Archived Information

Demonstrating Results, An Introduction to Government Performance and Results Act, Spring 1999

Conclusion

The Government Performance and Results Act has created a "bottom line" for federal programs by requiring a performance report to be submitted annually. This report should become the basis for an on-going dialogue with Congress concerning the impact of the higher education programs on American education. Further, the report, which will reflect the Department of Education's perspective on performance-related matters such as funding, mitigating external factors, and suggested legislative changes, will be the most definitive exposition of agency performance available, and will thereby affect the agenda for authorization and appropriations hearings, as well as the informal consultations with Congress and its staff.

Performance monitoring and reporting, when fully implemented, will significantly enhance the knowledge of members of Congress on issues pertinent to higher education. In such an environment, the dialogue should shift dramatically from one in which the expenditure of additional funds is requested because of the need of a particular constituent group to one in which a continued or an enhanced investment is justified by the effect programs have on targeted populations and on American education. Such a change in approach will reflect a substantial transformation in the management and impact of HEP programs.

In bringing the improved new methods of program accountability to the federal government, the Results Act represents the latest in a long series of efforts to manage federal programs to improve their performance and results. Given the dramatic challenges facing public governance as we enter the 21st Century, GPRA offers those committed to the ideal of public accountability for the expenditure of public funds an unprecedented opportunity to link high-minded program goals with a clearer idea of the resources needed and a means of assigning responsibility for the delivery of those goals. By any measure, this will be a significant step forward.

The HEP grantees are essential partners with the program staff in responding to the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act. It is only by working in collaboration that we can fully achieve the aims of the Congress and the President in establishing and funding the various higher education programs, and demonstrate that we are doing so.

This brief booklet is the basis for a dialogue between the office of Higher Education Programs, its staff and the grantees of its programs. It is part of an effort to determine what we will do, how we will do it, and what we will accomplish. As partners, we can improve the quality and extent of the higher education received by students throughout America.

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[Role of the Grantee]

[Glossary]