007 - Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make grants to providers of family literacy services to improve the literacy and English skills of limited English proficient individuals who are parents or children in families where each parent is at least 16 years old and where at least one child is under age eight.
Directs the Secretary to reserve certain funds to: (1) provide technical assistance and training to such grantees; (2) make grants to, or enter contracts with, national organizations that have family literacy service expertise to provide grantees with technical assistance and training; and (3) evaluate and improve such grant program.
Requires grantees to meet specified outcome measures.
[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1794 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1794
To improve the literacy and English skills of limited English
proficient individuals, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 29, 2007
Mr. Grijalva introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Labor
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To improve the literacy and English skills of limited English
proficient individuals, and for other purposes.
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 ``Families Learning and Understanding
English Together Act of 2007''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The Census Bureau reports that 17.9 percent of United
States households speak a language other than English at home.
(2) Many parents in many recently-immigrated families speak
little to no English, possess low literacy skills in their
native language due to limited education, and frequently
struggle to assist their children's English language
development.
(3) The United States is a nation of immigrants, and even
today, according to the 2004 update of the Census, over
34,000,000 individuals who live in the United States were born
outside the country.
SEC. 3. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to improve the educational, social, and
economic advancement of families with limited English proficient
individuals in need of literacy skills by expanding and enhancing
family literacy services for such families.
SEC. 4. COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) Program Authorized.--From funds made available pursuant to
section 9, and after reserving funds under section 9(b), the Secretary
may award grants to family literacy providers to provide, directly or
through a contract with another provider, family literacy services
designed for families with limited English proficient individuals. Each
grant under this Act shall be for a period of 1 year and may be renewed
for a total of 5 additional years.
(b) Application.--Family literacy providers who desire to receive a
grant under this Act shall submit an application at such time,
containing such information, and in such manner as the Secretary may
require. Such application shall include the following:
(1) An assurance that services provided with funds under
this Act shall be provided to the hardest-to-reach populations,
including populations with the greatest economic and social
need.
(2) A description of the services that will be provided
with funds under this Act, including how the services will be
based on research-based reading instruction for limited English
proficient children and parents.
(3) A description of the outcome measures, consistent with
section 6, that are based on scientifically based research and
will be employed by the family literacy provider to measure the
effectiveness of services provided with funds under this Act.
(4) An assurance that, in providing family literacy
services through the grant, the family literacy provider will
collaborate with one or more of the following:
(A) A local educational agency.
(B) An elementary school.
(C) A secondary school.
(D) A nonprofit entity.
(c) Grant Amount.--The amount of a grant under this Act for a
fiscal year shall not be less than $150,000 or more than $1,000,000.
(d) Services Requirements.--Family literacy services under this Act
shall be provided in sufficient intensity in terms of hours, and shall
be of sufficient duration, to make sustainable changes in a family and
shall integrate all of the following activities:
(1) Interactive literacy activities between parents and
their children.
(2) Training for parents regarding how to be the primary
teacher for their children and full partners in the education
of their children.
(3) Parent literacy training that leads to economic self-
sufficiency.
(4) An age-appropriate education to prepare children for
success in school and life experiences.
(e) Special Rule.--Family literacy services under this Act may be
provided to a family only if--
(1) each parent in the family has attained 16 years of age;
and
(2) the family has at least one child from birth who has
not yet attained 8 years of age.
SEC. 5. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND TRAINING.
(a) Activities by Secretary.--The Secretary, acting through the
Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, shall
provide technical assistance and training to grantees under this Act
for the purposes described in subsection (c).
(b) Activities by National Organizations.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall make grants to, or
enter into contracts with, at least 2 eligible national
organizations to provide technical assistance and training to
grantees under this Act for the purposes described in
subsection (c).
(2) Definition.--In this section, the term ``eligible
national organization'' means a national organization with
expertise in providing family literacy services to limited
English proficient populations.
(c) Purposes.--The purposes of technical assistance and training
provided under this section are the following:
(1) Assisting grantees under this Act to improve the
quality of their family literacy services.
(2) Enabling such grantees that demonstrate the effective
provision of family literacy services, based on improved
outcomes for children and their parents, to provide technical
assistance and training to government agencies and to family
literacy providers that work in collaboration with such
agencies to improve the quality of their family literacy
services.
(3) Assisting such grantees in the implementation of
literacy curriculum and training activities, including
curriculum and training activities that support building on a
child's native language.
(d) Reports to Congress.--Not later than 90 days after the end of
each fiscal year, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on
Education and Labor of the House of Representatives and the Committee
on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a report on the
technical assistance and training provided pursuant to subsections (a)
and (b). Each such report shall describe the actions taken by the
Secretary to ensure that such technical assistance and training is of
high-quality and is responsive to the needs of grantees under this Act.
SEC. 6. OUTCOME MEASURES.
The Secretary shall require each family literacy provider receiving
a grant under this Act to meet culturally appropriate and competent
outcome measures described in the provider's application under section
4, including outcome measures with respect to--
(1) acquisition of the English language, including improved
educational levels;
(2) literacy skills and building of a home language;
(3) improved parenting and life skills;
(4) the improved ability of parents with limited English
proficiency to effectively interact with officials of the
schools their children attend;
(5) improved developmental skills and independent learning
of the children; and
(6) increased parental participation in their children's
education and home environments that are supportive of
educational endeavors.
SEC. 7. EVALUATION.
The Secretary shall conduct an annual evaluation of the grant
program under this Act. Such evaluation shall be used by the
Secretary--
(1) for program improvement;
(2) to further define the program's goals and objectives;
and
(3) to determine program effectiveness.
SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act:
(1) Application of esea terms.--The terms ``elementary
school'', ``limited English proficient'', ``local educational
agency'', ``scientifically based research'', and ``secondary
school'' have the meanings given such terms in section 9101 of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
7801). The term ``scientifically based reading research'' has
the meaning given such term in section 1208 of the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6368).
(2) Family literacy provider.--The term ``family literacy
provider'' means an entity that--
(A) is located in a geographic area containing at
least one public elementary school or secondary school
with a majority enrollment of children with limited
English proficiency; and
(B) is one of the following:
(i) A current grantee under subpart 3 of
part B of title I of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6381
et seq.) (commonly referred to as ``William F.
Goodling Even Start Family Literacy
Programs''), the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831
et seq.), or any other Federal or State early
childhood program.
(ii) An adult education provider.
(iii) A local educational agency.
(iv) A public or private nonprofit agency.
(v) Another entity that has the
demonstrated ability to provide family literacy
services to limited English proficient adults
and families.
(3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Education.
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) In General.--There is authorized to be appropriated to carry
out this Act $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2013.
(b) Reservations.--From funds made available pursuant to subsection
(a) for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall reserve--
(1) not more than 2 percent of such funds for conducting
the annual evaluation required by section 7;
(2) $5,000,000 for technical assistance and training under
section 5(a); and
(3) $5,000,000 for technical assistance and training under
section 5(b).
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities.
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