A project to develop grass roots alternative diploma study (Project GRADS) was undertaken for the purpose of formulating and implementing a multimodal, systems approach to preparing rural adults to pass the General Educational Development (GED) Tests. During the year-long, countywide program, GED programming was developed and delivered via the local public information television channel, videotaped lessons available for home use on videocassette records and televisions, regular GED study lessons published daily in the local newspaper, counseling and tutoring programs, and small group community-based study sites. By the end of the project, close to 400 residents of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania participated in the outreach program. Included among the program participants were inmates from the nearby county and State prisons, elderly persons, unemployed and underemployed individuals, Headstart mothers, and youths with a history of delinquent activity. It was concluded that the project can serve as an effective model of rural GED preparation programming. (Appendixes to this report include various project news releases, sample forms, copies of the 23 project lessons printed in the local newspaper, and the text of a report entitled "A Comparative Study of General Educational Development Test Preparation Strategies" by Priscilla S. Carman.) (MN)