[NIFL-FOBASICS:1445] RE: GED passage doesn't prepare students for college

From: Howard Dooley (hdooley@riral.org)
Date: Thu Aug 11 2005 - 19:17:09 EDT


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From: "Howard Dooley" <hdooley@riral.org>
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Subject: [NIFL-FOBASICS:1445] RE: GED passage doesn't prepare students for college
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I just want to heartily agree Michele Craig's observations about those
learners in our progams who do want to go onto post-secondary ed.  (And I
agree that many don't, and that many are so non-traditional that there's
little reason to expect them to succeed in traditional settings, no matter
how "flexible" or "non-traditional" those institutions try to be.)

When learners enter our ASE program and identify post-secondary education or
training as a long-term goal, we discuss those entrance requirements with
them and try to incorporate those levels of performance into their learning
plans.  If they are earning their GED certificate, we strongly advise that
they consider 500 their minimum score on any given GED exam -- and that's to
enter into the community college.  We discuss the efficiency and
cost-effectiveness of learning within our program, even if it means staying
longer here, before proceeding to their next step.  Also, in our day
programs, where there are more hours, life-long learning, study-skills, and
cooperative and constructivist learning is encouraged; all of which will
prepare the learners for success in post-sec ed.  As Silja noted, connecting
to our transition-to-college (TTC) program is recommended to those learners
who would benefit.  And our growing experience is, that those learners who
do enter the TTC program do persist and are successful.

Finally, what wasn't mentioned in Hal Beder's comment about GED grad's and
development ed ["GED Grads are more likely to be enrolled in developmental
skills. -In 2004, 49 percent of the first time freshmen in 2 year
institutions were enrolled in at least one developmental skill course. The
figure for GED graduates was 62 percent.] is the growing body of research
that an alarming number of those who enter pse so, well, mismatched that
they need developmental education courses, do not persist to graduation.  It
is my personal opinion that if all we do is prepare our learners to enter
developmental ed, we are doing them a disservice.

Howard



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