Report Finds Increase in Candidates Seeking GED Diplomas

WASHINGTON
More adults worldwide took one or more of the five tests in the General Educational Development (GED) Test Battery in 2000 than in any single year except 1996. Some 512,000 people earned the GED high school equivalency diploma during the year 2000, the GED Testing Service stated in a recent report.
Published by the American Council on Education, Who Took the GED? The GED 2000 Statistical Report, details the general make-up and performance of GED candidates in the United States, Canada and internationally. Data for the 2000 edition was collected from more than 3,000 GED Testing Centers around the world. Developed in 1942, the GED Tests provide adults who lack a high school diploma with the opportunity to demonstrate the skills and knowledge of a four-year high school program of studies in the core academic disciplines. Nearly 861,000 adults worldwide completed one or more sections of the GED Tests in the year 2000. This was the second highest volume in the 59-year history of the program.
In addition, the American Council on Education is coordinating the second phase of the  "College is Possible" program — a national college awareness and affordability campaign.
The second phase of the campaign focuses on increasing the number of minority and first-generation middle-school students who become academically and financially able to attend college, as well as getting more youngsters interested in and prepared for college by partnering with federal early awareness programs such as Talent Search and GEAR UP on selected college campuses.
Twenty-four colleges and universities from across the country — each with established track records for helping middle-school students from underserved communities attain postsecondary education — have been selected to participate in the pilot project.
"The new phase of College is Possible represents ACE's recognition of the importance of working with a small group of member colleges and universities to motivate young people to begin thinking about and planning for college, even while they're still in middle school," says Dr. William Harvey, ACE vice president and director of the Council's Office of Minorities in Higher Education, the office heading up the College is Possible pilot program.