The purpose of this study was to identify effective instructional programs for GED tests preparation for students in a large suburban school district. Three different nonrandom, unequal naturally occurring instructional groups at three different locations were examined. One group participated in a traditional instruction program, a second group in a test/retest program, and a third group in a computer-assisted program. The demographics of the district population, the GED population, and the individual study groups were catalogued and analyzed. The demographics of the GED population were similar to the district population but different from the GED passers. Student characteristics did affect GED success. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. Random students in each of the three groups were interviewed about their experiences in GED preparation using a questionnaire. Quantitative data were analyzed using frequencies, means, correlations, and a multiple regression analysis. Since the GED credential is an alternative to the high school diploma, its use as a dropout alternative is important to every school district. The study found that instructional methods had little impact on students' success in receiving the GED credential. The overall success rate of students was low in each group. The student's reading achievement score, GPA, and IQ score were predictors of GED tests success. Little research has been done in the area of GED instruction; perhaps this lack of work is due to the known limited effectiveness of GED preparation. Districts hoping to build effective GED programs should screen students prior to admission to a GED program. High school GED instruction seems to be effective for students likely to be successful in the regular school setting but in need of an immediate credential because of pregnancy or parenting or the need to work full-time or the desire to begin college study. Districts should also design programs to help disenfranchised students in the regular program remain in school.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Royce Ann Collins / Significant numbers of women drop out of GED preparation programs. This phenomenological study used interviews and demographic surveys to learn how 12 women perceived their experiences of dropping out of GED programs. Possible selves theory and McClusky’s theory of margin provided the theoretical framework for this research. Possible selves theory examined how women’s past, present, and future selves were considered in their experience of the phenomenon, while theory of margin was used to look at the network of challenges and supports present in their lives. This study found that at the time the women dropped out of GED programs: (a) they no longer believed they could achieve their desired future selves, (b) past choices continued to adversely affect them, (c) their burdens far exceeded their resources, (d) they identified the status quo as their feared possible selves, and (e) they believed that having a tutor would have enabled them stay in GED classes. The study recommends: (a) introducing theory of margin and possible selves to students as tools for taking stock and planning for educational success, (b) forming community volunteer tutoring networks, and (c) recording dropout numbers within GED programs to illustrate the need for additional funds. This population is marginalized because they become invisible to society and GED preparation programs when they stop attending.

Dans un contexte de dérégulation du marché de l’énergie électrique, une arrivée massive de GED, Génération d’Energie Dispersée (les éoliennes, la biomasse, les micro-turbines, les piles à combustibles, les panneaux solaires, ...) au niveau de la Haute Tension de niveau A (HTA, principalement 20/33 kV) et de la Basse Tension (BT, principalement 400/230V) est à prévoir.De nombreux avantages, techniques et économiques, justifient le développement de ce type de production, parmi lesquels nous relevons les suivants: la production d’énergie plus près des consommateurs d’où une baisse des coûts de transport et de distribution, ainsi que la réduction des pertes dans les lignes; la substitution de l’énergie conventionnelle «polluante» par des énergies nouvelles plus «propres» et silencieuses; un intérêt économique très important pour les exploitants de GED grâce aux subventions accordées; en matière de planification, face à une augmentation de la charge, l’insertion de GED sur le réseau de distribution permet d’éviter la construction de nouvelles lignes HTB; la plus grande facilité de trouver des sites pour installer de petits générateurs; le temps d’installation relativement court de GED; pour l’alimentation de sites isolés, il peut être plus rentable d’alimenter un réseau de distribution local avec des GED plutôt que de le relier à un poste HTB/HTA lointain ; la cogénération, une des formes de GED la plus répandue, améliore le rendement énergétique. Cette thèse traitera des points suivants : brève description des réseaux de distribution ; présentation d’une méthodologie systématique d’optimisation de la planification des réseaux de distribution incluant la GED ; étude des effets des paramètres des réseaux sur l’insertion de GED ; étude systématique des impacts de GED sur le réseau. / In the recent years, there is a worldwide wave of considerable changes in power industries, including the operation of distribution networks. Deregulation, open market, alternative and local energy sources, new energy conversion technologies and other future development of electrical power systems must pursue different goals. Also growth in the demand and change in load patterns may create major bottlenecks in the delivery of electric energy. This would cause distribution system stress. The complexity of the problems related to distribution systems planning is mainly caused by multiple objectives. It is predicted that Distributed Generation (DG) will play an increasing role in the electrical power system of the future, not only for the cost savings but also for the additional power quality. Careful coordination and placement of DGs is mandatory. Improper placement can reduce DGs benefits and even jeopardize the system operation and condition. This thesis discusses the effects of DG implementation under different distribution system conditions and states not only to decrease system costs and losses but also to improve power quality, system voltage and line congestion. Three methodologies included mathematical model to obtain the optimal DG capacity sizing and sitting investments with capability to solve large distribution system planning problem. These frameworks have allowed validating the economical and electrical benefits of introducing DG by solving the distribution system planning problem and by improving power quality of distribution system. DG installation increases the feeders’ lifetime by reducing their loading and adds the benefit of using the existing distribution system for further load growth without the need for feeders upgrading. More, by investing in DG, the DISCO can minimize its total planning cost and reduce its customers’ bills

The purpose of this study was to investigate the state of adult literacy in Tennessee. The field of adult education underwent a transition as the testing procedure and the test changed to correlate with the induction of the Common Core standards in public schools. Adult students face many barriers to overcome to be successful. The research questions posed guided the analysis of demographic data on student who completed the GED prior to the changes. Data were provided from the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development database. The demographics and scores included those of adults who had passed the GED test from 2008 through 2013. A series of 2-way chi square analysis were used to examine pass rates using the characteristics of race and ethnicity, gender, and age. A sample of 2,000 was randomly selected from a population of 60,000. The data showed that in the state of Tennessee there are significantly more males than females who pass the test each year. Although all ethnicities are permissible to take the GED, more Caucasians and African Americans take and pass the test in this state. Takers of the GED in the state of Tennessee are to identify their age while completing the exam. The majority of adults taking the GED from 2008 through 2013 were in the age group of 19 to 24. Many test takers only need to attempt to pass the test the first time. Out of 2,000 randomly sampled males and females, the data showed that a higher proportion of males than females pass the test in the first attempt. There was no significant difference between the randomly sampled age groups on number of attempts. The data did indicate that Caucasian testing candidates pass the GED significantly more often on the first try than African American candidates.

This qualitative study was conducted to attain and analyze the perceptions of adult high school dropouts living in the Southwest Virginia region concerning participation in General Educational Development (GED) preparation programs. Mounting evidence underscores the facts that the high school dropout rate remains high across the nation and that many eligible people are not participating in adult GED preparation programs. The people residing in Southwest Virginia are no exception. Nearly 35% of the region's population does not possess a high school diploma and the adult education providers struggle with low participation rates. In order to better understand the reasons for participation, this study examined the attitudes and issues involved in the decisions of GED preparation program participants to enroll and attend classes in Southwest Virginia. By examining these relationships between attitudes and behaviors, our understanding surrounding educational behavior patterns and adult education participation may increase. This study resulted in the emergence of 5 themes, which were consistently recurrent. These themes included negative perceptions about early schooling, detrimental impacts on quality of life and self-esteem, informal and limited awareness of available programs, employment-related motivators to participation and situational deterrents to participation. This study concluded with suggestions to increase participation in high school and adult education programs and recommendations for further research.

Retaining adult education students has been a growing concern. The new GED requirements have generated low completion rates for a free GED program in a 3-year period, in a non-profit agency in a Southeastern state. Instructors are concerned about this problem and need to understand the factors that are inhibiting adult learners from successfully attaining their GED. This qualitative research design was the most appropriate to answer the research questions to determine the experiences that caused the adult learners to not complete the program and identify potential educational strategies needed to improve retention. Sticht's functional context theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Fourteen adult learners previously enrolled in the free GED program participated in in-depth, individual interviews. Thematic analysis, NVivo and open coding were used to identify, describe, and interpret data. The findings indicated that lack of computer and typing skills, the conversion from paper and pencil to computerized testing, and the onset of temporary and personal and family obstacles were factors that contributed to learners not successfully completing the program. Reinstatement of tutors and mentors and providing the participants with a well-defined curriculum for the GED courses were potential solutions to improve retention. The overwhelming evidence from the participants also suggested that a curriculum for a professional development training for instructors facilitating the online courses is an educational strategy for a potential solution to the local problem. This project has the probability to produce social change because it provides GED instructors researched-based instruction to facilitate online courses effectively to improve retention.

Agent-based asset exchange models serve as an interesting and tractable means by which to study the emergence of an economy's wealth distribution. Although asset exchange models have reproduced certain features of real-world wealth distributions, previous research has largely neglected the effects of economic growth and network connectivity between agents. In this work, we study the effects of globalization on wealth inequality in the Growth, Exchange, and Distribution (GED) model [Liu et al, Klein et al] on a network or lattice that connects potential trading partners. We find that increasing the number of trading partners per agent results in higher levels of wealth inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient and the variance of the agent wealth distribution. However, if globalization is accompanied by a proportionate increase in the economic growth rate, the level of inequality can be held constant. We present a mean-field theory to describe the GED model based on the Fokker-Planck equation and derive the stationary wealth distributions of the network GED model. For large Ginzburg parameter for which mean-field theory is applicable, the wealth distributions for the fully connected model are found to be Gaussian; however, for sparse trade networks, a non-Gaussian "hyperequal" phase is found even for large Ginzburg parameter. It is shown that several networks (Erdos-Renyi, Barabsi-Albert, one-dimensional and two-dimensional lattices) display mean-field critical exponents when the Ginzburg parameter is large and held constant and the system parameters are scaled properly.

Research shows that educators working in General Education Development (GED) preparation classes lack research-based instructional practice. Current research further implies that using research-based instructional practices is beneficial to adult learners. The location of this study was a local public community college and satellite locations in a U.S. state on the East Coast that did not assess whether educators were using the research-based cooperative learning methods in GED prep classes. There was no known information to identify research-based instructional practices in GED prep classes. Therefore, the types of instructions educators used and whether educators were producing successful outcomes were both sought to be researched. This qualitative study explored instructional practices and successful GED outcomes. Johnson, Johnson, and Smith's cooperative learning method served as the conceptual framework for this study. Research questions addressed educators' experiences in facilitating and integrating cooperative learning and their need for supports to improve GED outcomes. Purposeful sampling was used to select 8 educators experienced in GED prep class to participate in interview questionnaires. Five of the 8 participants also completed face-to-face interviews. Data were collected from interviews and documents to determine a plan to construct a research-based tool for educators. Qualitative data were coded manually to extract themes. Findings of the study showed that educators working with adult learners did not report standard use of cooperative learning methods in GED prep classes. A workshop was created in order to help educators redesign instructional practices and provide a research-based tool to enhance adult learners' participation and improve GED outcomes.

No description available.

In recent years, an increasing amount of attention has been given to the dropout crisis in the United States, particularly in urban areas. What has not been emphasized as often is the substantial percentage of students who drop out of the traditional educational system, but subsequently drop back into alternative educational programs. This dropping back in is particularly evident in the "adolescentization" of the GED, as currently in the United States, one out of every three GED's is awarded to a person eighteen years old or younger (Murnane, Willett, & Boudett, 1995). However, little research is devoted to describing the life and/or educational experiences of those involved in re-entry (Rumberger, 1987; Metzer, 1997; Altenbaugh, Engel, & Martin, 1995; Chuang, 1997). In this study, thirty students in an urban GED program (GEL) were interviewed regarding their educational experiences. Several themes were identified and examined across student experience according to three main phases: how and why students dropped out of school, how they came to re-enter education, and what kept them there. The overall story emerging from the data and analyses began with students experiencing a tremendous amount of tumult and lack of support in both their home and school lives, which eventually led to their early departure. After dropping out, they experienced internal change and maturation wherein getting their GED became tremendously important to them. It is during this time that students were able to take advantage of the positive individuals in their lives and/or seek out more positive individuals who provided them with support and motivation. Once they decided to go back to school they made multiple re-entry attempts but were dissatisfied with the quality of alternative educational programs until they found the GEL program, at which point they experienced an ethos of caring and support from their teachers and fellow students. Theoretical contributions regarding the role of social capital in re-entry and practice and policy implications are also discussed. / Urban Education