They insist all schools can't be held to these standards, clearly inferring that poor and minority students cannot reach this level of rigor, and refuse to make the changes that make academic achievement the number one school focus. Yet 12 years is all school children have. If it isn't enough, then we've lost another generation of children. That's the system that is being used until 2007. But this would make state accreditation as meaningless as it has been until now.
Deadlines are necessary incentives to changing the status quo.
However, with the right commitment, in eight years Virginia will lead the pack in education. Virginia high school graduates will be literate, functioning at 12 th grade level, won't need remedial college courses and will be given preferential treatment by college admissions directors and hiring offices in businesses nationwide. Virginia will have shown the other 49 states that she had the foresight and the fortitude to set higher standards and achieve them. For many people, the achievement of these results is the ultimate goal of Virginia education, the end of the journey. I believe our ultimate goal should be to establish not merely the best school system in the United States, but the best school system possible.