Public Law 102–545

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Ready to Learn Act”.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

It is the purpose of this Act to—

SEC. 3. READY TO LEARN PROGRAMS.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is amended by adding after part F of title IV the following:

“PART G— READY TO LEARN TELEVISION

“SEC. 4701. READY TO LEARN.

“(a)“(a)

In General.—

The Secretary is authorized to enter into contracts, cooperative agreements, or grants with entities described in section 4702(b) to develop, produce, and distribute educational and instructional video programming for preschool and elementary school children and their parents in order to facilitate the achievement of the national education goals.

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“(b)“(b)

Availability.—

In making such contracts, cooperative agreements, or grants, the Secretary shall ensure that recipients make programming widely available with support materials as appropriate to young children, their parents, child care workers, and Head Start providers to increase the effective use of such programming.

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“SEC. 4702. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING.

“(a)“(a)

Awards.—

The Secretary shall award contracts, cooperative agreements, or grants to eligible entities to—

“(1)“(1)

facilitate the development directly or through contracts with producers of children and family educational television programming, educational programming for preschool and elementary school children, and accompanying support mate-rials and services that promote the effective use of such programming; and

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“(2)“(2)

contract with entities (such as public broadcasting entities and those funded under the Star Schools Assistance Act) in order that programs developed under this section are disseminated and distributed to the widest possible audience appropriate to be served by the programming by the most appropriate distribution technologies.

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“(b)“(b)

Eligible Entities.—

To be eligible to receive a contract, cooperative agreement, or grant under subsection (a), an entity shall be—

“(1)“(1)

a nonprofit, nongovernmental entity able to demonstrate a capacity for the development and distribution of educational and instructional television programming of high quality for preschool and elementary school children; and

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“(2)“(2)

able to demonstrate a capacity to contract with the producers of children’s television programming for the purpose of developing educational television programming of high quality for preschool and elementary school children.

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“(c)“(c)

Cultural Experiences.—

Programming developed under this section shall reflect the recognition of diverse cultural experiences and the needs and experiences of both boys and girls in engaging and preparing young children for schooling.

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“SEC. 4703. DUTIES OF SECRETARY.

“The Secretary is authorized—

“(1)“(1)

to establish and administer a Special Projects of National Significance program to award contracts, cooperative agreements, or grants to public and nonprofit private entities, or local public television stations or such public television stations that are part of a consortium with one or more State educational agencies, local educational agencies, local schools, institutions of higher education, or community-based organizations of demonstrated effectiveness, for the purpose of—

“(A)“(A)

addressing the learning needs of young children in limited English proficient households, and developing appropriate educational and instructional television programming to foster the school readiness of such children;

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“(B)“(B)

developing programming and support materials to increase family literacy skills among parents to assist parents in teaching their children and utilizing educational television programming to promote school readiness; and

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“(C)“(C)

identifying, supporting, and enhancing the effective use and outreach or innovative programs that promote school readiness;

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“(2)“(2)

to establish within the Department a clearinghouse to compile and provide information, referrals and model program materials and programming obtained or developed under this part to parents, child care providers, and other appropriate individuals or entities to assist such individuals and entities in accessing programs and projects under this part; and

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“(3)“(3)

to develop and disseminate training materials, including—

“(A)“(A)

interactive programs and programs adaptable to distance learning technologies that are designed to enhance knowledge of children’s social and cognitive skill development and positive adult-child interactions; and

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“(B)“(B)

support materials to promote the effective use of materials developed under paragraph (2);

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among parents, Head Start providers, in-home and center based day care providers, early childhood development personnel, and elementary school teachers, public libraries, and after school program personnel caring for preschool and elementary school children;

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“(4)“(4)

coordinate activities with the Secretary of Health and Human Services in order to—

“(A)“(A)

maximize the utilization of quality educational programming by preschool and elementary school children, and make such programming widely available to federally funded programs serving such populations; and

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“(B)“(B)

provide information to grantees of Federal programs that have major training components for early childhood development, including Head Start, Even Start, and State training activities funded under the Child Care Development Block Grant Act of 1990 regarding the avail-ability and utilization of materials developed under paragraph (3) to enhance parent and child care provider skills in early childhood development and education.

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“SEC. 4704. APPLICATIONS.

“Each eligible entity desiring a contract, cooperative agreement, or grant under section 4701 or 4703 shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such information as the Secretary may reasonably require.

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“SEC. 4705. REPORTS AND EVALUATION.

“(a)“(a)

Annual Report to Secretary.—

An entity receiving funds under section 4701 shall prepare and submit to the Secretary an annual report which contains such information as the Secretary may require. At a minimum, the report shall describe the program activities undertaken with funds received under this section, including—

“(1)“(1)

the programming that has been developed directly or indirectly by the entity, and the target population of the programs developed;

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“(2)“(2)

the support materials that have been developed to accompany the programming, and the method by which such materials are distributed to consumers and users of the programming;

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“(3)“(3)

the means by which programming developed under this section has been distributed, including the distance learning technologies that have been utilized to make programming available and the geographic distribution achieved through such technologies; and

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“(4)“(4)

the initiatives undertaken by the entity to develop public-private partnerships to secure non-Federal support for the development and distribution and broadcast of educational and instructional programming.

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“(b)“(b)

Report to Congress.—

The Secretary shall prepare and submit to the relevant committees of Congress a biannual report which includes—

“(1)“(1)

a summary of the information made available under section 4702(a);

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“(2)“(2)

a description of the training materials made available under section 4703(3), the manner in which outreach has been conducted to inform parents and child care providers of the availability of such materials, and the manner in which such materials have been distributed in accordance with such section.

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“SEC. 4706. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

“(a)“(a)

In General.—

There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part, $25,000,000 for fiscal year 1993, and such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 1994. Not less than 60 percent of the amounts appropriated under this subsection for each fiscal year shall be used to carry out section 4702.

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“(b)“(b)

Special Projects.—

Of the amount appropriated under subsection (1) for each fiscal year, at least 10 percent of such amount shall be utilized in each such fiscal year for activities under section 4703(1)(C).

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“SEC. 4707. ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.

“With respect to the implementation of section 4702, entities receiving a contract, cooperative agreement, or grant from the Secretary may use up to 5 percent of the amounts received under such section for the normal and customary expenses of administering the contract, cooperative agreement, or grant.

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“SEC. 4708. DEFINITION.

“For the purposes of this part, the term ‘distance learning’ means the transmission of educational or instructional programming to geographically dispersed individuals and groups via telecommunications.”.

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