Education and Employment Issue Area Plan--Fiscal Years 1996-98 (Letter
Report, 06/01/96, GAO/IAP-96-19).
GAO presented its Education and Employment issue area plan for fiscal
years 1996 through 1998.
GAO plans to assess: (1) whether the federal government is effectively
using its education resources to support and encourage state and local
education programs; (2) how the federal government can ensure that
eligible students have access to quality higher education while
encouraging cost containment and preventing fraud and abuse; (3) how the
government can assist workers in acquiring marketable skills and
employers in finding qualified workers; and (4) changes in workplace
regulations that would improve worker protection while reducing
employers' compliance burdens.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: IAP-96-19
TITLE: Education and Employment Issue Area Plan--Fiscal Years
1996-98
DATE: 06/01/96
SUBJECT: Educational programs
Employment or training programs
Elementary education
Secondary education
Higher education
Disadvantaged persons
Aid for education
Student financial aid
Cost control
Vocational education
IDENTIFIER: Dept. of Education Title I Program
National Direct Student Loan Program
Guaranteed Student Loan Program
Head Start Program
Goals 2000
Dept. of Education National Student Loan Data System
DOL Job Corps Program
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Cover
================================================================ COVER
Health, Education, and Human Services Division
June 1996
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT ISSUE
AREA PLAN
FISCAL YEARS 1996-98
GAO/IAP-96-19
Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV
FOREWORD
============================================================ Chapter 0
As the investigative arm of the Congress and the nation's auditor,
the General Accounting Office is charged with following the federal
dollar wherever it goes. Reflecting stringent standards for
objectivity and independence, GAO's audits, evaluations, and
investigations promote a more efficient and cost-effective
government; expose waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in federal
programs; help the Congress target budget reductions; assess
financial and information management; and alert the Congress to
developing trends that may have significant fiscal or budgetary
consequences. In fulfilling its responsibilities, GAO performs
original research and uses hundreds of databases or creates its own
databases when information is unavailable elsewhere.
To ensure that GAO's resources are directed toward the most important
issues facing the Congress, each of GAO's 35 issue areas develops a
strategic plan that describes the significance of the issues it
addresses, its objectives, and the focus of its work. Each issue
area relies heavily on input from congressional committees, agency
officials, and subject-matter experts in developing its strategic
plan.
The work of the Education and Employment issue area focuses on the
education provided in early childhood and elementary and secondary
education programs, youths' and adults' access to higher education
and employment training, employers' efforts to locate qualified job
candidates, and the quality of the nation's workplaces. The
principal issues are
-- using federal resources to support and encourage state and local
efforts to provide education programs that will enable all youth
to obtain skilled jobs and be informed and actively involved
citizens;
-- ensuring that eligible students have access to quality higher
education, while encouraging cost containment and protecting
federal funds from fraud and abuse;
-- helping individuals acquire the skills needed to become
productively employed and helping employers locate qualified job
candidates; and
-- improving protection for workers while reducing the burden for
employers in complying with workplace regulations.
In the pages that follow, we describe our key planned work on these
important issues.
Because events may significantly affect even the best of plans, our
planning process allows for updating and has the flexibility to
respond quickly to emerging issues. If you have any questions or
suggestions about this plan, please call me at (202) 512-7014.
Carlotta C. Joyner
Director
Education and Employment Issues
CONTENTS
============================================================ Chapter 1
FOREWORD
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:1
1
TABLE I: KEY ISSUES
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:2
4
TABLE II: PLANNED MAJOR WORK
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:3
6
TABLE III: GAO CONTACTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:4
7
TABLE I: KEY ISSUES
============================================================ Chapter 2
Issue Significance
---------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Preparatory Education: In school year 1995-96, the nation will spend
Is the federal government about $326 billion on elementary and secondary
using its education education, including $22 billion in federal money.
resources effectively to Total spending is up, but per-pupil spending has
support and encourage state leveled off since 1989. At the same time, the
and local efforts to provide proportion of poor school-aged children has
education programs that will steadily increased. The challenge facing all
enable all youth to obtain levels of government is how to approach the
skilled jobs in the economy problem of diminishing resources in the most cost-
of the 21st century and to effective manner. Among the issues of interest to
be informed and actively the Congress and the White House in this planning
involved citizens? period are improved targeting of federal funds
(Title I and IDEA) to disadvantaged students,
improved classroom technology and teacher
preparation programs, and alternative methods for
financing and providing education services. The
Congress will also consider streamlining various
federal education programs and consolidating some
program funding into block grants to give states
more discretion in spending.
Higher Education: The Department of Education is concurrently
How can the federal operating the new direct loan program and the
government's goal of existing guaranteed loan program. The Department
ensuring that eligible faces the challenge of efficiently and effectively
students have implementing both programs along with other
access to quality higher student aid programs. The demand for federal
education be met while financial aid resources has grown as increased
encouraging cost tuition at both public and private schools has
containment placed a greater financial burden on students and
and preventing fraud and their families. Between 1980 and 1994, the cost to
abuse attend a 4-year public college or university rose
with respect to federal by 235 percent, nearly three times the 79-percent
resources? increase in the median household income.
Workforce Skills and Jobs: A strong, internationally competitive economy
How can the United States depends, in part, on effectively preparing workers
better assist workers in to compete in the workforce and efficiently
acquiring the skills needed helping employers locate qualified job candidates.
to become productively The federal government has invested considerable
employed and help employers effort and resources towards this end, spending
locate qualified job about $20 billion supporting at least 163
candidates? employment and training programs spread across 15
different agencies. However, serious questions
have been raised about the efficiency and
effectiveness of these efforts, and concerns have
surfaced about the need to simplify and streamline
this complex array of programs.
Workplace Quality: Technological and organizational change, the
What changes in workplace globalization of the economy, and reduced federal
regulatory strategies would resources are calling into question the strategies
improve the level of worker many federal agencies use to regulate the
protection while reducing workplace. To maintain the nation's continued
employers' compliance world economic leadership, we need to identify
burden? strategies that effectively combine basic worker
protections with autonomous employee participation
and enhanced employer flexibility. Ensuring the
rights of workers, while reducing the regulatory
burden on employers, is a subject of considerable
congressional interest. The Congress is also
concerned about whether the Department of Labor
could be better organized to carry out its
multiple workplace regulation functions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Objectives Focus of Work
-------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------
�Assess how well federal, state, and local �Management practices and
management practices contribute to the effective internal controls of federal
use of federal education funds. education programs
�Education achievement and
�Identify ways various federal education funding accountability
formulas and state school finance systems could �Targeting in federal and
better target resources to special-needs state school funding
students. formulas
�Adequacy of teacher
�Assess how well teacher training institutions preparation programs
prepare their enrollees to teach a diverse student �Technology needs of
population and use modern technology in their educational institutions
teaching. �Parental choice in schools
and roles in school
�Identify ways to encourage effective use of management
classroom technology that supports the achievement �Promising public/private
of high academic standards for all students. partnerships in the delivery
of education services
�Identify issues associated with alternative �Consolidation of federal
methods for financing and providing elementary and education programs serving
secondary education services. children and youth
�Identify ways to consolidate overlapping
programs, functions, and units to eliminate
duplication and unnecessary costs.
�Identify ways the Department of Education can �Operation of the student
more effectively and efficiently operate its aid systems
student financial aid system. �Student aid data systems
� Efforts to collect student
�Assess how Department of Education financial and loans and prevent defaults
management information systems can better support � Better targeting of
student aid programs and minimize potential fraud financial aid
and abuse. � Escalating costs of higher
education
�Identify improvements to help the Department
effectively implement the direct student loan
program without detracting from other student aid
programs.
�Identify alternatives to minimize the cost of
education to students and the government, while
ensuring needy students access to appropriate
postsecondary education.
�Identify ways to improve the effectiveness of �Efficiency and
employment training programs for economically effectiveness of existing
disadvantaged youths and adults, veterans, job training programs
dislocated workers, and the disabled population. �State and private-sector
involvement in job training
�Identify options for improving the role of �Changes in the labor
employers and other private-sector stakeholders in market
employment and training programs. �Use of labor market
information
�Describe state experiences in developing �Consolidating federal job
consolidated employment training systems. training programs
�Identify changes in the labor market that may
have implications for employment training
programs.
�Describe and evaluate current and alternative �Current regulatory
workplace regulatory strategies. strategies and their
implementation
�Identify the implications for regulation of
emerging trends in private-sector workplace �Alternative regulatory
practices and organization. strategies
�Analyze the relationships and interactions among �Changes in workplace
multiple labor laws at the federal and state practices and organization
level.
�Multiple federal and state
labor laws
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE II: PLANNED MAJOR WORK
============================================================ Chapter 3
Issue Planned Major Job Starts
----------------------- -------------------------------------------------------
Preparatory Education �Review the management practices and internal controls
of Head Start programs
�Review how states and districts used funds made
available under the Goals 2000: Improve America Schools
Act.
�Evaluate options for revising Title I's funding
formula.
�Evaluate federal efforts to target funding to
neglected or delinquent children through Title I.
�Evaluate state and federal efforts to target funding
to districts with high proportions of poor students.
�Describe successful teacher preparation programs and
their characteristics.
�Identify effective classroom technologies and the
infrastructure and processes that led to their
development.
�Review the effects of implementing charter schools.
�Evaluate the potential cost savings associated with
consolidating funding for federal teacher training
programs.
Higher Education �Assess the use of wage garnishment for collecting
defaulted student loans.
�Assess the Department of Education's efforts to
integrate the separate student aid data systems.
�Evaluate the effectiveness, accuracy, and security of
the Department of Education's National Student Loan
Data System.
�Evaluate the implementation of the direct student loan
program.
�Assess what the federal role should be in reducing the
rate increase in college tuitions.
�Determine how to ensure that proprietary school
students receiving federal financial aid get marketable
skills.
�Evaluate alternatives for reducing the need for
college remediation courses.
Workforce Skills and �Evaluate job training assistance provided to veterans
Jobs by the Labor Department and the integration of these
services with those available through the Department of
Veterans' Affairs.
�Assess the effectiveness of selected business-focused
employment training programs in serving the disabled
population.
�Assess the availability of local labor market
information and its usefulness to local employment and
training programs.
�Assess Job Corps contracting for recruitment and
placement services.
�Assess the role of employers at the state and local
levels in designing and implementing job training
assistance.
�Identify lessons learned from states that are
reforming and consolidating their employment training
systems.
�Identify implications, for job training programs and
policies, of changes in the structure of employment,
such as use of leased and temporary employees.
Workplace Quality �Examine the best private-sector practices that protect
workers from repetitive motion injuries so as to
identify an appropriate federal role in their
prevention.
�Identify and evaluate the effectiveness of selected
alternative approaches to workplace regulation
enforcement.
�Identify labor organizations that receive federal
funds but violate federal labor laws.
�Assess the current use of debarment from future
federal contracts (based on noncompliance with key
labor and environmental laws) as an enforcement tool.
�Assess the usefulness of EEO reporting forms as an
enforcement tool.
�Examine the characteristics and dynamics of the
employee-leasing industry and its implications for
workplace regulation.
�Analyze the interaction of federal and state minimum
wage and overtime laws and the resulting level of
protection provided to workers.
�Assess the efficiency of EEO efforts by federal and
state agencies, in light of their overlapping missions,
responsibilities, and geographic locations.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE III: GAO CONTACTS
============================================================ Chapter 4
DIRECTOR
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.1
Carlotta C. Joyner (202) 512-7014
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.2
Cornelia M. Blanchette (202) 512-8403
ASSISTANT DIRECTORS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.3
Catherine Baltzell
Joseph Eglin, Jr.
Lawrence Horinko
Charles A. Jeszeck
Eleanor L. Johnson
Sigurd R. Nilsen
Wayne Upshaw
Fred Yohey
*** End of document. ***