Using The GED As A Gateway To College

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - About 40 million American adults have no high school or GED diploma according to the American Council on Education, now reworking the exam to modernize the content and better align it with what students need to know before college.

Simultaneously, the National Center for Family Literacy is highlighting effective ways to prepare GED students for college, reporting that communication between literacy programs and colleges is the best means of getting students to college and retaining them.

At LaGuardia Community College's Bridge program, GED classes are onsite to motivate students for college and classes are "contextualized" within the framework of business or health. Bridge students also work with counselors on career and college plans getting help with the application process and 65% of participants enroll in college.

Another partnership, with low costs, worth noting is between the Jefferson County Public Schools and the Jefferson Community and Technical College in Louisville. Both programs, described in The Chronicle of Higher Education are working toward President Obama's goal of the world's highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.

Reported By Dr. Marciene Mattleman, KYW Newsradio