Are the GED Tests a High School Equivalency or a High School Alternative?

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11

Adolescents; Adult Education; Comparative Analysis; Dropout Prevention; Dropouts; Educational Attainment; Educational Certificates; Enrollment Trends; High School Equivalency Programs; High School Students; High Schools; Nontraditional Education; Student Certification

The General Educational Development (GED) Tests date from 1942, when the United States Armed Forces Institute designed a battery of tests to provide military personnel and veterans the opportunity to obtain a credential that demonstrated proficiency on par with high school graduates. Since World War II, the GED Tests have also been beneficial to civilian high school noncompleters. The majority of employers and educational institutions accept the GED as an equivalent of the high school diploma, but some question its legitimacy. The military has stopped treating the GED as the equivalent of a high school diploma, since GED graduates do not perform on the Armed Forces Qualifying Test as well as and have a higher dropout rate from military programs than traditional high school graduates. The 2002-series GED Tests reflect the impact of welfare-to-work legislation and increased emphasis on academic standards in the K-12 community. Due to the recent trend of "adolescentization" the GED has become an alternative to completing a traditional high school education for many teenage students. The GED Testing Service and state departments of education should strongly consider raising the minimum age to be eligible to take GED Tests to 18. Educators must strive to prevent students from leaving traditional high school programs to take GED Tests under the misconception that a GED credential is easier to gain. (YLB)

2002

ED465080