Return-Path: <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost.nifl.gov [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.8.7/8.8.5) with SMTP id TAA28632; Tue, 2 Dec 1997 19:17:08 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 19:17:08 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <971202191910_1578471339@mrin39> Errors-To: lmann@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: RJurczyk@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:1297] xpost Reading Excellence Act X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Status: RO The following is crossposted from NIFL-Workplace. As you will see, it describes funding available for parents literacy education. Robin Jurczyk NIFL-Family moderator rjurczyk@aol.com *********** The Reading Excellence Act The Reading Excellence Act (HR 2614), a bi-partisan effort to target the goals of President Clinton's America Reads Challenge, was passed by the House of Representatives on November 9 and referred to the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. The bill proposes additional ways to achieve the President's goal of ensuring that all children can read by the third grade. HR 2614 would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and provide $260 million in each of fiscal years 1998, 1999, and 2000 to low-income areas to develop statewide literacy partnerships. The program's focus would be the professional development of classroom reading teachers, including research on the most effective methods of teaching children to read and new innovative in-service professional development opportunities. In addition, the bill would provide grants for literacy training for parents who need to improve their skills in order to read to their children and assist them with homework, as well as support additional tutoring assistance before and after school, on weekends, and during the summer for first through third graders. HR 2614 also sets aside $10 million for the Even Start Family Literacy program to award grants to states to plan and implement statewide family literacy initiatives by coordinating existing federal, state, and local literacy resources. The White House is generally supportive of the legislation, but has voiced several concerns on the following issues: * The tutorial assistance grants, also included in the bill, are inadequately connected to, and supportive of, in-school reading programs including the programs that would be funded under the local reading improvement grants; * There is a mandate in the bill that would require colleges and universities to spend two percent of any increase in Federal Work Study funding on America Reads activities; * HR 2614 does not include schools funded or operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and * The peer review panel, authorized under the grant making process, is not controlled by the Secretary of Education. For more information on the Reading Excellence Act, refer to House Report 105-348. For more information on the America Reads Challenge, refer to http://www.ed.gov/inits/americareads/. Barb Van Horn BLV1@PSU.EDU NIFL-workplace list moderator
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