“Proof that You Can Learn Anything”: CWEE’s GED Program in Focus
Completing one’s high school equivalency (often referred to as the GED tests) is an essential hurdle, an important box to check that provides a ticket for future learning and advancement.
Yet for many students, the traditional model of education falls short in meeting their needs, and many adults in our community lack this important high school equivalency (HSE) credential.
There are many reasons that CWEE students didn’t complete high school. For some, learning differences made school a demoralizing challenge when they weren’t provided with needed support. For others, frequent moves, economic instability, or pregnancy disrupted their high school education.
CWEE offers one of few preparation programs available in Denver to help people prepare for the four challenging GED exams: Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.
CWEE’s online learning program combines with virtual and in-person classes, individual and small-group tutoring, led by CWEE’s full-time HSE Instructor, Jeanine Limone Draut. CWEE’s HSE program serves students at all different levels and at any time, there are 70 to 80 students in the HSE program.
In 2014 the HSE tests changed to align with common core standards. When that change occurred, the tests became academic reasoning tests, making it less essential to simply memorize facts. “The test is not simply recall of facts, it’s pulling several pieces of information together, reasoning with them and coming to a conclusion,” said Jeanine. “All four tests are like that including math. There is a lot of critical thinking and that’s what makes it challenging.”
With a master’s degree in adult education and experience as an instructional designer, workplace trainer, and teacher, Jeanine is uniquely qualified to support CWEE’s students as they pursue the HSE credential.
Many of the HSE students at CWEE have had negative experiences with education, so Jeanine immediately starts working to put the tests in perspective with a strengths-based approach that emphasizes the many things that students already do well that can be leveraged for the tests.
“I tell people that this isn’t about your worth as a person, and it never was. They are already great moms, cooks, entrepreneurs, and workers,” says Jeanine. “In our program, we start with respect and we end with respect. The attitude is: this is something you need to do for your life, and we’re here to help you get it done.”
CWEE supports participants to explore vocational training opportunities and certification programs in industries from health care to HVAC. We connect participants to community college programs and trade schools, including helping people through the application, enrollment and financial aid processes.
People who earn their GED credential at CWEE have plans to pursue all kinds of careers, including higher education and certificate programs. Recent CWEE GED graduates have entered a medical billing and coding program and another started nursing school. Students still in the program have plans to start a business, enroll in a four-year university to major in history, or pursue training to become a truck driver.
“For students who complete their HSE, it’s a wonderful feeling of success that builds self-efficacy,” said Jeanine.
“I try to verbalize it when we do the graduation ceremonies. I tell students, ‘What you know now is that you can learn things — you can learn anything. You can learn on a new job; you can learn if you do a certificate program; you can learn if you go on to higher education.’ That gives people a lot of joy and it also opens their eyes. Honestly, that’s almost as important as the credential itself.”
To learn more about impact sponsorships that support CWEE’s continuing education for career advancement, contact Corey Falter at cfalter@cwee.org.