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Current News Completion Certificate Spam is Urban Myth
Ohio State GED Office
The GED office has received questions on the recent spam email that talks about students who accept a High School Certificate of Completion instead of dropping out or receiving a diploma will not be allowed to take the GED test. Our legal assistant, Jane Miller, reviewed everything and offers a detailed analysis of the issue below. Hopefully this helps get this rumor stopped quickly so it does not panic our students or those working with adult learners:
[The "High School Certificate of Completion" e-mail] is basically spam or what is sometimes called an "urban (computer) myth." Like all good myths, there is sometimes a small nugget of truth in them somewhere.
First: There was briefly in Ohio law a provision for issuance of such a "Certificate of Attendance;" however, it
was repealed before it actually would have taken effect, sometime back in the early 1990s. One of the reasons for the repeal may have been the confusion it would have caused the public, similar to what is being stated in the spam. Thus, the statement in the spam that all 50 states have a Certificate of Attendance is incorrect, at least as to Ohio, since Ohio repealed theirs over ten years ago.
Second: With the advent of proficiency tests (or now the OGT) in Ohio, it is also true that students who do not pass the test by 10th grade (9th grade with the 9th grade proficiency test) are allowed to take it again in the 11th and 12th grades - and even after that as well - in order to try to graduate with a high school diploma.
Third: It is also true that students who do not graduate with a high school diploma may take the GED test, and if they pass, then they obtain what is treated by colleges and the military as the equivalence of a high school diploma; hence, it is called a "high school equivalency exam." 95% of colleges accept the GED for college admission purposes.
Beyond that, most of the rest of what is stated in the spam is incorrect. There are not only the "two options" as stated in the spam (i.e., drop out and get a GED or accept a Certificate of Attendance) for students who have not completed their curriculum requirements or passed their graduation tests in Ohio with their class in 12th grade. Here are
several other options of which students may avail themselves:
1. Continue to attend school and complete the curriculum.
2. Continue to take the high school graduation tests until they are passed.
3. Complete home schooling (which some students have done, and some colleges have accepted home schooled students previously even without a GED, although most colleges now want a student to
pass the GED as evidence of the equivalence of a high school diploma.
4. Earn an adult education diploma if over age 21.
State laws vary from state to state, and the spam email may relate to Indiana, but it does NOT relate
to Ohio.
GED Humor: Top Ten Comments Heard in the Testing Center About Cheating
10. "I'd do much better if that proctor would quit walking around."
9. "My cell phone gets lousy reception in here."
8. "Why are our desks are so far apart?"
7. "Dangit my iPod battery is low."
6. "I realize it's a history test. I still need my graphing calculator."
5. "The lighting in here is so poor, my camera phone can't pick up anything."
4. "I can't take the test booklet to the bathroom?"
3. "Psst,... have you ever setup Bluetooth?"
2. "They're tattoos, I have a passion for algebraic formulas."
1. "Cheating policy? I didn't know there was a cheating policy?"
Marketing We will be featuring sites who have implemented successful marketing plans/strategies. If you have a successful plan or marketing strategy, contact Sharon Reynolds at literacy@ohio.edu.
GED Resources/Book List Contemporary's Top 50 Reading Skills for GED Success
McGraw-Hill/Contemporary-2006 50 targeted lessons that cover the reading skill strands on the GED Language Arts, Reading Test. Lessons are presented in two or four page formats with instruction followed by specific GED readiness practice. Both lessons and practice utilize fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and business document passages. Practice tests are included on a CD ROM.
Contemporary's Top 50 Writing Skills for GED Success
McGraw-Hill/Contemporary-2006 50 targeted lessons that cover the editing and essay skill strands on the GED Language Arts, Writing Test. Lessons are presented in two or four page formats with instruction followed by specific GED readiness practice. Thirty lessons improve student editing skills while twenty additional lessons lead the student through the process of writing the GED essay. Pre-and-post tests are included on a CD ROM.
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