How are adult learners doing on the new GED?

Submitted by David Rosen on Mon, 09/15/2014 - 19:50
  • 9215 Views
  • 11 Comments

GED Prep Colleagues,

From the Ed Surge e-newsletter, 9/11/2014:

The new GED, launched this past January as a for-profit partnership between Pearson and nonprofit American Council on Education, is creating some uneasy waves in the testing world. Politico reports that while the old GED's pass rate hovered around 72%, the new exam is aligned to Common Core and is deemed much harder. Not surprisingly, it's averaging a 53% pass rate (out of 105,000 students who have taken it through the end of July). But CT Turner, senior director of state accounts for the GED Testing Service, is optimistic: about 80% of people who fail the new math section "are just two to three right answers away from passing," Turner said.

If you are a GED teacher or GED program administrator, how do these pass rates fit with your experience?

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

 

Comments

I'm a GED instructor.  So far my student pass rates are probably about 50%.  However, most of my students are "afraid" to take the exam. 

I am a teacher in Iowa and we have adopted the HiSet.  Has anyone seen any articles/information on HiSet pass rates this year?  It will be interesting to compare this to the GED 2014 and previous GED.

Although I have not yet come across pass rate data from states, it would be interesting to hear from those in states who administer the Hi-Set.  Based on an article I saw from April,the following states have adopted the Hi-Set:

CA*     IA     LA     ME     MA     MO     MT     NV*     NH     NJ*     TN*     WY*

*  multiple tests approved

And the following states are procuring the assessment:  FL and WA.

I'm sure that more states have approved the assessment since April.  I hope list members will share data with this group as it becomes available.

Gail Cope, SME, LINCS Program Management Group

I'm in New Jersey and we have all 3 tests: GED, TASC, and HI-SEt. Our students take mostly TASC or go to the next county for Hi-SET. So far, passing rates are very high on both, but very few students are going because as another teacher said, they are very afraid. 

Below is information I came across on the ETS website.  It would be interesting to see the pass rates for adult education students in comparison with the "60 percent of graduating high school juniors and seniors" that would pass the Hi-SET exam.  Has anyone come across this data and comparisons?

Minimum Scaled Scores for the HiSET® Exam

ETS has set a minimum scaled score of 8 in each of the five subtests and a combined scaled score of 45 to pass the HiSET® exam. The HiSET "pass" cut score indicates that 60 percent of graduating high school juniors and seniors would pass the HiSET exam and is comparable to the level that has been used historically. This information is based on a national probability sample of high school juniors and seniors. The HiSET minimum scaled scores are empirically based.

The HiSET exam also has a College and Career Readiness (CCR) score. The CCR score is the point at which test takers maximize their success in credit-bearing college level coursework. Test takers would need to achieve a 15 in each subtest to demonstrate college and career readiness.

(Source:  http://hiset.ets.org/states_educators/scores/minimum_scaled_scores/)

Gail Cope, SME, LINCS Program Management Group

Has anyone been keeping tract of the predictability of the HiSET practice tests?  I am particularly interested in the somewhat prepared and adequately prepared results.  Four of my students have attempted the test.  Two passed and two failed two of the five subtests tests.  Ironically one of the students who failed math and science received his highest scores on these two subtests.

These stats came in a learning webinar about the most missed areas. From January to August in Florida. No surprise on the lower score in math- but was shocked at high in RLA. Anne Morgan

188 testing centers

•55,476 GED® test modules delivered

•28,158 GED Ready™ tests delivered

•14,389 Test-takers; 8,837 Test-completers

•4,652 Graduates

 

Module

Passing Percentage

Average Passing Score

Average non-Passing Score

RLA

75%

159

144

Social Studies

66%

158

143

Science

71%

158

144

Math

51%

156

143

 

Hi David, I took an informal survey of GED teachers in my local program and got mixed results. One said he was pleased that all of his students have passed so far. Others say they are very disappointed with the passing rate. Although the practice test indicated students would pass, they did not do so on the actual test.

Cheers, Susan

Moderator, Assessment CoP

I am not sure this will help anyone or not but ....

For all of you instructors out there I want to recommend to your students of what helped me learn the new math material because I took the Math portion today of the GED and passed with honors. Keep in mind I have been out of school for 21 years! 

I used:

Books: REA/ Total Solution for the GED Test and McGraw Hill's Preparation for the GED Test

Websites used :  Youtube keyword search Greene Math (EXCELLENT TEACHING SKILLS) and Khan Academy  (Both Free and can be done at home)

I took the GED ready tests to find what areas I needed to work on and that is what led me to the study materials that I used.