Source: New York Post

New York City’s Department of Education announced on June 29 that it miscalculated the 2005 on-time graduation rate, initially reporting a 53.2 percent rate when the actual figure was 58.2 percent.

Despite the error, Robert Tobias, who headed New York City’s assessment division for 13 years, said the corrected graduation rate marked a significant improvement.

“The 58.2 percent, if all the accounting and statistical calculating is consistent with previous methodology, and that’s a big if, it certainly represents a substantial increase and it certainly would be good news,” he told the New York Post in a June 30, 2006 story.

But he added, “There are so many other statistics being proffered by other agencies and organizations, it’s kind of like, what does one believe?”