Cracks in the GED crown

In a little over seven months, on Dec. 31, 2013, the primacy of the GED test series will be no more. The GED itself will not end, mind you, but will morph into a new test form given on computers, rather than by test packets and computer-graded answer sheets. This update is not unusual. The test series has been periodically revamped over the years: the last time in 2002.

What is unusual is the amount of discontent that has accompanied this change.

In the past, when the GED was a non-profit business that worked with education publishers to produce supplemental materials for students, the updates caused some discomfort, but was still THE substitute for a high school credential. It had been that way since 1942 when the test was created. Everyone -- colleges, employers, the military, friends and relatives -- recognized the GED standard.

The non-profit status of the credential changed when the GED Test Service was purchased by one of its former partner publishers, Pearson/VUE. At first, according to old hands in the business, the 2014 update seemed no more difficult than past years. The GED brand remained strong.

But cracks in the single national credential seem to be forming. I am not concerned here about what caused the problems or who's to blame. I have read plenty of opinions on that written by others far above my pay grade. What I am concerned about is the loss of a uniform standardized national high school credential. That, it seems to this basic education instructor, is tragic. Wisconsin, including the GED team at NWTC, is planning for the new 2014 GED test series from Pearson/VUE, but other states, it seems, are planning to split off with separate publishers, competencies, assessment methods, and credentials. 

However, if we dethrone the GED brand, the country not only loses an educational standard that has been around since 1942, but we also lose the clear pathway for success for hundreds of thousands of students. Will a test that is accepted in Wisconsin be accepted in Illinois, Missouri, or Texas? Will one test emphasize algebra over geometry, and another literacy over science? Will students have to complete multiple credentials to get the same benefit as they do from the one GED today? How much will that cost in test-taking and time? Will students dreams be the fodder in a gotcha game between competing publishers and states? Facing a fractured standard, will students even try? And if they don't try, what is the cost of that to the rest of us?

Right now a student can complete the GED series knowing that the credential will accepted across the country. What will happen after Jan. 1, 2014, when there are two, three, four, or more high school credential assessments? As I said, I don't really care about the arguments between the feuding interests. What I care about most are my students. I wish I could be convinced that others did as well.

Associate Dean: a thankless but necessary job

Associate Deans have to be one of the more thankless jobs in academia.

How do we find them? We pluck our best classroom instructors or stars from other areas of the college, give them an office with a shiny whiteboard, a public round of huzzahs, and then pigeonhole them into a black hole of institutional meetings, budget deadlines, questions from support staff, complaints from faculty, pressure from leadership, and, just to round things out, ask them to respond personably and in detail to a couple hundred emails a day.

Yet, we depend on this position. The college could not run without them. From the faculty point of view, the Associate Dean is where you go when you have student problems; when you are unsure if your curriculum matches your competencies; when you need sources for supplies; when you need a grant for a new initiative; or even a place to store the 20-foot, ultra-cool class project before the end of the semester open house. An effective Associate Dean can run interference through the IT department, curriculum development and student services, maintenance and human resources in addition to being an understanding ear to listen to you after a particularly bad day/ week/ semester.

Four year colleges realize the thanklessness of this tweener management position by taking it out of the dean structure, calling it Department Head, and rotating it among faculty, who dutifully accept the letterhead designation for a couple of years before they retreat back to their research, students, and predictable fall schedule. 

Technical college Associate Deans, on the other hand, knowingly leave the satisfaction of the classroom behind and take up pikes in the first line of leadership. Sometimes, future deans, vice-presidents, and even presidents are taken from its ranks. Most Associate Deans, however, stay at this level for the rest of their career supporting leadership and quietly influencing the direction of the college. I have seen some of the most successful initiatives at NWTC start as a dream of an Associate Dean. They know if they are willing to accept a low-wattage profile and work behind the scenes methodically and persistently, they can make the college a better place for students, staff, faculty, and the community.

They don't get the thanks for the job they do, but they should. Huzzah!

Red Lobster or Bloom's Taxonomy?

At 5:00 p.m. crowd at the Red Lobster was steady. We were led to a table right away, but those who came in even five minutes later were held at the chairs that lined both sides of the entry hall. Our waitress, Wendy, was polite through the usual introductory routine: short welcome, drink order, deliver drinks, and then the main order. She was assigned three or four tables around us with two to six people at each. The restaurant was already busy, but Wendy buzzed with grace and easy humor from tables to serving area to bar to kitchen and back to the tables.

It reminded me of the dance of successful teaching. I had not thought of it before, but there's a lot of similarity between teaching and food service. I am finishing up a two-year new teacher training program at the college, graduating from newbie instructor to not-so newbie instructor -- we still have a lot to learn. During these two years there has been a lot of discussion about student-centered learning, but surprisingly little about customer service, which is really the same thing. I wonder if a regular stint on Friday nights at the Red Lobster might have been more productive than Friday mornings reviewing Bloom's Taxonomy for the fourth time. What, I wondered, could my classmates and I have learned from Wendy and Red Lobster?

We would learn how to work as team members to provide a service and product to a diverse and rapidly changing clientele.

We would learn how to keep smiling when the customer wants the dish of butter replaced -- again and again. The customer is always right, and when they are not, they still are. Keep the melted butter hot.

We would learn how to deftly pick up crayons tossed down by younger guests while still balancing three water glasses on a serving tray. Safety, service, and a smile at the same time.

We would learn how to keep orders separate, how to tally a bill, and how to try to up-sell products. Sales is as much a part of teaching as are assessments.

And, we would learn how to send guests on their way, how to quickly reset the table and how to greet the new incoming customers as if they were our first of the night, while at the same time, performing a physically demanding job that requires balance, strength, coordination, knowledge, and stamina.

By the time my wife and I left the Red Lobster, we had a doggy bag (or is it a lobsty bag?) of goodies for the next day, and admiration for our server who, at the end of the meal, seemed more like a long-time friend than a minimum wage worker surviving on tips. Wendy enhanced our experience, which, after all, was nothing more special than a quick Friday night meal at a franchise restaurant. We were one table among dozens she would work during the night, but she turned the ordinary experience into the extra-ordinary. That is the mark of a true service professional, food service or post-secondary education. I think Wendy should be giving lessons in customer service to new trainees at corporate, not bussing tables at a local eatery. I'm sure if she was given the chance she would do it with a smile and gracefully refill the water glasses at the same time.