The GED Is Changing: Evidence Suggests GED Prep Courses Should Change Too

In January 2014, a new GED is coming to town. The revamped General Educational Development (GED) test is designed to be a “springboard for more education, training, and better-paying jobs.” In the United States, nearly 40 million adults lack a high school diploma. Of these adults, less than two percent actually take the GED exam and just one percent pass it. Even those who do pass the GED face long odds in the labor market. Timely and encouraging findings from Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) shed light on one way to change the course of these unfortunate trends: improve GED instruction. In “Enhancing GED Instruction to Prepare Students for College and Careers,” authors Vanessa Martin and Joseph Broadus find that a new GED prep program increases the likelihood of passing the GED and enrolling in college.

MDRC randomly assigned 369 students at La Guardia Community College, part of the City of New York’s network of community colleges, to receive either business-as-usual “GED Prep” or re-vamped GED training, “GED Bridge.” The latter was designed to connect GED training beyond the test and to careers. The random assignment design of this evaluation improves the chance that differences between the outcomes of the groups can be attributed to the type of GED preparation they received, and not to other characteristics of the group members (e.g., race, socioeconomic status).

GED Prep participants received a standard GED textbook and enrolled in a 60-hour, nine-week course taught by a part-time professor who was paid for in-class instructional time only. GED Bridge participants used a variety of curriculum materials designed to teach “beyond the test” and support career development in health and business. Full-time instructors conducted 108 lessons over 12 weeks for GED Bridge participants. These students also had access to career counseling.

To qualify for the study, participants had to score at or above a seventh grade reading level, be over 18-years-old, and have an income below 200 percent of the poverty level. Qualified individuals then applied to participate in the study through an interview and writing sample gauging their interest in the project. Notably, this suggests that all individuals enrolled in the study were motivated enough to complete the application process and may not be representative of the larger GED-seeking population.

The results are promising: Over two-thirds (68 percent) of students participating in GED Bridge completed the course, compared to less than half of the GED Prep participants (47 percent). On test day, these same students were more likely to pass the actual exam. Over half of the GED Bridge students (53 percent) passed the exam within a year of entering the study, while just 22 percent of GED Prep students did so. Subsequently, GED Bridge students enrolled in college at higher rates. Within a year of the program, just seven percent of GED Prep students ended up enrolling in college, while 25 percent of GED Bridge participants enrolled.

Interviews with GED Bridge instructors, focus group discussions with GED Bridge students, and classroom observations, shed light on the program methods that likely contributed to these trends. GED Bridge made learning meaningful by grounding it in useful, real-world material. For example, courses emphasized core concepts from business and health fields, occupations identified as having clear professional growth opportunities in New York and Chicago. GED Bridge also hired and rewarded high-quality teachers and provided access to career advisors. Full-time, qualified staff led instruction and received compensation for their in-class and out-of-class prep time. GED Bridge students remained engaged with the program, calling their GED Bridge class their “family.”

To corroborate these findings, researchers should continue to track the outcomes of these students and conduct a thorough cost-benefit analysis of both GED Prep and GED Bridge programs. Still, with imminent GED test changes only months ahead, over 40 million adults who lack a diploma or GED credential, and a national goal of improved labor and educational attainment in our country, “these promising findings could hardly come at a better time.”

Feature Photo: cc/(Christopher Porter)