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IssueBrief November 201

Characteristics of GED Recipients in High

School: 200206

U.S. Department of Education

NCES 2012025

The General Educational Development (GED) credential is otenconsidered to be the equivalent o a high school diploma orstudents who do not graduate rom high school. A GED credentialcan expand opportunities in the labor market (Song and Hsu2008) and in postsecondary education or those who obtain it.Nearly all postsecondary institutions (98 percent) that require highschool diplomas or application purposes also recognize the GEDcredential as sufcient to meet minimum educational requirements(American Council on Education 2008).

Nonetheless, GED recipients do not enroll in postsecondaryeducation at the same rate as do high school graduates. For instance,more than 64 percent o students who graduated rom high schoolin 2003 were enrolled in a 2- or 4-year institution o higher educationin 2003 (U.S. Bureau o Labor Statistics 2004). By comparison,a study o 2003 GED recipients ound only 31 percent o GEDrecipients enrolled in a postsecondary institution within 5 years, andthe majority o those enrolled or just one semester (Patterson, Songand Zhang 2009). Similarly, GED recipients do not are as well ashigh school graduates in the labor market, where GED recipientshave relatively lower uture earnings (Heckman, Humphries, andMader 2010).

While GED recipients may not realize outcomes equivalent to thoseo high school graduates, GED recipients are better on severaloutcomesincluding uture earnings, lie satisaction, levels odepression, and substance abusethan do high school dropoutswho do not obtain the credential (Ou 2008; Heckman, Humphries,and Mader 2010).

Previous research has examined high school graduates, GED

recipients, and high school dropouts without a GED or dierencesin demographic characteristics and outcomes ater high school.However, dierences that are apparent during the years leading up tograduation are o particular interest to educators and policymakersbecause students progression toward or away rom graduationoccurs during this time. Thus, this Issue Brie compares GEDrecipients to high school graduates and dropouts without a GED,during high school. First, the brie describes various demographiccharacteristics o GED recipients (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity,socioeconomic status, native language, amily composition, andparents highest level o education). Second, the brie comparesGED recipients to high school graduates and dropouts without aGED by 10th-grade participation in school, academic achievement,and plans or postsecondary education 2 years later, in 12th grade.Finally, the brie explores the reasons GED recipients reported orleaving high school and obtaining a GED credential.

The Issue Brie draws on data rom the base-year study and frst andsecond ollow-ups o the Education Longitudinal Study o 2002(ELS:2002). The ELS:2002 is conducted by the National Centeror Education Statistics, which is part o the U.S. Department oEducations Institute o Education Sciences, and contains data roma nationally representative sample o public and private schoolstudents who were 10th-graders in spring 2002. By 2006, about4 percent o 2002 high school 10th-graders had obtained a GEDcredential, compared to 88 percent who had earned a high schooldiploma, 5 percent who had dropped out, and 3 percent who didnot all into any o these three categories at that time (Dalton,Glennie, and Ingels 2009).1

Dist r ibut ion of Students by High SchoCompletion Status and Select CharacteristicIn this comparative analysis, respondents are categorized by thcompletion status as o spring 2006: graduates (respondents whad earned a high school diploma); GED recipients; and dropou(respondents who had no credential, were not in high school, awere not pursuing a GED). These categories only hold or one poin time, spring 2006, since students who are considered dropoin 2006 may receive a GED later. Further, the ELS data canncapture dropouts who let school prior to the 10th grade, and ththese categories represent the cohort o 2002 10th-graders wgraduated, who dropped out, and who received a GED. Studewho had received a certifcate o attendance, were still enrolledhigh school, or were still working towards a GED were not includin the comparative analysis.

A comparison across the three types o students reveals that GErecipients ell between graduates and dropouts on some measuo socioeconomic status (SES) and parental education. A lowpercentage o GED recipients than graduates were in the highSES quarter (14 vs. 27 percent) and had parents with a colledegree or more (27 vs. 40 percent), but a higher percentage o GErecipients than dropouts were in the highest SES quarter (14 5 percent) and had parents with a college degree or more (27 18 percent) (table 1). Meanwhile, compared to GED recipients

Table 1. Percentage distribution of spring 2002 10th-graders, byhigh school completion status and selected characteristic2006

Characteristics

Completion status in 2006

High schoolgraduates GEDrecipients Dropou

SexMale 48.5 59.0 59Female 51.5 41.0 40

Race/ethnicity1

American Indian/Alaska Native 0.9 2.1 2Asian/Pacifc Islander 4.1 2.0 1Black 13.3 15.5 17Hispanic/Latino 14.2 15.5 33More than one race 4.4 7.3 5White 63.1 57.7 39

Socioeconomic status2

Lowest quarter 22.2 34.7 55Middle two quarters 50.8 51.1 39Highest quarter 27.0 14.2 5

Native languageEnglish 86.8 88.4 70Non-English 13.2 11.6 29

Family compositionMother and ather 60.0 38.8 35Mother or ather and nonparent

guardian 15.4 20.1 23Single parent 20.8 32.3 31Other 3.8 8.7 10

Parental educationHigh school or less 25.4 32.3 55Some college 34.3 40.5 27College degree or more 40.3 27.2 17

! Interpret data with caution. Standard error is larger than one-third o the estimate.1 Asian/Pacifc Islander includes Native Hawaiian, Black includes Arican American, andHispanic includes Latino. All race categories exclude Hispanic or Latino origin.2 The composite socioeconomic status score on which the quarters are based derives romfve equally weighted, standardized components: athers/guardians education, mothers/guardians education, amily income, athers/guardians occupation, and mothers/guardians occupation.NOTE: GED stands or General Educational Development exam. Detail may not sum to todue to rounding.SOURCE: U.S. Department o Education, Institute o Education Sciences, National Center or

Education Statistics. Education Longitudinal Study o 2002 (ELS:2002), Base Year, 2002, FirsFollow-up, 2004, and Second Follow-up, 2006.

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NCES 2012-0252 Issue BriefNovember 20

higher percentage o dropouts anda lower percentage o graduateshad parents with a high schooldegree or less.

GED recipients were not measurablydierent rom dropouts in termso sex or amily composition, butboth groups diered rom highschool graduates on these measures.Compared to graduates, higherpercentages o GED recipients and

dropouts were male (48 vs. 59 and60 percent, respectively), rom thelowest SES quarter (22 vs. 35 and55 percent, respectively) and romsingle-parent amilies (21 vs. 32and 31 percent, respectively); lowerpercentages were emale (52 vs. 41and 40 percent, respectively), Asian/Pacifc Islander (4 vs. 2 and 2 percent,respectively), or rom homes withboth mothers and athers present (60vs. 39 and 36 percent, respectively).Meanwhile, or some characteristics,graduates and GED recipients didnot measurably dier, but dropoutsdiered rom both. For instance,higher percentages o dropouts thangraduates or GED recipients wereHispanic (33 vs. 14 and 16 percent, respectively) and were not nativeEnglish speakers (29 vs. 13 and 12 percent, respectively), while lowerpercentages were White (40 vs. 63 and 58 percent, respectively), inthe middle two SES quarters (40 vs. 51 and 51 percent, respectively)or in the highest SES quarter (5 vs. 27 and 14 percent, respectively)and had parents with some college education (27 vs. 34 and 41percent, respectively). In total, these comparisons show that GEDrecipients are similar to dropouts on some measures, similar to highschool graduates on others, and all between dropouts and highschool graduates on measures o SES and parental education.

GED Recipients High School Participation andAcademic AchievementHigh school participation. In general, GED recipients diered morerom graduates than rom dropouts in their high school courseworkparticipation. For example, the majority o high school graduates (53percent) participated in a college preparatory program, whereas 51percent o GED recipients and 52 percent o dropouts participated ina general education high school program2 (table 2). Similarly, higherpercentages o GED recipients and dropouts than graduates took aremedial mathematics class (15 and 15 vs. 9 percent, respectively).3

GED recipients were distinct rom both dropouts and high schoolgraduates in terms o their perceived importance o educationwhen they were in the 10th grade. Higher percentages o GEDrecipients than dropouts indicated education was not important,and comparatively lower percentages indicated that educationwas either somewhat or very important. Compared to both GEDrecipients and dropouts, high school graduates had the lowestpercentage indicating education was not important, and the highestpercentage indicating it was somewhat to very important.

Academic achievement. In grade 9, GED recipients diered romboth dropouts and graduates in terms o grade point average (GPA).The percentage o GED recipients with a 2.0 or lower GPA in grade9 was smaller than that o dropouts, but larger than that o graduates(58 vs. 68 and 18 percent, respectively).4 By grade 10, the percentageo GED recipients with a 2.0 or lower GPA had increased suchthat there was no measurable dierence between GED recipientsand high school dropouts; however, compared to graduates, higher

percentages o both GED recipients and dropouts had a GPA 2.0 or less. While 10th-grade GPAs suggest similarities betweGED recipients and dropouts, standardized test scores rom tsame year reveal dierences. The percentage o GED recipientsthe bottom quarter o the standardized test score distribution wapproximately hal that o dropouts (31 vs. 61 percent, respectivelwhile the percentage above the 50th percentile was more than thtimes higher (35 vs. 10 percent, respectively). Meanwhile, a smalpercentage o GED recipients than graduates scored above the 50percentile and a larger percentage scored in the bottom quarter.

Reasons Given for Leaving High Schoand Obtaining a GEDIn the year the cohort was scheduled to graduate, GED recipienand high school dropouts were asked to report their reasons leaving high school, and those who chose to obtain a GED weasked about their motivation to do so. A higher percentage o GErecipients reported leaving high school or a school-related reas(91 percent) than or a work-related reason (29 percent) or a amirelated reason (26 percent) (table 3).5 Similarly, a higher percentao dropouts let high school or a school-related reason (88 percethan or a amily-related reason (40 percent) or a work-relatreason (37 percent). The our school-related reasons or leavihigh school that GED recipients cited most requently were that ththought it would be easier to get a GED (48 percent), they did n

like school (44 percent), they were getting poor grades or ailischool (39 percent), or they had missed too many school days (percent). Generally dropouts reported similar school-related reasoor leaving school, except that higher percentages o dropouts thGED recipients reported that they could not complete the coursespass the tests needed to graduate (33 vs. 22 percent). For both GErecipients and dropouts, the least requently cited school-relatreason or leaving school was that they did not eel sae (9 and percent, respectively).

The two reasons that GED recipients cited most requently obtaining a GED were personal, amily, or social (71 percent) ato meet requirements or additional study (66 percent).6 The nmost commonly cited reasons were job related: to train or a njob or career (51 percent) and to improve or keep up to date on

Table 2. Percentage distribution of 2002 10th-graders, by high school completion status andparticipation in high school programs and classes, academic achievement, and plans forpostsecondary education expectation: 2002, 2004, and 2006

Characteristics

Completion status in 2006

High schoolgraduates

GEDrecipients Dropou

Participation in high school programs and classes in 2002General education program 36.6 51.2 51College preparatory/academic program 53.4 35.0 32Vocational program 10.0 13.8 15

Attended a special education program 7.5 8.2 16Never attended a special education program 92.5 91.8 83

Took a remedial English class 7.8 11.1 14

Never took a remedial English class 92.2 88.9 85Took a remedial mathematics class 9.1 14.5 15Never took a remedial mathematics class 90.9 85.5 84

Regard or education in 2002Education not important 15.2 36.6 26Education somewhat to very important 84.8 63.4 73

Academic achievementGrade 9 GPA: 2.0 or lower 18.0 58.4 68Grade 9 GPA: 2.1 to 2.5 17.6 18.1 20Grade 9 GPA: above 2.5 64.4 23.6 1Grade 10 GPA: 2.0 or lower 19.6 73.2 74Grade 10 GPA: 2.1 to 2.5 17.3 12.7 16Grade 10 GPA: above 2.5 63.1 14.1 8

Standardized test scores by quartile10th-grade standardized test score: 25th percentile or below 20.1 31.5 610th-grade standardized test score: 26th to 50th percentile 24.4 33.7 2810th-grade standardized test score: Above 50th percentile 55.5 34.8 10

NOTE: GED stands or General Educational Development exam. GPA stands or grade point average. Completion status was determinedby 2006 data and plans or postsecondary education were reported in the 2004 data. All remaining measures (i.e., Participation in high school

programs and classes, Regard or education, and Academic achievement) are rom the 2002 data. Detail may not sum to totals due to roundinSOURCE: U.S. Department o Education, Institute o Education Sciences, National Center or Education S tatistics. Education Longitudinal Stud2002 (ELS:2002), Base Year, 2002, First Follow-up, 2004, and Second Follow-up, 2006.

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current job (47 percent). The least requently cited reason was thatan employer required or encouraged it (23 percent). When GEDrecipients were asked about the programs in which they had earnedtheir credential, the two most common responses o our possiblechoices were that they had taken the exam without participatingin a program or that they had participated in an adult educationprogram. The least common method o earning the GED wasthrough a job training program.

SummaryBased on a nationally representative sample o students who were10th-graders in spring 2002, this Issue Brie ound that the distributiono GED recipients, high school dropouts, and high school graduatesdiered by a variety o background characteristics. In terms o SESand the percentage o parents with a high school education or less,GED recipients ell between dropouts and graduates. In terms o thepercentage Hispanic, White, whose native language was English, andwhose parents had some college education, high school graduatesand GED recipients did not dier rom each other, but both dieredrom dropouts. However, GED recipients and dropouts dieredmeasurably rom graduates by gender, amily composition, and thepercentage who were Asian/Pacifc Islander.

Overall, GED credential holders diered more rom graduates thanrom dropouts on measures o school participation and academicachievement. However, patterns o GPA percentages suggest thatGED recipients began high school with characteristics distinct romthose o dropouts, but became similar to dropouts over time. Forinstance, in grade 9, GED recipients ell between graduates anddropouts in terms o having a GPA o 2.0 or lower; however, bygrade 10, the percentage o GED recipients with a GPA o 2.0

or lower had increased, and no longer diered rom high schodropouts. This shit in GPA percentages during high school suggethat or many GED recipients the movement away rom high schograduation may be observable during their high school career.

GED recipients reported our primary school-related reasons leaving high school: they elt it would be easier to get a GED, thdid not like school, they were getting poor grades or ailing schoand they had missed too many school days. Approximately twthirds o GED recipients cited personal, amily, or social reasons obtaining a GED, and a similar percentage cited it as necessarymeet the requirements or additional study.

The results presented in this Issue Brie suggest there are distinctiobetween GED recipients, high school dropouts, and high schograduates not only in their demographic characteristics, but ain their academic development during high school. However, thdistinctions are complex and show that in some aspects GErecipients dier rom both dropouts and graduates, and appmore similar to either group in other aspects.

ReferencesAmerican Council on Education. (2008). 2008 GED Testing Progr

Statistical Report. Washington, DC: Author.

Dalton, B., Glennie, E., and Ingels, S.J. (2009). Late High SchDropouts: Characteristics, Experiences, and Changes AcrCohorts (NCES 2009-307). National Center or Educati

Statistics, Institute o Education Sciences, U.S. Department Education. Washington, DC.

Heckman, J.J., Humphries, J.E., and Mader, N.S. (2010). The GE(NBER Working Paper 16064). Cambridge, MA: NatioBureau o Economic Research. Retrieved November 2, 20rom http://www.nber.org/papers/w16064.

Ou, S. (2008). Do GED Recipients Dier From Graduates aSchool Dropouts? Findings From an Inner-City Cohort. UrbEducation, 43(1): 83117.

Patterson, M.B., Song, W., and Zhang, J. (2009) GED Candidaand Their Postsecondary Educational Outcomes: A Pilot StudResearch Studies 2009-5, GED Testing Service, Washington, D

Song, W., and Hsu, Y-C. (2008). Economic and Noneconomic Outcomfor GED Credential Recipients (GED Testing Service ResearStudies 2008-2). American Council on Education. WashingtDC.

U.S. Bureau o Labor Statistics. (2004). News Release: CollEnrollment and Work Activity of 2003 High School GraduatWashington, DC: Author.

Endnotes1 Nearly 3.4 percent o respondents did not all into the three macompletion categories by 2006, as ollows: 0.45 percent had receivedcertifcate o attendance; 0.94 percent were still enrolled in high schoand 1.99 percent were still working toward a GED in the spring o 202 The type o high school program was sel-reported by the student10th grade. The program choices on the questionnaire were Geneeducation program, College preparatory/academic program, a

Vocational program (ELS:2002).3 Participation in remedial coursework was sel-reported by the studeas o 10th grade.4 High school transcripts were the source o the GPA data.5 Students who let high school without earning a diploma were askwhy they let school. Respondents could provide more than one respon6 Respondents could provide more than one reason or obtainingGED.

Table 3. Percentage of 2002 10th-graders who completed a GEDcredential or dropped out of school, by reasons for leavingschool and reasons for obtaining GED credential: 2006

Characteristics

Completion status in 2006

GED recipients Dropouts

Reasons or leaving schoolSchool-related 91.4 87.6

Not getting along with teachers/students 27.3 32.4Could not complete courses/pass test to

graduate 22.4 33.5Could not keep up with schoolwork 26.4 30.6Did not eel belonged there 25.7 20.0Did not eel sae 8.7 10.2Did not like school 43.6 34.4Missed too many school days 39.0 41.9Thought it would be easier to get a GED 47.6 40.7Was getting poor grades/ailing school 39.4 39.4Suspended/expelled 17.1 20.6

Work-related 28.6 37.4Got a job 18.5 28.6Could not work at the same time 18.5 23.1

Family-related 26.2 40.0Had to support/care or amily 18.5 29.0Pregnant or became a parent 13.1 24.3

Reasons or obtaining GED credentialImprove/keep up to date on current job 46.9 Train or new job/career 50.9 Required or encouraged by employer 23.1 Meet requirements or additional study 66.4 Improve basic reading/writing/math skills 35.8 For personal/amily/social reasons 70.7

Program in which GED was earnedJob training program 5.6 Adult education program 36.2 No program/just took the exam 42.0 Other 16.2

Not applicable.NOTE: GED stands or General Educational Development exam. Students could report morethan one reason or leaving school and or completing the GED certifcate.SOURCE: U.S. Department o Education, Institute o Education Sciences, National Center orEducation Statistics. Education Longitudinal Study o 2002 (ELS:2002),Base Year, 2002, FirstFollow-up, 2004, and Second Follow-up, 2006.

The Issue Brie series presents inormation on education topics o current interest. All estimates shown are based on samples and are subject to sampling variability. All dierences discussed astatistically signifcant at the .05 level; this means a dierence is discussed only i the probability that it is due to chance (i.e., sampling variability) is less than 1 in 20. No adjustments were made multiple comparisons. In the design, conduct, and data processing o National Center or Education Statistics (NCES) surveys, eorts are made to minimize the eects o nonsampling errors, suchitem nonresponse, measurement error, data processing error, or other systematic error. For more inormation on the Education Longitudinal Study o 2002 (ELS:2002), visit http://nces.ed.gov/els.

This Issue Brie was prepared by Nathaniel Malkus (American Institutes or Research) and Anindita Sen (American Institutes or Research) o the Education Statistics Services Institute (ESSI). For urtinormation, contact John Ralph, NCES, at 202-502-7441 or john.ralph@ed.gov. To order additional copies o this Issue Brie or other NCES publications, call 1-877-4ED-PUBS or visit http://www.edpugov. NCES publications are also available on the Internet at http://nces.ed.gov.

http://www.nber.org/papers/w16064http://nces.ed.gov/elsmailto:john.ralph@ed.govhttp://www.edpubs.gov/http://www.edpubs.gov/http://nces.ed.gov/http://nces.ed.gov/http://www.edpubs.gov/http://www.edpubs.gov/mailto:john.ralph@ed.govhttp://nces.ed.gov/elshttp://www.nber.org/papers/w16064