Colorado State Board of Education

November 3, 2015

Colorado State Board of Education

The Honorable:   Steve Durham, Angelika Schroeder, Valentina Flores, Joyce Rankin, Pam Mazanec, Debora Scheffel, Jane Goff,

It has come to our attention that there are two important issues before you that will impact adult education programs that provide instruction for the high school equivalency diploma for years to come.

Issue #1  -  We understand that the State Board of Education is considering dropping all rules at the department level, and leaving the rulemaking process up to the test vendor/s or to the existing limited statute passed by the legislature. 

When a student does not graduate from high school and seeks to get a diploma, that student receives a GED; however, realistically, that student receives a high school equivalency diploma based on passing a state approved assessment.  GED has been the only assessment available for states to utilize and is still the case in our state of Colorado; therefore, GED and high school equivalency diploma have become synonymous and the term GED was written into the wording of state law.  When the American Council of Education, a non-profit organization, passed the trademark GED over to Pearson Vue and alternative tests were developed by other vendors the wording had to be changed.  State law cannot include a trademark; consequently, in 2014 the state legislature removed the term GED.   The term GED was replaced with a high school equivalency diploma   definition is in Sec. 10-  22-33-102 (Colorado Revised Statutes).

Due to the change in state law the Department of Education must comply with state statutes.  Instead of replacing the wording, the department submitted a plan to repeal all rules guiding the process of issuing the state diploma; therefore, at the October meeting the Colorado State Board of Education approved this process for consideration.

If new rules are being made, our recommendation is that the Department of Education consider input from our experienced folks in the field; in addition, the Department of Education could provide a transitional bridge between what currently exists and what is required in state statute.

Issue #2 – This second important issue is the selection of test/s that will be utilized for issuing a Colorado high school equivalency diploma as pursuant to an RFA.  Many of these concerns were outlined in the letter addressed to you on September 22, 2015 and would kindly refer you to that communique. 

As adult educators and administrators we feel compelled to reach out to you as rule-makers to hopefully assist you in making decisions that will positively impact the students who so desperately need our assistance.

Sincerely,