Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine will co-lead a high school reform project for the National Governors Association.

Kaine and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, NGA vice chair, will head a project that looks for ways to improve high school graduation rates and programs that ensure graduates are ready for college and the work force.

“I’m particularly charged up about this high-school reform issue,” Kaine told reporters Monday in a teleconference.

He also spoke on his plans to begin instituting a universal pre-kindergarten program in 2008. The governor said he and the Start Strong Council are “laying the groundwork” to garner support for it.

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Kaine briefed fellow governors on various Virginia programs, such as the Commonwealth Scholars Program, which encourages students to take a more rigorous course load to get special recognition.

“The notion of taking a system based on minimum competencies and trying to accelerate and raising the bar ... that is important if they are going to graduate more students in Virginia that are ready for college,” said Dane Linn, director of education at NGA’s Center for Best Practices, in regards to Kaine’s educational programs.

Linn added that Virginia is one of 10 honor states given grants from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to implement ideas on redesigning high schools.

The high school reform project is part of a larger project of NGA Chair Janet Napolitano. The Arizona governor has a yearlong plan to improve states through education and innovation.

“The goal of my chair’s initiative is to educate our students to be innovators, and to carry that spirit of innovation through their university experience and into the work force.”

Napolitano, Pawlenty and Kaine will work to produce publications to provide ideas for governors to pursue in their own states and create policy, Linn said.

High school graduates

» 68.6 percent of high school graduates in 2005 were enrolled in colleges and universities

» 78.5 percent of graduates not enrolled in college had jobs

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, March 2006

cgoodman@dcexaminer.com