Vice President CT Turner shares GEDTS goals for 2023.

With 2022 coming to an end, I wanted to give you all a peek at some of the areas the SRM, Operations and Assessment Teams will be focusing on in 2023. We’re excited to continue evolving the GED program to advance economic opportunities for our learners and the generations to come.

Our teams will continue to collaborate closely with technology and marketing to improve the student journey through personalization, career pathways assistance, and nudges. And we’re excited to work with the team members across the organization on the much-anticipated GED app that is tentatively slated for beta release around the time of the Conference.

Some other team-specific areas of focus for the year include, but are not limited to:

• Continue to strengthen communications and feedback with educators and other direct GED stakeholders, including through InSession, Tuesdays for Teachers, GED Conference sessions, Program Directors Work Group, and more.
• Work to build out more national career pathways programs for GED students, and state-specific pilots in infrastructure, technology, and green energy.
• Additional work on duplicate accounts. We’ve made a lot of progress on this front last year, helping many students credential after merging accounts. We’ll continue that progress this year.
• Safeguarding the integrity of the GED and refining test-taker support around the assessment. We’re researching and testing ways to help learners turn score report feedback into study plans, or how to encourage them to test after earning a “green” GED Ready score.
• Growth on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion objectives and partnerships
• Building awareness and adoption of the GED Option program. This is a dropout recovery program implemented in high schools.
• Grow adoption and number of employers participating in GEDWorks.
• Assist States and Departments of Corrections with HiSET delivery issues since purchase by PSI.
• Work with our partner Credly on badging skills for GED testers, graduates, and alumni to help connect them with employers.

We have a full year ahead with lots of momentum and many plans. We know you all do as well, and we are thankful for your dedication and commitment to adult learners and continued enhancements of the GED program. We look forward to seeing all the progress we make together, and as always seeing the stories of new graduates in 2023!

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We’re excited to introduce a new way for educators to purchase GED® test subjects and GED Ready practice tests, then assign them directly to learners. That’s right, no more vouchers to manage!

The GED Direct™ eCommerce feature within GED Manager allows you to do this without voucher codes. You no longer need to extend expiration dates or keep track of details in a spreadsheet. Instead, you can now assign GED Ready practice tests or GED tests to your students’ accounts and easily track usage via the reporting functionality in GED Manager.

Another way GED Direct saves you time is by being able to purchase different types of tests at once: GED Ready practice tests, in-person GED tests, and online proctored GED tests. In addition, you can use a credit card, VUE credit terms, or ACH/check (PO process).

Learn more about GED Direct and discover answers to top questions from fellow educators.

Please keep in mind:

The Pearson VUE Voucher Store is retiring at the end of this year. If you have been purchasing test vouchers from the voucher store, you will need to switch to GED Direct or GED Marketplace as of January 1, 2023.

If purchasing GED Ready practice tests or GED tests through GED Manager may not be an option for you, then our GED Marketplace™ will meet your needs.

Visit GED Marketplace site to purchase GED Ready practice tests and GED test vouchers to distribute to your students. You can use a credit card, VUE credit terms, or ACH/check (PO process).

Dear Adult Educators and GED family,

This is my last time writing to you in this column – after over 14 years at GED Testing Service, I will be retiring from my position as Vice President of GED Assessment Services at the end of 2022.

Many of you may recall that I used to write to you frequently in this forum as we planned, introduced, and implemented the current edition of the GED® test. In recent years, this column has become rarer, as many of you have been working with the 2014 version of the test in some way for nearly a decade now (next year, November 2023, will mark a full ten years since the GED Ready was first launched).

What a time it has been evolving the GED test! During the past years, we formed a joint venture between the American Council on Education and Pearson to operate the GED program, implemented both computer-based and online testing on a large scale, developed a new test to measure career and college readiness content standards, and launched multiple performance levels that enable GED students to enter credit bearing college courses or even earn college credit based on their test scores, just to name a few.

So much of the robust ecosystem we have today was just a pipe dream of mine and my colleagues when we started on this journey with you, and many of the core aspects of today’s program were controversial and unproven when they were introduced. Now we regard these features as standard and expected – key parts of a program to help adults fulfill their goals, ambitions, and dreams.

It has been my honor since my arrival at GED Testing Service in July 2008 to work with a talented staff of assessment professionals here, as well as with so many passionate and dedicated GED Administrators, program directors, and teachers – thousands of you across the US and, indeed, the world. I’m proud of what we have achieved together, but we’ll know that our work is not complete. We are still bringing the GED test and associated products and services to just a small fraction of the learners who could benefit from them. So, I hope that you all continue to conceive new ways in which we can help even more learners to pursue their education and employment goals.

As you work toward the future, I hope you will remember the words of John Dewey, the influential American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer. So many decades ago, he said, “If we teach our children as we taught yesterday, we rob them of tomorrow.” In that spirit, let’s keep growing, changing, and innovating to continually better serve the people of our nation and the world.

Best wishes and farewell,

Marty

News and updates for November 2022:

• Over 110 Amazon employees earn free GED credentials through GEDWorks: Amazon announced that more than 110 employees had earned their GED credentials through the GEDWorks/Amazon Career Choice partnership since January 2022. Amazon’s hourly employees in the U.S. have access to the all-inclusive GEDWorks program at no cost.

News and updates for November 2022:

• Over 110 Amazon employees earn free GED credentials through GEDWorks: Amazon announced that more than 110 employees had earned their GED credentials through the GEDWorks/Amazon Career Choice partnership since January 2022. Amazon’s hourly employees in the U.S. have access to the all-inclusive GEDWorks program at no cost.

News and updates for November 2022:

• Over 110 Amazon employees earn free GED credentials through GEDWorks: Amazon announced that more than 110 employees had earned their GED credentials through the GEDWorks/Amazon Career Choice partnership since January 2022. Amazon’s hourly employees in the U.S. have access to the all-inclusive GEDWorks program at no cost.

The GED test continues to evolve to better prepare learners for college, career, and beyond. The GED credential has come a long way since it was first developed in 1942. It is now a complete test program designed to create pathways and connect learners to opportunities beyond their high school equivalency credential.

Background & Current Test Program

1942: The GED test program was launched in 1942 and was administered only to military personnel so returning World War II veterans could more easily pursue their educational, vocational, and personal goals.

2014: The current test program was launched in 2014 and is the fifth test series since the creation of the GED credential.

90: The GED test program is administered in over 90 countries, including Thailand and South Africa.

3,200: There are over 3,200 official GED testing centers in the U.S. and worldwide.

70,000: Over 70,000 adult educators in the U.S. provide preparation support to learners.

Graduates and Postsecondary Outcomes

20 million: More than 20 million people have earned their GED credentials since the test launch.

80%: The current test program boasts an 80% pass rate.

50%: 1 out of 2 GED students enter college within four years.

100%: Virtually all colleges and employers accept the GED credential.

150,000: Annually, 150,000 GED graduates earn their credentials in the U.S.

Check out our latest infographic highlighting the GED test program here.

News and updates for October 2022:

• 25% off GED Live online classes now through Oct 14: Learners can sign up for GED Live and save on live instructor-led courses. No promo code is necessary; the discount will automatically apply when products are added to the shopping cart through their GED.com accounts.
• GED Direct Management Tool: As an educator, you can purchase GED Ready practice tests, In-Person GED tests, and Online Proctored GED tests through the GED Direct eCommerce feature within GED Manager. Learn more here: https://ged.com/educators_admins/teaching/ged-direct/

News and updates for October 2022:

• 25% off GED Live online classes now through Oct 14: Learners can sign up for GED Live and save on live instructor-led courses. No promo code is necessary; the discount will automatically apply when products are added to the shopping cart through their GED.com accounts.
• GED Direct Management Tool: As an educator, you can purchase GED Ready practice tests, In-Person GED tests, and Online Proctored GED tests through the GED Direct eCommerce feature within GED Manager. Learn more here: https://ged.com/educators_admins/teaching/ged-direct/

News and updates for October 2022:

• 25% off GED Live online classes now through Oct 14: Learners can sign up for GED Live and save on live instructor-led courses. No promo code is necessary; the discount will automatically apply when products are added to the shopping cart through their GED.com accounts.
• GED Direct Management Tool: As an educator, you can purchase GED Ready practice tests, In-Person GED tests, and Online Proctored GED tests through the GED Direct eCommerce feature within GED Manager. Learn more here: https://ged.com/educators_admins/teaching/ged-direct/

GED Testing Service worked with several states in a pilot project focused on reengaging learners and encouraging them to pass their final GED test subject and earn their credentials.

Background/Why We Did the Pilot

We found that since the 2014 GED test program launched:

• 141,899 individuals have passed 3 of the 4 required GED tests and never finished the final test

• 81% of these students need to complete Math
• 11% of these students need to complete RLA
• 5% of these students need to complete Social Studies
• 3% of these students need to complete Science
• 31% of these students have selected a GED Prep Center

A small working group of 11 state GED Administrators was formed to focus on best practices for “3 of 4” campaigns. As a result, nine participating states conducted targeted campaigns within the past year.

Implementation

In a recent GED Annual Conference presentation, Kansas, Georgia, Virginia, and Oregon shared how they implemented the campaigns, related outcomes and data, lessons learned, and plans for future outreach.

All 11 states identified their target test takers (learners one test subject from earning a credential) and created state-wide campaigns with high visibility, many including a logo and marketing toolkit. Several states also worked closely with local adult education programs to coordinate email outreach campaigns and additional personal outreach by phone, texts, and mail.

Connections to adult education programs were made for contacted learners, with encouragement to enroll in preparation classes. Eligible learners would have the additional opportunity to take advantage of promotions offering free or discounted practice and official testing (in states where offered).

Outcomes and Data

• Alaska contacted 326 students and 20 (6.13%) have credentialed.
• Arizona emailed 3,038 students, and 38 have credentialed since April.
• Georgia emailed 6,000 students, and 995 have come in to take at least one test, and 410 have credentialed.
• Kansas did outreach to 938 students, and 165 (17.6%) have credentialed.

• Kentucky had a targeted list of 320 students and 15 (4.6%) credentialed. 2,900 people were on their larger list and 63 (2.2%) credentialed.
• Oregon emailed 3,800 students. 375 chose to opt into their campaign, and 49 have credentialed. An additional 98 credentialed based on email outreach.
• South Dakota emailed 532 students, and 31 (5.8%) have passed and earned a credential.
• Texas emailed 11,214 students, and 470 have credentialed in the 3 months since starting the campaign.
• Virginia did outreach to 3,396 candidates, and 318 have credentialed since February.

How You Can Get Involved

Educators and adult education programs that want to create similar “3 of 4” campaigns in their state can do the following:

Option 1: Reach out to your state GED Administrator, request that they run a “3 of 4” passers report from GED Analytics. They can run a specific “3 of 4” passers report for your program for as far back as 2017. Option 2: For GED Manager users, you can run reports from the Student Test Activity Page in GED Manager. This data will be a little broader and might require a little more work, but it can generate a target list.

You can view the full presentation with details about the campaigns in Kansas, Georgia, Virginia, and Oregon here: https://ged.com/wp-content/uploads/3-of-4-session-GED-conference-.pdf