Hi. I'd like to add my two-cents to the discussion about the need to help students get their GED quickly.

I'm on a local shellfish committee looking for wardens to check out the clam flats.  When I asked what the requirements were for being a warden, I was told they needed to have a GED or high school diploma.  This struck me so I asked why. I was told that the warden would have to send in periodic reports based on his/her findings so s/he needed "at least a GED."

I worry about the disconnect between our teaching just to the test (in writing, for example, the test requires students to write an "essay") and what the broader community and business people are expecting our adult learners to be able to do once they have a GED (such as write short reports, but rarely an "essay"). 

Are we explicit in the skills that we're teaching so that students can actually use what they've learned after they pass their GED?? Do we give them opportunities to transfer their learning from the workbook (or computer) to real-life situations so they know how to use different skills in different situations?  


Donna

Donna Curry
Center for Literacy Studies
University of Tennessee
("branch office" - Westport Island, Maine)
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