As I understand John Tyler's study, the signalling effect of the GED tends 
to benefit those who are least educated and minority. These achievers 
enjoy higher wage earnings (although still probably at poverty-level) for 
three years after release from prison. Is that such a negative finding? 
Should we expect the GED to be the "magic bullet" that solves the myriad 
of issues facing individuals returning to society: addictions, 
homelessness/renegotiating relationships with family, dangerous 
associations from the past, etc.?  For me the take away points from John's 
study are: (a) emphasizing quality foundational literacy learning prior to 
GED credentialing programs, and (b) then providing adequate postsecondary 
programs (e.g., AA degrees in vocational/technology) to enable newly 
released people to find meaningful, entry-level skilled work. The GED is 
not the problem. It's just not a panacea either.
-Bill
 
 




Barbara Garner <b.garner4 at verizon.net> 
Sent by: povertyracewomen-bounces at nifl.gov
11/28/2006 04:56 PM
Please respond to
b.garner4 at verizon.net; Please respond to
"The Poverty, Race,     Women and Literacy Discussion List" 
<povertyracewomen at nifl.gov>


To
Daphne Greenberg <ALCDGG at langate.gsu.edu>, PovertyRaceWomen at nifl.gov
cc

Subject
[PovertyRaceWomen 74] Re: economic impact of earning a GED while        in 
prison






I remember this article well, because the findings are so disheartening 
for educators. An extensive query about the methodology was conducted, but 
it couldn't be faulted. 

I'm very interested in the "why"-- is the stigma of prison outweighing the 
usually positive (albeit small) effects of the GED?

Do minorities show a slight earnings gain because they start with such low 
earnings?
Does anyone have any insights ?
Barb Garner
Editor, Focus on Basics
=====================
From: Daphne Greenberg <ALCDGG at langate.gsu.edu>
Date: 2006/11/28 Tue PM 01:55:10 CST
To: PovertyRaceWomen at nifl.gov
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 72] economic impact of earning a GED while in   
prison

On the Focus on Basics list, Julie McKinney, the list moderator posted 
another article which may be of interest to some of you:
What are the Economic Effects of Earning a GED in Prison?
http://www.ncsall.net/?id=822 
In case you don't feel like reading the whole article, the aspect that I 
think is of interest to this listserv is that the study looked at the 
differences of the economic impact of earning a GED while in prison, 
between white and nonwhite ex-offenders: ?Among racial and ethnic minority 
offenders * primarily African Americans with a smaller number of Hispanics 
* we found about a 20 percent increase in the earnings among GED holders 
relative to non-GED holders in the first post-release year. This effect 
declined in the second year and by the third year it fell away to 
basically zero,? explains Tyler. ?We found that, for white offenders, 
there was no difference in the post-release earnings or employment for 
individuals who got a GED versus those who did not.? 

Any thoughts/reactions?
Daphne


Daphne Greenberg
Assistant Professor
Educational Psych. & Special Ed.
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3979
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3979
phone: 404-651-0127
fax:404-651-4901
dgreenberg at gsu.edu

Daphne Greenberg
Associate Director
Center for the Study of Adult Literacy
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3977
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3977
phone: 404-651-0127
fax:404-651-4901
dgreenberg at gsu.edu

----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy mailing list
PovertyRaceWomen at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen

----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy mailing list
PovertyRaceWomen at nifl.gov
To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to 
http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/povertyracewomen/attachments/20061129/4563120c/attachment.html