District of Columbia Public Schools: Student Enrollment Count Remains Vulnerable to Errors
HEHS-97-161
Published: Aug 21, 1997. Publicly Released: Aug 21, 1997.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the enrollment count process that the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) used in school year 1996-97, focusing on: (1) whether the process appeared sufficient to produce an accurate count; (2) enrollment count processes used by some other urban school systems; and (3) the role of the Department of Education's Inspector General in preparing DCPS' official enrollment count for school year 1996-97.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Because the enrollment count will become the basis for funding DCPS, Congress should consider directing DCPS to report separately, in its annual reporting of the enrollment count, those students who are fully funded from other sources, such as Head Start participants or tuition-paying nonresidents. | The Subcommittee has not taken action on this recommendation. | |
| Because the enrollment count will become the basis for funding DCPS, Congress should consider directing DCPS to report separately, in its annual reporting of the enrollment count, those students who are above and below the mandatory age for compulsory public education, such as prekindergarten or those aged 20 and above. | The Subcommittee has not taken action on this recommendation. | |
| Because the enrollment count will become the basis for funding DCPS, Congress should consider directing DCPS to report separately, in its annual reporting of the enrollment count, those students for whom District residency cannot be confirmed. | The Subcommittee has not taken action on this recommendation. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| DC Public School System | The Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent, DCPS, should clarify, document, and enforce the responsibilities and sanctions for employees in all three areas of the enrollment count process--enrollment, residency verification, and pupil accounting. |
The Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent, DCPS, appointed staff with specific responsibilities to revise and oversee the processes involved in producing and reporting the enrollment count for the 1997-1998 school year. That enrollment count process remained flawed (see T-HEHS-98-91). The new Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent appointed new staff to oversee portions of the process for school year 1998-1999, however, no process changes occurred during school year 1998-99. Some changes to improve the quality and accuracy of the count have been reported for the school year 2000-01 enrollment count process, including early in-house audits with random quality control checks. Principals have been informed that failing to comply with key elements of the enrollment processes will result in referral to the Assistant Superintendent for sanctioning. In July 2000, DC established a State Education Office under the Office of the Mayor to oversee the enrollment count and the residency verification process. No other changes for school year 2001/2002 were reported.
|
| DC Public School System | The Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent, DCPS, should clarify, document, and enforce the residency verification requirements for students and their parents. |
Beginning with school year 1998-1999, the Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent, DCPS, has clarified and strengthened residency documentation requirements for all students and documented these requirements in a Back-to-School Check List provided to all parents and guardians of DCPS students.
|
| DC Public School System | The Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent, DCPS, should institute internal controls in the student information database, including database management practices and automatic procedures and edits to control database errors. |
The Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent, DCPS, has increased the training for principals and system coordinators to improve their understanding of the procedures for entering enrollment, student status, and special education information. They have also enhanced their reporting of system errors and required greater analysis and reporting of those errors to the assistant superintendents. The assistant superintendents are now responsible for ensuring that the data problems are corrected. In addition, for school year 1998-99, DCPS modified the existing data system to provide for some of the internal data checks. DCPS initiated the purchase of a new system that would have all the recommended automatic procedures and edits. However, after lengthy procurement delays, the purchase has not yet been approved and the system may not be in place until September, 2002, at the earliest. In the interim, because of these delays, they are exploring other newer systems and technologies.
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| DC Public School System | The Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent, DCPS, should comply with the reporting requirements of the District of Columbia School Reform Act of 1995. |
The membership report released by the Superintendent, DCPS, for school year 2001-2002 was unchanged from previous years, and did not comply with the reporting requirements of the School Reform Act.
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| District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority | The District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority should comply with the auditing requirements of the District of Columbia School Reform Act of 1995. |
The District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority retained Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio and Associates, PC to conduct an audit of the October 30, 1997, official membership count, and the final report of that audit has been issued.
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