With federal changes planned for the General Education Diploma, or GED, Maine adult education programs do not yet know what next year will bring for the high school equivalency test.
For-profit testing company Pearson Vue partnered with the nonprofit GED Testing Service to introduce a new test in January that meets common core standards designed to ensure career and college readiness, according to information from Pearson Vue.
The new test will need to be taken on a computer.
As the cost for the test has increased, and with the elimination of the paper test, many states are considering an alternative testing company to administer high school equivalency exams, and some, like New Hampshire, have announced they are going to use a different testing service.
Maine is still exploring the options.
State Director of the Office of Adult Education and Family Literacy, Gail Senese, said the state intends to go out for a request for proposals to seek bids from testing centers. Depending on which company the state chooses, the new state high school equivalency test could include a pen and paper, but she said she’s not sure when that will be determined.
“There’s an air of uncertainty right now,” said David Durkee, director of Old Orchard Beach/Saco Adult and Community Education.
Durkee said he has concerns that a computer test might not be accessible to all adult learners. He also is concerned that a testing model with a solely computerized test would cause his center to lose the personal contact with students that has made the program so successful.
Senese said a computer test would have to be administered at an approved testing center, and not online. She said should the state move to a computer test, there still would be the same level of teaching and support. She said, however, there would be more emphasis on improving computer literacy skills for people who aren’t comfortable with computers and incorporating computers more in class work, such as using a calculator on a computer and typing assignments.
Paulette Bonneau, director of adult education in Biddeford, said not everyone is proficient in computers, and she would like to see a test with both a computer and paper option.
“I would hate to see that be a barrier for students gaining their GED and moving forward with whatever direction they’re choosing for their life,” said Bonneau.
As school districts across the state are still finalizing budgets for the upcoming school year, Bonneau said the sooner she and other educators know the state decision, the better, so they can plan for the costs necessary for technology upgrades and make any changes needed to become an approved testing center.
The new GED will have fewer multiple choice and more short-answer questions than the current GED, and will have more questions testing reasoning and critical thinking, said Senese.
Bonneau said the current test was instituted in 2001.
“A lot has changed in education since then,” she said.
In order to obtain a GED, one must pass proficiency tests in five subjects: Math, reading, writing, social studies and science.
Adult education centers such as those run by Bonneau and Durkee are urging people who have passed some of the components to finish the test by December, as it will not carry over into the new year.
“It’s completely wiped out,” said Bonneau. “You’ve got to start from scratch.”
In Maine, students don’t have to pay for the high school equivalency test, and Sensee said that practice will continue.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.
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