WASHINGTON -- The high school completion rate for Blacks between the ages of 25 and 29 rose to nearly 87 percent last year, reaching about the same level as whites for the first time.

That education level for all adults 25 and older reached nearly 82 percent -- the highest since it was first measured by the bureau in 1947, a Census report said.

"This is a very profound change in one of the country's long-running, deep-seated problems -- the disparity between whites and Blacks in education," said Michael Casserly, director of the Council of the Great City Schools, which represents the nation's 50 largest urban school districts.

He said he is not surprised by the finding because his group has seen evidence of this trend at the local level. The gap has narrowed because schools, particularly in urban areas, have done more to keep students in school, have tailored programs for students who are faced with having to drop out and work, or leave school because of pregnancy.

"Finally, the effects are showing up in national statistics," Casserly said. The findings are based on data collected in the bureau's Current Population Survey in March 1995. Those questioned were asked to state the highest grade or degree they had completed. Education Secretary Richard Riley highlighted the findings of the census report in a study of youth indicators he released recently. "The long-term rise in educational attainment for the general adult population is driven principally by the replacement of older less-educated people by younger people who have completed substantially more education," the report said.

The percentage of adults aged 25 and older who said they had completed at least high school peaked not only for the entire population, but for both males and females and for Blacks and whites, the bureau said. The proportion of adults who had earned a bachelor's degree also was at a record high -- 23 percent last year.