education audit.

The $45,000 report, prepared by a team led by associate professor of educational administration at Iowa State University William Poston, is expected to completed by next year.

Chief Education Officer Joseph Christopher last week confirmed that the department had the draft and needed to comment on its "factual'' contents before sending it back to Mr. Poston.

He declined to comment any further about the report.

But earlier this year Mr. Poston said the audit was to be a "quality improvement review'' which focused on five areas of the school system: Its ability to control resources, programmes, and personnel; Its objectives for students or curriculum direction; Its "internal connectivity and rational equity'' in its programme development and implementation; Its assessment of practices and programmes and feedback; and Its productivity.

Mr. Poston, who has audited school systems with student populations ranging from 400 to 200,000, pointed out that auditing a school system during its transition could help education officials know if they were moving in the right direction.