MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 

FY 2016 Agency Financial Report—U.S. Department of Education 7 

The Department’s Approach to Performance Management 

Performance Management Framework 

In accordance with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Modernization Act of 

2010, the FY 2014–18 Strategic Plan is the basis for the Department’s performance 

management framework. The Department uses quarterly performance reviews, targeted 

strategic initiatives, and outreach to leaders and stakeholders to assess progress and garner 

engagement toward achieving strategic goals and outcomes. An outline of the Department’s 

Strategic Plan is shown below.

FY 2014–18 Strategic Plan 
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 

8 FY 2016 Agency Financial Report—U.S. Department of Education 
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 

FY 2016 Agency Financial Report—U.S. Department of Education 9 

The FY 2014–18 Strategic Plan is comprised of six strategic goals, which serve as the 

foundation for establishing long-term priorities. The strategic objectives are actions that the 

Department will undertake to realize the goals. For each objective, the Department has 

established measures to gauge its progress. In collaboration with OMB and alongside the 

release of the President’s FY 2017 budget request, the Department announced its FY 2016–17 

Agency Priority Goals (APGs) and is reporting quarterly updates on performance.gov. The 

Department monitors progress toward its strategic goals and its APGs using data-driven review 

and analysis. This focus promotes active management engagement across the Department. 

Additional information on performance management is available in the Annual Performance 

Plans and Annual Performance Reports. 

The Department welcomes input from Congress, state and local partners, and other education 

stakeholders on its Strategic Plan and APGs. Questions or comments about the Department’s 

performance management framework and reporting should be e-mailed to PIO@ed.gov. 

Information in the Agency Financial Report

The Department has elected to produce separate financial and performance reports. Because 

the Department does not produce a Performance and Accountability Report, specific 

performance reporting related to the Department’s Strategic Plan may be found in the Annual 

Performance Report, published with the Budget of the United States Government (President’s 

Budget), and available on both ed.gov and the government website performance.gov. 

Performance information in the Department’s AFR is limited to high-level, cross-cutting themes 

with links to help the reader find further details on metrics and trends regarding specific 

objectives. We also urge readers to seek programmatic data as it is reported in the 

Congressional Budget Justification, as well as on the web pages of individual programs. 

The high-level discussion of performance information in this year’s AFR includes performance 

matters that inform decisions of the Department and its partners. Discussions on challenges 

concerning operations and finance are provided in a section of the AFR that follows the 

Department’s Financial Highlights. 

U.S. Department of Education FY 2016 Priorities 

The mission of the Department is to promote student achievement and preparation for global 

competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. With this 

mission and challenging, far-reaching strategic goals, the Department has chosen to focus 

FY 2016 efforts in three areas. These areas, as noted in the Secretary’s message, are: 

(1) advancing equity and excellence; (2) expanding support for teachers and school leaders; 

and (3) promoting access, affordability, and completion in higher education. In addition, the 

Department has continued to encourage grantees and practitioners to use data and evidence to 

improve student outcomes. The following sections highlight a portion of the Department’s 

innovative work in these areas. 

Advancing Equity and Excellence 

The Department continues to be true to its mission to promote and support equal access to a 

quality education, from preschool through high school graduation and beyond. That vision 

includes efforts to improve student achievement and raise graduation rates; make education 

more equitable; ensure all students achieve at high standards that prepare them for college and 

careers; enhance the quality of assessments; and increase access to high-quality early learning. 
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 

10 FY 2016 Agency Financial Report—U.S. Department of Education 

Early in FY 2016, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaced the No Child Left 

Behind Act as the latest authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), 

passed by substantial bipartisan majorities and was signed by President Obama. ESSA 

embraces many of the priorities and initiatives created or championed by the Obama 

administration, such as state-determined, college- and career-ready standards for every student 

and aligned statewide assessments that provide educators, parents, and communities with 

critical information each year on student progress; state-driven accountability systems that 

meaningfully differentiate between schools based on multiple measures; a commitment to 

ensuring more of our youngest learners have access to high-quality early learning opportunities; 

locally tailored systems for school improvement that include evidence-based interventions; and 

education innovation through a successor to this administration’s Investing in Innovation (i3) 

program. The Department is focused on supporting states in the implementation of the ESSA to 

ensure that it provides equal educational opportunities for all students and preserves the 

ESEA’s legacy as a civil rights law. 

ESSA advances equity by upholding critical protections and maintaining dedicated resources for 

America’s most disadvantaged students. The law requires that action will be taken to improve 

outcomes for students in schools that are among the lowest performing 5 percent of Title I 

schools in the state, that fail to graduate over one-third of their students, and where any 

subgroup of students is consistently underperforming. ESSA also creates opportunities for 

states to reclaim the goal of a rigorous, well-rounded education for every child — an education 

that not only includes math and reading, but also provides all students with access to other 

subjects, such as science, social studies, world languages, the arts, physical education, health, 

and other key areas of study. As soon as ESSA became law, the Department began developing 

materials to support its implementation at the state and local level. To date, the Department has 

published Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRMs) on Title I Accountability, State Plans and 

Reports Cards, Assessments (Part A and Part B), and Supplement Not Supplant. In addition, six 

ESSA significant guidance documents have been announced. 

The Department continues to build on its commitment to high-quality early childhood education 

through the Race to the Top — Early Learning Challenge (Early Learning Challenge) program 

and Preschool Development Grants, which together have invested $1.5 billion in early learning 

across the country. The Early Learning Challenge, which the Department jointly administers with 

the Department of Health and Human Services, currently supports 20 states that are 

implementing a cohesive system of quality early learning programs and services for young 

children from birth through age 5. In addition, Preschool Development Grants have served as a 

down payment on the President’s vision for universal, voluntary access to high-quality preschool 

by providing high-quality learning experiences to children in 230 communities across 18 states.

Progress: As states develop their new plans to implement ESSA and support educational 

opportunity for all students, P–12, the nation’s graduation rate is at its highest point ever — at 

83 percent. Especially encouraging is that more historically underserved students, including lowincome students, English learners, and students with disabilities, are graduating from high 

school and going to college. In fact, the progress of black and Hispanic students since 2011 has 

outpaced the growth of all other racial/ethnic groups. Further, in the fall of 2015, Preschool 

Development Grant states enrolled 28,000 4-year-olds in high-quality programs supported by 

the grants; 35,000 more 4-year-olds were enrolled in those programs in the fall of 2016. 

However, significant challenges remain — today, only 41 percent of all 4-year-olds in the United 

States are enrolled in publicly funded preschool through state programs, Head Start, or special 

education. Even fewer are enrolled in the highest-quality programs. 
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 

FY 2016 Agency Financial Report—U.S. Department of Education 11

In FY 2016, the Department announced a new set of APGs. Among other efforts, the 

Department is working to increase enrollment in high-quality state preschool programs and 

ensure equitable educational opportunities. Two measures of our efforts to advance equity and 

excellence are shown below. 

Data Source for Percentage of 4-year-old Children Enrolled: National Institute for Early Education Research 

Yearbook (The State of Preschool). 

Note: Assumptions for the years predating FY 2014 do not align the school year with the fiscal year. Data beginning 

with FY 2014 align the school year with the actual fiscal year; however, the data are not available to be reported until 

the following fiscal year. 

Data Source for Gap in the Graduation Rate: EDFacts.

Note: Data represent the previous school year’s data. For example, School Year 2014–15, which corresponds to 

FY 2015, is being reported in FY 2016. 

Expanding Support for Teachers and School Leaders 

Research shows what many of us know: a great teacher is the most important in-school factor 

contributing to student achievement.1,2 It also shows that the quality of the teacher at the head 

of the classroom is dramatically impacted by the school leader.3 Effective school leaders ensure 

the skillful recruitment and placement of quality teachers. Not only that, but teachers themselves 

report that the quality of school leadership is often one of the biggest factors in both short- and 

long-term teacher retention, as well as teacher job satisfaction.4 Yet, too many young people —

 especially students of color, low-income students, and other historically underserved children 

and youths— do not have access to the teachers and school leaders who can best help them 

 

1 Rivkin, S. G., Hanushek, E. A., & Kain, J. F. (2005). Teachers, schools, and academic achievement. Econometrica, 

73(2), 417–458.

2 Aaronson, D., Barrow, L., & Sander, W. (2007). Teachers and student achievement in the Chicago public high 

schools. Journal of Labor Economics, 25(1), 95–135.

3 See for example Branch, G., Hanushek, E. A., & Rivkin, S. G. (2012). Estimating the effect of leaders on public 

sector productivity: The case of school principals. Washington, DC: National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data 

in Education Research.

4 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) 

“Public School Teacher Data Files,” and “Private School Teacher Data Files,” 2011–12.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 

12 FY 2016 Agency Financial Report—U.S. Department of Education 

succeed.5 The Department has worked to help states and school districts support great 

educators. 

For example, the Department launched the Excellent Educators for All initiative and called on 

states to develop plans that would give low-income students the same access to high-quality 

educators as their more affluent peers. In addition, the Department recently published 

regulations to increase transparency and establish feedback loops to help teacher preparation 

programs and states ensure that educators are ready to succeed in the classroom. While giving 

states the flexibility to determine how program performance is measured, such as how 

graduates are having an impact on student learning in the classroom, the regulations build on 

reforms and innovations already happening at the state and local levels across the country. 

The Department continued to support Teach to Lead, a project that leverages the experience 

and expertise of teachers to lead transformation of the teaching profession and bring about 

better outcomes for students. Today, Teach to Lead continues its efforts to support teacher 

leadership by hosting regional leadership summits that spotlight and advance the 

groundbreaking, teacher-led work in states, districts, and schools across the country. 

With the passage of the ESSA, states and districts have a great opportunity to reimagine 

systems and strategies to better support educators in accelerating students’ performance. For 

example, the Department published Title II, Part A Guidance addressing three areas of 

opportunity: Support for Educators, Educator Equity, and Strengthening Title II, Part A 

Investments. It is essential that we build upon the progress made with the passing of ESSA if 

we are to provide every student with a rich, rigorous education. 

Progress: Under the Excellent Educators for All initiative, the Department supported a 

$4.2 million technical support network to help states plan their efforts to increase equitable 

access. The Department then published a report that highlighted which states and districts fared 

well or poorly on teacher equity. In addition, more than 40 states have committed to developing 

teacher and principal evaluation and support systems that reflect the goal of ensuring that these 

systems provide meaningful, actionable feedback to educators to improve their practice and 

increase student outcomes. 

Promoting Access, Affordability, and Completion in Higher Education 

Skills and education promote success, and that makes a college education one of the best 

investments people can make in their futures. Americans with college degrees are more likely to 

live healthier lives, be more civically engaged in their communities, have good-paying jobs, and 

experience greater job security. America’s students, families, and the economic strength they 

provide depend on a higher education system that helps everyone succeed. Achieving this goal 

requires making college more accessible, affordable, and accountable — especially for 

historically underserved students — and ensuring that students graduate in a timely way and 

with a meaningful degree as the basis to thrive in careers and life. That is why President Obama 

has worked throughout the eight years of his administration to increase college affordability, 

access, and completion. Since 2009, the Department has taken strong actions to offset the 

rising costs of higher education, including by making historic investments in federal student aid, 

such as expanding Pell Grants — federal financial aid offered to undergraduate students — and 

making student debt more manageable. The President raised the maximum Pell Grant by more 

 

5 Glazerman, Steven and Jeffrey Max. “Do Low-Income Students Have Equal Access to the Highest-Performing 

Teachers?” NCEE Evaluation Brief. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education 

Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. Document No. PP11-23a, 2011.
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 

FY 2016 Agency Financial Report—U.S. Department of Education 13

than $1,000 over the course of his administration, and, for the first time, tied the grant amount to 

inflation. In 2010, the Obama administration made a landmark investment in the Pell program 

through the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, which ended student loan subsidies 

for private banks and shifted more than $60 billion in savings back to students and taxpayers. 

Among the ways to boost college completion is by ensuring that students and families have 

information to help them apply to and enroll in a school that will help them achieve their 

educational goals. The Department built a new College Scorecard, which helps students, 

families, and those who advise them to make better decisions about one of the most significant 

financial decisions students will make in their lifetimes — where to go to college. The College 

Scorecard includes comprehensive, reliable data published on students’ employment outcomes 

and success in repaying student loans. Both the Department and other third-party developers 

are incorporating the data and the tool into their outreach directly to students, ensuring students 

and families have the information they need to find the schools that are right for them. 

Another key is helping students and their families obtain financial aid by making it easier and 

faster for them to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). With this 

understanding, the Obama administration took major steps to streamline the FAFSA. Today, 

more than 99 percent of the FAFSA applications are submitted online. Moreover, among 

2014–15 applicants who had filed their taxes, 58 percent of independent students and 

46 percent of parents of dependent students, or over 6 million students and parents, had used 

the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Data Retrieval Tool, which allows students and parents to 

access and automatically transfer their IRS tax return information into the FAFSA. Finally, 

starting October 1, 2016, for 2017–18 applicants, students and families now can apply for 

financial aid earlier — as the college application process gets underway — rather than in January, 

and most families can now electronically retrieve their tax information filed for an earlier year 

from the IRS Data Retrieval Tool to use on the FAFSA, rather than waiting until tax season to 

complete their applications. 

In addition, the Department has taken comprehensive actions to protect students and taxpayers 

from the subset of institutions that engage in fraudulent, deceptive, and other predatory 

practices. That includes implementing the gainful employment rules to hold career colleges 

accountable for their students’ outcomes; publishing the borrower defense regulations to create 

a streamlined process that is fair to students who may have been victims of fraud and to hold 

colleges accountable for risky behavior; regulations to ensure the integrity of the federal student 

aid programs; and increased rigor in reviewing and holding accountable colleges and 

accrediting agencies. 

Progress: The Department’s efforts to increase financial aid helped cover the cost of college by 

about $3,700 for more than 8 million students last year, and approximately 2 million additional 

Pell Grants have been awarded to students every year since the President took office. In 

addition to keeping student loan interest rates low, a reform that could save a typical student 

$1,000 over the life of his or her loan, the Obama administration improved and expanded 

income-driven loan repayment options to ensure loan payments remain affordable. With these 

plans, borrowers set their monthly student loan payment at an amount based on income and 

family size. As of September 2016, income-driven repayment plans have enabled more than

5 million borrowers to take advantage of affordable repayment plans based on students’ 

incomes, up from 700,000 borrowers in 2011. Additionally, borrowers who have committed to 

careers in public service can have their loans forgiven after 10 years through the Department’s 

Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 

The Department has established an APG to increase college degree attainment and continues 

its efforts to improve affordability, access, and student outcomes in higher education. 

Increase in Degree Attainment among 25–34-Year-Old Age Cohort 

43.1% 44.0% 44.8% 45.7% 46.5% 

44.7% 45.6% 46.8% 48.4% 

0.0% 

5.0% 

10.0% 

15.0% 

20.0% 

25.0% 

30.0% 

35.0% 

40.0% 

45.0% 

50.0% 

Actual 

Value 

Target 

Value 

2012-Q42013-Q42014-Q42015-Q42016-Q42017-Q4 

Data Source: NCES Digest of Education Statistics, Table 104.30, Number of persons age 18 and over, by highest 

level of educational attainment, sex, race/ethnicity, and age: 2015. Tabulated from Current Population Survey data, 

U.S. Census. 

Developing and Using Data and Other Evidence 

The Obama administration’s robust support of evidence-based innovation gives states and 

school districts tools to direct their education improvement efforts toward the most effective 

practices. With a focus on new and promising efforts backed by research, the administration 

helped schools and communities create supports, partnerships, and programs to help educators 

tackle persistent challenges, accelerate achievement for all children and youth, and target 

interventions for students who were historically underserved and most vulnerable. 

The Department has pioneered efforts that encourage grantees and practitioners to use 

evidence and data in ways that improve student outcomes. The Department has significantly 

scaled up the use of evidence-based grant-making. i3, an evidence-based grant program that 

was also born out of this priority for increased innovation in education, has invested more than 

$1.3 billion in nearly 160 projects, reaching over 2 million students in all 50 states and the 

District of Columbia. As part of i3, projects were required to undergo a rigorous, independent 

evaluation and to share the results publicly, helping to identify strategies that enable students to 

excel and that educators can adopt or adapt. This work is expanding the knowledge base that 

the education field can use to help students make even greater progress in the years ahead. 

InformED is an initiative launched in 2016 to transform how the Department makes information 

available and actionable for internal users and the public, using open data and data 

transparency design concepts. The InformED initiative is building on lessons learned from the 

success of the College Scorecard and applying these lessons across the education spectrum, 

from early childhood to adult education. With resources and intuitive tools tailored to different 

audiences (such as researchers, policymakers and journalists), InformED is pulling together the 

Department’s diverse array of data and studies on a particular topic, and allowing open data 

access to help unlock answers to pressing education questions and needs. 

Progress: The Department is on track for 18 percent of new FY 2016 discretionary grant 

funding to support evidence-based practices. The i3 program has released 17 rigorous 

14 FY 2016 Agency Financial Report—U.S. Department of Education 
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS 

FY 2016 Agency Financial Report—U.S. Department of Education 15

evaluations that can inform the field. Through InformED, the Department has launched 

numerous new products that have generated significant public interest. For example, data from 

the Civil Rights Data Collection have been downloaded over 2,700 times. In addition, more than 

1.5 million users have accessed the College Scorecard since September 12, 2015. 

The Department has established an APG to enable evidence-based decision making. The 

graphs below show measures of our efforts to increase use and generation of credible evidence 

on what works and what does not work in education. 

15.9%

29.4%

9%

11%

18%

20%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

2014-Q42015-Q42016-Q42017-Q4

Percentage of New Competitive Grant Dollars that 

Support Evidence-Based Strategies

Actual

Value

Target

Value

17

10

20 20 20 20

2016-Q42017-Q12017-Q22017-Q32017-Q4

0

5

10

15

20

25

Number of Department-funded Project 

Evaluations that Provide Credible Evidence 

about What Works in Education

Actual

Value

Target

Value

Data Source for Percentage of New Competitive Grant Dollars: Forecast Report issued by the Office of the Chief 

Financial Officer (OCFO) and final Funding Reports from relevant programs. 

Note: Q4 data not yet available but expected in FY 2017. 

Data Source for Number of Department-funded Project Evaluations: Discretionary grant slate memoranda, 

discretionary grant financial forecasts and reports from OCFO, and the What Works Clearinghouse.