HOUSE OVERSIGHT 028642 "Datapalooza." Here's the reference: "New college ratings will help students compare the value offered by different colleges," the fact sheet said. "The Department of Education will enlist entrepreneurs and technology leaders with a 'Datapalooza' to catalyze new private- sector tools, services, and apps to help students evaluate and select colleges. The effort will be complemented by earnings information by college that will be released for the first time on [the] administration's College Scorecard this fall." What is a datapalooza? Apparently, it is a festival of, or related to, data. The White House and the Education Department hosted such an event Oct. 9. Students and parents are arguably awash in data now, much of it conflicting and confusing. Some would say more is better. Few would argue that better data would be best of all for the consumer. The yen for better data is shared not just by Obama but also by some colleges. Start with graduation rates. Now, the federal government measures how many students graduate within four years or six years of starting college. But it only measures that for students who are first-timers, who are enrolled full-time and who don't transfer from one institution to another, omitting a huge share of the college population. Millions of students are part-timers. Community colleges with excellent records of getting students into prestigious four-year schools are not rewarded for their efforts if those students fail to pick up an associate's degree before they transfer. Nor are four-year colleges that give transfer students or former dropouts a second chance and help them get a bachelor's degree. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, which represents schools such as the University of Maryland, is spearheading an effort to improve this flawed metric, using not only federal data but also information from the nonprofit National Student Clearinghouse to track degree completion for s