“You can’t build a reputation,†Henry Ford once said, “on what you are going to do.†And when it comes to raising graduation standards, Virginia is building quite a reputation.
Tomorrow (at an absolutely ungodly hour), I am headed off to the Southern Regional Education Board’s Legislative Conference. This nonprofit, nonpartisan organization works with leaders and policy-makers in 16 Southern states to improve education.
One of the key topics at the conference will be the results of the accountability movement of the 1990s. Virginia, like many other states, raised standards for what students graduating from high school needed to know and be able to do.
In the beginning, states talked tough. They raised graduation requirements. They instituted state tests that students had to pass to graduate.
But when the time came for those new standards to kick in, many states backed off. They lowered their expectations for students. Or they watched their graduation rates slide.
Except Virginia. Here, despite rigorous new standards (every high school graduate now has to complete math through at least Algebra I, for example), graduation rates have actually increased slightly.
How did we do that? Much of the credit goes to local schools and teachers. They have worked very hard to prepare all students.
But the state has done its share. Gov. Warner’s Project Graduation is cited by SREB as one of the national model programs. Funded by the General Assembly to the tune of more than $8 million a year, this initiative allows schools to identify students who are at risk of not graduating. Then they are enrolled in special academies that may meet before or after school, during the summer, or on Saturdays.
As a result, Virginia’s graduation rate has held steady. In 1997, before any of the rigorous standards were imposed, 94.5 percent of high school seniors graduated. Today, 94.7 percent of seniors graduate—and they do it after taking tougher math, English, and other academic courses.
 This is a success story that all Virginians can be proud of. Over the years, the State Board of Education under both Republican and Democratic governors has held to a clear vision. Today, people from all across the country are taking notice.