In 2005, driven by reports that wildly misleading graduation rates published by most states were obscuring a national dropout crisis, the National Governor's Association, chaired by our very own thenGov. Mark Warner, adopted a uniform, four-year graduation rate formula. The NGA formula counts only high school diploma earners as graduates. Yet in Virginia, students can earn one of seven different credentials: five different types of diploma, a GED, or a Certificate of Program Completion.