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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The number of Wisconsin residents who received a high school equivalency certification this year has decreased by 92 percent, a drop the Department of Public Instruction attributes to new, higher testing standards and fees.
The department reports that 912 people graduated from the state's General Education Development program in 2014, compared to 11,378 people in 2013.
Many other states also saw a significant decline in the number of people seeking high school equivalency degrees, according to GED Testing Service, which contracts with states to provide the course. The company implemented a new test this year to better gauge preparedness for college and a career.
The new test focuses more on technology and can only be taken on a computer. It's also more expensive, costing $135 for a new stack of tests, up from as little as $75 in some parts of the state.
"I think we can attribute (the decline in 2014 graduates) to three things," said Beth Lewis, who oversees the General Education Development program for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. "One is how many people we finished up in 2013. We really pushed to clean everyone up the previous year. The second is that people have to study a bit more. And the third is the cost."
Many Wisconsin GED graduates opted to seek certification last year, before the new test was implemented, the Baraboo News Republic (http://bit.ly/14c7Mxr ) reported. About 4,000 more Wisconsin residents graduated with GEDs in 2013 than in 2012, when around 7,200 people finished the program, according to Lewis.
A GED Testing Services spokesman said there's always a large drop when a new test series is released.
This year, 65 percent of Wisconsin residents who took the GED test passed it, while the state's inmates passed at a rate of 73 percent.
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Information from: Baraboo News Republic, http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr
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