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                            K-12 Education
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                    Issue Summary
    The U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies work to ensure that 50 million students in K-12 public schools have access to a safe, quality education. However, a history of discriminatory practices has contributed to inequities in education, which are intertwined with disparities in wealth, income, and housing. Moreover, there are ongoing concerns about the safety and well-being of all students. To help address these issues, Education should strengthen its oversight of key programs, policies, and data collections.

For example:

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted learning for millions of students during the 2020-21 school year. Certain student populations were more likely to face significant obstacles to learning in a virtual environment—such as high-poverty students and students learning English. Some children also never attended class during the 2020-2021 school year.
	As the COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased use of remote education, K-12 schools across the nation have increasingly reported ransomware and other types of cyberattacks. Federal agencies offer products and services to help schools prevent and respond to cyberattacks. But Education's plan for addressing risks to schools was issued in 2010 and needs an update to deal with changing cybersecurity risks.
	The U.S. is experiencing a shortage of teachers – a problem that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic amid reports of teachers leaving the profession, fewer new teachers entering, and schools struggling to hire teachers. While Education has introduced a strategy to address these issues, progress can be made to ensure its efforts are working.
	While nearly all public school districts require students to adhere to dress codes, concerns about equity in school dress codes have included the detrimental effects of removing students from the classroom for dress code violations. A review of a nationally representative sample of public school district dress codes revealed school dress codes more frequently restrict items typically worn by girls. Additionally, rules about hair and head coverings can disproportionately affect Black students and those of certain religions and cultures.
	School districts spend billions of dollars a year (primarily from local government sources) on building and renovating facilities at the nearly 100,000 K-12 public schools nationwide. A survey of school facilities brought up common issues and priorities, such as improving security, expanding technology, and addressing health hazards. Additionally, about half of districts reported needing to update or replace multiple systems like heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) or plumbing. Accessing public school facilities was also reported as a challenge, with survey results showing that two-thirds of school districts had facilities with physical barriers that may limit access for students with disabilities.
	Even before the pandemic, virtual public school enrollment was growing—mostly in virtual charter schools. Compared to students in brick-and-mortar public schools, 2018-2019 data showed that a lower percentage of virtual school students took state achievement tests, and their scores were significantly lower. Also, Education officials said the virtual environment makes it harder to monitor attendance. Certain federal funds are allocated using attendance data, so there's a risk that virtual schools could get more or less funding than they should.
	Education requires public school districts to biennially report incidents of restraint (restricting a student’s movement) and seclusion (confining a student to a space alone). However, Education’s data quality checks may not catch misreporting or statistical outliers. For instance, 70% of districts reported 0 incidents of restraint and seclusion, but Education’s quality check only applies to fewer than 100 large districts. Education also doesn’t have a quality check for districts reporting relatively high incident rates—such as one that reported an average of 71 restraint incidents per student per year.
	A review of school shooting data found that half were committed by current or former students. Suburban and rural, wealthier, and low-minority schools had more school-targeted shootings; such shootings were the most fatal and most commonly committed by students. Urban, poor, and high-minority schools had more shootings overall and were more motivated by disputes; these shootings were often committed by non-students or unknown shooters.Image
              k12_2023

  Recent Reports
          K-12 Education: DOD Should Assess Whether Troops-to-Teachers is Meeting Program GoalsGAO-23-105992
      
	Published:  Aug 01, 2023


	Publicly Released: Aug 01, 2023
                        K-12 Education: Additional Guidance Could Improve the Equitable Services Process for School Districts and Private SchoolsGAO-23-105469
      
	Published:  Apr 17, 2023


	Publicly Released: May 17, 2023
                        K-12 Education: New Charter Schools Receiving Grants to Open Grew Faster Than PeersGAO-23-106268
      
	Published:  Feb 21, 2023


	Publicly Released: Feb 21, 2023
                        K-12 Education: Education Should Assess Its Efforts to Address Teacher ShortagesGAO-23-105180
      
	Published:  Oct 27, 2022


	Publicly Released: Oct 27, 2022
                        K-12 Education: Department of Education Should Provide Information on Equity and Safety in School Dress CodesGAO-23-105348
      
	Published:  Oct 25, 2022


	Publicly Released: Oct 25, 2022
                        K-12 Education: Charter Schools That Received Federal Funding to Open or Expand Were Generally Less Likely to Close Than Other Similar Charter SchoolsGAO-23-105616
      
	Published:  Oct 11, 2022


	Publicly Released: Oct 11, 2022
                        K-12 Education: Student Population Has Significantly Diversified, but Many Schools Remain Divided Along Racial, Ethnic, and Economic LinesGAO-22-104737
      
	Published:  Jun 16, 2022


	Publicly Released: Jul 14, 2022
                        Pandemic Learning: Less Academic Progress Overall, Student and Teacher Strain, and Implications for the FutureGAO-22-105816
      
	Published:  Jun 08, 2022


	Publicly Released: Jun 08, 2022
                        Pandemic Learning: Teachers Reported Many Obstacles for High-Poverty Students and English Learners As Well As Some Mitigating StrategiesGAO-22-105815
      
	Published:  May 31, 2022


	Publicly Released: May 31, 2022
                        Special Education: DOD Programs and Services for Military-Dependent Students with DisabilitiesGAO-22-105015
      
	Published:  May 19, 2022


	Publicly Released: May 19, 2022
                        District of Columbia Charter Schools: DC Public Charter School Board Should Include All Required Elements in Its Annual ReportGAO-22-105226
      
	Published:  Mar 21, 2022


	Publicly Released: Mar 21, 2022
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GAO Contacts
    
      Jacqueline M. Nowicki
      
              Jacqueline M. Nowicki
            
            Director
      
            nowickij@gao.gov
      
            (202) 512-7215
                                                      MultimediaVideo
    
      Pandemic Learning Loss
      
        
        Pandemic Learning Loss
          Wednesday, June 08, 2022Transcript
Podcasts
    
      Virtual Charter Schools Enrollment is Up, But Student Performance is Down
    Wednesday, March 02, 2022
      
            Transcript
          K-12 Learning Loss During the Pandemic, 1.1 million teachers had students who did not show up for school
    Wednesday, March 23, 2022
      
            Transcript
          Bullying, Hate Crimes and Violence in K-12 Public Schools
    Wednesday, November 24, 2021
      
            Transcript
INFOGRAPHIC:  U.S. Children by the Numbers
        Infographic
                      INFOGRAPHIC:  U.S. Children by the Numbers
            Thursday, November 09, 2017
Photo showing a line of yellow school buses on a fall day.
          Blog Post
              Back to School—Obstacles to Educating K-12 Students Persist
            Wednesday, August 16, 2023
      
            Declining test scores, widespread teacher shortages, and steadily increasing hostile behaviors like...
          Image showing mother and son learning remotely
          Blog Post
              The Three Rs of Pandemic Learning: Roadblocks, Resilience, and Resources
            Tuesday, June 14, 2022
      
            The COVID-19 pandemic upended school as we’ve known it. Across the country, school systems struggled...
          New Water Fountain Installed to Replace One that was Leaching Lead
          Blog Post
              Protecting Children from Lead Exposure in Schools and Child Care Facilities
            Tuesday, October 27, 2020
      
            Exposure to lead—like that found in contaminated water—can result in significant health problems...
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