The study noted deficiencies ranging from a pattern of agency employees not returning telephone calls to a perception that the department views local schools as an enemy rather than an ally.

"There are a lot of criticisms and a lot of opportunities," department spokeswoman LeeAnne Rogers said yesterday of the study released last week.

"There are certainly wonderful staff here dedicated to education and children," she said. "This is kind of a call to action and wake-up call, that, hey, we need to better coordinate our work, answer phones, talk to our customers."

State Superintendent Susan Tave Zelman ordered the study soon after taking office in March. The study, conducted by Dayton-based management consulting company KPMG, cost $380,000.

The report portrays the agency, with 550 employees and an annual budget of $121 million, as in-efficient and overly bureaucratic. It has too many meetings, doesn’t pay attention to its work force and has no way of figuring out if its programs are working, the study says.

It notes there are “significant questions” about whether the department is ready to help districts once statewide performance standards kick in next year. Districts meeting fewer than 10 of 18 minimum standards will be put on academic watch or academic emergency.

The agency is already implementing changes, including a centralized telephone center and a requirement that employees who take a call stay with it until the caller gets the necessary information, Rogers said.

The department is also instituting a central system for storing data and improving its human resources department Zelman is meeting with educational leaders around the state to build support, Rogers said.

Getting the department to answer questions has always been a frustration, said Randy Boroff, principal at Beachwood High School and a member of a panel that selected KPMG for the study.

“The answer you get depends on who you speak to,” he said yesterday. “What happens is you did what you needed to do, and if you found out it was the wrong decision, you corrected it. It was easier to do it that way than get an answer first.”