Federal File

Goals 2000 has effectively helped some states achieve reforms they would not have made otherwise, according to a report that gives the 4-year-old program a boost before it faces critics in Congress next year.

The program, the centerpiece of President Clinton's first-term K-12 agenda, is intended to help states pay for a variety of K-12 reform efforts. It received high marks from state and local administrators cited in the report released late last month by...