Tests, tests, tests. The General Educational Development testing program has lowered its minimum passing score by five points following test takers’ complaints that the test is too difficult, NPR reported Wednesday. This follows GED Testing Service reports that said around 90 percent less people passed the test in 2014 than in 2013, after the test was revamped to reflect new Common Core practices.
Pearson, everyone’s favorite publishing company, now runs the GED test. As a result, the nonprofit formerly run by the American Council for Education became a for-profit company. The cost of taking all four GED subject tests is currently $120, though some states offer it at a lower cost.
The GED used to be the only high school diploma certification test in the United States.
Due to its rising cost, however, NPR reported that at least 16 states have started to offer alternative tests.
Because the GED is still the most widely administered high school equivalency certification test, it seems logical that employers would prefer it over other, cheaper alternatives. It’s a more established, standardized way to measure knowledge like the SAT.
And with that value in mind, although passing should certainly be a priority, lowering the GED test’s passing threshold devalues it, to a certain extend. It is not the rubric that should be amended, but the actual test itself.
However, a lower passing score may make it easier for people who couldn’t afford GED test prep classes to succeed. The job market is more competitive than ever, and if people want jobs, they’ll need to actually pass the GED test.
But if it’s easier to pass the GED test, people won’t be qualified to work in the real world. Lowering the minimum passing score mainly hurts test-takers. And that is where the central dilemma lies.
The GED test has garnered such a reputation for its difficulty that many teachers have even spoken out about it. The passing grade on a GED test is roughly equivalent to the level at which only 60 percent of high school students would pass. This means that those who pass the GED test would need to be smarter than the bottom 40 percent of high schoolers. Talk about a challenge.
Knowing facts is simply not enough to pass, either. The lower scores may also be influenced by the new GED test’s emphasis on essays, problem solving and Common Core standards. And while these may be important ideas for the future, the biggest problem with the test being modeled after Common Core is that it’s a relatively new concept. Test takers who dropped out of high school before Common Core standards were incorporated into curricula are at a disadvantage. They don’t know the test material, and it would require extensive prep work for them to fully understand it.
Of course, it only makes sense that the tests would get harder — high school is getting more difficult every year as well. But favoring Common Core unfairly makes the test more difficult for adults who have almost no way of understanding it without taking GED test prep courses.
Requiring preparation courses for the GED test then raises the broader issue of teaching to the test. Those who can afford preparation courses will most likely do better than those who cannot.
No matter the test’s difficulty, states should make it as easy as possible for people to take the GED test. It’s hard to go wrong with more educated people around.
If there were a 90 percent decrease in the SAT passing rate as there was with the GED test, the middle-class adolescents of the world would likely throw the country into turmoil. People don’t care about GED test passing rates because it’s not a priority for people in higher social classes. There’s little sympathy for the disadvantaged.
The difference between the SAT and the GED test is that the SAT is taken by people who can aspire to go to college. People who take the GED test most likely won’t take the SAT and might never apply to college. In short, those who take the SAT are generally more privileged than those who take the GED test.
People who can afford the GED test are the probably the ones who need it least. It’s more beneficial for impoverished people with the potential to succeed and improve their standing in society.
Test-taking is the “Great American Tradition.” This is only the most recent installment in the United States’ long test-taking debate. That’s because testing is an easy way to create a divide in the education system and benefit those who rule it. And in this country, that’s only further apparent.
