ABE students participate in letter writing campaign.

Anyone who tells you that writing letters to your State Senators, Congressmen, Congresswomen, and Representatives is a waste of time is sadly mistaken. How do I know this, because last month students in every program within ABE participated in a State wide letter writing campaign? The purpose of this campaign, to increase the funding for ABE programs throughout the state. Students were asked to choose one individual, Tom Udall, Heather Wilson, Jeff Bingaman, Pete Dominici, or Steve Pearce. After selecting one to write to, each student wrote about why they decided to come back to school, what they planned on doing after they finished school, and how important it is for programs like ABE to continue receiving adequate funding. Now here it is May, just one month later and we are already receiving tons of responses from these busy people in Washington. These responses are the proof the our elected officials do care, and do listen to all of their constituents, so I leave with this, even though it seems as the years go on we have less and less connection with the advocates that are here to help us fight with what can sometimes be described as daunting tasks, everyone here at ABE now believes in the political system. They believe that their voices are being heard. The help is out there, it’s up to us as educators, students, and administrators to go out and get it.

Announcement of the New 2012 Series GED Tests

Announcement of the New 2012 Series GED Tests Release
The General Educational Development Testing Service™ (GED Testing Service) of the American
Council on Education is pleased to announce the development of a new 2012 Series of the GED
Tests, which will be released on January 1, 2012 (other non English-language editions will be
released in 2013).

The specifications for the GED Tests are assessed at regular intervals to certify that content
reflects current curricular and academic standards for high school graduates across the United
States and Canada. As expectations and standards change for high school students, GED Testing
Service aligns the Tests with these same expectations and standards. The new 2012 Series GED
Tests will reflect current curricular and academic standards for high school graduates.

All GED examinees should be advised that scores earned on the current 2002 series or previous
tests will not be able to be combined with those earned on the new 2012 Series GED Tests. By
December 31, 2011, examinees must have taken and earned minimum scores on all five content
area tests [Language Arts, Reading; Language Arts, Writing; Social Studies; Science; and
Mathematics] and earned the minimum total passing standard on the 2002 series, or they will
need to take the entire 2012 Series test battery.

A list of Frequently Asked Questions and additional information related to the release of the
2012 Series GED Tests can be found on the GED Testing Service website
( w ww.GEDtest.org / 2012). Individuals may also contact their local state/jurisdiction
administrator for additional information. A list of those administrators is located at
(www.GEDtest.org/administrators). In addition, Official GED Testing Centers may also be
found online (www.GEDtest.org/locator).

GED Administrators and Examiners are encouraged to distribute this information widely to
relevant agencies and educational entities, as well as through other appropriate communications
channels so that GED test-takers might receive appropriate counseling and planning assistance in
order to meet this deadline.