Regulatory Flexibility in Schools: What Happens When Schools Are Allowed to Change the Rules?
HEHS-94-102
Published: Apr 29, 1994. Publicly Released: Apr 29, 1994.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed three states' experience with providing regulatory flexibility to schools to better serve disadvantaged children.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| As Congress works toward reaching its final legislative decisions on the education initiatives under consideration, it should maintain features that would encourage schools to take advantage of the flexibility provided to attempt improvement. These features include: (1) linking flexibility with other efforts to improve schools, such as planning, technical assistance, and incentives; (2) removing obstacles that inhibit schools' attempts to improve, such as some forms of government monitoring; (3) granting flexibility for as long a period as possible to allow schools time to plan and implement attempts to improve; and (4) helping to strengthen the ways that states and districts assess the performance of children in relation to high standards, especially for children with special needs. |
Closed – Implemented
|
Congressional actions on the Improving America's Schools Act (ISIA) included provisions that would grant more flexibility to schools. These provisions included links among planning, technical assistance and incentives; flexibility for sufficient time to plan improvement; and helping states and districts to strengthen assessment of children. While congressional actions did not address monitoring efforts, the Department of Education has initiated new procedures intended to bring monitoring in line with greater flexibility granted to states, districts and schools, according to an Education official. |
| In enacting federal education legislation, Congress should consider providing increased flexibility to states, districts, and schools in return for increased accountability for student performance. |
Closed – Implemented
|
ISIA included such provisions. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Education | The Secretary of Education should continue to assess the manner in which federal education programs are reviewed by auditors and, as needed, promote changes in the way that programs are reviewed in order to be more consistent with schools' attempts to improve. Specifically, the Secretary should determine if the: (1) emphasis on compliance with procedural regulations needs to be better balanced with an emphasis on whether programs are achieving the purposes for which they were authorized and funded; and (2) federal and state officials who review federal education programs need training to familiarize them with this change in emphasis. |
Closed – Implemented
Education has substantially revamped its monitoring procedures to include more emphasis on program outcomes, according to an Education official. This is an ongoing process that will involve continuous improvements.
|
| Department of Education | The Secretary of Education should work with knowledgeable educators and researchers as well as state, district, and school officials to develop ways to assess the progress of children with special needs in relation to high standards and to report on this program. In developing assessments that include children with special needs, give particular attention to those children who have been excluded from statewide assessments of performance: (1) children with limited English proficiency; and (2) some children with disabilities. |
Closed – Implemented
Education has taken action in this area, according to an Education official. For example, the Office of Special Education Programs is working closely with the National Research Council to develop ways to include children with disabilities into new assessments; Education is also reviewing procedures used to assess the performance of children with limited English proficiency.
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Academic achievementAccountabilityCharter schoolsCompensatory educationDisadvantaged personsEducational standardsFederal regulationsPublic schoolsSchool management and organizationWaivers