How Accurate Is School Data?

A recent audit was conducted by the US Department of Education Office of Inspector General to determine whether the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) and Clayton County School System submitted accurate education data to the US DOE. In addition, the audit evaluated GaDOE's use of program reviews as a monitoring tool for local school systems.

The audit found that neither Clayton County Schools nor GaDOE established adequate systems of internal control to ensure accurate, reliable and complete data. Inaccurate and unsupported data included dropouts, graduates, and discipline incidents.

The audit reviewed a list of 508 Clayton County students identified as dropouts and no-shows for the 2006-2007 school year. The audit identified 102 dropouts who were not reported by the GaDOE to the US DOE. Clayton County reported three of these students as dropouts to the GaDOE; however, they did not appear on the GaDOE report to the US DOE. The remaining 99 students were all no-shows (students who start the enrollment process but subsequently don't attend school). The students were recorded by Clayton County Schools as "Transfers" without support for this designation. The proper coding should have been "Unknown", which is catagorized as a dropout. The result of these coding errors was that both Clayton County and the Ga DOE's dropout rate was understated.

Out of 39 discipline incidents reviewed, 14 did not include sufficient support from Clayton County Schools for the classification. Seven incidents had documentation; however, were coded and reported incorrectly to GaDOE. Eighteen incidents were reported correctly.

The audit details specific recommendations for both Clayton County Schools and the GaDOE. Click here to review the full report. It can a useful tool to help local systems review their internal controls regarding data collection and accuracy.