Metro North ABE Links Newsletter, Spring 2020 | Page 7

Policy update
Metro North ABE along with other ABE providers across
the state, successfully lobbied the state legislature last year
to eliminate the financial barrier adults face when getting
a high school diploma. Adult learners seeking a diploma
through the test-competency pathway take the General
Educational Development (GED) assessment in four
separate tests: mathematical reasoning, reasoning through
language arts, social studies and science.
To pass the GED, a student must pass all four tests, each
of which costs $30. That is $120 dollars for our students to
reach their dreams. For students on a fixed income that
can be a tremendous, often impossible, barrier. $120 is a
few trips to the grocery store. It’s a hefty chunk of a heating
bill, or it’s new winter gear for a family to survive the cold
Minnesotan winters. Thanks to this change, students now
have the fee waived.
Metro North ABE offers two testing centers at our Anoka
Technical College site and the Blaine Learning Lab. In
addition, we support our county correctional facilities in
offering GED testing for inmates while incarcerated. Since
the state waived the fee, we have seen a great increase in
students taking this test. Before the Covid-19 crisis, GED
testing was up 68% this year compared to the year prior.
While these sites have been closed during the Governor’s
shelter in place guidelines, we hope to open them as soon
as it is safe to do so.
One future goal we are working on through our advocacy
arm, Literacy Action Network, is creating a more consistent
funding formula to help ABE schools continue to improve
and empower our workforce in the future. We will keep you
posted on any success in this area in a future issue.
Columbia Heights/
Fridley students,
staff and volunteers
attend the 2020
“Day on the Hill” to
advocate for greater
legislative support
for adult basic
education programs
across the state.