You will go to college: moving GED students through the education pipeline
The learner has crossed an important academic milestone that was years or decades in the making. He is elated, and so are you. She can reach for a better job, provide more for her family, read to her children. The future is brighter. Learners usually put a period at the end of that scene. Education complete. Back to life. Adult education administrators and teachers celebrate, too, but they put a comma after “I passed.” They want this achievement to be just a step in the students’ path to postsecondary education. At a recent GED administrator’s conference, Debi Faucette, director of the Division of Dropout Prevention, Adult and Family Services in Louisiana; Karen Liersch, deputy associate superintendent for Adult Education Services in Arizona; and Johan Uvin, director of the Rhode Island Office of Adult and Career and Technical Education, discussed how they change that punctuation in the minds of their students and—just as importantly—their staffs. They have numerous ways of addressing a question vital to adult educators and learners alike: how do you encourage students to make the transition to post-secondary education? Make it a mantra “Our department’s mission is to create a world-class education system for all students,” she says, “and that includes our adult learners. Part of the delivery of that world-class system for our adult learners begins with our vision to have them see beyond their immediate goal of a GED.” “This is our mantra for every meeting and for our big summer institute we have for all our adult education providers,” she says. “We preach the same message at our three supervisor meetings throughout the year. We want them to keep this in the back of their minds with everything they do.” Students also hear the same message again and again. The message they receive is straightforward: You will go to college. “We want them to hear this from everyone, to plant the seed in their minds early and keep encouraging them that they can go beyond this credential to more post-secondary education.” Develop partnerships “When you have a student who is taking the GED, you should make contact with the local community colleges and technical schools,” Faucette says. “Tell them about the student, give them his or her name and ask them to contact the student.” Ultimately, she hopes that adult education can become a feeder system for community and technical schools. “We have to keep promoting this, keep planting the seed,” she says. “We know what we want to accomplish, but we are not there yet. We only have traction with that in some areas.” Take a panoramic look “We should see adult education as an integral part of workforce development,” she says. “We have to do the best we can for each student, but we also have to work toward what is best for the entire state. Workforce development improves life for everyone in the state, including that learner.” Leave the duct tape and band-aids behind “The taskforce made recommendations that will totally revise how we deliver adult education in our state,” says KAREN LIERSCH. “Four counties have applied to conduct pilot programs to test this new vision. In those counties, instructional programs and testing centers have agreed to collaboratively work together to build a reframed system within a year and a half.” Liersch says the GED testing system in Arizona has historically existed in isolation from the instructional side of the house. GED examiners didn’t see themselves as part of the adult education system; they were just about giving exams. “Some 20,000 adults take the GED exam in Arizona each year,” Liersch says, “and the state has a 70 percent pass rate. Most of these candidates want to test immediately. However, by their own admission, once they pass the exam, they don’t know what to do with it. Also, of the 20,000 we test each year, only 2,000 come from instructional programs, which offer more comprehensive support and transition services.”
“All learners in the four pilot counties are going through a comprehensive experience,” she says. “It begins with a universal orientation process where they learn about their career aptitudes and their learning styles. They also work together in groups to explore career options, visit a one-stop center, a community college, and a GED testing center. Additionally, they receive training in college study skills and college aid and learn how to work in teams with other students.” “Then each person takes a GED pre-test. If they are ready for the GED exam, they take it. If not, they know what they need to do to prepare. If they need to apply for testing accommodations, the application process can begin during orientation with the guidance of local staff.” “The pilot programs are ‘front-end loading.’ This places both learning and testing within a bigger, more relative, context for the learner. Instead of placing the learner into an instructional system or a testing system, the pilot programs are combining the separate systems to create a greater array of components that can be combined, as appropriate, to work for each learner. It’s a much more customer-centric approach to doing business.” It’s a big change, a comprehensive program rather than a fragmented one. “What is interesting is that the adult customer (including the GED candidate) doesn’t have a problem with this,” Liersch says. In fact, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from the learners. It’s the professionals in the system who are resisting change. Test your ideas, not just your students Liersch says the first year report on the ASE reframing pilot projects will be produced later this fiscal year and a final report late in 2009. Give it time At that time, examiners said ‘none of this applies to us. Why do we have to be involved in this?’ Liersch says it has taken three years to change the mental model of the once-segregated examiners, but now a majority of the state’s examiners see themselves as part of adult education and their jobs as more than testing. The lesson here is that GED examiners must be at the table through the entire process. They must participate just as actively as everyone else. They are an important member of the education community. “Major systematic change doesn’t happen in a year or two,” says Liersch. “We all learn differently, and some people don’t get it until the third or fourth year. And with the unique dynamics within each of the various organizations in the state, each professional is looking at things from a different perspective, and may not always be ready to hear what we are saying. You have to give it time.” Make it personal “Upon registration for the GED exam, we ask students if they would allow us to make their name available to the admissions office at the public community college,” says Uvin. “When they pass the test, we automatically make that available. The student then receives a personalized letter from an admissions officer inviting him or her to come to the admissions office and learn about opportunities for post-secondary education. If the student doesn‘t contact the office, the admissions office follows up with the student via phone.” The process was initiated a year ago. Uvin says they have not yet conducted an analysis of how many students have enrolled through this process, but says they do have anecdotal evidence that suggests it has been successful. Provide financial support Designed to provide financial support to students who can only afford to take one course per semester, Uvin says this aid has considerably increased the number of transitions into post-secondary education. Streamline whenever possible It is part of the process of seeing adult education in a whole new light. “We no longer view the GED as the credential that defines the ultimate outcome for participants in adult education programs,” he says. “We have chosen completion of post-secondary education or training that leads to at least a certificate as the minimum objective we are after.” Uvin says while none of their transition to college initiatives are specific to a given industry sector, they hope to look into that possibility, and expand some small-scale demonstrations in sectors where there are high-demand jobs. Is all of this easy? “This all takes a lot of time and a lot of energy,” Faucette says. “For every 10 times you meet with someone, you might move forward one time. You have to do a lot of talking to make people understand. But you just have to go into it knowing that if you talk to 10 people, you might get traction with one of them. It will ultimately be worth it.” Is it essential? “Economic realities have changed,” says Uvin. “Members from prior generations were able with a high school credential (diploma or GED) to sustain their families and at least achieve the middle-class American Dream of home ownership. That is no longer the case. The first indicator of this was that it now requires two earners to sustain a family. Now with the transition to a knowledge and innovation economy, studies indicate at least one year of college (in courses completed, not seat time) is the minimum needed so that subsequent employment will result in economic self sufficiency.” |
IT’S AN ICONIC SCENE
In LOUISIANA, DEBI FAUCETTE
Faucette says the only way she believes students will actually start seeing the GED credential this way is for there to be solid partnerships between administrators and educators at adult education programs and those in community colleges, technical schools, and four-year colleges.
That has changed for students in the pilot projects.
“We made an investment to continue and further test a program model initially developed with funding from the Nellie Mae Educational Foundation (a regional foundation) as part of the New England Transition to College Initiative,” Uvin says. “The initiative in its first year attracted 100-120 individuals. In addition, we have now an endowed financial aid program through a partnership with the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority. This program can support individuals by providing grants for tuition or other expenses.”