The Education Week report "Quality Counts" gave Utah an overall grade of C-minus. The national average was a C. Mainly, the report criticized Utah's early-childhood education, college readiness and per-pupil spending. However, the report also ranked Utah first in the nation for high school graduation rates.

"The report reinforces in some ways what parents already know," State Schools Superintendent Patti Harrington said. "Shining flashlights in areas that are dark and troubled is a good practice. These reports help us to understand how we're viewed by a third party."

The report ranked and graded states based on six major areas: chance for success; K-12 achievement; standards, assessments and accountability; transitions and alignment; teaching profession; and school finance.

Vicki Varela, a member of Citizens for Education Excellence, said she is not surprised the state earned a D and a ranking of 48th in the nation for school finance. Her group is made up of business and community leaders, including former Gov. Olene Walker and Zions First National Bank President Scott Anderson.

"When finance is part of the measure, our grades are always low because we have so many students and the dollars are stretched so thin," Varela said.

The report also gave Utah an F and ranked it 49th in the nation for issues relating to early-childhood education, postsecondary education, and economy and work force. The report dinged Utah for not having certain definitions and programs in place and not having strong enough connection between high school requirements and colleges or work-force demands.

Harrington said her office can help put certain definitions in place if needed. The state also already is working to improve the results in some of those areas. For example, it recently aligned early-learning standards with K-12 standards and just produced a career pathways book to help students better understand the transition from high school to careers. An alliance of state leaders is tinkering with ways to better connect assessments to college preparation, she said.

Though the report gave Utah low marks overall, it also highlighted a few bright spots. Utah outperforms most states when it comes to giving children the best chance for lifelong success, thanks to healthy parental education and employment levels and heavy kindergarten enrollment, among other things. The report also put Utah's high school graduation rate at 83.8 percent, compared with 69.9 percent nationally.

Harrington said that percentage largely has to do with how the report calculated graduation rates. She said there's still need for improvement, especially in graduation rates for Latino students, which fall between 50 percent and 60 percent. The Utah Office of Education plans to release its own graduation-rate figures for 2007 later this year.

Indian Hills Elementary School parent Erin Brunt said she loves her child's school but understands why Utah earned some of the low marks it did.

"I know a lot of other schools are overcrowded and understaffed," she said. The report gave Utah schools a C-minus for efforts to improve teaching, noting issues of teacher pay, incentives for teachers and teacher-student ratios.

According to the report, Utah teachers make an average of 86.7 cents for every dollar earned in 16 comparable occupations, ranking Utah 36th in the nation.

lschencker@sltrib.com