College & Workforce Readiness News in Brief

Group Says GED Costs Could Restrict Access

By Catherine Gewertz — May 08, 2012 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is scheduled to meet with top officials at the GED Testing Service this week to discuss its concerns that a major redesign of the exam could raise costs and make it unaffordable for the people most in need of taking the exam.

In an April 13 letter to Nicole M. Chestang, the executive director of the GED Testing Service, the two highest officials of the civil rights coalition, President Wade Henderson and Nancy Zirkin, the executive vice president for policy, expressed their concerns about affordability and requested the meeting, which is set for May 11.

The GED is undergoing its biggest overhaul in seven decades. There will be two performance levels on the new one: one gauging high school equivalency and another for college and career readiness.

Tight fiscal times have prompted some states to cut back on subsidies they pay to reduce the cost for test-takers. The testing service has reduced its initial estimates for the cost of the new computer-based tests from $140 to $120 apiece.

A version of this article appeared in the May 09, 2012 edition of Education Week as Group Says GED Costs Could Restrict Access

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

College & Workforce Readiness The New FAFSA Is a Major Headache. Some High Schools Are Trying to Help
High schools are scrambling to help students navigate what was supposed to be a simpler process.
4 min read
Image of a laptop, and a red "x" for a malfunction.
IIIerlok_Xolms/iStock/Getty
College & Workforce Readiness Explainer Students With Undocumented Parents Have Hit a FAFSA Road Block. Here Are 3 Options
A FAFSA expert provides advice for a particularly vulnerable group of families.
4 min read
Social Security benefits identification card with 100 dollar bills
JJ Gouin/iStock/Getty
College & Workforce Readiness Infographic Students Feel Good About Their College Readiness. These Charts Tell a Different Story
In charts and graphs, a picture unfolds of high school students’ lack of preparedness for college.
2 min read
Student hanging on a tearing graduate cap tassel
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
College & Workforce Readiness How International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement Programs Compare
Both the IB and AP programs allow students to earn college credit in high school. Though how the program operate can differ.
1 min read
Marilyn Baise gives a lecture on Feng Shui and Taoism in her world religions class at Riverview High School in Sarasota, Fla., on Jan. 23, 2024.
Marilyn Baise gives a lecture on Feng Shui and Taoism in her world religions class at Riverview High School in Sarasota, Fla., on Jan. 23, 2024.
Zack Wittman for Education Week