We're
still trying to figure out how to give that GED Ready™ test with extra
time. We think we have finally printed all the questions that might
come up on either version of the test, so now, the student logs in and
we figure out which version it is, then the student takes the test on
paper using the copies of the questions we've printed, then the student
logs back in and records their answers. So it looks like they took the
test in 5 or 10 minutes, but really, the examiner was timing them (with
extra time as approved by GEDTS® for the actual GED® test) while they took it on paper.
No word from GEDTS® regarding any kind of new test
development. Earlier, they indicated it would take months, and that's
after they decide to start the process.
The whole thing is crazy, not to mention unacceptable. It’s certainly not a valid approach to test-taking.
Following is a long summary of the problems we're having with the new GED® test.
For those of you in adult education who are dealing with this new test
and you have students with learning disabilities, it may be worth your
time to read on. If you're not working in adult ed and/or you don't
have students with learning disabilities, you should probably stop
reading right here...because there's a lot of problems.
While the GED Ready™ is my biggest concern at the moment, there are other concerns about the actual GED® test.
First, depending on the student’s score, they can either earn a high
school equivalency diploma or a college-readiness certificate. When the
new GED® test was released in January 2014, our adult
education centers began testing for the students who passed the GED
Ready™. A couple of months after the official test release, GED®
Testing Service sent out a notice that they were increasing the time on
the math portion of the test by twenty minutes. So, you can do that
after the test has been normed and validated? I’m thinking of the
students who took and passed the test with a score that got them their
high school equivalency diploma, but who MAY have been able to attain
the college readiness certificate if they’d had the same amount of time
on the math test that students get now.
Second, before the new GED® test was released, we were
told that it would include text-to-speech software as an accommodation
for students with disabilities who are approved for an audio format for
testing. This software is still not available. Pearson-Vue is supposed
to arrange for a reader to go to the testing center and read the test
to the student. This is not a standardized approach to testing, and it
decreases the independent functioning of the student with a disability
who is taking the test.
Furthermore, GED® Testing Service
has always said that a student must have a 15-pt. discrepancy on their
learning disabilities evaluation to request and receive an audio format
as an appropriate and effective testing accommodation. So far, we had
had no requests for a reader approved here in Arkansas – and one student
had a 40+-pt. discrepancy on his disability documentation.
Third, the new requests for accommodations forms for the GED® test are designed for the student to fill out themselves and submit directly to the GED® Testing
Service Accommodations Team. Page 2 of the request form for learning
disabilities has spaces to list each accommodation requested as well as a
rationale for each one. Our students don’t know how to write a
psychological rationale for accommodations; indeed, the psychologists
who have been evaluating students for learning disabilities this year
can’t even figure out what GED® Testing Service wants them to
write. One psychologist told me that the student’s request for
accommodations was denied because “there wasn’t enough information in
the narrative report.” That psychologist says he’s never seen any
testing service that requires the kind of detailed report required by
GED® Testing Service, and he can’t figure out what else he’s supposed to write.
One example of how difficult these request forms are to fill out was
during a presentation at the Learning Disabilities Association of
America 2014 Conference in Anaheim, California by Dr. John Hostermann,
Director of Accessibility and Disability Services for Pearson VUE &
GED® Testing Service. In that presentation, Dr. Hostermann
said that a student can’t request “extra time,” or even “double time.”
They must request “standard time plus 25%” or “standard time plus 50%,”
etc. or the request will be automatically denied. The rationale for
that request, assuming the student wrote it correctly, must include
information tied directly to the narrative report included with the
psychological evaluation that documents the learning disability.
What student can do that? It’s like GED® Testing Service is setting up the student for an automatic denial of accommodations.
If a testing service like Pearson-Vue is going to allow accommodations on the GED® test, they must make those accommodations available on both the GED® test
and the GED Ready™. Furthermore, they can’t make it so hard to ask for
and receive accommodations that nobody can figure out how to do it, not
even professional psychologists.
Patti White
Disabilities Project Manager, AALRC
GED Ready test
No word from GEDTS® regarding any kind of new test development. Earlier, they indicated it would take months, and that's after they decide to start the process.
The whole thing is crazy, not to mention unacceptable. It’s certainly not a valid approach to test-taking.
Following is a long summary of the problems we're having with the new GED® test. For those of you in adult education who are dealing with this new test and you have students with learning disabilities, it may be worth your time to read on. If you're not working in adult ed and/or you don't have students with learning disabilities, you should probably stop reading right here...because there's a lot of problems.
While the GED Ready™ is my biggest concern at the moment, there are other concerns about the actual GED® test.
First, depending on the student’s score, they can either earn a high school equivalency diploma or a college-readiness certificate. When the new GED® test was released in January 2014, our adult education centers began testing for the students who passed the GED Ready™. A couple of months after the official test release, GED® Testing Service sent out a notice that they were increasing the time on the math portion of the test by twenty minutes. So, you can do that after the test has been normed and validated? I’m thinking of the students who took and passed the test with a score that got them their high school equivalency diploma, but who MAY have been able to attain the college readiness certificate if they’d had the same amount of time on the math test that students get now.
Second, before the new GED® test was released, we were told that it would include text-to-speech software as an accommodation for students with disabilities who are approved for an audio format for testing. This software is still not available. Pearson-Vue is supposed to arrange for a reader to go to the testing center and read the test to the student. This is not a standardized approach to testing, and it decreases the independent functioning of the student with a disability who is taking the test.
Furthermore, GED® Testing Service has always said that a student must have a 15-pt. discrepancy on their learning disabilities evaluation to request and receive an audio format as an appropriate and effective testing accommodation. So far, we had had no requests for a reader approved here in Arkansas – and one student had a 40+-pt. discrepancy on his disability documentation.
Third, the new requests for accommodations forms for the GED® test are designed for the student to fill out themselves and submit directly to the GED® Testing Service Accommodations Team. Page 2 of the request form for learning disabilities has spaces to list each accommodation requested as well as a rationale for each one. Our students don’t know how to write a psychological rationale for accommodations; indeed, the psychologists who have been evaluating students for learning disabilities this year can’t even figure out what GED® Testing Service wants them to write. One psychologist told me that the student’s request for accommodations was denied because “there wasn’t enough information in the narrative report.” That psychologist says he’s never seen any testing service that requires the kind of detailed report required by GED® Testing Service, and he can’t figure out what else he’s supposed to write.
One example of how difficult these request forms are to fill out was during a presentation at the Learning Disabilities Association of America 2014 Conference in Anaheim, California by Dr. John Hostermann, Director of Accessibility and Disability Services for Pearson VUE & GED® Testing Service. In that presentation, Dr. Hostermann said that a student can’t request “extra time,” or even “double time.” They must request “standard time plus 25%” or “standard time plus 50%,” etc. or the request will be automatically denied. The rationale for that request, assuming the student wrote it correctly, must include information tied directly to the narrative report included with the psychological evaluation that documents the learning disability.
What student can do that? It’s like GED® Testing Service is setting up the student for an automatic denial of accommodations.
If a testing service like Pearson-Vue is going to allow accommodations on the GED® test, they must make those accommodations available on both the GED® test and the GED Ready™. Furthermore, they can’t make it so hard to ask for and receive accommodations that nobody can figure out how to do it, not even professional psychologists.
Patti White
Disabilities Project Manager, AALRC