Starting this January, the GED will no longer be just a test; it will evolve into a program promising to give adult learners a fighting chance to go to college or find a better job with better wages.
Last month, GED Testing Service officially previewed the new 2014 GED Program to the media. The new test is receiving some interesting feedback (see The Washington Post and Education Week stories).
Starting this January, the GED Test is rolling out the first-of-its-kind program aiming to give adult learners the help needed to prepare them for 21st century jobs. The new program is more than just a test. It's a comprehensive, start-to-finish program that aims to give adults a fighting chance to go to college or find a better job with better wages.
GED also bills the program as a one-stop resource for adult education needs, including:
• An individualized roadmap that supports a test-taker from preparation through testing and onto college or the workforce, including assistance navigating the college financial aid process
• Online resources to help test-takers determine career pathways suited to their strengths and passions
• An official practice test that shows test-takers their strengths and where they need to improve
• A mobile-friendly platform to prepare, register, and check test scores
• The only high school equivalency test fully aligned from day one to the College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education recommended by the U.S. Department of Education
¢ Easy, same-day access to test scores
We listened to feedback from our students, educators and the business community and built the test from the ground up to give them a program to meet the challenges and needs of today's higher education and workforce,┬" said Randy Trask, president, GED Testing Services.
This new GED comes with one especially interesting component: a transcript.
The smart transcript,┬" as GED Testing Services is calling it, contains links to detailed information about the content tested and explains what the scores mean. Previously, test takers either passed or failed with no insight into their strengths or weaknesses. With the new transcript, a test taker can potentially obtain a GED with honors score indicating college and career readiness level. This detailed transcript may help higher education admissions and registration professionals better assist and enroll students who carry a GED certificate.