20 U.S.C. § 6644

Current through P.L. 118-106 (published on www.congress.gov on 10/04/2024)
Section 6644 - Subgrants to eligible entities in support of kindergarten through grade 12 literacy
(a) Subgrants to eligible entities
(1) Subgrants

A State educational agency receiving a grant under this subpart shall use a portion of the grant funds, in accordance with clauses (ii) and (iii) of section 6642(d)(2)(D) of this title, to award subgrants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities to enable the eligible entities to carry out the authorized activities described in subsections (c) and (d).

(2) Duration

The term of a subgrant under this section shall be determined by the State educational agency awarding the subgrant and shall in no case exceed 5 years.

(3) Sufficient size and scope

A State educational agency shall award subgrants under this section of sufficient size and scope to allow the eligible entities to carry out high-quality comprehensive literacy instruction in each grade level for which the subgrant funds are provided.

(4) Local applications

An eligible entity desiring to receive a subgrant under this section shall submit an application to the State educational agency at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the State educational agency may require. Such application shall include, for each school that the eligible entity identifies as participating in a subgrant program under this section, the following information:

(A) A description of the eligible entity's needs assessment conducted to identify how subgrant funds will be used to inform and improve comprehensive literacy instruction at the school.
(B) How the school, the local educational agency, or a provider of high-quality professional development will provide ongoing high-quality professional development to all teachers, principals, other school leaders, specialized instructional support personnel (as appropriate), and other instructional leaders served by the school.
(C) How the school will identify children in need of literacy interventions or other support services.
(D) An explanation of how the school will integrate comprehensive literacy instruction into a well-rounded education.
(E) A description of how the school will coordinate comprehensive literacy instruction with early childhood education programs and activities and after-school programs and activities in the area served by the local educational agency.
(b) Priority

In awarding grants under this section, the State educational agency shall give priority to an eligible entity that will use funds under subsection (c) or (d) to implement evidence-based activities, defined for the purpose of this subsection as activities meeting the requirements of section 7801(21)(A)(i) of this title.

(c) Local uses of funds for kindergarten through grade 5

An eligible entity that receives a subgrant under this section shall use the subgrant funds to carry out the following activities pertaining to children in kindergarten through grade 5:

(1) Developing and implementing a comprehensive literacy instruction plan across content areas for such children that-
(A) serves the needs of all children, including children with disabilities and English learners, especially children who are reading or writing below grade level;
(B) provides intensive, supplemental, accelerated, and explicit intervention and support in reading and writing for children whose literacy skills are below grade level; and
(C) supports activities that are provided primarily during the regular school day but that may be augmented by after-school and out-of-school time instruction.
(2) Providing high-quality professional development opportunities for teachers, literacy coaches, literacy specialists, English as a second language specialists (as appropriate), principals, other school leaders, specialized instructional support personnel, school librarians, paraprofessionals, and other program staff.
(3) Training principals, specialized instructional support personnel, and other local educational agency personnel to support, develop, administer, and evaluate high-quality kindergarten through grade 5 literacy initiatives.
(4) Coordinating the involvement of early childhood education program staff, principals, other instructional leaders, teachers, teacher literacy teams, English as a second language specialists (as appropriate), special educators, school personnel, and specialized instructional support personnel (as appropriate) in the literacy development of children served under this subsection.
(5) Engaging families and encouraging family literacy experiences and practices to support literacy development.
(d) Local uses of funds for grades 6 through 12

An eligible entity that receives a subgrant under this section shall use subgrant funds to carry out the following activities pertaining to children in grades 6 through 12:

(1) Developing and implementing a comprehensive literacy instruction plan described in subsection (c)(1) for children in grades 6 through 12.
(2) Training principals, specialized instructional support personnel, school librarians, and other local educational agency personnel to support, develop, administer, and evaluate high-quality comprehensive literacy instruction initiatives for grades 6 through 12.
(3) Assessing the quality of adolescent comprehensive literacy instruction as part of a well-rounded education.
(4) Providing time for teachers to meet to plan evidence-based adolescent comprehensive literacy instruction to be delivered as part of a well-rounded education.
(5) Coordinating the involvement of principals, other instructional leaders, teachers, teacher literacy teams, English as a second language specialists (as appropriate), paraprofessionals, special educators, specialized instructional support personnel (as appropriate), and school personnel in the literacy development of children served under this subsection.
(e) Allowable uses

An eligible entity that receives a subgrant under this section may, in addition to carrying out the activities described in subsections (c) and (d), use subgrant funds to carry out the following activities pertaining to children in kindergarten through grade 12:

(1) Recruiting, placing, training, and compensating literacy coaches.
(2) Connecting out-of-school learning opportunities to in-school learning in order to improve children's literacy achievement.
(3) Training families and caregivers to support the improvement of adolescent literacy.
(4) Providing for a multi-tier system of supports for literacy services.
(5) Forming a school literacy leadership team to help implement, assess, and identify necessary changes to the literacy initiatives in 1 or more schools to ensure success.
(6) Providing time for teachers (and other literacy staff, as appropriate, such as school librarians or specialized instructional support personnel) to meet to plan comprehensive literacy instruction.

20 U.S.C. § 6644

Pub. L. 89-10, title II, §2224, as added Pub. L. 114-95, §2002, 129 Stat. 1941.

EDITORIAL NOTES

PRIOR PROVISIONSA prior section 6644, Pub. L. 89-10, title II, §2204, as added Pub. L. 103-382, §101, 108 Stat. 3622, related to consortium requirement, prior to its omission in the general amendment of this subchapter by Pub. L. 107-110.

STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES

EFFECTIVE DATESection effective Dec. 10, 2015, except with respect to certain noncompetitive programs and competitive programs, see section 5 of Pub. L. 114-95, set out as an Effective Date of 2015 Amendment note under section 6301 of this title.

State educational agency
The term "State educational agency" means the agency primarily responsible for the State supervision of public elementary schools and secondary schools.
multi-tier system of supports
The term "multi-tier system of supports" means a comprehensive continuum of evidence-based, systemic practices to support a rapid response to students' needs, with regular observation to facilitate data-based instructional decisionmaking.
professional development
The term "professional development" means activities that-(A) are an integral part of school and local educational agency strategies for providing educators (including teachers, principals, other school leaders, specialized instructional support personnel, paraprofessionals, and, as applicable, early childhood educators) with the knowledge and skills necessary to enable students to succeed in a well-rounded education and to meet the challenging State academic standards; and(B) are sustained (not stand-alone, 1-day, or short term workshops), intensive, collaborative, job-embedded, data-driven, and classroom-focused, and may include activities that-(i) improve and increase teachers'-(I) knowledge of the academic subjects the teachers teach;(II) understanding of how students learn; and(III) ability to analyze student work and achievement from multiple sources, including how to adjust instructional strategies, assessments, and materials based on such analysis;(ii) are an integral part of broad schoolwide and districtwide educational improvement plans;(iii) allow personalized plans for each educator to address the educator's specific needs identified in observation or other feedback;(iv) improve classroom management skills;(v) support the recruitment, hiring, and training of effective teachers, including teachers who became certified through State and local alternative routes to certification;(vi) advance teacher understanding of-(I) effective instructional strategies that are evidence-based; and(II) strategies for improving student academic achievement or substantially increasing the knowledge and teaching skills of teachers;(vii) are aligned with, and directly related to, academic goals of the school or local educational agency;(viii) are developed with extensive participation of teachers, principals, other school leaders, parents, representatives of Indian tribes (as applicable), and administrators of schools to be served under this chapter;(ix) are designed to give teachers of English learners, and other teachers and instructional staff, the knowledge and skills to provide instruction and appropriate language and academic support services to those children, including the appropriate use of curricula and assessments;(x) to the extent appropriate, provide training for teachers, principals, and other school leaders in the use of technology (including education about the harms of copyright piracy), so that technology and technology applications are effectively used in the classroom to improve teaching and learning in the curricula and academic subjects in which the teachers teach;(xi) as a whole, are regularly evaluated for their impact on increased teacher effectiveness and improved student academic achievement, with the findings of the evaluations used to improve the quality of professional development;(xii) are designed to give teachers of children with disabilities or children with developmental delays, and other teachers and instructional staff, the knowledge and skills to provide instruction and academic support services, to those children, including positive behavioral interventions and supports, multi-tier system of supports, and use of accommodations;(xiii) include instruction in the use of data and assessments to inform and instruct classroom practice;(xiv) include instruction in ways that teachers, principals, other school leaders, specialized instructional support personnel, and school administrators may work more effectively with parents and families;(xv) involve the forming of partnerships with institutions of higher education, including, as applicable, Tribal Colleges and Universities as defined in section 316(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059c(b)), to establish school-based teacher, principal, and other school leader training programs that provide prospective teachers, novice teachers, principals, and other school leaders with an opportunity to work under the guidance of experienced teachers, principals, other school leaders, and faculty of such institutions;(xvi) create programs to enable paraprofessionals (assisting teachers employed by a local educational agency receiving assistance under part A of subchapter I) to obtain the education necessary for those paraprofessionals to become certified and licensed teachers;(xvii) provide follow-up training to teachers who have participated in activities described in this paragraph that are designed to ensure that the knowledge and skills learned by the teachers are implemented in the classroom; and(xviii) where practicable, provide jointly for school staff and other early childhood education program providers, to address the transition to elementary school, including issues related to school readiness.
specialized instructional support personnel
The term "specialized instructional support personnel" means-(i) school counselors, school social workers, and school psychologists; and(ii) other qualified professional personnel, such as school nurses, speech language pathologists, and school librarians, involved in providing assessment, diagnosis, counseling, educational, therapeutic, and other necessary services (including related services as that term is defined in section 1401 of this title) as part of a comprehensive program to meet student needs.
well-rounded education
The term "well-rounded education" means courses, activities, and programming in subjects such as English, reading or language arts, writing, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, geography, computer science, music, career and technical education, health, physical education, and any other subject, as determined by the State or local educational agency, with the purpose of providing all students access to an enriched curriculum and educational experience.