Any discussion of student performance in the United States is controversial because there are no comprehensive performance measures that provide comparable state-by-state data, but the College Board recommends that several different measures be assessed together to get a general idea of progress.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has analyzed some commonly used indicators of student performance in the 1993-94 school year: SAT and ACT scores for college-bound students, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for eighth-grade mathematics and fourth-grade reading and high school graduation rates. Among the findings:

• Five states - Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Utah and Wisconsin - rank among the top 10 in every measure of student performance surveyed.

• Five other states - Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming - are close behind the leaders.

• No other state consistently ranks at or near the top of all these measures of student performance.

None of the top 10 states in educational performance was among the top 10 in per-pupil spending in 1993-94. Utah spent the least per pupil on education of any state.

Teacher salaries nationally increased a modest 0.1 percent in 1993-94 over 1992-93, from an average of $35,934 to $35,958, while total spending on education (excluding capital expenses and debt service) increased 1.2 percent. Salary gains by teachers over the past 20 years have been dwarfed by the increases in other education spending during that period.

• Average teacher salaries increased 3.5 percent between 1972-73 and 1993-94, after adjusting for inflation.

• Education spending for everything except teacher salaries increased more than 80 percent during that time.

Meanwhile, student enrollment during the same period declined 5.2 percent.

• Only 16 states had higher student populations in 1993-94 than in 1972-73.

• In 12 states, the enrollment has declined more than 20 percent since 1972-73.

Source: "Report Card on American Education, 1994: A State-by-State Analysis," American Legislative Exchange Council, 910 17th Street, NW, Fifth Floor, Washington, DC 20006, (202) 466-3800.