Author: Gene L. Dodaro Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 21
Book Description
This testimony discusses US Government Accountability Office's (GAO's) recent report entitled "Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue." This report delineates dozens of areas across government where fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication merit the attention of Congress and the Administration spanning a range of government missions: agriculture, defense, economic development, energy, general government, health, homeland security, international affairs, and social services. The report also describes other opportunities for federal departments, agencies or Congress to consider taking action on that could either reduce the cost of government operations or enhance revenue collections for the Treasury. Taking actions on these opportunities and reducing or eliminating duplication, overlap, or fragmentation could save billions of tax dollars annually and help agencies provide more efficient and effective services. With regard to issues of specific interest to this Committee, GAO found fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication in the areas of federal programs to improve teacher quality and employment and training. Each of these areas is characterized by a large number of programs with similar goals, beneficiaries, and allowable activities that are administered by multiple federal agencies. Fragmentation of programs exists when programs serve the same broad area of national need but are administered across different federal agencies or offices. Program overlap exists when multiple agencies or programs have similar goals, engage in similar activities or strategies to achieve them, or target similar beneficiaries. Overlap and fragmentation among government programs or activities can be harbingers of unnecessary duplication. Given the challenges associated with fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication, careful, thoughtful actions will be needed to address these issues. This testimony draws upon the results of our recently issued report and will address what is known about fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication among federal teacher quality and employment and training programs. It also addresses options for Congress to help minimize fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication and how it can use recent legislative tools to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of federal programs. (Contains 2 figures and 8 footnotes.).
Author: George A. Scott Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 16
Book Description
This testimony discusses the findings from our recent work on fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication in federally funded programs that support teacher quality. We recently issued a report addressing fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication in federal programs that outlined opportunities to reduce potential duplication across a wide range of federal programs, including teacher quality programs. Our recent work on teacher quality programs builds on a long history of work where we identified a number of education programs with similar goals, beneficiaries, and allowable activities that are administered by multiple federal agencies. This work may help inform congressional deliberations over how to prioritize spending given the rapidly building fiscal pressures facing our nation's government. In recent years, the Department of Education (Education) has faced expanded responsibilities that have challenged the department to strategically allocate resources to balance new duties with ongoing ones. For example, we reported the number of grants Education awarded increased from about 14,000 in 2000 to about 21,000 just 2 years later and has since remained around 18,000, even as the number of full-time equivalent staff decreased by 13 percent from fiscal years 2000 to 2009. New programs often increase Education's workload, requiring staff to develop new guidance and provide technical assistance to program participants. Our work examining fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication can help inform decisions on how to prioritize spending, which could also help Education address these challenges and better allocate scarce resources. In particular, our recent work identified 82 programs supporting teacher quality, which are characterized by fragmentation and overlap. Fragmentation of programs exists when programs serve the same broad area of national need but are administered across different federal agencies or offices. Program overlap exists when multiple agencies or programs have similar goals, engage in similar activities or strategies to achieve them, or target similar beneficiaries. Overlap and fragmentation among government programs or activities can be harbingers of unnecessary duplication. Given the challenges associated with fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication, careful, thoughtful actions will be needed to address these issues. This testimony draws upon the results of our recently issued report and our past work and addresses (1) what is known about fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication among teacher quality programs; and (2) what are additional ways that Congress could minimize fragmentation, overlap, and duplication among these programs? We identified 82 distinct programs designed to help improve teacher quality administered across 10 federal agencies, many of which share similar goals. However, there is no governmentwide strategy to minimize fragmentation, overlap, or potential duplication among these programs. The fragmentation and overlap of teacher quality programs can frustrate agency efforts to administer programs in a comprehensive manner, limit the ability to determine which programs are most cost effective, and ultimately increase program costs. In addition, our larger body of work on federal education programs has also found a wide array of programs with similar objectives, target populations, and services across multiple federal agencies. In past work, GAO and Education's Inspector General have concluded that improved planning and coordination could help Education better leverage expertise and limited resources; however, given the large number of teacher quality programs and the extent of overlap, it is unlikely that improved coordination alone can fully mitigate the effects of the fragmented and overlapping federal effort. Sustained congressional oversight can also play a key role in addressing these issues. Congress could address these issues through legislation, particularly through the pending reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), and Education has already proposed combining 38 programs into 11 programs in its reauthorization and fiscal year 2012 budget proposals. Further, actions taken by Congress in the past demonstrate ways this Subcommittee can address these issues. However, effective oversight may be challenging as many of the programs we identified, especially smaller programs, have not been evaluated. Related GAO products are appended. (Contains 1 figure and 12 footnotes.).
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and the Workforce Publisher: ISBN: Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 68
Author: Vicki E. Alger Publisher: Independent Institute ISBN: 1598132148 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 412
Book Description
The relationship among the federal government, the states, and parents with regard to education is increasingly dysfunctional. Parental control over their children's education has gained impressive momentum in recent years at the state level. Meanwhile, states have been increasingly willing to relinquish sovereignty over education in exchange for more federal dollars. Failure would help bring clarity to these issues by examining whether students and the country better off after 30 years with the Department of Education and suggesting alternatives to an ever-expanding federal education bureaucracy. Part I would begin by examining the development of the current Department of Education, including the legislation that gave rise to it, and the pressure groups that have shaped it. Additional chapters would examine related issues including the arguments for and against the creation of a national education department, its origin, current structure, spending, and growth over time. Part II would examine the results to date against the education department's own standards. These include overall student achievement nationally before and after the advent of the Department of Education as well as international comparisons of U.S. student achievement. Outcomes of some of the largest Department of Education programs would also be considered in this section, along with some of the lesser-known department programs and initiatives. Part III would examine truly federal alternatives to the current tug-of-war between the national and state governments in light of the growing parental-choice movement. Included in this section would be chapters examining a strict-constitutionalist model, which denies any federal authority in education. Another alternative model examined would be the National Bureau of Education model, inspired by the original 1867 precursor to the current Department of Education, whose primary mission was to serve as a repository of information so schools nationwide could emulate best practices. In addition, this section would seek to include cross-country comparisons of education systems of top-performing Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
Author: United States Government Accountability Office Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN: 9781719050944 Category : Languages : en Pages : 30
Book Description
Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Federal Teacher Quality Programs
Author: Gene L. Dodaro
Author: 
Author: George A. Scott
Author: United States. Government Accountability Office
Author: 
Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education and the Workforce
Author: Vicki E. Alger
Author: United States. Government Accountability Office
Author: United States Government Accountability Office
Author: Suzanne C. Nielsen