College Readiness, Early Post-secondary Academic Performance and the GED Degree: Evidence from Kentucky

Abstract

We use detailed administrative data from Kentucky to provide robust descriptive evidence on the relationship between the General Educational Development (GED) degree, college readiness, and early post-secondary (PSE) academic performance. Following previous work in this area, we address selection issues by focusing on a sample of students who are identified as at-risk prior to high school entry. Our results suggest the GED credential is not a credible signal of PSE readiness, particularly in mathematics. GED graduates attain a lower first semester GPA and are also less likely to re-enroll in second semester courses. We also find that changes made to the GED exam in 2014 to enhance student readiness in PSE institutions did not yield meaningful improvements. Finally, we investigate the extent to which differences in math coursework can explain estimated GED-related math readiness gaps, finding coursework to account for about for about 40 percent of the observed gap.

The Relationship Between Classroom Environment, Teacher Professional Development, and Student Academic Performance in Secondary Education

“…Research indicates that traditional evaluation methods, such as grades, may not fully capture all aspects affecting performance. Studies have explored additional variables like Internet usage behavior, demographic data, family income, learning strategies, and teacher interactions to predict and understand academic outcomes (Islam & Rouse, 2021;Kaizer et al, 2023;Trakunphutthirak & Lee, 2022). For instance, a study on parent involvement highlighted its positive association with academic performance.…”