We’re excited to announce a new tool for educators and others who help students sign up for GED.com accounts.

We have just launched the GED.com account demo site that allows you to sign up for a demo GED.com account.

Why is this helpful? If you’ve ever wanted to demonstrate for your classes the GED.com account set-up, you’ll know that it can be a pain to sign up for a new account that requires a unique email address each time. We know many of you have created Gmail accounts just to sign up for GED.com accounts.

In addition, most teachers have a GED.com account they use to see the system, receive email alerts, etc., but occasionally the GED.com account experience will change slightly for new test-takers and it impossible to see the new features/look without setting up a new account. This demo site erases most of these common annoyances.

How you can take advantage of the new GED.com account demo site in two easy steps:

Step 1: Navigate to the website link below.

https://demo.ged-cloud.com/login

*When you go to the site you may see a warning stating “Your connection is not private.” You will see this because it is a demo site and not a public-facing website. Please click the “Advanced” button and proceed, you should only have to do this once.

Step 2: Sign-up for a GED.com account—just like you would on GED.com.

A few things to remember:

• You can use a real or “fake” email account and password when you sign-up for a demo account
  • Example: You could use “newstudent123@gg.com” or “signmeup@123.com”. As long as the email address follows a standard email address format, they can type anything they want.
• You can sign up for accounts as many times as you want
  • Example: If you have three new classes you can demonstrate the account setup for each one.
• None of the demo accounts you set up are real

*You also have the option to log in with any student account you create. It is a good practice to use the same password for all the student accounts you create in the demo environment so you don’t have to worry about remembering it.

We hope that you enjoy this new tool and streamlined way for you to demonstrate to your students how to set up a GED.com account!

The 2020 Census is coming and adult educators have the opportunity to provide support and resources to help learners and their families prepare for the survey.

Why It’s Important/ Dispelling Myths

The goal of the census is to count every living person in the 50 states, District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. Adult educators are in a unique position to inform their students about the importance of the effort (it is required by law), how to participate and how it will benefit them and their families.

By April 1, 2020 each home will receive an invitation to respond to a questionnaire—online, by phone or email. The 2020 Census will be the first year that responses will be accepted online and this is more reason why there are increased efforts to help people avoid scams and frauds.

You can help students become more comfortable with the census and what it will ask by sharing the actual set of questions available here: https://2020census.gov/en/about-questions.html

The questionnaire is confidential and the data is federally protected. Students will not be asked about their citizenship status and responses will not be used to identify individual homes or residents living in those homes.

Supporting Adult Learners

We do recognize that the Census collection process can be intimidating for learners, especially those with lower literacy skills.

The National Coalition for Literacy has created a webpage dedicated to providing Census 2020 resources that address some of the unique concerns of GED and English Language instructors. The webpage has links to a number of guides, program toolkits and related news.

Instructors can also incorporate Census data in classroom lessons by using available fact sheets and infographics. This may help students become more comfortable with how their responses will be used.

Census Jobs for Students

The Census Bureau is hiring thousands of people across the country to help with the collection efforts. This is a great opportunity for adult learners to earn extra income through a temporary job with flexible hours.

Recruitment has started and is expected to continue through February 2020. Census takers make up the greatest number of available positions with some availability with clerical jobs and supervisory and outreach positions.

The Census Bureau website has detailed information including qualifications for positions, pay rate by state and county, the application to apply and other frequently asked questions.

This month we’re highlighting our new GED Operations Manager Brent Gerken in our Q&A feature.

How long have you been working with GED Testing Service?

I joined the GED team on October 21, 2019.

What will you be doing in your role as GED Operations Manager?

The Technical Operations (Tech Ops) team plays a critical role within GED Testing Service. This team is involved in all facets of the company. This includes working with the State Relationship Managers in the field and jurisdiction Administrators—home and abroad. We also partner with our vendors and track analytics while working with development, computer and paper-based testing, Corrections, training, GEDWorks, and much more. My role on this team is to help resolve escalations, manage and improve processes, strengthen relationships and help ensure the team has what it needs to keep GED Testing Service running smoothly.

What does a typical work day look like for you?

For the first three weeks it’s been listening, asking lots of questions and applying what I learn to better understand all GED influencers and their roles.

What do you enjoy most about your job so far?

If being a part of a team that impacts the lives of so many people isn’t enough—it’s solving problems.

What kind of work did you do before coming to GED Testing Service?

Prior to GED Testing Service I worked for the Pearson Credential Management (PCM) division as a Technical Account Manager (TAM) for six years. Before that I worked 12 years at a healthcare reference laboratory that specializes in FDA-regulated testing.

Where is your hometown?

My roots and heart reside in Sac City, Iowa. It’s a small community of about 2,000 people with an abundance of personality and character. My graduating class size was only 40 students, but some of them I still consider my best friends today—which I think is rare.

Who is the best teacher you have ever had? Why?

All of my teachers throughout my life made an impact on me. My mother who was a 5th grade teacher (which made skipping homework difficult), my high school music teacher Mr. Rock who helped me discover and develop my natural talents and Mrs. Jones and Ms. Birkhofer who encouraged my creativity.

Who (or what) have been your strongest influences in life?

My parents, sister and my wife.

Favorite vacation destination?

So far the Grand Canyon but each year we explore a new vacation destination.

What kinds of hobbies and interests do you have outside of work?

Spending quality time with my wife and five kids. I also enjoy playing softball, coaching youth sports, golfing, reading and watching movies.

If you were stuck on an island what three things would you bring?

A water filter, an abundance of matches, and a sailboat with GPS and built-in mobile OnStar.

What are two things still on your bucket list?

Traveling and having lots of grandchildren.

GED Testing Service recently attended Lawson State Community College’s “GED and College Awareness Day.”

During the event GED State Relationship Manager Adora Beard shared information about the GED test program and how students can utilize Lawson State Community College’s Adult Education program to prepare for the test subjects.

Here’s a look at the top states for Corrections pass rates in 2018.

The 2018 national pass rate for Corrections rose to 80% in comparison to 78% in 2017. The 2018 national pass rate for GED testing was also 80%.

There are a number of states that surpassed both the national and Corrections pass rates including:

South Dakota 94%

Illinois 93%

Nebraska 93%

Nevada 90%

Oregon 90%

South Carolina 90%

Utah 90%

Minnesota 89%

North Dakota 88%

Colorado 87%

Delaware 87%

Idaho 87%

Thank you to our community of Corrections educators and staff that provide instruction and support to Corrections students!

GED.com has additional resources and information for Corrections educators available here.

Our latest webinar shared how cartoons can be used to help students understand Social Studies topics.

The webinar reviewed the basic elements of political cartoons, explored the role of political cartoons throughout U.S. history and reviewed strategies and activities to help students learn to interpret cartoons.

Cartoonists use several tools to convey their point of view including symbolism, captioning and labels, irony and exaggeration and analogies.

The webinar also reviews the Social Studies High Impact Indicators and how students can broaden and deepen their critical thinking skills and knowledge of government and history through lessons using political cartoons.

Instructors are given specific examples of cartoons and related lessons as well as information about additional sources for the cartoons.

The full webinar can be viewed here and additional materials including a workbook and analysis worksheets for students are available on GED.com