This article discusses competing perspectives on the value of the General Educational Development (GED) credential. Although scholars and journalists debate the worth of the credential, urban youth continue to pursue the GED, especially as proxy for inadequate schooling. Using qualitative data from a participatory action research project, the…

This article describes an action research at an alternative high school which explores drop-out prevention strategies with first-year students. Student retention is extremely challenging for alternative schools. Because their mission is to provide a second chance to students who could not succeed in a regular setting, those schools regularly must…

The effect of receipt of a General Educational Development (GED) certificate during incarceration on former inmates' rates of recidivism was examined by studying a group of 110 individuals who had been incarcerated in the Eastern Ohio Correction Center (EOCC) and were released during fiscal year 1995. Of the 110 individuals, 21 had obtained a GED…

The Lycoming County Literacy Project based in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, examined both traditional and family literacy General Educational Development (GED) program participants to determine which programs produce the best results. GED test scores were collected from instructors teaching both traditional and family literacy GED participants. Test…

An adult educator who teachers General Educational Development (GED) test preparation conducted an action research project to determine whether learning activities requiring students to learn about and discuss famous paintings would equip them with critical thinking skills that they could eventually use when completing the reading and writing…

An adult educator at an all-male maximum-security correctional center in Virginia conducted a research project to learn her students' attitudes toward the computers that had recently been introduced in their classroom. She used the following data collection tools and activities: a nine-question survey that was administered to the students in all…

This research project was conducted to identify the reasons for the low retention rate for adult students enrolled in the prep level of the General Educational Development (GED) programs offered by the Clinton County (Pennsylvania) Development Center for Adults. All adult students who attended class at least once from July 1998 through January…

For seven years, the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) was the primary standardized assessment instrument used by the adult education program of the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV (MIUIV) of the Pennsylvania Department of Education Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education. While reviewing its current assessment procedures, the MIUIV's…

A teacher who teaches General Educational Development preparation to at-risk teenagers in a nonprofit alternative education program called FutureWorks conducted a study to identify those elements of FutureWorks that keep students coming to the program. The study included the following data collection activities: a consensus-building activity to…

Issues surrounding teaching competencies in family literacy programs were examined in a study of two well-established Even Start sites in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The program, which served 34 ethnically diverse adult learners, offered 25 hours of adult basic education, general educational development (GED), and…