The authors survey the economic education programs and resources produced and supported by the Federal Reserve System: from K-16 professional development opportunities for teachers and professors, to free lesson plans, videos, online learning modules, and readings ready for the classroom. They provide the history, goals, context, and reach of the…

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is one of the United States' leading federal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) agencies and plays an important role in the landscape of STEM education. In 2015, NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) created the Science Activation (SciAct) program to increase the…

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program was established in 2007 and forgives borrowers' remaining federal student loan balances after they have made at least 10 years of qualifying loan payments while working in public service. Starting in September 2017, the first borrowers potentially became eligible for the PSLF program and began…

Starting in September 2017, the first borrowers became eligible and began applying to have their loans forgiven through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review the PSLF program. This report examines the (1) number of borrowers pursuing PSLF and the extent to which the…

The federal government spends an estimated $273 million annually on financial literacy1 and education programs and activities across 23 federal agencies and entities. These programs are designed to educate Americans about a wide array of financial literacy and education topics. However, in 2012, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a…

Despite the use of earned value management (EVM) techniques to track development progress, federal information (IT) software programs continue to fail by not meeting identified business requirements. The purpose of this logistic regression study was to examine, using IT software data from federal agencies from 2011 to 2014, whether a relationship…

The role of compliance assistance in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's overall enforcement strategy has been quite variable over the past decade and a half, increasing in prominence under the Bush administration and now slated for significantly reduced funding under the Obama administration. While theoretical models and anecdotal evidence…

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) developed the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative in consultation with federal partners and Congress. It is a research-focused initiative designed to increase the safety of schools nationwide through the development of knowledge regarding the most effective and sustainable school safety interventions and…

The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program (MGD Program) provides donations of U.S. agricultural products and financial and technical assistance for school feeding programs in the developing world. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), with about $200 million in funding in fiscal year 2010, the…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education programs help to enhance the nation's global competitiveness. Many federal agencies have been involved in administering these programs. Concerns have been raised about the overall effectiveness and efficiency of STEM education programs. GAO examined (1) the number of federal…

A wide array of federal funding opportunities exists to help states build a secure infrastructure to support data use and ensure that students are prepared for college and careers. Because the reporting requirements for these programs are frequently developed without input from other programs and agencies, grantees are required to report data that…

This testimony discusses the findings from our recent work on fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication in federally funded programs that support teacher quality. We recently issued a report addressing fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication in federal programs that outlined opportunities to reduce potential duplication across a…

Innovation inducement prizes have been used for centuries. In the United States, a recent federal policy change--the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010--clarified and simplified a path by which all federal agencies can offer innovation inducement prizes, thus intensifying interest in how government agencies can most effectively design…

Many federal programs--within the Departments of Education, Labor, and Veterans Affairs; the Social Security Administration; and other agencies--help people with disabilities overcome barriers to employment. Section 21 of Pub. L. No. 111-139 requires GAO to identify and report annually on programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives that have…

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the impact of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) grant programs of 5 federal agencies National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Department of Education (USDE), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and…