Legislation

Appendix VI
Legislation Authorizing the Early Childhood Educator Professional
Development Program and Evaluation Activities
Public Law 107-110, Title II, Part A, Subpart 5
SEC. 2151. NATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF DEMONSTRATED EFFECTIVENESS.
(e) EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT(1) PURPOSE- The purpose of this subsection is to enhance the school
readiness of young children, particularly disadvantaged young
children, and to prevent young children from encountering difficulties
once the children enter school, by improving the knowledge and skills
of early childhood educators who work in communities that have high
concentrations of children living in poverty.
(2) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED(A) GRANTS TO PARTNERSHIPS- The Secretary is authorized to
carry out the purpose of this subsection by awarding grants, on
a competitive basis, to partnerships consisting of —
(i)(I) one or more institutions of higher education that
provide professional development for early childhood
educators who work with children from low-income
families in high-need communities; or
(II) another public or private entity that provides such
professional development;
(ii) one or more public agencies (including local
educational agencies, State educational agencies, State
human services agencies, and State and local agencies
administering programs under the Child Care and
Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858
et seq.), Head Start agencies, or private organizations;
and
(iii) to the extent feasible, an entity with demonstrated
experience in providing training to educators in early
childhood education programs concerning identifying
and preventing behavior problems or working with
children identified as or suspected to be victims of
abuse.
(B) DURATION AND NUMBER OF GRANTS(i) DURATION- The Secretary shall award grants under
this subsection for periods of not more than 4 years.
(ii) NUMBER- No partnership may receive more than one
grant under this subsection.
(3) APPLICATIONS(A) APPLICATIONS REQUIRED- Any partnership that desires to
receive a grant under this subsection shall submit an
application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and
containing such information as the Secretary may require.
(B) CONTENTS- Each such application shall include —

(i) a description of the high-need community to be
served by the project proposed to be carried out through
the grant, including such demographic and
socioeconomic information as the Secretary may
request;
(ii) information on the quality of the early childhood
educator professional development program currently
conducted (as of the date of the submission of the
application) by the institution of higher education or
another provider in the partnership;
(iii) the results of a needs assessment that the entities
in the partnership have undertaken to determine the
most critical professional development needs of the
early childhood educators to be served by the
partnership and in the broader community, and a
description of how the proposed project will address
those needs;
(iv) a description of how the proposed project will be
carried out, including a description of —
(I) how individuals will be selected to participate;
(II) the types of professional development
activities, based on scientifically based research,
that will be carried out;
(III) how research on effective professional
development and on adult learning will be used
to design and deliver project activities;
(IV) how the project will be coordinated with and
build on, and will not supplant or duplicate, early
childhood education professional development
activities in the high-need community;
(V) how the project will train early childhood
educators to provide developmentally appropriate
school-readiness services that are based on the
best available research on early childhood
pedagogy and child development and learning
domains;
(VI) how the project will train early childhood
educators to meet the diverse educational needs
of children in the community, including children
who have limited English proficiency, children
with disabilities, or children with other special
needs; and
(VII) how the project will train early childhood
educators in identifying and preventing
behavioral problems in children or working with
children identified as or suspected to be victims
of abuse;
(v) a description of —
(I) the specific objectives that the partnership will
seek to attain through the project, and the
methods that the partnership will use to measure
progress toward attainment of those objectives;
and

(II) how the objectives and the measurement
methods align with the achievement indicators
established by the Secretary under paragraph
(6)(A);
(vi) a description of the partnership's plan for continuing
the activities carried out under the project after Federal
funding ceases;
(vii) an assurance that, where applicable, the project will
provide appropriate professional development to
volunteers working directly with young children, as well
as to paid staff; and
(viii) an assurance that, in developing the application
and in carrying out the project, the partnership has
consulted with, and will consult with, relevant agencies,
early childhood educator organizations, and early
childhood providers that are not members of the
partnership.
(4) SELECTION OF GRANT RECIPIENTS(A) CRITERIA- The Secretary shall select partnerships to
receive grants under this subsection on the basis of the degree
to which the communities proposed to be served require
assistance and the quality of the applications submitted under
paragraph (3).
(B) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION- In selecting partnerships to
receive grants under this subsection, the Secretary shall seek
to ensure that communities in different regions of the Nation,
as well as both urban and rural communities, are served.
(5) USES OF FUNDS(A) IN GENERAL- Each partnership receiving a grant under this
subsection shall use the grant funds to carry out activities that
will improve the knowledge and skills of early childhood
educators who are working in early childhood programs that are
located in high-need communities and serve concentrations of
children from low-income families.
(B) ALLOWABLE ACTIVITIES- Such activities may include-(i) professional development for early childhood
educators, particularly to familiarize those educators
with the application of recent research on child,
language, and literacy development and on early
childhood pedagogy;
(ii) professional development for early childhood
educators in working with parents, so that the educators
and parents can work together to provide and support
developmentally appropriate school-readiness services
that are based on scientifically based research on early
childhood pedagogy and child development and learning
domains;
(iii) professional development for early childhood
educators to work with children who have limited English
proficiency, children with disabilities, and children with
other special needs;
(iv) professional development to train early childhood
educators in identifying and preventing behavioral

problems in children or working with children identified
as or suspected to be victims of abuse;
(v) activities that assist and support early childhood
educators during their first 3 years in the field;
(vi) development and implementation of early childhood
educator professional development programs that make
use of distance learning and other technologies;
(vii) professional development activities related to the
selection and use of screening and diagnostic
assessments to improve teaching and learning; and
(viii) data collection, evaluation, and reporting needed to
meet the requirements of paragraph (6) relating to
accountability.
(6) ACCOUNTABILITY(A) ACHIEVEMENT INDICATORS- On the date on which the
Secretary first issues a notice soliciting applications for grants
under this subsection, the Secretary shall announce
achievement indicators for this subsection, which shall be
designed-(i) to measure the quality and accessibility of the
professional development provided;
(ii) to measure the impact of that professional
development on the early childhood education provided
by the individuals who receive the professional
development; and
(iii) to provide such other measures of program impact
as the Secretary determines to be appropriate.
(B) ANNUAL REPORTS; TERMINATION(i) ANNUAL REPORTS- Each partnership receiving a
grant under this subsection shall report annually to the
Secretary on the partnership's progress toward attaining
the achievement indicators.
(ii) TERMINATION- The Secretary may terminate a grant
under this subsection at any time if the Secretary
determines that the partnership receiving the grant is
not making satisfactory progress toward attaining the
achievement indicators.
(7) COST-SHARING(A) IN GENERAL- Each partnership carrying out a project
through a grant awarded under this subsection shall provide,
from sources other than the program carried out under this
subsection, which may include Federal sources-(i) at least 50 percent of the total cost of the project for
the grant period; and
(ii) at least 20 percent of the project cost for each year.
(B) ACCEPTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS- A partnership may meet
the requirements of subparagraph (A) by providing
contributions in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, including
plant, equipment, and services.
(C) WAIVERS- The Secretary may waive or modify the
requirements of subparagraph (A) for partnerships in cases of
demonstrated financial hardship.

(8) FEDERAL COORDINATION- The Secretary and the Secretary of
Health and Human Services shall coordinate activities carried out
through programs under this subsection with activities carried out
through other early childhood programs administered by the Secretary
or the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
(9) DEFINITIONS- In this subsection:
(A) EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATOR- The term `early childhood
educator' means a person providing, or employed by a provider
of, nonresidential child care services (including center-based,
family-based, and in-home child care services) that is legally
operating under State law, and that complies with applicable
State and local requirements for the provision of child care
services to children at any age from birth through the age at
which a child may start kindergarten in that State.
(B) HIGH-NEED COMMUNITY(i) IN GENERAL- The term `high-need community'
means-(I) a political subdivision of a State, or a portion
of a political subdivision of a State, in which at
least 50 percent of the children are from lowincome families; or
(II) a political subdivision of a State that is
among the 10 percent of political subdivisions of
the State having the greatest numbers of such
children.
(ii) DETERMINATION- In determining which communities
are described in clause (i), the Secretary shall use such
data as the Secretary determines are most accurate and
appropriate.
(C) LOW-INCOME FAMILY- The term `low-income family'
means a family with an income below the poverty line for the
most recent fiscal year for which satisfactory data are available.
SEC. 9601. EVALUATIONS.
(a) RESERVATION OF FUNDS- Except as provided in subsections (b) and (c),
the Secretary may reserve not more than 0.5 percent of the amount
appropriated to carry out each categorical program and demonstration project
authorized under this Act —
(1) to conduct —
(A) comprehensive evaluations of the program or project; and
(B) studies of the effectiveness of the program or project and
its administrative impact on schools and local educational
agencies;
(2) to evaluate the aggregate short- and long-term effects and cost
efficiencies across Federal programs assisted or authorized under this
Act and related Federal preschool, elementary, and secondary
programs under any other Federal law; and
(3) to increase the usefulness of evaluations of grant recipients in
order to ensure the continuous progress of the program or project by
improving the quality, timeliness, efficiency, and use of information
relating to performance under the program or project.

(b) TITLES I AND III EXCLUDED- The Secretary may not reserve under
subsection (a) funds appropriated to carry out any program authorized under
title I or title III.
(c) EVALUATION ACTIVITIES AUTHORIZED ELSEWHERE- If, under any other
provision of this Act (other than title I), funds are authorized to be reserved
or used for evaluation activities with respect to a program or project, the
Secretary may not reserve additional funds under this section for the
evaluation of that program or project.'.