Originally published 7/23/2008 by the Associated Press, seen locally in the Pensacola News Journal and the Miami Herald.
A new study commends - and criticizes - a method Florida has been using to claim it has a better high school graduation rate than shown by national statistics, which rank the state near the bottom.
The LeRoy Collins Institute, a think tank at Florida State University, sponsored the study that concluded Florida is too secretive about its method and the data it uses.
Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith disputed the report's criticism.
The report praises Florida's tracking of individual students in contrast to statistical formulas used in the national comparisons. Virginia is the only other state that uses individual tracking, a method the report calls "the gold standard."
Florida's method, though, has consistently resulted in much higher graduation rates than the national studies.