His father is the executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers in Washington.

"You've got to be pleased," said Gordon Ambach, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers.

According to the Council of Chief State School Officers, as of August 1995, 46 states had at least one annual report on school performance.

The Council of Chief State School Officers now endorses this approach - a welcome sign of maturation.

"I'd stress that it's higher than it was before," said Wayne Martin, director of the state assessment center for the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Gordon Ambach, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, said the report lacked a detailed explanations of what the standards meant.

Mrs. Neary, 26, is the communications associate at the Council of Chief State School Officers, a nonprofit organization in Washington.

Jack MacDonald, an official with the Council of Chief State School Officers, says he expects most states will apply for waivers.

A survey by the Council of Chief State School Officers, mostly superintendents, found that in 2002, at least some schools in most states opened by late August.

The Council of Chief State School Officers applauded the panel's findings.