measures developed in partnership by the Federal, State, and local governments and local service providers. We have provided responses to each of the questions you raised in the following enclosures. Enclosure I contains information in response to your three questions on the definition and criteria we used in determining the number of education programs and the agencies and departments that administer them. Based on your definitions of direct and indirect instructional support, enclosure II contains information about the Federal education programs that provide these kinds of assistance to students in kindergarten through grade 12. In enclosure III, we provide information about studies of the Title I Program. Enclosure IV addresses accountability needs and State and local flexibility. Enclosure V provides information on performance partnerships. In addition, as indicated in the enclosures, we have provided you with copies of relevant GAO reports and other materials to supplement our replies. I hope this information will assist you as you make important decisions about Federal funding for education programs. Major contributors to this report included Eleanor Johnson, Assistant Director; Gail MacColl, Assistant Director; Sandra L. Baxter, Senior Evaluator; Ellen Schwartz, Senior Évaluator; and Kathleen White, Senior Evaluator. Sincerely yours, Carlossa Juper Carlotta C. Joyner, Director Education and Employment Issues ENCLOSURE I DEFINITIONS Information requested. (1) Please supply the definition of "education" that led to GAO's assessment that more than 30 departments or agencies run such programs. (2) Please explain the criteria used to determine whether a program met that definition, such as population served or location of services. (3) Please supply the definition of education programs used in the 1995 GAO report you referenced that counted 652 education programs, 244 of which were administered by the Department of Education.5 Response. Our identification of departments and agencies that administer Federal education programs was based on a National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) analysis of Federal education funding. We counted the number of Federal departments and agencies NCES reported as having education programs that received Federal funding in fiscal year 1997. The NCES report does not specifically state a definition for education or enumerate the criteria NCES used to determine whether a program satisfied that definition. However, NCES reported that its list of Federal education programs included programs in all Federal agencies and departments with "significant educational components, even if these programs had additional purposes.7 In our 1995 testimony on opportunities for consolidating Federal education programs and student aid, we identified 244 education programs administered by the Department of Education and another 308 programs administered by 30 other Federal agencies in fiscal year 1995.8 We did not define education but used a list of programs that the Department of Education officials developed and provided to us. In addition, we analyzed information from the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDÁ) to determine the number of programs administered by other Federal departments and agencies that had education components. ENCLOSURE II The inquiry refers to testimony we provided in 1995 before the Subcommittee on Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. See GAO/T-HEHS-95-130, Apr. 6, 1995. At that time, we testified that there were 552 Federal education programs, 224 of which were administered by the Department of Education. In response to a question at the November 1997 hearing, this number was accidentally misstated as "652." For additional information, see Department of Education, NCES, Federal Support for Education: Fiscal Years 1980 to 1997 (Washington, DC: Sept. 1997). 7 Department of Education, NCES, Federal Support for Education, p. 1. 8 See GAO/T-HEHS-95-130, Apr. 6, 1995. 46-217 98-6 TYPES OF FEDERAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS Information requested. Please list the Federal education programs that meet the following narrower definition: A program with a primary purpose of direct instructional assistance to K-12 students. (5) Please provide a list of programs that have a primary purpose of indirect instruction assistance for K-12 students, such as teacher training, programs involving technology use in K-12 settings, and reform efforts to improve student achievement and graduation rates. Please include in these lists only programs which are funded, and indicate which programs are formula funded and which are competitively funded. Response. Table II.1 provides the information you requested for programs that primarily support direct instruction for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Table II.2 provides the information you requested for programs with a primary purpose of indirect instructional assistance. In addition, we have included in table II.3 a list of programs that may provide either direct or indirect instructional assistance for students in kindergarten through grade 12, depending on the discretion of school officials or the results of grant competitions. Table II.1: Education Department Programs With Direct Instruction Assistance for K-12 Students as the Primary Purpose With EY 97 Grant Amount (in Millions) a Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, 1997. b Includes competitive grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements. c Includes direct payments for specified uses of funds and for dissemination costs. |