High School Equivalency Exams and Professional Development

Colleagues who are interested in new 2014 high school equivalency exams:

1. A recent Workfore3One webinar, with its slide presentations, is now archived at:

http://www.workforce3one.org/view/5001311548292097035/info

Its focus is on the ETS HiSET(tm) and CTB/McGraw-Hill TASC(tm) exams.

To access the webinar you may first need to register at Workfoirce3One.

2. There is a rich discussion about the GED® 2014 exam, and professional development for it, in the Adult Literacy Network Linked-In Group: Here are just a few of the recent posts that may be of interest:

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David Rosen:

Preparing _teachers_ for the GED®2014 is _very_ important. Here are some of the issues as I see them:
1) Preparation may be needed for many teachers to teach math thinking/reasoning, including reasoning in algebra. Some GED programs may not have teachers that are qualified to teach mathematics at this level. Presumably their teachers will need to do intensive preparation beginning now, or the programs will need to hire qualified math teachers.
2) Preparation for teaching social studies background knowledge content
3) Preparation for teaching science background knowledge content
4) Preparation for teaching keyboard skills. Most programs will need to offer students opportunities to learn typing/keyboarding -- I suggest a minimum of 40 WPM. It may be that some programs can provide this with online typing programs, or a blended model of face-to-face typing lessons in a computer lab and online practice.
5) Teachers need to be fluent themselves in using the computer-based GED(r) test items
6) Strategies for explaining to (and persuading) adult learners who say they want the GED to make an economic difference in their lives that they need to pass at the higher CCR cutoff level so they are prepared for post-secondary education, and that for most they will need to prepare longer (much longer?) before they take the GED if they want to achieve a pass at this level.

Everyone: have I missed anything important? Do you disagree with any of the ways I believe teachers need to be prepared to help their students pass the new, higher CCR level of the GED?

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Kathy Olesen Tracey:

Great comments :-) i-Pathways provides comprehensive PD support to all of our users (program administrators, state leaders, instructors, and support staff). It is a wonderful value added component of partnership. We have a variety of PD opportunities coming up throughout June / July - exploring each content area in depth and looking at specific strategies to implement engaging instruction, building background knowledge, and increasing technology skill.

David - I agree with you that teachers will need to build their background knowledge in all of the content areas. But I also think we need to continue teaching critical reading skills.

Has anyone seen the documentary Out of Print? It follows a long trend of research that started around 2002 from the National Endowment of the Arts - To Read or Not To Read - that discusses the steady decrease in reading.

So, I think there are three distinct areas to consider. They include increasing the content knowledge, improving the technology skills and comfort level, and working to prepare students for the requirements of reading complex text.

Jon Engel:

In regard to David Rosen's comment regarding strategies for persuading learners to pass the new GED at the higher CCR level to demonstrate readiness for post-secondary education, the latest i have heard is that GEDTS is doing away with the two passing cut score model it previously described. Rather it will have one high school equivalency cut-off score and provide test takers with significant diagnostic information regarding what their test scores indicates about what they might need to focus on to be prepared for college. At least this is what I understood Martin Kehe from GEDTS to say at his presentation at the COABE conference in New Orleans this Spring.

Kathy Olesen-Tracey:

Here is a link to the documentary I was talking about: http://outofprintthemovie.com/ I think it is too new to be on netflix - but here are troubling quotes from students:
"Out of Print” interviews young people who are unable or unwilling to read long sections of text.

“A book is something I’m being forced to read, so I spend my time thinking about how I’d rather be sleeping,” says one teenage boy in the film.

Another teenager describes the bewildering experience of visiting a library to conduct research. Although he may be hamming it up for his fellow interviewees, he describes it as “probably one of the hardest experiences of my life. There were so many books, each book specific to one thing. It’s not like you could find one book with everything that you needed in it. I was like, ‘this is terrible. I just want to Google it.’”

David Rosen:

Thanks, Jon, for the heads up on this. I emailed Martin Kehe to make sure that this was the correct interpretation. He replied immediately and gave me permission to post his reply in this forum:

"Well, this is mostly a correct interpretation, but let me provide some clarification. We are not "doing away with" a CCR performance standard. Rather, we are starting out with the high school equivalency standard and providing performance feedback on the CCR skills and competencies. We will be conducting longitudinal research to determine empirically the actual score level on the 2014 test associated with success in career and college. Once we have the data we will establish an official CCR cut. Our original approach was going to be to set a "provisional" CCR cut score. However, this approach would have resulted in likely adjustments over the next couple of years in that CCR cut, since empirical data on performance is really needed in order to associate any stakes with the CCR cut. Therefore, we decided last year to delay setting the CCR cut as a specific score, while still providing a wealth of feedback to test-takers on the acquisition of the skills and competencies associated with CCR.
I hope this clarification is helpful."

So, here's my take:
1. No GED(r) CCR cutoff score to start with in 2014,
2. Provision of performance feedback to test-takers, and
3.  Eventually the GED(r) will use empirical data to set a CCR cut.

The issues involved in preparing students well who are taking the GED(r) in order to get into and succeed in college, of course, are the same, but the test cutoff score that might (reliably) tell test-takers and others if they are ready for college level courses will be delayed. I think that it makes sense to base that cutoff score on actual college performance data, which is what I interpret collecting empirical data to mean.

It will be interesting to see how the GEDTS empirical data, their eventual CCR cutoff score, and possibly a college placement test that they could develop, all square with the existing college placement tests (Accuplacer, Compass and others) which I understand don't predict college readiness well for the large majority of test-takers who score in the middle. Wouldn't it make sense if the same test that measured CCR (especially the first C) was also used to measure readiness for college level courses, and if it could accurately predict success in credit-bearing college courses?

David J. Rosen
djrosen123@gmail.com

Jon Engel:

Now that the conversation has stepped into the notion of the new GED test and its still to come CCR cutoff score possibly being a proxy, or even a replacement for the various college placement tests for students without SAT or ACT test scores (I think), I thought I would share what is going on in Texas regarding the college placement test. In 2011 the Texas Legislature passed a bill relating to the college placement test. It was a good bill in my estimation that did two things. One, it directed the Texas Higher Education Board to develop one college placement test that all colleges in the State would have to adopt. Two, it prohibited individual colleges from setting their own cut off scores. The current practice had resulted in different colleges using different tests (Accuplacer, Compass). Not only that, colleges around the State could set their own cut off scores. A practice that was widely adiopted such that individual colleges were setting college credit placement scores higher than the publisher's recommended standard. This practice contributed to the explosion in Dev Ed. enrollment in this state which was already out of contraol. Starting this August, all Texas colleges will adopt the Texas Success Initiative or TSI as the new college placement assessment and they will all use common college credit placement scores. Every once in a while the policymakers get one right! So in texas, it will be very interesting to see how the CCR standards that GEDTS arrives at through its empirical data research will correlate to the college credit placement tests on the TSI. Jon

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