Yesterday, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced the upcoming launch of a new and more efficient system for registering and taking the General Education Development (GED) exam.
According to statistics, approximately 1.6 million New Yorkers above 16 years of age are not in school and do not have a high school degree. Less than 1 percent (13,000) of them passed the GED in 2006 – 43 percent of all New Yorkers.
"We want to create some order out of the havoc of taking this exam, which is so important for the city," Quinn said.
For many Hispanic immigrants, the exam is crucial for building a better life in the United States.
Lucía Cuartas, a Colombian immigrant, said that after passing her GED, she was able to earn an Associate's degree in Social and Humanitarian Sciences.
"I eventually earned a Bachelor's degree in Social Work, which helped me find a job at a clinic in the Bellevue Hospital," she said, adding that she was the first in her family to "come so far."
Quinn announced that under her initiative, and that of Council Member María del Carmen Arroyo (D-Bronx), they had raised funds to create "GED Compass," a gateway for people who want to earn a high school diploma.
Quinn explained that now, people interested in taking the GED can call different centers to find out which one is the most convenient for them.
"Sometimes people register at various centers, and when they come in to take the exam, there are many empty seats in a lot of these centers," said Quinn, who explained that the city's rate of passing scores, one of the lowest in the country, speaks to the difficulties of understanding the material on the GED.
GED Compass seeks to fix this problem and fine tune the system in various ways, mainly by informing people where they should go for test prep classes, how to fill out an application, take a practice exam, pass it and go on to a university afterwards.
But the most important change resulting from GED Compass is that applicants will be able to register to take the official exam online, resulting in a shorter waiting time and a more convenient location. Currently there are more than 30 public centers where people can take the GED exam.
"It will function like a reservation system for hotels or airlines, where the interested applicant will be able to view all the available locations, choose the most convenient one and set a date to take the exam," said Elyse Barbell of the Literacy Assistance Center, who will be responsible for producing and maintaining GED Compass.
Barbell said that the program, which is estimated to cost $175,000, will be put into effect in September 2010, with some aspects being implemented before that.
For more information on the GED please visit http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ged/.
