Homeschoolers and the G.E.D.

by Will Shaw, Gordonsville

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The General Education Development high school equivalency certificate (the "GED") is an effective means to escape the compulsory school attendance requirement. Providing the student passes the test, as the GED certificate is the same, in this context, as a high school diploma. The public education industry often won't let kids in conventional school take the GED test. Homeschoolers under the home instruction statute or the religious exemption provision, however, are specifically allowed in Virginia law (Section 22.1-254.2) to sit for the GED test as early as age 16. (And why are we so special? Because your VaHomeschoolers lobbyists successfully obtained an exception and worked to protect it though revisions to the education title of the Code of Virginia.) Thus passing the GED test is emancipation from the compulsory school attendance requirement.

While it's still being in "school," another option is attending college full time. Some public school divisions permit a few of their students to engage in such "dual enrollment." However, homeschoolers with solid academic foundation usually have little trouble enrolling in a college or university even though they're under 18 or lacking a high school diploma or equivalent (GED certificate). There are a few other escape clauses in law, which are mostly impractical. These include becoming continuously physically threatened in school (and convincing a court to agree); contracting a serious communicable disease; or moving so far into the bush that school buses can't reach within a mile and a half of the house. (Amazingly, I know of one family that escaped the law that way, but that was years ago, when dinosaurs roamed.)

The GED is a state program administered by the local school division, usually by an adult Ed administrator or another person in the school division's central office or one of the local public high schools. Pre-tests (readiness tests) and prep classes are often available. Taking a pretest may be required before the real test. The GED Testing Service manages and publishes the test, and changed its rules years ago to limit its test to age 16 and up-a gimmick to keep more kids in school that much longer-and the exception for homeschooled students used to go down to age 15.

I gag when some snoots dismiss the GED as easy. This can make people dismiss the test, dismiss the GED high school equivalency certificate, and reduce its value. For a lot of people it isn't a snap.

While some homeschoolers hold their noses, or turn up their noses, I don my hardhat to say I am a proponent of the GED high school equivalency certificate for homeschoolers. If one isn't enrolled in a correspondence school that awards a diploma, the GED is a fine culminating activity. It has credibility with colleges. (Yeah, yeah, I know plenty of kids who entered college without any kind of diploma or certificate, including my own. But we did the GED anyway.) And it has credibility with employers. Job applications without a diploma or GED are more likely to go to the bottom of the pile. Earning the GED proves the kid knew something. In my book that's more than can be said for all conventional diplomas. Employment applications do ask about high school diploma, and I don't want my kids to have to put "none" on every job application for the rest of their lives. The GED counts.

The Law in VA

22.1-254.2. Testing for general educational development; eligibility; guidelines.

  1. The Board of Education shall establish a program of testing for general educational development through which persons may earn a high school equivalency certificate. The following persons may participate in the testing program:
    1. Persons who are at least eighteen years of age and not enrolled in public school or not otherwise meeting the school attendance requirements set forth in 22.1-254;
    2. Persons sixteen years of age or older who have been instructed by their parents in their home pursuant to 22.1-254.1 and who have completed such home school instruction;
    3. Persons who have been excused from school attendance pursuant to subsections B and C of 22.1-254;
  2. From such funds as may be appropriated for this purpose, local school boards shall implement programs of preparation and testing for general educational development consistent with guidelines to be developed by the Board of Education. Such guidelines shall include a provision that allows preparatory and testing programs to be offered jointly by two or more school boards.

Additional Information

A Virginia resident must make application in the school division in which he/she lives, although an applicant may take the GED in any official test center. Since nearly all centers pre-register and have assigned seating, the local administrator of GED applications should make arrangements for the candidate at the center of his/her choice. The student must take the standard GED practice test and attain the minimum average score of 45. This readiness test covers all five GED subject areas. It is a good diagnostic tool; if the readiness test is not passed, an acceptable GED test score will be impossible to attain. The new guidelines also assure access to GED preparation courses for any student who fails to score a minimum average of 45 on the practice test. After the practice test, the GED test is administered.

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