By Travis Gettys
Enquirer Contributor

A plan that would speed up the process for students to earn a GED is likely to move forward over the objections of critics.

The proposal, which would tie the GED test to the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) taken by all Kentucky students in grades 4-12, will be discussed in Frankfort Wednesday and Thursday at the regular meeting of the Department of Education.

"I haven't heard anything to indicate there will be drastic changes to that proposal," said Lisa Gross, spokeswoman for Kentucky Department of Education.

Under current guidelines, students who drop out of high school must wait at least one year before enrolling in General Education Development classes, which are offered by adult education centers.

The new plan would create a GED system run by the state, requiring students to take the CATS exam for the grade level they left, as well as the 12th grade test, before they receive their certificate.

The plan, which is only for students under the age of compulsory education, would eliminate the one-year wait, which superintendents may waive, but rarely do, Gross said.

Critics say the plan is intended to provide cover for falling graduation rates, because students who complete the GED program before October of the following year would not be counted as dropouts.

"I think lawmakers are getting impatient, and they see other states play games by saying that GEDs are the same as a diploma," said Richard Innes, a researcher for the Bluegrass Institute, a public policy watchdog group.

"I am willing to stand up against anybody who says a GED is equivalent to a high school diploma - it's not," Innes said.

Students who get their GED do not count as dropouts in National Center for Education statistics but, in Kentucky, they do.

"We're trying to get in line with what other states and the National Center (for Education) are doing," Gross said.

Innes said the current GED program is successful, citing a 76 percent passage rate in 2003 for students ages 16 and younger, an improvement over the 6.4 percent rate in 1990.

"The Department of Education couldn't do it better," Innes said.

Instead of spending money to create a new program, Innes thinks school superintendents should grant more waivers to students who want to take GED classes, but he doubts many will.

"They don't want to create a temptation for students to drop out," he said, adding that schools receive funding from the state for each student enrolled.

Gross said the new proposal would discourage students from dropping out, because the standards for earning a GED would be more rigorous.