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November 6, 2009, afternoon, the LEARN Act was introduced in the House. This is the outline from the House Education and Labor Committee. Rich ****************************** Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act (HR 4037) The LEARN Act will support comprehensive State and local literacy initiatives to ensure that children from birth through 12 th grade have the reading and writing skills necessary for success inschool and beyond. Specifically, the bill will: I. Provide federal support for literacy initiatives by: • Authorizing $2.35 billion each year for comprehensive, high-quality State and localliteracy initiatives that span birth through 12 th grade;• Enabling States to design a comprehensive literacy plan and make subgrants to earlylearning providers and school districts to develop and implement high-quality literacy initiatives that will improve the reading and writing skills of all children and students; • Designating that funds must be allocated as follows:o 15% for children birth through kindergarten entryo 40% for kindergarten through grade 5o 40% for grades 6 through 12;• Targeting funding to high-need student populations and schools;• Requiring a rigorous national evaluation of the programs; and• Including stringent conflict of interest restrictions for the programs’ peer review process.II. Enhance each State’s role in improving literacy instruction by: • Supporting the formation of a State Literacy Leadership Team made up of literacyexperts and key stakeholders to assist in the development of a comprehensive State literacy plan that includes a needs assessment, a capacity survey, and an implementation plan to ensure high-quality instruction in reading and writing; • Requiring States to provide technical assistance to early learning providers and localeducational agencies on implementing high-quality professional development programs for literacy instruction; and • Requiring each State to review pre-service coursework as well as State licensure andcertification requirements and make recommendations to improve training in high-quality literacy instruction. III. Support the creation of local high-quality literacy initiatives by: • Providing high-quality professional development for instructional staff that is job embedded,ongoing, and research-based, and supporting teachers in analyzing assessment data to improve student learning; • Providing children and students with high-quality early literacy instruction and readingand writing instruction; • Utilizing assessment systems to inform and improve instruction and student learning atall age and grade levels; and • Supporting school-wide literacy initiatives and additional literacy supports to address thespecific learning needs of English language learners, students with disabilities, and struggling readers and writers. |
Learn Act |