GED test takers rush to beat deadline

WASHINGTON - Americans who passed part, but not all, of the GED test are rushing to finish the high school equivalency exam before a new version rolls out in January and their previous scores are wiped out. About one million people could be affected.

With the new version, test takers must use a computer instead of paper and pencil. The test itself will be more rigorous and cost more - at $120, the price in some states will be significantly higher than previous versions.

"This is the thing that's sort of putting the spur in the saddle," said Lecester Johnson, executive director of Academy of Hope, an adult charter school in Washington. "People just don't want to start over."

Test takers have been warned for more than a year about the approaching Dec. 31 deadline to complete the test. States and localities are phoning people, and thousands of letters have gone out.

"We don't want anyone to be caught off-guard," said Pam Blundell, who oversees adult education for the Oklahoma State Department of Education. She said Oklahoma test sites have added additional test days.

Nicole Chestang, executive vice president at GED Testing Service, said the rush was expected. In 2001, the year before the last upgrade, she said, there was a 30 percent increase in test takers, most toward the end of the year.

Some critics have challenged the price increases and the mandate that test takers use a computer - issues that affect many people living in poverty.

This is the first upgrade since for-profit Pearson Vue Testing acquired a joint ownership interest in the GED Testing Service. For 70 years, GED Testing Service has been run by the nonprofit American Council on Education.

GED exam officials have said the changes would modernize the test and align it with new college- and career-ready standards adopted in most states. They say basic computer skills are needed in a modern workplace - even to apply for jobs at retail stores and fast-food chains. On a recent test given to adults worldwide of workplace skills including math, reading, and problem-solving using technology, American adults scored below the international average.

In a low-income neighborhood on the new campus of the Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School in Washington, Principal Jorge Delgado said that instead of a last-minute rush, enrollment was declining as word spread that the GED exam would soon be offered only by computer. The school, with students from more than 20 countries speaking 40-plus languages, has added new computer-literacy classes. Still, he said, many English language learners are intimidated by computers.

One student at the school who is persevering is Natnael Gebremariam, 32, from Eritrea in East Africa. He goes to class in the mornings, works about 50 hours a week, then spends nights doing homework. The former teacher said the pressure he feels isn't so much about the test changing, but wanting to pass the GED exam so he can take college classes.

"All I know is," said Gebremariam, "I have to be ready by the end of this year."