General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of five subject tests which, when passed, certify that the taker has American or Canadian high school-level academic skills. The initials GED have also been used on diplomas to mean General Education Diploma, General Equivalency Diploma or Graduate Equivalency Degree.
The GED Testing Service, a joint venture of the American Council on Education and Pearson, is the sole developer for the GED test. The test can be taken by paper or on computer, but tests must be taken in person. Jurisdictions award a Certificate of High School Equivalency or similarly titled credential to persons who meet the passing score requirements. The GED is the equivalent to a high school diploma.
More than 18 million people have received a GED credential since the program began. One in every seven Americans with high school credentials received the GED test credential, as well as one in 20 college students. Seventy percent of GED recipients complete at least the 10th grade before leaving school, and the same number are over the age of 19, with the average age being 24.
In addition to English, the GED tests are available in Spanish, French, large print, audiocassette, and braille. Tests and test preparation are also offered to persons incarcerated and on military bases in addition to more traditional settings. Individuals living outside the United States, Canada, or U.S. territories may be eligible to take the GED Tests through private testing companies.
Read more about General Educational Development: History of The GED Testing Program, How The Test Works, Test Administration, Passing The GED Testing Battery, Future Developments of The GED
Famous quotes containing the words general, educational and/or development:
“Why not draft executive and management brains to prepare and produce the equipment the $21-a-month draftee must use and forget this dollar-a-year tommyrot? Would we send an army into the field under a dollar-a-year General who had to be home Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays?”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“I am not willing to be drawn further into the toils. I cannot accede to the acceptance of gifts upon terms which take the educational policy of the university out of the hands of the Trustees and Faculty and permit it to be determined by those who give money.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“The proper aim of education is to promote significant learning. Significant learning entails development. Development means successively asking broader and deeper questions of the relationship between oneself and the world. This is as true for first graders as graduate students, for fledging artists as graying accountants.”
—Laurent A. Daloz (20th century)