GED Goal Setting

Due to many questions from the field in the area of GED goal setting, I am hoping to clarify the NRS and NYS expectations for potential GED recipients. Students who are possible GED recipients are counted in TWO different areas on the NRS Report. They may be perceived as an asset or a liability in either of these two areas:

• First and foremost, the only students who are mandated to have the goal of the GED are those who have TABE scores of NRS Level #6 in BOTH Math and Reading. Only under those circumstances must they have the GED goal. Even if a program is remiss in assigning the goal to this select group of students, ASISTS will count them in the cohort of students needing to achieve this goal.
  
• Any other student who is assigned the GED goal is at the discretion of the Program Manager or their designee.
  
• If a student has a Reading or Math score (or both) lower than NRS Level #6, that student has the potential of showing Education Gain on the NRS Report based on their lower TABE skill area (Math or Reading). This same student, if not Post Tested and if Not showing gain, will count in the denominator for Educational Gain. Therefore, any GED program would be prudent in mandating a post test for any student contemplating an application to the GED. (Some programs have assumed a severe policy on this issue and will not provide the student with an Official Practice Test unless a Post TABE has be registered).
  Regardless of where the student arrives in terms of Educational Gain, any student with a GED goal who achieves the GED credential will be counted as a Follow Up Outcome as they exit the program.

So to summarize, a potential GED student could benefit the program in two ways...once in whichever Educational Functioning Level the students enters (if below NRS Level #6) when successfully post tested will count toward the program's Post Test Rate....AND if gain is shown, the student will also count toward the program's Educational Gain percentage. This same student may then also count a second time under Follow Up Outcomes for achieving the GED once they have exited the program.
So even if the program misses the opportunity to post test the student and therefore show Ed Gain, that same student can still benefit the program by showing as a positive achievement under the GED Follow Up Outcome (this is counted on the NRS Report once the student has exited the program). This later choice would be the less desirable, having the student count as a positive in both areas is the most favored.

NRS Nugget #4 Finding a Student Name

This tip may save you the time of searching an ASISTS Report for one student name. When you prepare a report from ASISTS, as you have the report on the screen in front of you, on your keyboard, hit "Ctrl" and "F". This will bring up a small "Search and Find" dialogue box. There will be a blank field where you can type either the first or last or both names of the student you wish to find in the report. The cursor will highlight that name in the report regardless of how many pages the report contains. It's a much faster way to verify when a student appears on a report or if the student name is missing from a report.

NRS Nugget #3 Printing Reports

Oftentimes, the reports generated from ASISTS are very lengthy. There are times when you may only wish to print one or several pages but not all the pages in a report. Instead of clicking the "print" icon on the tool bar, use your keyboard and hit "Ctrl" and then "P". This will bring up the print dialogue box in which you can select only the pages you wish to print. For example, you can select Pages 1 -3 or you may wish to isolate only Pages 12 - 15 or print only one page, Page 21. This method can save paper and will also allow you to focus on the data that needs attention.

NRS Nugget #2 Distance Learning

While managing data in preparation for NRS Reporting, special attention should be given to Distance Learning programming. Under NYS Policy, if a teacher prepared the first two packets for a student but the student did not return either of those first two packets, the student may be removed from NRS Reporting but the 24 hours of contact time may be accrued under EPE Policy. Instead of recording a 2 or a 4 under the contact hour attendance on the Instructional Activity, simply type in the code 9999. This code will cue ASISTS to count the 24 hours for EPE purposes but will remove the student from the NRS calculations. This will only be valid if the student was not actively enrolled in any other NRS eligible Instructional Activities in that same fiscal year.

NRS Nugget #1 GED Outcome

It's that time of year when programs are gathering Follow Up Outcome Data. When a program learns that a student has successfully passed the GED exam, the program should record that favorable outcome. Under NYS Policy, if a student who passes the GED AND Pre Tested at NRS Level 6 in either Math or Reading BUT did not show gain in the lower skill area, the NRS Level 6 score may remain in the Current Test Window and the lower NRS score may be archived. Remember, this is only valid when the student has already PASSED the GED and has at least on NRS Level 6 score.