**GAO-11-166**                      Published: Dec 15, 2010. Publicly Released: Dec 15, 2010.                  

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## Highlights

This report responds to two mandates for GAO under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). First, it is the latest report on the uses of and accountability for Recovery Act funds in selected states and localities. Second, it comments on recipients' reports of the jobs created and retained. The Recovery Act provided $2.1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start, primarily to expand services. GAO addressed four questions: (1) How have Head Start and Early Head Start grantees used Recovery Act funds, including for expanding enrollment? (2) What challenges have grantees encountered in spending Recovery Act funds? (3) How has the Office of Head Start (OHS) monitored the use of Recovery Act funds? (4) How has the quality of jobs data reported by Recovery Act recipients, particularly Head Start grantees, changed over time? In this report, GAO also updates the status of open recommendations from previous bimonthly and recipient reporting reviews. To address these questions, GAO interviewed grantees, analyzed federal agency and recipient reported data, and interviewed officials.

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## Topics

Education

AccountabilityAppropriated fundsData integrityDecision makingEducation program evaluationEmployment opportunitiesFederal aid programsFederal grantsFinancial managementFund auditsFunds managementGrant monitoringUse of fundsTransparency

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##### Head Start's Use of Recovery Act Funding

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