Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell joined U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Friday morning for a brief chat on ways to better provide educational access to youngsters.
The Obama adminstration is currently working to overhaul the No Child Left Behind Act, a standards-based system that judges schools based on testing, and a law which Duncan called “far too punitive.”
“There are many, many ways to fail, but basically no [reward] for success,” Duncan said on WRVA Richmond.
McDonnell noted that under former Gov. George Allen, the state put in standards of learning “that have now been validated and that the teachers have embraced.”
“While we were ahead of the curve 13, 14 years ago, we’re still looking at ways to improve our standards,” he said.
McDonnell also mentioned ideas like charter schools, merit pay and longer school years as options being considered to provide better access to quality education for kids.
Meanwhile, education groups have been putting heat on McDonnell to restore funding cuts for K-12 education. The state’s per-pupil funding for schools has decreased 14 percent since 2009, according to the Virginia Education Association.
