Published: January 15, 1997

States Struggle To Ensure Data Make the Grade

To many New Jersey residents, the news might seem reason to celebrate.

A report from the National Education Goals Panel last November showed the state's high school completion rate had increased from 90 percent in 1990 to 92 percent in 1994--an apparent glimmer of hope picked up by some New Jersey newspapers.

But the news left Philip Burch, a research professor at Rutgers University in New...