Achievement tests play an important role in modern societies. They
are used to evaluate schools, to assign students to tracks within
schools, and to identify weaknesses in student knowledge. The GED
is an achievement test used to grant the status of high school
graduate to anyone who passes it. GED recipients currently account
for 12 percent of all high school credentials issued each year in
the United States. But do achievement tests predict success in
life? The Myth of Achievement Tests shows that achievement tests
like the GED fail to measure important life skills. James J.
Heckman, John Eric Humphries, Tim Kautz, and a group of scholars
offer an in-depth exploration of how the GED came to be used
throughout the United States and why our reliance on it is
dangerous. Drawing on decades of research, the authors show that,
while GED recipients score as well on achievement tests as high
school graduates who do not enroll in college, high school
graduates vastly outperform GED recipients in terms of their
earnings, employment opportunities, educational attainment, and
health. The authors show that the differences in success between
GED recipients and high school graduates are driven by character
skills. Achievement tests like the GED do not adequately capture
character skills like conscientiousness, perseverance, sociability,
and curiosity. These skills are important in predicting a variety
of life outcomes. They can be measured, and they can be taught.
Using the GED as a case study, the authors explore what achievement
tests miss and show the dangers of an educational system based on
them. They call for a return to an emphasis on character in our
schools, our systems of accountability, and our national dialogue.
Contributors Eric Grodsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison Andrew
Halpern-Manners, Indiana University Bloomington Paul A. LaFontaine,
Federal Communications Commission Janice H. Laurence, Temple
University Lois M. Quinn, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Pedro
L. Rodriguez, Institute of Advanced Studies in Administration John
Robert Warren, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
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