Let Them Take the GED Test.

The GED occupies a well earned position of strength as an accepted and reliable program of 30 years standing. Nearly 2.2 million civilians have passed the GED and 300,000 people in the United States are earning their high school diplomas each year by passing the GED at State-set levels. Although there will be new national norming and new forms of the examination in the spring of 1977, the basic rationale for the program, formulated mainly by E. F. Lindquist in the early 1940's, will remain unchanged. Research on the GED is sufficient to document that it has its limitations (such as uncontrollable variables) just as every attempt to measure and categorize human endeavor has. The strengths and weaknesses, however, of any approach for evaluating learning and competency (including the traditional classroom) when added up will probably balance out rather evenly. Three GED issues that relate to its impact on people and the educational process are: its need to reach more non-high school graduates, the need for alternative assessment procedures and programs with proper standards, and the need to consider the discriminatory aspects of educational credentialing and the possibility of another type of useful certification at a lower level. (Author/MS)