The Evolving Roles of Adult Education and High School Equivalency Credentials in the United States

This talk provides an overview of my research agenda related to adult education and high school equivalency credentialing in the United States. These topics are closely linked, as over 40% of testers prepare for high school equivalency exams like the GED via adult education classes. First, I will present descriptive work surveying the landscape of U.S. adult education over the past 25 years, highlighting changes in adult education’s target populations and its increasing role as an immigrant-serving sector. Next, I will present new results from a national study assessing whether and how the GED test functions as a post-secondary pathway for uncredentialed adults. I will describe the modern population of GED testers, investigate their post-secondary trajectories, and estimate the causal impact of earning a high school equivalency credential or college readiness designation via the GED on post-secondary outcomes. Finally, I will preview my ongoing work on these topics and related areas.