Column One: Research

What is the "top performing'' school district in the nation?

According to a recent issue of Expansion Management magazine, a Boulder, Colo.-based publication for corporate-relocation experts, the answer is the Evanston, Ill., public schools.

The suburban Chicago district came out on top in the magazine's third annual calculation of its "education quotient'' for 500 districts nationwide. The formula takes into account seven factors: a district's high-school-graduation rate, college-entrance-examination scores, minimum and average teacher salaries, per-pupil spending on instruction, teacher-student ratios, community education level,...