Summary

GAO provided information on its general management review of the Department of Education. GAO noted that: (1) there are major weaknesses in Education's financial, information, human resource management, and performance monitoring support systems; (2) Education's lack of a secretarial-level management framework has inhibited its ability to set long-term goals and priorities and develop effective departmentwide planning and management; (3) in previous administrations, Education officials often felt that they were not involved in priority-setting, decisionmaking, and resource allocation decisions; (4) Education has not been able to improve its central processes for identifying weaknesses and establishing links between its internal controls and management strategies; (5) Education efforts to improve its management systems have been unresolved; (6) Education needs to establish a process for linking strategic initiatives to its mission and operational problems; and (7) a strategic management process could provide a framework for supporting the America 2000 long-term strategy, improving internal controls and accountability, and ensuring secretarial-level involvement in the solution of major management and quality improvement issues.