The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) is committed to offering alternative educational opportunities to ensure student success, decrease the dropout rate and increase the graduation rate. Each of these opportunities includes a blend of Career Technical Education (CTE) and traditional core academic opportunities or a WVDE approved high…

Reports consistently demonstrate that the attainment of a high school diploma is not simply of value to the individual student, but that the benefit of a high school diploma is reaped by the graduate's community as well. Most educators readily acknowledge the importance of dropout prevention and the significance of a high school diploma. A…

If a student completes high school but is unable to graduate, there are still options. The student can still get a high school diploma whether he or she dropped out, failed the California High School Exit Exam, or did not have enough course credits. As many know, a high school diploma is a passport to a more interesting and better paying job.…

In this paper, the author discusses the recent National Center for Education Statistics study of students from the 1998 eighth-grade who had dropped out. The study found a surprisingly high percentage of these students had managed to obtain further education. The study defined a dropout as a student absent from school for four consecutive weeks or…

It is recommended that in institutions not offering open enrollment, the General Education Development Tests be used to determine cutoff points for program admission. Results of this study indicate that existing cutoff points may be too high, and that open enrollment may be advisable. (MSE)

This study aimed to describe the following: (1) how many dropouts attempt to change the course of their lives by returning to complete their diploma requirements; (2) what kinds of dropouts return; and (3) how the subsequent activities of this group differ from those of dropouts who remained out of school. Those groups shown by previous research…

In order to gather current data about the General Educational Development (GED) program at Seminole Community College (SCC), Florida, a random sample of 1982 GED examinees were surveyed to determine the examinees' assessment of the quality of instruction, course materials, and learning laboratories at SCC; the center(s) used most often and for…

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth for 1979 through 1991 are used to demonstrate that acquisition of the General Educational Development (GED) credential is associated with an increase in the rate of wage growth for male high school dropouts. (SLD)

The Educational Learning and Enrichment Center (ELEC) entered into a contract with the Houston Independent School District (HISD) (Texas) to provide a community-based alternative education program for HISD eligible students who had dropped out of school and were considered to be at risk of not completing their basic education. The 1996-97…

Differences in education and labor market outcomes across groups completing high school at different ages and by different means (e.g., by graduation as compared with receiving a general education development diploma) may be due to a variety of factors, including all those that influence a person to leave school early. For an early school-leaver,…

The College of Lake County conducted surveys in December 1976 to determine if the eight-week course to prepare students for the General Educational Development (GED) test was meeting the needs of the students and the community. Questionnaires soliciting information on age, educational background, satisfaction with the course, and subsequent…

The growing number of youth enrolling in adult literacy education is a little-documented trend across the nation that is having a major impact on programs in some areas but appears to be unnoticed by educational policymakers and researchers. A central question is whether youth enrollments provide an opportunity for adult literacy education to…