The vagaries of life aren’t always kind, not the least of which is the failure to earn a high school diploma.
Stephanie Moran knows the pitfall well after 14 years at the Durango Education Center where she now is manager of the GED program. Students run into economic, health, family, drug, transportation or dislocation problems that derail them, she said.
When they fail to graduate with their class, they can get back on track with the General Educational Development program, a high school-equivalency curriculum developed to serve returning GIs after World War II.
Today, reading, writing, arithmetic and the sciences remain the core of the program, but four generations of GED tests – 1942, 1978, 1988 and 2002 – reflect changes in emphasis over time.
Now, the fifth generation, which debuted this year, swaps a largely multiple-choice test answered with pencil or pen for a 100 percent online test with a lot of writing and mathematics that require knowledge of algebraic equations.
Study is based on Common Core State Standards or what is considered nationally to be important. A single answer is less important than the thinking process required to find an answer.
“Without a high school diploma or the GED, you can’t get into college or technical school or even the military,” Moran said. “Lack of a high school credential also can deny you career advancement.”
Sgt. Gregory Smith, the U.S. Marine Corps recruiter in Durango, confirmed disenchanted students no longer can drop out of school and enlist in a branch of the military.
“If you don’t have a high school diploma, you need a GED plus 15 credits of college-level 101 courses or higher.” Smith said. “No matter what job you do in the military, you need an education.”
Mike Freeburn, an assistant principal at Durango High School, said the school does everything possible to keep students on the campus.
“A GED is a last resort,” Freeburn said. “It’s better than nothing, but a high school diploma is much more valuable.”
A profile of Colorado adult education reveals the importance of throwing a lifeline to strugglers, Moran said. A state Department of Education study found sound reasons to target adults, she said.
Nine percent, 437,668, of all adults in the state don’t have a high school diploma, and among the 3 percent (157,455) who are non-English speakers, 66 percent don’t have a high school credential, Moran said.
Among those who are working but don’t have a high school credential, 63 percent are men and 37 percent women. Among the unemployed without a diploma, 62 percent are men and 38 percent women. Among those no longer in the labor force, 39 percent are men and 61 percent women.
The Durango Education Center, which also offers English language classes for foreigners and an after-school literacy program for children, has 150 to 200 adults enrolled for GED classes at any given time. They range in age from 16 to 60.
“There are many reasons for not finishing high school,” Moran said. “We give them a second chance – or a third or a fourth chance.”
After adversity, goals to pursue
Kaila Pope and Mariah Platts, both 18, and Eric Martin, 20 – all young in years but wise in the ways of life – are prime examples of students who need only a helping hand to make a go of it, Moran said, in introducing the trio to a visitor.
The three had similar stories about their younger years – bullying, dysfunctional families, drugs, violence and irregular school attendance and finally, no school at all.
Now they never miss class, apply themselves to their studies and have career goals, Moran said. In fact, Platts said she’s determined to make up almost four years of instruction in order to graduate in December.
Pope and Platts plan to attend Pueblo Community College, which is in the Commons Building as is the Durango Education Center. Pope wants to study forensic psychology or forensic reconstruction (crime scene re-creation), and Platts want to become a certified nurse’s assistant. Martin has his sights on a career in the military – Marines or Army.
Barry Mason, 50, who’s on the opposite edge of the age scale, found the GED he earned at the Durango Education Center in 2010 to be invaluable.
“I needed the GED to get my commercial driver’s license,” Mason said by phone from Texas where he drives a semitrailer delivering dog food.
But he expects to take a step up shortly. He’s in line for a job with the Seguin, Texas, water department as a truck driver and backhoe operator.
Mason, a dropout, went back to school after his son, a Durango High School graduate, began to chide him about not having a DHS class ring as he did.
“I’m proud of my education and what I’ve done,” Mason said.
The Durango Education Center is 26 years old, Executive Director Teresa Malone said.
It operates on an annual budget of $800,000 derived from federal Work Force Investment Act money channeled through the state Department of Education, other grants and private donors.
Federal funding is awarded by competitive bidding, and not all adult education programs are successful. In the last round, the Durango Education Center was among 15 programs out of 36 that won funding, Malone said.
A similar program in Montezuma County was funded. An Archuleta County program was unsuccessful.
Colorado is the only state that doesn’t fund adult education, Malone said. But that could change if a bill making its way through the Legislature is approved. It would be a modest $960,000, awarded on a competitive basis.
daler@durangoherald.com
