It’s Time For Another Adult Education/GED Test News Roundup!
House Bill 195 was sent to Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin this week, which would replace the GED test with another high school equivalency diploma in the state. It is unclear at this time what the ramifications will be, but this news is very interesting because Kentucky is typically considered to have outstanding education programs.
Although Kentucky has seen a major dip in the number of students taking the test since the 2014 version was released, the student pass rate has consistently been one of the highest in the country! Test takers in Kentucky are required to pass a practice test first before they can take the real test, and I think this policy is highly effective (source)! I’ve been a huge advocate for the effectiveness of using practice testing and practice problems in preparation since day one.
Despite the high pass rates, the decreasing number of test takers is certainly alarming. Kentucky is also expected to face major budget cuts (it’s hard to find a place that’s not nowadays…) in the coming years (source).
Here’s an interesting screen shot from the latest version of the bill:
And here’s another:
Note how the text relating directly to the GED test is crossed out! I will be following the outcome here closely…
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| Photo By Daniel Schwen (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
The article title is misleading in that the inmates actually passed the HiSET exam, which is an entirely different high school equivalency test.
However, we’ll let this slide in honor of the inmates’ accomplishments and the Williamson County Jail’s continued success with their education program.
Over 200 inmates in this prison system have passed a high school equivalency test during the past 9 years; 32 have passed already in 2017.
As I’ve mentioned before, studies have shown that offering educational opportunities in the prison systems can reduce the rate of inmates reoffending after release.
My take on this is that one of the most significant benefits to getting a high school equivalency diploma is the personal growth that often takes place during the process of setting and reaching a positive goal.
When people first discover they’re able to set and reach worthy goals like passing a challenging test, many then go on to set and reach more positive goals afterwards. This isn’t just true about education in the prison systems, but also for successful adult education students in general.
3. Adults stranded without a credential: the high school equivalency emergency, NY State
Those of you who have be reading my roundups over the last few weeks know I’ve been following the situation in New York State closely, but with optimism. However, this article by Thomas Hillard paints a much more dire picture of the situation. The question is, does Hillard’s view match reality?
Let’s review some facts:
- New York State elected to switch from the GED test as the primary NY State High School Equivalency Diploma to the Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC™) back in 2014
- New York State workers without a high school diploma or high school equivalency degree are more than twice as likely to be unemployed in comparison to the average worker.
- Approximately one out of every 3 individuals in this category are living below the poverty line.
- The percentage taking and passing high school equivalency exams in New York State has dropped from 25,139 to 14,369 over the past 5 years
Most are quick to blame the TASC as the cause of the falling pass rate. However, we must also take the high school graduate rate in NY state into consideration. The data below shows only slight fluctuations in the graduation rate from 2010 to 2013, when the rate hovered around 77%:
Then note what happened starting in 2014, the same year when the TASC was introduced. According to the data, the the graduation rate began steadily rising in 2014 (with the exception of a slight fluctuation in 2015), and has now reached a record high!
79.2%, 2014 – 2015
78.1%, 2015 – 2016
79.2%, 2014 – 2015
78.1%, 2015 – 2016
79.4%, 2016 – 2017
Here are my sources for these numbers:
ABC7 – NYC graduate rate climbs to record level
| In my opinion, at least part of the drop in the number of students taking and passing high school equivalency exams in NY state comes as a result of more students staying in school rather than dropping out. Also, I bet the perception that the TASC is harder to pass is an incentive for many who would otherwise leave high school to stick it out. We can see that there are some possible explanations for why the high school equivalency exam pass rate has declined, but all things considered, YES, I do agree with Hillard that adult education in NY state is in (and has been in) a crises. Here’s what Hillard says about the TASC program in NY state: “The TASC program is leaking students like a punctured tire. The city and the state must find ways to seal the leak and replenish the ranks of those seeking a high school equivalency.” I’ve argued before that the switch to the TASC exam was the wrong move for NY. In NY, the government covers the cost of high school equivalency tests. While this may sound like a great thing, when you take the low pass rates into consideration, it becomes clear that a lot of money is being thrown down the drain. Gov. Cuomo, if you’re reading this, here’s what I think needs to happen to turn this around: A. Increase Funding There is simply not enough funding being dedicated to adult education in NY! The data in the graph below shows that the Employment Preparation Education (EPE) program–the main source of funding for adult education in NY–has not increased funding since 1995. Prices have gone up across the board everywhere in New York since 1995 due to inflation, and yet the proper adjustments were never made for the funding. The chart below only gives the data up until 2015, but according to Hillard, it has not changed (source)! |
Think about it:
Many adult NY resident who left high school prior to 2014, and are now looking to get a high school equivalency diploma probably still think the GED test is the gold standard in NY, even though it’s not used anymore.
I realize that my stance on this probably won’t be very popular, especially with test takers in New York, but please try to be open minded and hear my reasoning on this.
Why not just let both tests coexist, and give the test taker the option to choose for themselves which one they want to take? This would put more of the burden on the test developers themselves to create better quality tests at lower prices for the consumers; the competition would be a great thing, even with the higher cost for the test taker individually.
Some might respond by saying that if the government doesn’t cover the cost, then less test takers will be able to afford it. In reality though, I believe that making the test free is contributing to the lower pass rates in that test takers are more likely to go in with little to no preparation. Making test takers responsible for the cost to test themselves would incentive test takers to wait until they’re properly prepared to test.
Let’s not forget that we’re talking about tough, smart, hard working people here. I’ve worked with some students before who were single parents working full-time jobs by day, and working second night shift jobs multiple times a week. These types of people are really not that uncommon in adult education; many do amazing things on a daily basis.
NY residents deserve to be able to choose for themselves which high school equivalency test is the best match for their goals. I believe it would be more beneficial for the state to take a hands off approach with the high school equivalency tests; remember, the current system is not working, let’s try something else!
This could be done via tax relief, or by offering some other benefits. I’m 99% sure that if employers began offering significantly more high-paying positions (and high-paying is the key here) specifically for high school equivalency diploma holders, the pass rates would soar! This would really fire people up and give them the motivation they need to go out and successfully pass their tests!
Along these same lines, rewarding community colleges and 4 year universities for accepting more students who score exceptionally on their high school equivalency tests could also work.
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| Photo by Thomas Good (Thomas Good / Next Left Notes) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
Politically, I disagree with Klonsky on many things, but I was pleasantly surprised to find some common ground here.
Leonhard’s NYT piece states that Chicago’s high school graduation rate is going up faster than the national average. His explanation for this is basically that having passionate principals in schools and a mayor who focuses on education in the city are the reason why the graduation rate is increasing. However, there’s not much substance in Leonhard’s piece to back this up.
Last week I talked a lot about the investigations into manipulations intended to boost rankings that are taking place in Florida schools right now. In many school districts in Florida, low performing and disadvantaged students have been pushed to leave public schools to attend alternative schools instead.
This benefits the public schools because their average standardized test scores go up as a result of the lowest scores being removed. Also, this decreases the dropout rate for the public schools.
If students then want to withdraw after transferring to an alternative school, the the alternative schools can simply write them off as “leaving to pursue adult education,” which gets them out of recording the student as a dropout. There is virtually no tracking done after the students leave to ensure they actually complete the programs.
Since the data shows that the majority of those being pushed to leave public high schools are minorities, here’s the argument I made last week:
“If minority students who withdraw from alternative schools can just be written off as pursuing adult education instead of being counted as dropouts, my guess is that this must be making the dropout rate for minorities in Florida look a lot better than what it is in reality…
Consider this quote from Klonsky’s blog post:
“Students who transfer to privately operated “alternative schools” within the CPS system still won’t count as dropouts — and the district still continues its practice of crediting a student’s graduation from an alternative program back to the school they originally left.
The reason they like to use average-gains data is that it masks the effect of the great decline in CPS student population over the past two decades, matching the out-migration of Chicago’s quarter-million mostly-black residents.
One scenario has it– get rid of your poorest African-American kids, close their schools, and your test scores (if you use the same test) and other selected performance data is likely to go up — right alongside your neighborhood crime statistics.”
Although the situations in Florida and Chicago differ in many respects, we can see some clear parallels. I don’t want to say much more, for fear of spoiling this post, but it’s definitely worth reading! Thanks Mike for putting the situation in Chicago on my radar!
1. A sweet read: Adamstown Area Library helps man realize his dream, Pennsylvania
Boynton spent many years as an adult learning how to read, and developing the skills needed to pass the test. Here’s what his tutor said about him:
“For his birthday, I gave him a dictionary. He carried it to every tutoring session and faithfully looked up words about which he was unsure. We met every week for one and a half to two hours. He’s gained confidence along with his new skills.”
Boynton said this: “I wanted to be able to read to my grandchildren. If it weren’t for Carolyn [Boynton’s tutor], I wouldn’t be able to read complex, technical directions for woodworking projects I do now.”
Boynton spends his time during his retirement volunteering his craftsman skills at local nonprofits, and at the same library where he originally learned to read. Boynton makes custom toys for his library’s auctions, and also makes shelves, among other things.
This concludes the Test Prep Champions’ Adult Education & GED News Roundup for the week of Match 12th – March 18th! Thanks for reading it!
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