GED Testing Service Research Study 2009-6 - Policies of Test Centers and Jurisdictions and Candidate Test Performance

Sep 14, 2026

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The study evaluates how GED test-taking policies across test centers and jurisdictions relate to candidate performance on the overall GED Test and its content areas. Using GED Testing Service data from candidate, test-center, and jurisdiction levels, multilevel (hierarchical linear) modeling and cross-validation quantify how much variability policies explain after accounting for candidate characteristics. Findings show policies account for a relatively small share, while candidate factors drive most score differences, with limited center-level effects.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Economic and employment context

Relationship between policies and performance

Executive Summary

Data and methods

Key findings

Test-center and jurisdiction effects

OPT requirement and performance gaps

Content-area variability

Implications

Policies of Test Centers and Jurisdictions and GED Candidate Test Performance Amanuel Medhanie and Margaret Becker Patterson GED Testing Service® Research Study, 2009–6 Abstract and Executive Summary Abstract The economic and employment outlook for individuals without a high school diploma is bleak. For many of these individuals, passing the General Educational Development (GED) Test is the first step in competing in the increasingly demanding job market. GED test-taking policies vary across test centers and jurisdictions, and have the potential to affect several outcomes related to the GED credential, such as passing the test or preparedness for postsecondary education. However, little is known about this relationship. This study examines the relationship between GED policies and performance on the content areas and the GED Test as a whole. The model that best fits the data, including test center-and jurisdiction-level predictors, explained approximately 15 percent of the variability in overall GED standard scores, which varies by content area, ranging from 10 percent for Language Arts, Reading to 17 percent for Science, suggesting that the importance of different variables differs as a function of the content area. The results suggest that candidates of various backgrounds are at a disadvantage even after controlling for relevant candidate factors. The most consistent finding associated with test centers was that the gap in performance between AfricanAmerican and white candidates was smaller in test centers that required the Official GED Practice Test (OPT) . However, this requirement did not decrease the performance gap between Hispanic and white candidates. In summary, although there is variability in overall GED standard scores and content area scores associated with the test center and jurisdiction levels, only one of the predictors at these levels—centers open all months of the year—helped account for this variation. Additional implications are discussed. Executive Summary The economic and employment outlook for individuals without a high school diploma is bleak. For many of these individuals, passing the General Educational Development (GED) Test is the first step in competing in the increasingly demanding job market. GED test-taking policies vary across test centers and jurisdictions, and have the potential to affect several outcomes related to the GED credential, such as passing the test or preparedness for postsecondary education. However, little is known about this relationship. This study examines the relationship between GED policies and performance on the content areas and the GED Test as a whole. GED Testing Service data analyzed in this study comprised 2008 candidate-level, 2007 test-center level, and 2008 jurisdiction-level information. After performing descriptive statistics, data were analyzed using multilevel modeling, also referred to as hierarchical linear modeling (unconditional standard score model and conditional HLM for mean overall GED standard score) and cross-validation techniques. In summary, policies of test centers explained a small proportion of variability in GED Test standard scores, after controlling for candidate characteristics. This study, using select variables, found that test centers and jurisdictions play less of a role in GED Test performance; however, the remainder of this variance might be captured by test center and jurisdiction characteristics and policies that were not available in the dataset. The majority of significant predictors in the models predicting both the overall GED Test standard score and content area standard scores were candidate characteristics such as ethnicity, primary language, highest grade a candidate completed, and repeat test-taker status: based on the unconditional models, 88 percent to 94 percent of the variance (depending on the score of interest) is at the candidate level. However two predictors, centers required the Official GED

FAQs

What is the main focus of the GED Testing Service research study?

The study examines how GED test-taking policies across test centers and jurisdictions relate to candidate performance on the overall GED Test and specific content areas.

Which factors explain most of the variability in GED standard scores?

After controlling for candidate characteristics, candidate-level factors account for the majority of score variability, while test-center and jurisdiction policies explain only a small portion.

What test-center policy showed the clearest impact on performance?

Centers open all months of the year were associated with a statistically significant increase in Mathematics performance, while other content areas were not consistently affected.

Sep 14, 2026

Upload by Himbo