C. Do away with the law that prohibits test taking fees in NY state, and start recognizing other high school equivalency diplomas besides the TASC exam.
I realize that my stance on this probably won't be very popular, especially with test takers in New York, but please try to be open minded and hear my reasoning on this.
A large motivating factor for the state in switching to the TASC exam was that the cost is cheaper. However, the TASC exam is clearly very unpopular, and NY residents don't have any other choice.
Why not just let both tests coexist, and give the test taker the option to choose for themselves which one they want to take? This would put more of the burden on the test developers themselves to create better quality tests at lower prices for the consumers; the competition would be a great thing, even with the higher cost for the test taker individually.
Some might respond by saying that if the government doesn't cover the cost, then less test takers will be able to afford it. In reality though, I believe that making the test free is contributing to the lower pass rates in that test takers are more likely to go in with little to no preparation. Making test takers responsible for the cost to test themselves would incentive test takers to wait until they're properly prepared to test.
Let's not forget that we're talking about tough, smart, hard working people here. I've worked with some students before who were single parents working full-time jobs by day, and working second night shift jobs multiple times a week. These types of people are really not that uncommon in adult education; many do amazing things on a daily basis.
Believe me, I really hate the concept of making test takers pay for the test themselves, but it seems like the state is basically saying we'll pay for your test, but you have to take whatever test we want you to take.
NY residents deserve to be able to choose for themselves which high school equivalency test is the best match for their goals. I believe it would be more beneficial for the state to take a hands off approach with the high school equivalency tests; remember, the current system is not working, let's try something else!
D. Reward businesses and companies who create high-paying jobs for high school equivalency graduates
This could be done via tax relief, or by offering some other benefits. I'm 99% sure that if employers began offering significantly more high-paying positions (and high-paying is the key here) specifically for high school equivalency diploma holders, the pass rates would soar! This would really fire people up and give them the motivation they need to go out and successfully pass their tests!
Along these same lines, rewarding community colleges and 4 year universities for accepting more students who score exceptionally on their high school equivalency tests could also work.
Political activist Mike Klonsky published this post on his SmallTalk Blog in response to a recently published New York Times piece by David Leonhard titled Want to Fix Schools? Go to the Principal’s Office.
Politically, I disagree with Klonsky on many things, but I was pleasantly surprised to find some common ground here.
Leonhard's NYT piece states that Chicago's high school graduation rate is going up faster than the national average. His explanation for this is basically that having passionate principals in schools and a mayor who focuses on education in the city are the reason why the graduation rate is increasing. However, there's not much substance in Leonhard's piece to back this up.
Last week I talked a lot about the investigations into manipulations intended to boost rankings that are taking place in Florida schools right now. In many school districts in Florida, low performing and disadvantaged students have been pushed to leave public schools to attend alternative schools instead.
This benefits the public schools because their average standardized test scores go up as a result of the lowest scores being removed. Also, this decreases the dropout rate for the public schools.
If students then want to withdraw after transferring to an alternative school, the the alternative schools can simply write them off as "leaving to pursue adult education," which gets them out of recording the student as a dropout. There is virtually no tracking done after the students leave to ensure they actually complete the programs.
Since the data shows that the majority of those being pushed to leave public high schools are minorities, here's the argument I made last week:
"If minority students who withdraw from alternative schools can just be written off as pursuing adult education instead of being counted as dropouts, my guess is that this must be making the dropout rate for minorities in Florida look a lot better than what it is in reality...
I'd like to end this week's round up with a heartwarming and inspiring story! Brecknock Township Resident Ray Boynton, 68, is a veteran, husband, father, and a brilliant woodworker who passed the GED test!
Boynton spent many years as an adult learning how to read, and developing the skills needed to pass the test. Here's what his tutor said about him:
“For his birthday, I gave him a dictionary. He carried it to every tutoring session and faithfully looked up words about which he was unsure. We met every week for one and a half to two hours. He’s gained confidence along with his new skills.”
Boynton said this: “I wanted to be able to read to my grandchildren. If it weren’t for Carolyn [Boynton's tutor], I wouldn’t be able to read complex, technical directions for woodworking projects I do now."
Boynton spends his time during his retirement volunteering his craftsman skills at local nonprofits, and at the same library where he originally learned to read. Boynton makes custom toys for his library's auctions, and also makes shelves, among other things.
This concludes the Test Prep Champions' Adult Education & GED News Roundup for the week of Match 12th - March 18th! Thanks for reading it!
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