New
equivalency exam draws fewer
participants
Monday, July 26,
2004 • BY SIOBHAN McDONOUGH • ASSOCIATED
PRESS
WASHINGTON -- The new high
school equivalency examination, which demands more analysis
and has fewer multiple-choice answers, drew fewer
participants in its first year, but they passed at a
slightly higher rate than in the past, a review has
found.
The number who took the
General Educational Development program, or GED, dropped
43.6 percent in 2002, the first full year of the new test
series, according to the GED Testing Service report released
today. It said many GED candidates had rushed to take the
old test before new standards were implemented.
With the overhaul of the
GED, participants were required to complete the test series
before the end of 2001 or to start over with the 2002
series.
This requirement caused a
surge in test-takers to more than 1 million people in 2001
and a decline in those showing up to take the test a year
later.
"People who had partial
scores were rushing in to take the tests before the new
standards kicked in in 2002," said Joan Chikos Auchter,
executive director of the GED Testing Service.
The changes were prompted
by new K-12 education standards.
The GED has been testing
about 800,000 people a year for the past decade. About
500,000 passed each year.
In 2002, the number who
took at least part of the revised test was 603,019, down
from 1,069,899 in 2001.
Of the 510,451 who
completed the entire 2002 battery of tests, 360,444 -- or
70.6 percent -- passed.
The tests consist of exams
in reading, writing, mathematics, science and social
studies. The tests also measure communication and processing
information, solving problems and using critical thought
processes.
Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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