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Open Recommendations

Department of Education: Preliminary Results Show Strong Leadership Needed to Address Serious Student Aid System Weaknesses
GAO-24-107783
Sep 24, 2024
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5 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Education The Secretary of Education should direct the Chief Operating Officer of FSA to (1) expeditiously develop a plan that tailors the agency's guidance on identifying and managing requirements to fit its current incremental deployment approach and (2) implement the plan thereafter. (Recommendation 1)
Open
As of February 2025, FSA has not provided an update on the actions they have taken or plan to take to implement this recommendation. We will continue to monitor FSA's actions to implement this recommendation.
Department of Education The Secretary of Education should direct the Chief Operating Officer of FSA to (1) expeditiously develop a plan that tailors the agency's guidance on system testing to fit its current incremental deployment approach and (2) implement the plan thereafter. (Recommendation 2)
Open
As of February 2025, FSA has not provided an update on the actions they have taken or plan to take to implement this recommendation. We will continue to monitor FSA's actions to implement this recommendation.
Department of Education The Secretary of Education should direct the Chief Operating Officer of FSA to expeditiously (1) develop an FSA policy on standards for IV&V independence and (2) ensure that FPS IV&V agents meet those standards. In developing the policy, FSA should define the degree of technical, managerial, and financial independence required of the personnel or agents performing IV&V. (Recommendation 3)
Open
As of February 2025, FSA has not provided an update on the actions they have taken or plan to take to implement this recommendation. We will continue to monitor FSA's actions to implement this recommendation.
Department of Education The Secretary of Education should direct the Chief Operating Officer of FSA to expeditiously (1) develop an FSA policy requiring that projects determine and document the appropriate scope of IV&V efforts and (2) ensure that the FPS project follows this policy. In developing the policy, FSA should require that projects consider IV&V activities across the acquisition lifecycle. (Recommendation 4)
Open
As of February 2025, FSA has not provided an update on the actions they have taken or plan to take to implement this recommendation. We will continue to monitor FSA's actions to implement this recommendation.
Department of Education The Secretary of Education should expeditiously (1) assess the role of the department's and FSA's CIOs in the continuing development of FPS, and (2) based on that assessment, develop and implement a plan for providing the department's CIO with a significant role in the governance and oversight of FPS while clarifying the responsibilities between the departmental and agency CIO. (Recommendation 6)
Open
In September 2024, FSA announced that the agency had begun recruiting for a new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). According to FSA's announcement, the new CTO role would replace FSA's Chief Information Officer (CIO) role, ensuring that there is only one CIO position in the Department of Education (Education). According to FSA, its new CTO role will collaborate with Education's CIO. In addition, FSA stated that it is establishing clear lines of authority between the two positions to establish better accountability for and management of successful product delivery, as well as effectively leading IT operations, technology innovation, and cybersecurity initiatives. However, as of February 2025, FSA had not filled the CTO position. We will continue to evaluate the department's progress in implementing this recommendation.

FAFSA: Education Needs to Improve Communications and Support Around the Free Application for Federal Student Aid
GAO-24-107407
Sep 24, 2024
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7 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Federal Student Aid The Chief Operating Officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid should develop an outreach strategy to identify and connect with students who did not submit a FAFSA application this cycle (2024-25) due to delays and technical issues, and to provide them with the information they need to apply during the upcoming cycle (2025-26). (Recommendation 1)
Open
The Department of Education will provide information on how it plans to address this recommendation by April 2025.
Office of Federal Student Aid The Chief Operating Officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid should review the FAFSA application process to identify ways to reduce the burden on students and families by addressing the remaining technical issues and streamlining the process for parent or spouse contributors to reduce the total time it takes to complete the FAFSA form. (Recommendation 2)
Open
The Department of Education will provide information on how it plans to address this recommendation by April 2025.
Office of Federal Student Aid The Chief Operating Officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid should overhaul its submission process for students whose parent or spouse contributors do not have Social Security numbers to address additional application barriers. This should include making the identity verification process more efficient and determining how to use Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers to transfer this population's tax data from the IRS. (Recommendation 3)
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The Department of Education will provide information on how it plans to address this recommendation by April 2025.
Office of Federal Student Aid The Chief Operating Officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid should improve translation services by providing a clear path to support for languages other than English and Spanish through the call center menu and progress toward making the FAFSA application available in languages other than English and Spanish. (Recommendation 4)
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The Department of Education will provide information on how it plans to address this recommendation by April 2025.
Office of Federal Student Aid The Chief Operating Officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid should plan for and ensure hiring of sufficient staff to increase capacity at the Federal Student Aid Information Center call center to be able to meet call demand and improve customer service. (Recommendation 5)
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The Department of Education will provide information on how it plans to address this recommendation by April 2025.
Office of Federal Student Aid The Chief Operating Officer of the Office of Federal Student Aid should develop a comprehensive plan for providing FAFSA applicants with timely updates on the status of their application and solutions to technical barriers. (Recommendation 6)
Open
The Department of Education will provide information on how it plans to address this recommendation by April 2025.

Special Education: Education Needs School- and District-Level Data to Fully Assess Resources Available to Students with Disabilities
GAO-24-106264
Jul 29, 2024
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Congress Congress should consider granting Education authority under IDEA to collect school- and district-level data on special education and related resources, where feasible, that would help Education fulfill its oversight responsibilities under the law. Such data could include

  • The number of students who receive specific types of special education related services, such as speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and other services that may be specified in an individualized education program.
  • The number of staff providing special education services, such as special education teachers, paraeducators, and other staff involved in delivering services to students that may be specified in an individualized education program.
  • Expenditures for special education services, such as for the wages, salaries, and compensation for staff; transportation; technology; professional development; and other related activities.

(Matter for Consideration 1)
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As of February 2025, there is no congressional activity on this matter.

K-12 Education: Differences in Student Arrest Rates Widen when Race, Gender, and Disability Status Overlap
GAO-24-106294
Jul 08, 2024
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Education The Secretary of Education should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of the Office for Civil Rights revise the Civil Rights Data Collection to collect arrest and referral data, by race, for students with disabilities served under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. (Recommendation 1)
Open
Education agreed with this recommendation. As of December 2024, OCR officials told us they have sought public comment on the benefits and burdens for collecting more detailed data on the intersection of race and disability regarding referrals to law enforcement and school-related arrests for the 2025‒26 and 2027-28 CRDC. OCR officials indicated the office will review and consider all the public comments that it receives on this topic as it develops a revised proposal for requesting information and considers related final comments. OCR intends to share the final request language with GAO after the agency obtains final comments, makes any further changes, and receives OMB's approval. GAO will revisit the status of this recommendation at that time.
Department of Education The Secretary of Education should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of the Office for Civil Rights take necessary steps to disclose the known limitation in its arrest data for the 2021–2022 school year Civil Rights Data Collection. This could include, for example, confirming and disclosing which definitions school districts used or noting that arrest data for that year is not comparable among districts. (Recommendation 2)
Open
Education agreed with this recommendation. As of December 2024, OCR officials informed GAO that OCR will disclose the revision to the definition of school related arrest and caution users about comparing arrest data among school districts in the resources released with the 2021‒22 CRDC expected in early 2025. We will consider closing this recommendation when this effort is completed.
Department of Education The Secretary of Education should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of the Office for Civil Rights clearly communicate any future changes to data on arrests and referrals to law enforcement in the Civil Rights Data Collection before the start of the school year for which districts are to collect data. (Recommendation 3)
Open
Education agreed with this recommendation. As of December 2024, OCR officials indicated that OCR will communicate the referral and arrest data elements collected in the CRDC prior to the start of the school year, particularly when there are changes to the data elements or definitions from prior data collections. OCR is currently in the process of seeking OMB approval on its proposed 2025-26 and 2027-28 information request and anticipates obtaining OMB approval by the spring of 2025, ahead of the start of the 2025‒26 school year. In the current request, OCR does not propose any changes to the referral and arrest data elements or their corresponding definitions. However, OCR officials state they plan to communicate final data elements and definitions and flag new terms or definitions to the school districts, via email and technical assistance documents, prior to the start of the 2025-26 school year.
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