A Second Chance with a GED?
By Deborah Williams
Approximately 70 years ago, the General Education Diploma Test was developed for World War II veterans to test them in reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. It was meant to replace the need for a high school diploma so that those veterans would be able to apply for a job or enroll in college. Claudio Sanchez, writer for NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, reports on his investigation of the value of a GED in this tough economy. The article, the first in a series that will feature stories about five actual GED holders in the coming weeks, notes that there are varying opinions, but the consensus seems to be that the GED is not worth much in this economy. Sanchez reports: “The latest research, however, shows that people with GEDs are, in fact, no better off than dropouts when it comes to their chances of getting a good job.”
Today’s GED candidates are looking for a second chance after dropping out of high school. However, when they do earn their GEDs, often, the outcomes are not very good.
One problem is that it doesn’t prepare them for their prospective employers’ expectations. Many of them are unable to get minimum wage jobs with a GED. Unfortunately, a GED does not suggest that the holder has perseverance and tenacity, qualities that are not demonstrated when a student drops out of school. Sanchez quotes Russell Rumberger, an author and a professor of education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who said, “A high school diploma means you went to school for four years, did the work, passed the classes and didn’t quit. A GED, on the other hand, is a shortcut.”
Many hope that a GED will be a gateway to a higher education. The reality is that “only one in ten GED recipients earns a college degree.”
The need to better prepare its recipients for higher education is one of the reasons that in 2014, there will be two GED tests—one “that’s aligned with more rigorous high school standards, the other more attuned to career and college readiness.” Nicole Chestange, vice president of the GED Testing Service, says, “We are developing a GED test in the future which will point toward more information for employers and colleges and individuals about the basic skills that they have and at what level they have mastered them.”
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Helping College Students Graduate on Time
By Deborah Williams
Almost everyone would agree that having your child graduate from college probably improves his or her chances for a good career, and graduating on time or early is beneficial to parents and their children in many ways. That’s why a 14-member task force from the University of Texas at Austin met for more than six months to hear from students, faculty advisers, and other universities to determine the things that help students to complete their college requirements on time. Caralee Adams, reporter for the College Bound blog on Education Week website, reports in her post “Texas Proposes Plan for Students to Complete College on Time” that the College Board finds the following percentages for college completion in the United States:
- 50% (approximately) earn a degree within four years
- 75% earn their degrees within five years
- 80% earn their degrees within six years
The task force’s goal is to encourage 70 percent of the University’s “undergraduates to earn their degrees within four years by 2016” by encouraging the officials to implement 60 recommendations. Some of them will be implemented right away while others will be phased in over time. Several of the ideas are things that all parents of freshmen should encourage as well:
- Helping students commit to a major and avoid adding a second major;
- Identifying courses with limited space that makes it difficult for students to get the needed credits for graduation;
- Providing mandatory academic support (e.g. tutoring, academic counseling) for freshmen receiving financial aid (Parents should have an academic support plan made at the start of the school year for their children by exploring options that are available on the campus, tutoring support, such as an online tutor service.)
- Requiring all first-year students live in university housing in their first year.
Also, the task force recommends that the tuition will increase “for students who have not graduated despite earning more than the required number of credits.” Parents would do well to make their college students aware of this consequence and monitor their children’s earned credits. More information on the task force’s recommendations can be found at its website: UT Grad Rates
In this challenging economic climate, helping students graduate on time is a laudable goal that benefits all involved parties.
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Just Because You Dont Have Kids in School Does Not Mean You Dont Benefit
By Deborah Williams
Citizens who do not have children in school often complain that their tax money should not go to public education, but a recent study described on the Science Daily website indicates that people who have no children in schools benefit from the public schools in their community. Lead researcher on this study was sociologist, Zachary Neal. He and the rest of his team found that when people liked their communities, their neighborhood schools were quality schools. They believe that there are a couple of reasons for this:
- The school provides a number of amenities for the community (e.g., “adult education courses, after-hours computer labs, workout facilities, auditorium space for churches” and other community groups).
- Having public schools in the neighborhood promotes strong problem-solving relationships within the community. They are more likely to work together to take care of things like repairing streetlights, plowing streets, or reducing crime.
As this country’s early politicians realized, schools benefit students, but an educated nation benefits our society as well.
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Lack of Research Skills in High Schools Cause Problems in College
By Deborah Williams
A bastion of the high school experience has fallen by the wayside in some school districts. Students are not being required to write a research paper during their high school years. Tara Malone, reporter for The Chicago Tribune writes that many teachers are requiring shorter papers and allowing students to present research findings in presentations. One major reason for this change: Larger classes make this process too cumbersome for teachers.
The problem is that many of these students have a lot of trouble when they enter college where their lack of research and writing skills keep them from succeeding.
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High School Dropouts Bear the Biggest Unemployment Burden
By Deborah Williams
In this tough economy, many people are still unemployed. Some of the unemployed have college degrees or high school diplomas, or they are high-school dropouts. Andrew Eichler, business writer for The Huffington Post, reports in the article “More Than Half of Older High School Dropouts Not Employed Today” that, according to The Wall Street Journal, “more than half of the high school dropouts in American America above age 25 are currently out of work.” They have the highest unemployment rates:
· For college graduates – 4.2%
· For high school graduates – 8.4%
· For high school dropouts – 13.1%
The overall unemployment rate is 8.3%.
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Video Game to Teach Math and Improves Test Scores
By Deborah Williams
Paul Takahashi, writer for The Las Vegas Sun, describes in the article “Schools Seeing Improvement in Math Scores as Students Play Video Game” the remarkable success of a math program that several local schools have used. ST Math, a computer software application developed by Mind Research Institute, “teaches abstract math concepts using visual animations and games.” The results of a five-year pilot that began with seven of the lowest performing schools in the Clark County School District grew to 32 schools, with more than 10,000 students participating this year. The report finds that “schools using ST Math had more than doubled the percentage of students meeting or exceeding math standards on the state-mandated Criterion Referenced Test, compared with schools without the program, according to Mind Research.”
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Some College Students Struggle Because of Undetected Reading Difficulties
By Deborah Williams
A recent article on the Science Daily website was particularly interesting because most of us know of a promising student who struggled with or dropped out of college. Many times, it was not the result of too much partying either. A University of Alberta researcher suggests that “it is likely that some of these students may have undetected reading comprehension difficulties.” The results of screening 400 students at the University of Alberta show that five percent of them had reading difficulties. These students could read fluently, but often, they were not able to make meaning of what they read.
He makes the following suggestions for these students:
1.) Make a mental map by writing down the main idea of a paragraph.
2.) Read a variety of texts beyond the classroom tasks to enhance the knowledge base.
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Slacking Seniors Invite Unwelcome Surprise
By Deborah Williams
Martha C. Merrill, dean of admission and financial aid at Connecticut College, recently penned a blog post “A Dean’s Advice to Seniors: Don’t Slack Off” on the New York Times blog, The Choice. Merrill offers advice for high seniors for their last semester of high school.
- Remember that colleges expect the same level of performance that is recorded on a student’s application.
- Colleges will require final grades if you are accepted, so don’t believe that colleges care only about the first half of senior year performance.
- Use your senior year to practice effective study techniques. The senior year is really the transition year to prepare for life in college.
- Students who slack off might have to explain a significant drop in performance. A significant drop could mean that the college will revoke an offer of admission.
- You may attract negative attention from the dean of freshmen when performance drops in senior year
- Acceptable behavior and good citizenship are important to college acceptance even if academic performance is good.
Parents might want to share this with their children who may be suffering from a case of “senioritis.”
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States Mandate More Creativity in Schools
By Deborah Williams
Recent budget cuts have forced the reduction or elimination of extra-curricular activities in schools. However, several states are considering legislation that would require schools to foster creativity among their students. Responding to growing concerns of business leaders, lawmakers are considering how to gauge how much schools are providing opportunities that foster creativity among their students.
According to a recent article “States Mulling Creativity Indexes for Schools” on Education Week by Erik W. Robelen, lawmakers in Massachusetts, California, and Oklahoma are working to create indexes that will measure whether schools are promoting more than rote memorization of facts. In Massachusetts, legislation considers things like “arts education, debate clubs, science fairs, filmmaking, and independent research” as examples of activities that foster creativity. Their hope is that promoting student creativity will be a springboard of innovation in the future.
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Online Tutoring in Public Schools
By Deborah Williams
An online software program for beginning readers is being used in a hard-to-staff public school in New York City. According to his article, “Sharing a Computer Screen, if Not a Classroom,” New York Times writer Kyle Spencer describes the interaction between a first grader and his online tutor who is about an hour away working with him from her desk during her lunch hour.
P.S. 55 is testing this remote tutoring program in all of its first-grade classes. The remote tutor and student share the screen, but the tutor has complete control of what the child sees. They interact in real time and speak via telephone. The software, created by Seth Weinberger of Innovations for Learning is being tested in under-performing classes in Chicago, Detroit, Miami, and Washington.
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