Summary of Report 02-030

March 2002

Report Number 02-030

Increased agency-level planning, coordination, and information management for its monitoring function could enable the Texas Education Agency (Agency) to resolve long-standing monitoring problems. This increased effort would allow the Agency and other public education stakeholders to realize more of the benefits of the Agency's significant monitoring efforts. Information compiled with a central perspective and monitoring direction at the executive level, rather than at the division level would allow the Agency to better identify risks and systemic problems in districts' delivery of educational services. It would also allow the Agency to allocate limited monitoring resources accordingly.

Eleven Agency divisions spend $8 million annually to conduct many different types of monitoring of more than 150 different state and federal programs. The Agency is responsible for monitoring more than 1,200 school districts' and charter schools' use of $14 billion in state and federal funds to educate 4 million students.

• The Agency cannot easily provide public education stakeholders with certain comprehensive monitoring information because it does not compile or consistently track monitoring results. It also does not use comprehensive monitoring information to identify risks of noncompliance or poor program quality and allocate resources accordingly.
  
  
• The agencywide monitoring plan does not include agency-level planning and coordination of the monitoring function and resources. The current plan inventories division-level monitoring achievements, which limits its usefulness as a decision-making tool.
  
  
• The risk assessment system for District Effectiveness and Compliance (DEC) monitoring may not accurately identify the highest risk districts. The system lacks documented technical procedures for compiling final results, and there is no evaluation of the system's effectiveness in identifying risk.
  
  
• DEC on-site monitoring processes may not ensure an accurate assessment of a district's compliance with state and federal requirements or of the quality of services the district provides. The processes also could be improved to require consistent verification of districts' corrective actions.
  
  

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