More on the new GED®

Hello friends, News outlets have continued to report on issues related to the new GED®. Follow this link to read a pointed editorial published in Lancaster, PA http://lancasteronline.com/opinion/editorials/new-ged-is-failing-too-many/article_18565ec6-a685-11e4-8912-a3378a0b6734.html

Watch this Huffpost video story featuring three adult learners as well as a graduate student from the University of Chicago and Randy Trask, president and CEO of the GED Testing Service. This Huffpost segment features a discussion of "middle skills" jobs. In what ways is the point about middle skills jobs relevant to the adult learners you work with?

Please share other media stories on this topic and let us know your thoughts here.

Cheers, Susan

Moderator, Assessment CoP

 

 

Comments

This article does exactly what it is meant to do rouse fear using statistics which it states are "unofficial figures" from the Department of Education - "90% decline" in GED completion for 2014.  If I didn't work in the field of adult education and math, I might immediately wonder why we are using the Pearson GED since it is keeping people from obtaining their high school diploma.  But, I wonder if there was the same decline in completers when the test was changed in 1942, 1978, 1988, and 2002?  I looked for some information online but couldn't find any figures.  It would seem logical to conclude that there would have to be a step backwards before there could be steps forward.  I thought perhaps someone in the field who survived the changes from the 1988 version to the 2002 might give us some perspective.

Brooke

 

I'm adding this information late because of recent developments with HSE test choice in Colorado.

On Dec. 9th/10th the Colorado Board of Education heard public comment (3 minutes each) on the state of HSE testing.

One program leader from Denver said they had had 12 students complete the GED (trademark) in 2015 compared to 87 students in 2013 (before the new test). Another program leader reported test passing rates had dropped by over 50%. The State Board was visibly concerned. Later, the three HSE test providers spoke before the committee.

If the GED (trademark) was "tweaked" in 2014, it seems that it has not made much difference here.

The State Board of Education instructed the Colorado Department of Education's Office of Adult Education Initiatives to negotiate contracts with all three HSE test providers. One major concern the State Board had was security of student information. With the GED (trademark) test, that company owns the student information, not the State of Colorado. Has anyone else had that privacy concern raised in their state?

Dorothea Steinke

Thanks for sharing these recent development in Colorado, Dorothea. You raise an important question about security of student information. It would be helpful to hear from folks in other states about this issue.

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, Assessment CoP

Like many, our team was discouraged by the early scores of the GED tests. So, we  worked to revise how we teach GED over the past year. With a new structured curriculum in place, we are having much more success moving students through the GED obstacle course. And, in our opinion, the test itself has been changed: either the selection of the questions or how each question is scored. The Math GED is definitely different than it was last fall. Students who were testing in the high 140s are now testing in the high 150s or even 160s. This might be due to our brilliant teaching, but we suspect it has more to do with adjustments by GED Testing Service.

DougL

Doug, Rachel, Brooke and all, Thank you for your postings. We need to continue sharing our experiences with this new test.

Doug, would you be able to tell us how you are approaching instruction? In particular, how has your teaching changed?

Have others noticed that the questions on the test have changed over the course of the past year? How would you describe these changes?

Cheers, Susan

Moderator, Assessment CoP

As we approach instruction, I believe it is also important to consider which curriculum is selected for the classroom or distance learning instruction. If we are not teaching the correct content, then our students can not reach their GED goals. I am curious at what curriculum programs with high pass rates are using.  We are seeing tremendous success with i-Pathways users, and I noticed that Kentucky is also having high success rates.  

http://gedtestingservice.com/publishers/products/product-listing/

The pass rate on Math steadily improved from January 2014 through the end of the year. I just confirmed with our psychometrics/test development team that there were no unusual spikes or dips in the pass rate in 2014. The steady improvement in the pass rate is due to the hard work of ABE teachers, hard work by adult learners, and by the availability of PD resources like this document that identified the most frequently missed skills and concepts on the Math test (http://www.gedtestingservice.com/uploads/files/126de0283c94ff6323b3b5b3f310da5d.pdf). An updated, more in-depth version of this document is due out in the next month or two as well.

We also know than for most of 2014 almost 80% of adults who don't pass the Math test score somewhere in the 140-149 score range. That means that the vast majority of adult learners are well within striking distance of passing Math. And we know that teachers are having a measurable impact on improving the Math scores.

Hi Doug, we have also seen an increase in students test scores since last fall. In December, we had about 10 students complete their GED. As you noted, I think it takes adjustment on both parts. I think Pearson Vue is making adjustment as they become aware of the issues that hinder students from becoming successful in completing their GED. Once our students moved beyond the initial fear of taking the test because of the horror stories they had heard some from fearful educators, our GED completions have really increased.

Thanks for your response Cheyenne. It has been my understanding that the passing scores have been adjusted at least twice to ensure student's success. I think one of the many things the organization I am working with has tried and it is working was purchasing a GED program by Essential Education Corporation called GED Academy. This program gives the students a good concept as to the structure and type of questions they may face on the GED test. The students can work on the program outside of class. I do want to say we have tried other programs and have found this one works best with our population of students. Also, we have placed students on "block scheduling" for lower level students allowing them to concentrate on the one subject that is most difficult for them. Those students that are higher level are being prepared to take the GED test within 5 weeks. Of course if they are not academically ready in 5 weeks we continue to work with them. Additionally, most of the higher level students are dual enrolled in a credit program through a grant we received from the state, so they are also able to receive tutoring on the credit side.  

Brooke and all, 

I have worked in adult education long enough to remember the changes in 1988, 2002, and now. Each time, there were significant drops in test taking scores. We tend to push people past the test before a change and then it takes a while to bring new students up to the expected knowledge level. Math has always been the gateway to the HSE certificate. The pass rate patterns are similar in all tests as teachers become more familiar with the skills students need to learn in order to be prepared. I believe the pass rates will contine to improve in the new year. 

 

I have a few questions regarding twillis 1's post about having 10 students pass the GED in December.

What is the size and location of your program? What level were these students upon entry into your program? How long were the students in the program who are now passing the test?

Thank you.

Hello all, It would be great to hear from teachers who are seeing improvements in pass rates, Doug? Taria? Others? Could you share with us more about how your instruction has changed? Can you provide some details about where adult learners started in terms of their levels and how long they studied before passing the test?

Cheers, Susan

Moderator, Assessment CoP

Susan and others,

According to this article, http://wkms.org/post/kentucky-improves-ged-pass-rate-under-new-exam the GED pass rate in Kentucky in 2014 has increased, presumably over 2013. "While fewer students are actually taking the GED exam in Kentucky and other states, the state’s passing rate increased from 78 percent to 84 percent, said Reecie Stagnolia, vice president for Kentucky Adult Education."

The article suggests several reasons for this success.

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

 

 

Thanks for posting this article, David. It's good to hear that adult learners in Kentucky are making gains. The article mentioned Kentucky's collaboration with public television and their upgrading the GED® study materials to align with the demands of the new test, including the computerized format. According to the article, Kentucky also requires that test takers pass a practice test before taking the actual test. This seems like an especially good idea.

Are there adult educators from Kentucky who would like to elaborate on their experience? How about members from other states? Do you require students to pass a practice test before taking the actual test?

Cheers, Susan

Moderator, Assessment CoP

Colleagues,

This article from the Lexington Herald Leader suggests that Kentucky's GED® attainment rates from 2014 to 2015 have plummeted in one year by 77%. If so, why? It's probably not the increased cost of the test because in Kentucky the test fees are subsidized. It might be in part because the test is taken on a computer, but the attainment rate in KY Corrections, where presumably the GED® test is paper-based, has dropped by even more, according to this article by 83%. It's likely because the new 2014 series test is harder, and also possibly because more potential test-takers have been scared off by the increased difficulty. Kentucky's 26% decline in its adult education budget since 2008 might also have something to do with it.

Kentucky colleagues, while your state is not alone in its experiencing plummeting GED® 2014 series attainment rates, what is your analysis of why the attainment rates have dropped so precipitously?

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

We are using the Steck-Vaughn series of texts (Student books and Workbooks) as the basis for our structured classes. These texts were some of the first ones out last January and. other than Math, are quite useful. Math needs a lot of supplement because it does not have enough practice exercises.   We changed our strategy from Open Lab GED Instruction to instruction based on the four content areas. For example, in my class this semester (two sessions for four hours each), we work on the Reasoning Through Language Arts material in the first two hours and Mathematical Reasoning in the second two hours. I have also taught GED Science and GED Social Studies in the 2/2 sequence and have been successful. The reason I am doing the RLA and Math this semester is I asked the students to vote during the first week on which two content areas they wanted to work on this semester in this class. These two came out on top. I have sequential learning plans for Science and Social Studies in our online program (we use Blackboard), so students can also work on those subjects on their own.   The biggest change for us has been the structured classes rather than the open lab. The GED2014 requires so much content knowledge (the old GED was really just reading comprehension, other than math), that we felt that knowledge had to be presented in order for our students to be successful. So far we are about 80% success when students take the test. I would like to get back to our 95% success during the GED2002 days, but that will take some time.

Meryl, This is a good question. I'd love to hear how this is going across the states, regardless of which high school equivalency test is being used. Please post your experiences here, folks. What professional development has been most helpful to teachers? What are you seeing as a need?

Cheers, Susan

Doug, Thank you for providing these details about how your program has restructured based on the needs of students. It sounds like these were important changes that are starting to pay off. How are students placed into classes in your program? How are you serving lower level learners who have high school equivalency as a goal?. Have you made changes in these classes, too?

I'm wondering how other programs are addressing these new challenges. Please post your experiences and questions for Doug and others here.

Cheers, Susan

Hello, All. Been a long time since I posted because we have been so focused on addressing our GED students' needs due to its increased rigor. We left the traditional four subjects/session approach last summer and haven't looked back. Based on Dr Raymond Wlowkowski's work on accelerated courses, we taught a single subject for a month last summer (science) for ~ 60 hours and had 100% pass rate the next day--9/9 students passed. THis fall, we hit two 8-week sessions of 2.5 hrs/day, 4 days/wk of math and RLA and then switched the 2nd 8 weeks to science and SS--again, almost 100% pass rate across the board--80% 8/10 testers passed in math.Caveat: students had to be at an absolute minimum of 8.0 on TABE Reading with 9.0 preferred. 

I'm distressed and somewhat puzzled, frankly, that so many of my colleagues think that the GED is too hard; we think it reflects changes to HS grad requirements in our state/across the U.S. I'm wondering how much of the distress is due to pitiful state funding and a lack of required credentialing for adult educators vs. the difficulty of the test. Also, while I originally thought that requiring CBT across the board would hurt our students, virtually no one has walked away (no pun intended), and we bought the CBT 100 Teknimedia program for students whose comp skills are rusty or non-existent. Rather than 3 HSE choices, I'd rather see the feds and states use Work Keys as it was devised--as an intelligent alternative for students who are and want to illustrate their capabilities but not as academically inclined as the GED demands. We all have truck drivers and electricians and so-called self-made adults who never hit college but did succeed, and Work Keys could be their key if a highly-academic set of tests such as the GED isn't for them.

Colorado may soon be offering all three tests if Hi-Set and TASC can meet all the criteria, and we are a big local control/charter school state, so I support choice--as long as centers themselves have true choice and are not forced to teach and administer three different sets of HSE.

Good Morning!

Thank you for sharing information about your program. I wanted to ask some follow-up questions about your students. What was the attendance rate during the 8 week sessions that you had? What was/is your average class size? Lastly, what do you do with the students who don't obtain a minimum score of 8.0 on the TABE exam? 

I thank you in advance for taking the time to answer these questions. 

Sincerely,

Alfons I. Prince