National College Testing Association David Espinoza, University of Oregon

1. The GED Program in the 21st Century:Working Together for a Brighter Future in Career and College Readiness National College Testing Association David Espinoza, University of Oregon Martin Kehe, GED Testing Service

4. The Need for Adult and Postsecondary Education • 30 million (~10% of the population) people over the age of 16 in the United States can barely read and write in English. • An additional 60 million (~20% of the population) do not have adequate basic literacy skills for earning a living wage. • Combined current funding supports instruction in basic literacy, ESL, adult secondary education, computer training, and vocational education for just 3 million adults. Source: www.proliteracy.org 4

5. The Current Environment • Economy uncertainty (lingering downturn) • Globalization of the labor market • Need for postsecondary training—correlating with employer demand for higher skill levels (READ: college & career readiness) • Changing composition of the U.S. labor force

6. The GED Reality: The BIG Gap An estimated 39 million Americans lack a high school credential. Annually, 1.3 million U.S. students drop out of high school. 10.5 million of these Americans are age 18-34. The GED Test serves only 778,000 test takers and only 493,000 receive credentials each year.

7. What We Need…Given The Realities A test that certifies preparedness An integrated approach in which testing is an important but transitional step Diagnostics and additional tools—to place candidates to produce the best outcomes Use of alternative delivery platforms to ease capacity/access issues Recognition that all of these things will take TIME to address effectively.

8. Adult and Postsecondary Education’s Needs Effective solutions to access challenges (shrinking budgets, maxed facilities and capacity issues) Better tools and systems to support the diverse needs of adult learners Greater understanding, awareness and action by Federal & State policy makers

9. Our Vision for the Evolution of the GED Program From To • Content aligned to 1999 high school curriculum • Passing standard empirically set based on norm-referenced performance of graduating high school seniors • Non-standardized paper-based test delivery channel • Few instructional programs that demonstrate significant promise in accelerating proficiency gains • Few organizations recognized as leading the field • Rigorous content aligned to Common Core college/career-ready curriculum • Proficiency levels based on criterion-referenced performance standards for both high school and college/career readiness • Standardized computer-based test delivery channel • Instructional programs with evidence-based practices incorporating accelerated learning • Champions and exemplary organizations leading the field 9

10. The GED 21st Century Initiative: Primary Objectives • To contribute significantly to the nation’s goal of significantly increasing postsecondary completion rates • To increase access to and attainment of postsecondary education (PSE) credentials for non-traditional adult learners by: • Adopting a college/career-ready performance standard and creating an assessment and a credential that indicates readiness; • Facilitating the development of a stronger system of educational supports for GED candidates; and • Creating the PSE pathways that give meaning to a GED “college-/career-ready certification”

11. The GED 21st Century Initiative: Pathways Pathways to college/career-readiness and success Attract Accelerate Learning Demon-strate Connect Attain Entry into learning system Learning Pre- assessment Customized curriculum Differen-tiated instruction Ongoing formative assessment Show Proficiency on Next-Gen GED Test Pathways to and supports for PSE & career PSE & careerattainment and beyond 11

12. Drivers & Realities 12

13. GED Target Adult Population Potential GED candidate population 15 Million 100% • US-born adults without a high school diploma or equivalent (~10M) 80 US-born dropouts 60 40 • Foreign-born adults without a high school diploma or equivalent (~5M) 20 Foreign-born dropouts • Homeschooled (~0.24M) 0 Home- schooled

14. The Truth About Proficiency Levels Equivalent EFL levels EFL 6 EFL 5 EFL 4 EFL 3 and below

15. Tackling the Proficiency Gap Projected proficiency Target proficiency Starting proficiency level (current grade level proficiency) Time investmentfor preparation(total prep time) Multiplier for accelerating proficiency (grade level gain within total prep time) College- and Career-ready proficiency level(target grade level proficiency) + X =

16. Accelerated Learning • Given the realities of the proficiency gap our learners face, approaches to accelerated learning need to be researched and tested • GEDTS plans to launch a series of pilots to employ and evaluate accelerated learning with adult test takers • Of varying ages • Of varying proficiency challenge levels • In varying learning environments • Encompassing varying learning technologies 16

17. The Near Term… • The 2002 Series will remain in the market for the next three to five years • During that time, however, we will be: • Developing content frameworks for the new test • Piloting Computer-based testing (CBT) • Piloting accelerated learning tools in varied settings

18. Transforming Our Reality 18

19. Laying the Groundwork for the Future 19

20. The GEDTS Goal Ensuring Adult Learners are Career- and College-Ready