Guest Blog: Dramatic Changes to the GED Ahead
(Editors note: HandsOn Northeast Ohio began supporting the GED last year at the Merrick House. The program was started by an amazing woman serving in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in the 70′s. This woman, not from Cleveland originally, decided to stay in Cleveland and lead the program. This summer, she will be retiring. The Merrick House GED program is amazing. It is very well-organized, caring and supportive for its students. It was first at Merrick House when we caught wind of these GED changes. This blog post is done at another incredible adult education program, Seeds of Literacy)
Guest blog: Jo Steigerwald, Development Officer at – Seeds of Literacy (the only nationally accredited adult literacy program in Northeast Ohio):
The GED is getting overhauled. Starting in January 2014, the GED will be based on the national core curriculum, which is designed to better prepare grades K-12 for the workplace and higher education.
What, exactly, does this mean?
Well, while the test will still have multiple choice questions, there will be more short answer questions of greater complexity. Instead of “state the three branches of government,” a test-taker will be asked to “compare the judicial and legislative branches of government.”
The long essay will disappear, but other questions will require short essay responses.
The new test will be 100% computerized. Since it’s a timed test, a student will need to be very comfortable with keyboarding and using the mouse, especially for graphing.
It will cost more. 300% more. Currently, the GED is $40 to take. The new test will be $120, and will only be given at a select number of testing sites.
And, if you are a student who has passed 4 out of the 5 sections of the current GED, you’d better get that last section passed before the change. No old scores will carry over once the new test begins.
What’s the impact? Well, for Seeds of Literacy, it means redesigning our program, adding a computer lab, and reaching over 7,000 current and lapsed students with the news.
For our students, it may mean ramping up classes and studying to complete the GED before the change. It will also mean learning more complex ways of thinking, analyzing and strategizing, as well as reaching a higher level of digital literacy.
To learn more about this change and to get updates from Seeds of Literacy, click here.
Editors resources:
April 14, 2013:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/14/with-price-ged-spiking-some-states-switch-consider-changing-high-school/
March 31, 2013:
http://wamu.org/news/13/03/31/changes_to_the_ged_program
March 20, 2013:
http://stateimpact.npr.org/indiana/2013/03/20/why-changing-the-ged-to-incorporate-common-core-worries-adult-educators/
February 25, 2013:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/ged-test-cost-to-change-in-2014/nWXG3/
February 18, 2013:
http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_22611730/ged-test-due-big-changes-2014
September 14, 2012:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/474/transcript
Rebirth
From Jeff Griffiths, Executive Director – HandsOn Northeast Ohio:
This Easter and spring season is marked in different traditions with a sense of rebirth. A time when those cold and grey days are replaced with buds on tree branches, green grass and blue skies. A time of faith, new hope, new life, and a new chance for a person or place to think about new possibilities.
Cleveland in so many ways is going through a rebirth. A renewed downtown, a renewed hope for educational improvements, a rebirth in business because of the work and guts of innovators and entrepreneurs. There is a wave of citizens that will not let the old, stale, political, silo, safe way of thinking stand. How can we?
In our work at HandsOn NEO, we see the hope for rebirth in many places and take many forms:
- a veteran, battling addiction, longing for another chance and positive people to support him
- a family looking for a way to get back on their feet
- a sense of possibility for a student who is achieving or improving while just getting to school in the face of violence, family turmoil or lack of support is an accomplishment
- a senior’s renewed sense of life and purpose
- the men and woman affected by abuse seeking to move past with great strength from the hurt inflicted upon them
- an adult after training or tutoring with a new sense of possibility about their career
- new life for items re-purposed (medical supplies, bikes, household items, etc.)
- a new home for an abandoned animal
- new ways to retool, to rethink blocks and neighborhoods
I am convinced that service and volunteerism can be a platform, a place for this new sense of hope or renewed vigor through power of serving others and how that makes us feel. There are many stories on these benefits of volunteering. Here are a few: story 1, story 2. It can be this place because it surrounds us with other passionate, giving citizens. Programs that are citizen powered allow us to renew our fair city and communities. Volunteering allows us to see that change is possible. It allows us to see that issues are complex, that life is hard but that we all have a role to play in solutions, that we all matter. We must share love. We must do our part to improve community. HandsOn Northeast Ohio will always work to be a place for this to live. We will always strive to be flexible, nimble and to create an environment to think of and work toward the possible.
The tumult that I have felt in my own life the last 2 years is complex, frustrating, and hard. It feels sometimes that it is trying to knock me down. And yes, I know that my issues are not nearly what others face and I know that my life has been laden with privilege (I am after all a white, straight, guy). I also have the context of our work with clients and community as a reminder of deep and complex difficulties. But nevertheless, this spring and Easter, I look past hardship to a renewed sense of hope; a longing for a period of renewal; to live every moment to its fullest (as reminded to us by Jimmy V in his famous speech); to give as much as possible to my children, my family and to others (through service); so that this brief time of my existence on earth is the biggest and most beautiful flower in bloom. And this spring and Easter, I wish this for you. Believe in the possibility of you and the power you have to do enormous good.
The Loveliest People I Have Ever Met
From Indira Deenanauth, Student Academic Success AmeriCorps VISTA – HandsOn Northeast Ohio:
(Editor’s Note: HandsOn NEO is strengthening its partnership with Anton Grdina Elementary by supporting two AmeriCorps members, Katrice and Indira, that will focus on increased parental engagement and resources and student academic success programming (Homework Help, Saturday Service Warriors, additional in/out of school programming, respectively.)
I have hit the six month mark with my term of service and it is hard to believe that time has flown by so quickly. As an AmeriCorps VISTA, I am focusing on Anton Grdina Elementary in the Greater Central Neighborhood. The elementary school is in an academic state of emergency and I am offering to lend support to the students, teachers and parents. I work with fourth and fifth graders through a weekly Homework Help program which focuses on reading and math comprehension. I also run HandsOn’s Saturday Service Warriors program which teaches students about volunteering, issue areas and healthy habits. I came into this position not knowing what to expect, and I feel that my perspectives on so many different concepts have changed in a very short amount of time.
Starting my year of service, I wasn’t sure how great I would be at working with children because I had never worked with elementary aged kids before. I honestly thought they would be unruly and mean. However, they have become the best part of my job. This should have been a given from the beginning, but the children I work with are the loveliest people I have ever met. To know that in a few short weeks I will not see them in this capacity is heartbreaking.
I also see a genuine positive change in the students which I credit to the amazing tutors who take the time to build relationships with the students. There is a mutual respect between students and tutors that for some reason, I did not expect. I know that when the students run up to me at school that they are happy to see me, and I hope they realize how truly wonderful it is for me to see them.
Building Community Resources for the Greater Central Neighborhood, Ward 5
From Katrice Williams, Community & Family Support AmeriCorps VISTA – HandsOn Northeast Ohio:
(Editor’s Note: HandsOn NEO is strengthening its partnership with Anton Grdina Elementary by supporting two AmeriCorps members, Katrice and Indira, that will focus on increased parental engagement and resources and student academic success programming, respectively.)
On Tuesday, December 11th, HandsOn Northeast Ohio partnered with Principal Marwa Ibrahim and Anton Grdina Elementary School to offer the first career and job fair of the 2012-13 school year. We were excited to have over 21 vendors in attendance and just over 50 parents, students and community members accessing viable employment opportunities for youth, seniors, and fathers re-entering the community from incarceration; finding educational and training programs and accessing various organizations that offer job readiness courses. Organizing the career and job fair was both enthralling and challenging.
Over the course of the career fair, over 19 teachers volunteered their time to help guide workshop participants and job seekers to our job readiness workshops and to awaiting vendors. By having teacher participation, including with the initial set-up of the fair, we were able to increase our engagement with the community, but also build a stronger and more welcoming school culture. In the past, I spoke with parents who found teachers and staff unapproachable; but, at the career fair I saw just the opposite. I saw a strong core of teachers and staff jumping at the chance to volunteer and asking me eagerly where I needed help and how to arrange the set-up of the tables and chairs. I was touched by their motivation and determination to be a part of our community event. In the initial planning stages, I passed out a teacher survey asking if teachers were available to volunteer and when I could conduct classroom visits to promote the career fair and other school events.
While the surveys showed there would be some teacher participation, I was surprised to see several teachers volunteering who had originally indicated “unavailable”. After the fair, I showed my appreciation to the teachers, custodial and administration staff, by distributing “Thank you” cards. And to be honest, I felt more thankful by giving those cards and seeing their eagerness about participating in other family and community events.
Anton Grdina is truly an inspiring place. Although Anton Grdina has been placed on “academic watch”, a standing given by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District when a school fails to meet the 75% passing rate in the reading and math subject tests on most grade levels, I have noticed the unique involvement of the principal and Family and Community Engagement Coordinator. Principal Ibrahim lacks an assistant Vice Principal, but already she has helped us to organize a Family Scavenger Hunt night during the second School Parent Organization meeting on October 9th and facilitate conversation between parents and school staff through a targeted parent engagement campaign. And the FACE coordinator has also been very involved, despite being spread across 25 schools. Our collaborative partner, Greater Cleveland Congregations, also added support, value and love to our programs, too.
The community organizers with GCC have supported our family events and also contributed and added to the structure and planning of monthly SPO meetings, by suggesting themes, marketing strategies and connecting with a core group of parents to increase involvement. Not to mention, they have volunteered at every one of the parent SPO meetings, including leading a conversational workshop at the November 9th SPO meeting. Without an open school, an involved FACE coordinator and such a collaborative and involved partner in the GCC, our programming at Anton Grdina would not have been successful. And above all, I would not have learned as much as I did from a group of inspiring leaders.
–Katrice
This Crazy Journey
From Kirsten McClain, former AmeriCorps member and all around super-human citizen – HandsOn Northeast Ohio:
I’ve never been good at sentimentality. I don’t enjoy taking pictures, making scrapbooks, or journaling. So I apologize in advance for the lack of nostalgia in this reflective blog post about my experience at HandsOn NEO over the last two years. What I can give is a brief insight into my thoughts at various points on this crazy journey that was my life with HandsOn NEO.
Day 1: August 16, 2010 2:00pm. What did I get myself into?! There is so much going on with this organization. It all seems so cool and exciting and wow do they have a lot of supplies! I can’t wait to start meeting agencies and designing new projects. There is so much potential for the volunteers to really change things in Cleveland and I am lucky to have this opportunity to be involved with such a dynamic organization. 5:00pm. Information overload; major headache; I need a nap.
Day 139: January 1, 2011 10:00am. All right a day off! Happy New Years! I’m going to make pancakes and have a mimosa for breakfast. Those last couple months were hectic. I can’t believe the amount of effort by staff and volunteers at Make a Difference Day, and William Cullen Bryant school painting. I’ve participated in a lot of volunteer events in my life, but nothing was as visually transformative as working alongside hundreds of volunteers to repaint an entire school. It was at that moment that I truly bought into what HandsOn NEO was doing. You cannot deny the impact for those school kids to have newly painted green and orange classrooms. 11:00pm. Time to sleep. There’s much more work to be done tomorrow.
Day 360: August 11, 2011 1:00pm. One more week and my AmeriCorps VISTA term is ending, but wait I have a lot of things left on my To Do List. I need to set up a new animal support project, and expand our adult education programming, and I think there is a possibility HandsOn NEO could support the Homeless Stand Down. Hmmmm, well I guess one year wasn’t long enough to accomplish everything I felt I needed to do and I do enjoy working with Jeff and Jen. So, let’s do it! I’m reenergized and excited continue the work towards transforming the way folks volunteer in Cleveland.
Day 525: January 22, 2012 5:00am. The Homeless Stand Down starts in two hours. Dang I wish I drank coffee. I need to pick up bagels and run to the office and then get down to the Masonic Auditorium. 6:00am. I met Ms. Catherine who was first in line and arrived at 3:00am. I feel the weight of the homeless community on my shoulders as each one of these individuals has been waiting all year long for this day of respite and renewal. I hope and pray that everything goes well and that all the hard work and planning by the Volunteer Leader team will pay off in an amazing event. 7:00pm. There is no time to rest; tomorrow is another day and there is more work to be done. Yes, the volunteers came out in force and lives were impacted, but what is one day, when there are 343 other days this year that individuals will be struggling to make ends meet.
Day 716: July 31, 2012 11:00am. It’s very strange sitting in the office and not having volunteer to call or an agency contact to email. I will miss these interactions. I really feel like I was part of something much bigger than me, but alas all good things must come to an end. I am confident that I have made my mark on the HandsOn community and I must now follow my true passion, which is working directly with the homeless community. I have gained a plethora of skills and experiences that will be invaluable to me in my future endeavors and I thank each and everyone one of you for your support on this wild journey.
Day 1 PHO (Post HandsOn): August 1, 2012 10:00am. I’m bored. When can I start volunteering?
Tax-tastic!
From Keely Andrews, EITC AmeriCorps VISTA – HandsOn Northeast Ohio:
Global Youth Service Day 2012 in Northeast Ohio
