Hello, all,
I've  been waiting to contribute to this discussion, since I've never been
involved in a GED program, but the last ABE program I facilitated and taught
was an employability program integrating technology, and taught a lot of
"soft" skills (based on PBS-KET's Workplace Essential Skills), such as
communication, appropriate behavior, ways to be organized not just job
hunting but on the job, time management and prioritizing. Now I direct the
Writing Center at Post University, Waterbury, CT, and between me and the
University Learning Center we're doing many of the things June describes.
The "skills" gap is one factor, but it's more an "awareness" issue.
University-wide, we're piloting a program this year for freshmen that will
extend into Senior Year that focuses on self-assessment, planning, creating
a college success/career profile, and focuses on many of the "other" skills
beyond content areas that a student needs to succeed and to plan a career.
In adult community education, very often basic skills education as well as
ESL is a "window" to integrate a lot of other survival/"soft" skills, but
I'd suspect GED preparation, being content-area and test-driven, would be a
more difficult sell. Yes, many of the students we get, while not necessarily
GEDs but H.S. diplomas, have many areas in which improvement is needed, that
in addition to the profiling, planning and communicative skills, can only be
described as critical thinking, reflection on the "metacompetencies," the
awareness of how one thinks, learns, solves problems, makes decisions etc.
It remains to be seen how well the program works, an integration of a text,
CD, and software program, and if the students will see and dismiss it as
"what they already know" or as skills worth knowing. These are big concerns;
it seems to me that in any adult ed program whose ultimate goals,
particularly in advanced ESL and/or adult literacy students who are already
H.S. graduates might be college transition, these issues should be raised.
One of our volunteer tutors years ago was teaching what were then called
"study skills," and it had never occurred to me that these were skills that
didn't come "naturally," and that they could be taught. I'd like to hear
more about these issues, also.
Bonnie Odiorne, Ph.D.
Director, Writing Center, Adjunct Professor
Post University, Waterbury, CT

-----Original Message-----
From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On
Behalf Of Crawford, June
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 11:45 AM
To: Assessment at nifl.gov
Subject: [Assessment 482] GED and College Admissions

For many years prior to my employment with the federal government, I
directed a university learning center that offered developmental classes,
ran the university's placement testing program, and offered tutoring, ESL
classes, and services for those with learning disabilities and other
physical disabilities.  Over a 20 year period I saw the test results for at
least 15,000 students and I can say without any doubt that having a GED was
NOT a guarantee that an entering student had the reading, writing, or math
skills that were required as the basic skills before attempting
college-level classes.  We saw many adults enter college with a GED who had
large gaps between what we anticipated would be the skill level of high
school graduates and those who just passed high school with minimum skill
levels.  And, unfortunately, we saw many of them leave college in academic
difficulty - and with debts for tuition. (I was the person, in the end, who
interviewed all these people and had to send the final letters of
dismissal.)

Adults who wish to go on for more education need to be advised that having a
piece of paper that says you have a high school diploma is not sufficient.
There are basic skills and then there are more advanced skills and the
person who will be successful at the college level has to be able to perform
competently from the beginning.  Just as about 1/3 of high school graduates
are not ready for the level of work required at a college, the GED does not
adequately prepare most students.  If we could connect jobs to skill levels
and make this clear to students and parents and employers and employees,
this would be a real boon to the American economy and school system.

Perhaps it is time to consider levels of readiness and make it clear to high
school students and to adults in adult education that there are varying
levels depending on the end goal.  People need to know how they need to be
able to perform for the goals they set for themselves.  Paper just doesn't
do it; performance is the key to success. 
June Crawford
-------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Assessment mailing list
Assessment at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment