Hi folks:
I was catching up on the posts last night and wanted to make some
observations related to providing more than just test prep in GED
programs.  Many of you have identified very salient points and are doing
great things it sounds like.  

I'll just toss out some ideas in an email or two to keep the
conversation churning. 

The first one is on program retention. Adult education struggles with
persistence and retention issues, sometimes mightily.  I have seen the
research that speaks to the outside reasons (family, work, illness) that
students leave, but one that is not written about as much is that
students sometimes just get bored.   

If we consider just one large and growing population in adult education,
recent public school leavers (AKA drop outs), consider that one of the
main reasons they identify as for dropping out is that they were bored.
A Gates Foundation report last year (The Silent Epidemic)  found that: 

"nearly half (47 percent) said a major reason for dropping out was that
classes were not interesting. These young people reported being bored
and disengaged from high school. Almost as many (42 percent) spent time
with people who were not interested in school. These were among the top
reasons selected by those with high GPAs and by those who said they were
motivated to work hard."

The report found that 88% of high school leavers had passing grades; 70%
were confident they could have graduated; and 81% understood that
graduating was vital to their success. 

This being said, how can programs aim to provide anything BUT programs
that are engaging, relevant and have a future focus --on higher
education and work? 

As the respondents on this list have identified (I'm preaching to the
choir) there are multiple instructional reasons for providing a
"creative" GED class. As to the notion of performance, consider that if
students stay in class (because they are challenged and not bored),
performance should benefit.  I'm some ways, providing  GED "test prep"
tracks in programs only really seems to reinforce a message that the
program is delivering at 'just the minimum" ----prep for a test. It
seems that, at least for out of school youth, they are looking for much
more.

Saying that, I always thought there was great benefit in viewing
students as our customers ( we are providing a service after all).  Some
will come and are on a fast track to get somewhere, they really just
want to "take the test." They have their mind set on another goal and
that is what we want.  Fine.  Make sure we provide them with that
option. Others are looking for more and are undecided as to what
direction they want to go, to training or to a better job for example.
Programs need to provide both customers with these options. Doing so
will position us toward better outcomes and better retention. 

So that is my first observation.

Anson