Once again, the GED Conference was a huge success – thanks to your inspiration and dedication to building brighter futures through education. It was amazing to see everyone in New York City last month.
More than 700,000 students who take the GED® test each year will soon have access to powerful insights that will help them be successful, thanks to a new initiative aimed at improving student learning outcomes.
GED Testing Service® is partnering with WithYouWithMe, a social impact tech company, to provide students with free access to its world-leading learning preference assessment.
The partnership aims to support learners by providing insights — directly to the learner and available to educators — into their unique personal learning style and to select curated learning materials that will help them study for the exam. The GED learning preference assessment is currently in development and is expected to launch in July 2023.
WYWM CEO Tom Larter noted that understanding learning preference provides individuals with competitive advantage for the GED test and long-term education and employment opportunities.
“All individuals should have the opportunity to realize their potential and we’re proud to provide our learning preference assessment and other resources to GED learners, to help them gain the skills and confidence they need to succeed,” said Mr. Larter.
Each student has a unique way of processing, internalizing, and remembering information. Some individuals learn best through visual aids such as diagrams, while others may prefer auditory cues like lectures, or learn best through hands-on experiences.
By identifying their learning preference, individuals can tailor their study habits and strategies to be more effective and efficient.
By increasing the number of students successfully earning a GED diploma, we can help level up the workforce with greater diversity and equality by opening exciting new career paths that individuals may never have thought possible.
“The learning preference insights will equip learners with important information to not only support their GED preparation, but also broader life and career choices. We’re confident that providing them with insight into their learning style will set them up for success,” said Vicki Greene, President of GED Testing Service and SVP Workforce Skills.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans start their GED journey, whether it’s to go to college, prepare for a new job or simply to achieve this milestone. It’s incredibly important to provide these learners with a world-class service and positive learning environment to help them thrive.
GED Testing Service is also partnering with WithYouWithMe to launch the GED Tech Apprenticeship program which will support 300 GED students from diverse backgrounds into new tech careers. Under the GED Tech Apprenticeship program, students will have the opportunity to complete WithYouWithMe’s broader testing program to identify those with a high propensity to excel in tech careers. They’ll then have access to free accredited training to upskill them into high demand tech roles and find roles at leading companies in the United States.
We’re excited to be in New York City for the GED Conference this July. New York is the 3rd largest state for GED learners. We’re proud to be impacting the lives of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and millions of learners nationwide. This is all possible thanks to your inspiration and dedication to building brighter futures through education.
We are excited to welcome this year’s keynote speaker, Dr. Rolundus R. Rice – thought leader, orator, professor and university administrator. His own journey from the GED credential to a Ph.D. degree has inspired thousands of students.
Here are three featured tracks among the many insightful sessions:
Solving the 3 of 4 Dilemma: Reengaging Students Who Are One Test Away from Earning Their GED Diploma
Does your state or adult education program have students that made it so close to earning their GED credential but never quite finished? There are thousands of students out there, who have completed 3 of 4 GED tests, but just never passed that last test. This session will address this problem and hear from 4 states that have launched campaigns to help these students finish. These state leaders will share best practice for outreach and engagement and leave plenty of time for questions. Learn how your state or program can do your own outreach to increase your GED graduate numbers.
Pearson Accelerated Pathways and Prior Learning Network: Turning Earners to Learners
Learn more about Pearson’s options for college success with low-cost options and prior learning credit that can give GED grads a head-start.
Tutorial for the Online Proctored Test to Ensure a Smooth Experience
As an educator or test center administrator, many of you offer guidance to students who choose to take the GED test online. You can guide and prepare students for all the possibilities and differences they may encounter PRIOR to their test to ensure a positive testing experience.
Committing to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belongingness in the Classroom and Beyond
This session will help any professional working with learners assess how they can be better advocates for inclusive learning, implement changes at all levels of their organization, and commit to supporting diversity efforts.
See more details about all speakers and sessions here.
We hope to see you in July for two days full of inspiration.
Vicki Greene
President, GED Testing Service
At the end of 2021, GED Testing Service started a working group with state leaders who were interested in helping to address the high number of GED students who had passed 3 of 4 tests but never passed that last test. Our data shows that over 157,000 individuals need to pass just one remaining test to earn their GED credential, with 80% of these individuals needing to pass the math test.
Math isn’t the only thing keeping students from graduating. Some students may lose motivation or interest in completing the entire GED test series after passing three exams. They might feel satisfied with their progress and believe that three tests are sufficient for their immediate goals. Some students mistakenly think that they have to start over if too much time has gone by since taking their last test subject. In most cases, they can pick up where they left off and complete one final test subject to graduate. Time and scheduling constraints also play a role. It’s not always easy to balance work, family responsibilities, and other commitments.
Luckily, dedicated individuals in education across the country are making a difference, helping motivate students to pass the final test. Sue Grosdidier Associate Director, High School Equivalency Kansas Board of Regents, was a pioneer in getting students to the finish line. She called over 100 students personally! Her dedication changed the lives of hundreds of GED students in Kansas. Ms. Grosdidier shares her reflections on the 3 of 4 project below:
“When we started this journey in Kansas, we had some very distinct “aha” moments that made it ALL worth the time and effort. We found that students thought in many cases that they had more than one test to take. It was also surprising to find duplicate accounts, that once merged, the individuals had credentialed. But more students than I had expected thought their scores were no longer valid; they thought they would need to start all over. These individuals were just shocked at the opportunity presented to them and the support they were being provided. As a State Administrator, I do not get the daily doses of student interaction that I once did, and I miss it. The 3 of 4 project allowed me to connect with the students and provide resources and encouragement to obtain their credential.” — Sue Grosdidier Associate Director, High School Equivalency Kansas Board of Regents
Inspired by people like Sue, more and more states are climbing the charts in GED graduation numbers. Progress is being made nationwide. 14 states — and counting! — implemented targeted campaigns in their states to encourage these students to finish the last test. To date, these efforts have helped around 3,500 students pass that last test and earn a credential.
It was an honor to have Dr. Rolundus R. Rice speak at the virtual commencement ceremony on GED Grad Day 2023 earlier this month. You can partake in the inspiration by watching the recording of his speech here.
We are excited to welcome Dr. Rice as the keynote speaker at the GED Conference this July in New York City. He is a thought leader, orator, professor and university administrator. His own journey from the GED credential to a Ph.D. degree has inspired thousands of students.
Dr. Rice’s childhood and youth presented challenge after challenge. During school, he spent years going through behavior and learning disorders programs in the Dekalb County School System in Metropolitan Atlanta before dropping out of high school. Later on, pursuing his GED got him back on track and his career in education and beyond has flourished ever since.
Dr. Rice graduated from DeVry University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Magna Cum Laude. He then earned the Master of Arts in History from Alabama State University and the Doctor of Philosophy in History from Auburn University — the first GED recipient to earn a Ph.D. in Auburn’s 166-year history.
As a historian, Dr. Rice taught undergraduate courses in World History, U.S. History, The Civil Rights Movement and American Religious History. His research focused on the Modern Civil Rights Movement. CNN interviewed Dr. Rice as a subject-matter expert on the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Montgomery Advertiser.
Dr. Rice’s book, Hosea Williams: A Lifetime of Defiance and Protest was the first scholarly biography on one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s closest lieutenants and organizer of “Bloody Sunday” and the subsequent Selma to Montgomery March.
His work in the non-profit sector includes organizing strategic initiatives for the Southern Youth Leadership Development Institute in Montgomery, Alabama. He has also worked at The Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia; his role there was Special Assistant to Dr. Bernice King – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mrs. Coretta Scott King’s youngest child. Following Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri, Dr. Rice traveled with Ms. King and a team of civil rights activists and trainers to engage with educators, law enforcement officers, civic leaders, gang members and business leaders in the philosophy and techniques of her father, MLK.
As a university leader, Dr. Rice was appointed Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts at Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama at the age of 33. He is one of the youngest academic deans at an accredited four-year institution in the United States. Furthermore, as President and CEO of The Dapper Dean Education Empowerment Firm, Dr. Rice sees the world as a global classroom and grooming ground for greatness.
Vice President, CT Turner, shares some of the background leading up to the changes coming July 1, 2023 for most states. See the FAQ section and the state policy pages to see if these changes are taking place near you.
As you may know by now, many states/jurisdictions will see a price increase and change to the retake policy on July 1. As costs, state fees and contract timelines are different by state, these changes may happen in your state at a later date. To see what this means for your state specifically, you’ll need to visit the state policy pages .
We are proud to have kept the computer-based testing price fixed and stable for more than a decade. During this time, we have continually invested and made many significant enhancements to help students succeed. We have also worked to assist states and adult education programs to market, manage and effectively prepare their learners for their equivalency diploma and job training, postsecondary education, and careers beyond a diploma.
After very careful consideration, and significant discussion and feedback from state GED program offices, we plan to increase the price of the test and adjust the discounted retake policy. These are changes we don’t take lightly, and we have stretched this increase out as long as possible. As with every sector of the economy, we have experienced significant increases in costs over the past decade. Additionally, those of you in a state that may have, or have had, an alternative HSE assessment know that those programs have had a number of price increases since 2014.
We work hard to manage resources wisely and we continue to prioritize continual improvement, reinvesting in value-added services to make the GED program more effective every year. Since 2014, we have created multiple new tools, platforms, and services, while also continuing to provide a secure and reliable assessment. These enhancements include:
We are committed to continual improvement of the GED program for states, educators and adult learners. Within the past year, we have:
You can trust that we will continue to be focused squarely on student outcomes and partnering with the states and AE programs to create better opportunities and lives for adult learners across the country. I hope this helps explain why these two adjustments are necessary. You can also find a high-level FAQ about these changes on the website.
Now, for some specific information you may need related to these changes:
We sat down with Director of Product Management, Jane Bledsoe, to learn more about the official GED mobile application coming soon. We are set to share a prototype of the app with you at the GED conference in July. Here is the Q&A detailing what is to come.
Who is the app for?
Our primary audience is the learners who are preparing for the GED on their own, but adult educators can also use the app.
What is the purpose?
We found that 18% of candidates who create an account on GED.com make progress by testing within a year. We want to help those who are getting stuck along the way. The app will give them confidence and motivation to move forward in reaching their goals.
What features and benefits of the app can you share with us?
The app is like a mobile ‘advisor,’ helping the learner chart their path to taking and passing the GED tests. Along the way, they will meet ‘Syd,’ a character who points out what learners need to do on their GED testing journey. Syd celebrates with them as they make their way through practice questions, scheduling tests, and completing milestones.
Everyone is excited for the app, when will it be ready?
We will share a prototype of the app at the GED Conference in July. Beta testing of the app for select audiences will take place in Q3/Q4, with a full commercial launch in early 2024.
How do we know this will appeal to learners?
We have been reaching out to small groups of GED learners for feedback on designs – both those currently testing and those who plan to take a GED test in the future. Feedback has been strongly positive. They like the mobile ‘advisor’ (Syd), and the guided path to tell them what they need to do to be successful on the test. They like the practice questions embedded in the App, and recommendations for books and other study tools they can purchase to augment their learning. We have observed in testing that learners pay more attention to ‘Syd’s’ visual cues than some of the text-based instructions we included in the App. We have moderated and unmoderated feedback/interaction from approximately 100 research participants to-date. The learners are truly excited about the App and its potential to help them.
How is this different than GED.com?
GED learners can use both GED.com and the GED App, but the App should help them focus on the specific path to take to successfully start testing. The App will not replace the website; there’s still a wealth of information on GED.com that learners and teachers will continue to access. Learners can use the same log-in for both the App and GED.com. The two will be linked so that a test scheduled on GED.com will prompt a notification in the App, and notifications of score results, etc., will also trigger a notification in the App. The App will not replicate all the content in GED.com but should augment the learner’s ability to know what to do next.
Why do we need an App? Why now?
In 2021, more than 60% of GED leaners used a mobile device to reach GED.com. We want to be accessible to learners in the most relevant way. We also know that leaners are looking for more guidance than what the website can provide. The App is meant to help more learners achieve their goals. The App is something that learners and adult educators alike have been asking for, for years. The entire team at GED Testing Service is excited about its potential to reach more learners.
How is it working with an outside agency?
We are working with Livefront who have done amazing work with big brands on the consumer market like Target. They are phenomenal in helping us understand the value this app will play in student’s lives. We truly learned a lot from them.
What are students looking forward to about the App?
Students want that guided path. Our research shows they don’t know where to start. This app will help them earn their GED effectively by helping them practice and provide feedback. They need a way forward, and the app will give them that pathway.
What is the timeline?
We have been wanting to do an app for 10 years now and started research and discovery on what students need in January. We wanted to get the research done right and spend a lot of time understanding it before we have our first version. We aren’t promising an official release date, but we will show a prototype during the GED conference in July.
Will it be in Spanish?
We probably won’t have a Spanish version at the outset, at least not in the first version. That is something we want to look for down the road.
Is there anything else you wanted to share that I didn’t touch on?
If you go to the App store or the Google play store, you’ll see a lot of GED apps. Why do we need another one? This is going to the official GED app, a trusted resource for students straight from the source. It will truly help students progress on their journey. Everyone is super excited about this, and they all have a different idea of what should be included in it. It really required us to come together and figure out what is going to help the student most. Getting the students’ feedback has been so helpful. We didn’t want to replicate GED.com in an app. We spent so much time seeing what students really needed.
The coming tsunami of “green” and electrification jobs plus a large U.S. population of adult learners/GED grads without a college degree is a match made in heaven.
The number of jobs related to electrification and renewable energy is exploding (pun intended). Leading industry associations are projecting the creation of 40 million new jobs globally in the next two decades. In the U.S. specifically, these types of jobs are expected to grow faster than average for all other occupations.
Electrification is becoming even more integrated into our daily lives. Don’t believe me? Just today there was a headline about Walmart planning to install EV charging stations at stores across the country. Drive across any plains state and you’ll see more windmill farms pop up every year, or drive on the interstate and see the increasing number of hybrid or all electric vehicles. You’ll also notice more solar panels powering buildings, and new types of lighting automation in homes to baseball stadiums.
Demand for high-speed internet has also exploded, with the U.S. government also recently allocating almost half a billion dollars to provide access to residents and businesses in rural areas.
OK, so you get it…this is HUGE! But what does this have to do with adult learners, GED students/grads, and those who are in careers that will be impacted heavily by AI and automation?
Two amazing things:
#1. The overwhelming majority of these jobs won’t require a college degree.
#2. Most of them will pay well – especially when coupled with the fact that no degree will be required.
At GED Testing Service we’ve been working closely with organizations like Julius to build connections between learners and jobs. We’ve worked with them to build concepts of electrification into lesson plans that can be a regular part of GED preparation, all while working with industry leaders, associations and energy companies to create training programs that lead to these jobs. Of course, the jobs require training, but the time and route from diploma to a good job is much faster than those requiring degrees or multi-year college credentials.
We’re also looking for ways to educate learners about career pathways most know little about and provide them on-ramps to these new career pathways. We’re also working with Pearson partners like Credly to badge learners based on verified skills and experience and help them transfer their skills to the next job.
If we can get workforce boards, workforce development policy leaders and legislators involved, we can create a powerful pipeline of qualified workers while providing opportunity for good jobs.
GED Grad Day is taking place on May 12, and this year we will have our first-ever virtual ceremony! Here are some tips on how to support your students during the event.
GED Grad Day was created because our graduates do not have a traditional ceremony. Our graduates show grit, resilience, and determination by earning their GED. We are so excited to celebrate their accomplishments and hard work. Join us on May 12th at 1 PM EST to celebrate all our past and recent GED graduates for GED Grad Day.
This will be our first-ever virtual ceremony taking place as a Facebook live-stream. Encourage your students, both current learners and recent graduates, to join the Facebook Graduates Group to access the event.
We encourage educators, family members, friends, teachers, and employers to share congratulatory and motivational messages for our graduates. If you decide to submit a video, please include your adult ed program, city, and state.
For more information on GED Grad Day, visit GED.com/GEDGradDay2023
News and updates for March 2023:
Do you know a 2022-23 GED graduate from NY, NJ, or CT who has gone above and beyond to achieve their credential? The GED Graduate of the Year awards will be hosted at the GED Annual Conference this July in New York City. Winners will be celebrated at a special luncheon and will receive amazing prizes, including a $1,000 scholarship. Nominations end on May 19. Learn more and nominate a grad!
How 2 Amazon Employees earned their GEDs for free through the Career Choice Program: Check out this article written by one of our GEDWorks clients.
Adult Ed Flipbook: We’ve compiled a flipbook of GED products, programs, and services that give adult educators the tools to support their learners. Take a look.
Check out our video on the evolution of the GED! We’re excited to share GED history with you. This video highlights just how much the GED program has changed since 1942.
News and updates for March 2023:
Do you know a 2022-23 GED graduate from NY, NJ, or CT who has gone above and beyond to achieve their credential? The GED Graduate of the Year awards will be hosted at the GED Annual Conference this July in New York City. Winners will be celebrated at a special luncheon and will receive amazing prizes, including a $1,000 scholarship. Nominations end on May 19. Learn more and nominate a grad!
How 2 Amazon Employees earned their GEDs for free through the Career Choice Program: Check out this article written by one of our GEDWorks clients.
Adult Ed Flipbook: We’ve compiled a flipbook of GED products, programs, and services that give adult educators the tools to support their learners. Take a look.
Check out our video on the evolution of the GED! We’re excited to share GED history with you. This video highlights just how much the GED program has changed since 1942.
News and updates for March 2023:
Do you know a 2022-23 GED graduate from NY, NJ, or CT who has gone above and beyond to achieve their credential? The GED Graduate of the Year awards will be hosted at the GED Annual Conference this July in New York City. Winners will be celebrated at a special luncheon and will receive amazing prizes, including a $1,000 scholarship. Nominations end on May 19.
How 2 Amazon Employees earned their GEDs for free through the Career Choice Program: Check out this article written by one of our GEDWorks clients.
Adult Ed Flipbook: We’ve compiled a flipbook of GED products, programs, and services that give adult educators the tools to support their learners. Take a look.
Check out our video on the evolution of the GED! We’re excited to share GED history with you. This video highlights just how much the GED program has changed since 1942.
