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
--------------------------------------------------  ----------------------------
ï¿½Assess how well federal, state, and local          ï¿½Management practices and
management practices contribute to the effective    internal controls of federal
use of federal education funds.                     education programs
                                                    ï¿½Education achievement and
ï¿½Identify ways various federal education funding    accountability
formulas and state school finance systems could     ï¿½Targeting in federal and
better target resources to special-needs            state school funding
students.                                           formulas
                                                    ï¿½Adequacy of teacher
ï¿½Assess how well teacher training institutions      preparation programs
prepare their enrollees to teach a diverse student  ï¿½Technology needs of
population and use modern technology in their       educational institutions
teaching.                                           ï¿½Parental choice in schools
                                                    and roles in school
ï¿½Identify ways to encourage effective use of        management
classroom technology that supports the achievement  ï¿½Promising public/private
of high academic standards for all students.        partnerships in the delivery
                                                    of education services
ï¿½Identify issues associated with alternative        ï¿½Consolidation of federal
methods for financing and providing elementary and  education programs serving
secondary education services.                       children and youth

ï¿½Identify ways to consolidate overlapping
programs, functions, and units to eliminate
duplication and unnecessary costs.

ï¿½Identify ways the Department of Education can      ï¿½Operation of the student
more effectively and efficiently operate its        aid systems
student financial aid system.                       ï¿½Student aid data systems
                                                    ï¿½ Efforts to collect student
ï¿½Assess how Department of Education financial and   loans and prevent defaults
management information systems can better support   ï¿½ Better targeting of
student aid programs and minimize potential fraud   financial aid
and abuse.                                          ï¿½ Escalating costs of higher
                                                    education
ï¿½Identify improvements to help the Department
effectively implement the direct student loan
program without detracting from other student aid
programs.

ï¿½Identify alternatives to minimize the cost of
education to students and the government, while
ensuring needy students access to appropriate
postsecondary education.

ï¿½Identify ways to improve the effectiveness of      ï¿½Efficiency and
employment training programs for economically       effectiveness of existing
disadvantaged youths and adults, veterans,          job training programs
dislocated workers, and the disabled population.    ï¿½State and private-sector
                                                    involvement in job training
ï¿½Identify options for improving the role of         ï¿½Changes in the labor
employers and other private-sector stakeholders in  market
employment and training programs.                   ï¿½Use of labor market
                                                    information
ï¿½Describe state experiences in developing           ï¿½Consolidating federal job
consolidated employment training systems.           training programs

ï¿½Identify changes in the labor market that may
have implications for employment training
programs.

ï¿½Describe and evaluate current and alternative      ï¿½Current regulatory
workplace regulatory strategies.                    strategies and their
                                                    implementation
ï¿½Identify the implications for regulation of
emerging trends in private-sector workplace         ï¿½Alternative regulatory
practices and organization.                         strategies

ï¿½Analyze the relationships and interactions among   ï¿½Changes in workplace
multiple labor laws at the federal and state        practices and organization
level.
                                                    ï¿½Multiple federal and state
                                                    labor laws
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE II:  PLANNED MAJOR WORK
============================================================ Chapter 3

Issue                    Planned Major Job Starts
-----------------------  -------------------------------------------------------
Preparatory Education    ï¿½Review the management practices and internal controls
                         of Head Start programs
                         ï¿½Review how states and districts used funds made
                         available under the Goals 2000: Improve America Schools
                         Act.
                         ï¿½Evaluate options for revising Title I's funding
                         formula.
                         ï¿½Evaluate federal efforts to target funding to
                         neglected or delinquent children through Title I.
                         ï¿½Evaluate state and federal efforts to target funding
                         to districts with high proportions of poor students.
                         ï¿½Describe successful teacher preparation programs and
                         their characteristics.
                         ï¿½Identify effective classroom technologies and the
                         infrastructure and processes that led to their
                         development.
                         ï¿½Review the effects of implementing charter schools.
                         ï¿½Evaluate the potential cost savings associated with
                         consolidating funding for federal teacher training
                         programs.


Higher Education         ï¿½Assess the use of wage garnishment for collecting
                         defaulted student loans.
                         ï¿½Assess the Department of Education's efforts to
                         integrate the separate student aid data systems.
                         ï¿½Evaluate the effectiveness, accuracy, and security of
                         the Department of Education's National Student Loan
                         Data System.
                         ï¿½Evaluate the implementation of the direct student loan
                         program.
                         ï¿½Assess what the federal role should be in reducing the
                         rate increase in college tuitions.
                         ï¿½Determine how to ensure that proprietary school
                         students receiving federal financial aid get marketable
                         skills.
                         ï¿½Evaluate alternatives for reducing the need for
                         college remediation courses.


Workforce Skills and     ï¿½Evaluate 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.
                         ï¿½Assess the effectiveness of selected business-focused
                         employment training programs in serving the disabled
                         population.
                         ï¿½Assess the availability of local labor market
                         information and its usefulness to local employment and
                         training programs.
                         ï¿½Assess Job Corps contracting for recruitment and
                         placement services.
                         ï¿½Assess the role of employers at the state and local
                         levels in designing and implementing job training
                         assistance.
                         ï¿½Identify lessons learned from states that are
                         reforming and consolidating their employment training
                         systems.
                         ï¿½Identify implications, for job training programs and
                         policies, of changes in the structure of employment,
                         such as use of leased and temporary employees.


Workplace Quality        ï¿½Examine the best private-sector practices that protect
                         workers from repetitive motion injuries so as to
                         identify an appropriate federal role in their
                         prevention.
                         ï¿½Identify and evaluate the effectiveness of selected
                         alternative approaches to workplace regulation
                         enforcement.
                         ï¿½Identify labor organizations that receive federal
                         funds but violate federal labor laws.
                         ï¿½Assess the current use of debarment from future
                         federal contracts (based on noncompliance with key
                         labor and environmental laws) as an enforcement tool.
                         ï¿½Assess the usefulness of EEO reporting forms as an
                         enforcement tool.
                         ï¿½Examine the characteristics and dynamics of the
                         employee-leasing industry and its implications for
                         workplace regulation.
                         ï¿½Analyze the interaction of federal and state minimum
                         wage and overtime laws and the resulting level of
                         protection provided to workers.
                         ï¿½Assess 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. ***