A TOUGH TEST FOR NEW GED:

By Caitlin Emma, With help from Allie Grasgreen, Maggie Severns and Stephanie Simon | Politico Morning Ed | by email

2 Sept 2014  ::  High school dropouts seeking an equivalency degree have been struggling with the revised GED exam, launched Jan. 1 as a profit-making joint venture between publishing giant Pearson and nonprofit American Council on Education. The pass rate on the old GED hovered around 72 percent and dipped only slightly after the last major revision to the exam in 2002. The new exam, aligned to the Common Core, is meant to be much harder - and indeed, just 53 percent of test-takers have passed. Most have gotten tripped up on the math section, which includes more algebra and word problems, according to CT Turner, senior director of state accounts for the GED Testing Service. The good news: About 80 percent of people who fail the math section "are just two to three right answers away from passing, so it's not a hopeless cause," Turner said. The GED Testing Service is analyzing the concepts that have proven most tricky and plans to help adult education teachers hone in on those subjects.

- The new test is not only harder, it's also more expensive, with exam fees of up to $120, plus $30 to retake a section. (Some states subsidize the exam costs, so the actual cost to students varies.) Students appear quite wary of giving it a go. Through the end of July, just 105,000 students had taken the new GED. In a typical year, 750,000 students take the test. Turner said a steep drop was expected because of the format change - but even so, the numbers have been disappointing, he said. "We've seen a lot of anxiety from adult learners and from education centers," Turner said. "I think we have a lot of work to do."

ALSO:

THE LATEST TENURE TALK: California Gov. Jerry Brown late last week appealed a judge’s final decision that struck down certain job protections for teachers and challenged tenure in the Golden State. Attorney General Kamala Harris filed the appeal on Friday in a Los Angeles County court, the Associated Press reports [http://bit.ly/1A0vUvl]. Here’s a refresher of the judge’s final decision from Maggie Severns: http://politico.pro/1n3zXRX.

 

 

Judge sets up battle over teacher protections

Politico ‎- 4 days ago

By MAGGIE SEVERNS | 8/28/14 9:34 PM EDT Updated: 8/29/14 4:23 PM EDT. A Los Angeles judge on Thursday affirmed a tentative June ruling that struck ...