As the number of adult Americans without a high school degree nears 40 million, adult education is becoming a critical issue in the United States. GED education programs are sponsored by communities, non-profit organizations, and school districts across the country. Teaching undereducated adults is extremely challenging. Most adults who didn’t graduate high school never learned good study habits, never felt motivated to learn and never did well in a traditional classroom environment.

Research shows that most adults with a low level of education are encumbered with poor self-esteem, frustration, feelings of helplessness, and dependency on others. It’s particularly important for adult learners to succeed in their experiences with the GED. Success at this stage shows students that it’s possible to succeed. The GED Academy identifies four crucial factors for success for adult learners.

1. The learner must be able to set the pace.

Adult learners begin their GED preparation at various stages. They have gaps in their education that are difficult to predict and unique for each individual. Students should be able to skip materials they’re familiar with and review new material as many times as needed. Adult education must be customized to students’ needs. Spending hours on material that adults already know destroys motivation, and going too quickly over unknown material leads to frustration.

2. Interest, not content, drives learning.

Students who never succeeded in school don’t find classroom materials inherently interesting. Innovative adult education programs like the GED Academy prep program use storytelling techniques, among others, to capture learners’ interest. The lessons follow a virtual GED classroom, peopled with characters that include a class clown, a single mother, and an ex-convict. Following the story of virtual students’ lives creates interest and motivation, and it helps answer the question: how is this information important to me?

3. The learner needs immediate feedback.

Immediate feedback on adult learners’ progress creates a sense of accomplishment, since students can see their incremental improvement. It also shows students when they need to repeat material. Many adult education students can’t assess their own learning. Immediate feedback helps build self-awareness of the learning process.

4. Success is the great motivator.

Every part of the learning experience is an opportunity for success. Students who have experienced failure and frustration need to recognize each little success along the way. Through a combination of storytelling, humor, exposing the learning processes of fellow students, and providing immediate feedback, learning programs like the GED Academy prep program attempt to build a foundation of success for learners. Whatever methodology you’re using, give students a flexible study plan tailored to their needs, keep them interested, and give them immediate feedback. Really, these are the keys to the fourth element: success. Make sure they see their successes.

The potential of online learning is especially important for adult learners who were never successful in the classroom. Adults who never earned a high school diploma and need a GED often had trouble in school. High school classes didn’t meet their learning needs. School was frustrating and disappointing, and so people who need a GED are often discouraged and unwilling to start GED classes.

Adult learners who want a GED often suffer from embarrassment in a classroom. They’re afraid to look stupid, or to admit they haven’t learned high school reading or math. Online classes make it easy to study without embarrassment. No one is looking over your shoulder, and online GED classes follow your personal learning pace. If you don’t understand a lesson completely, you can continue studying that area without worrying that you have to keep up with the rest of the class. If you already know something, you can skip through it quickly and move on to the next topic. Because online learning is tailored to you, it can be like having a personal tutor, on your computer.

Adults who need a GED also face problems with their schedules and transportation. Adult learners have families and jobs, and it’s not always easy getting to a GED class. Online learning takes place in your home, on your schedule. You can do your studying after the kids are in bed, early in the morning before everyone wakes up, or during that brief time in the afternoon when you have a few spare moments. You don’t have to worry about a babysitter or taking a bus.

Online learning is an important option for adults who need a GED. GED classes online can target exactly what you need to learn, using multiple learning style. Because they’re interactive, online classes help hold your attention and help you learn. The best online learning helps you learn through understanding, not memorization, by using the multi-media potential of online classes. So, if you’re looking for your GED diploma, consider online learning, a new way to learn.

A recent study, “The Effect of Earning a GED on Recidivism Rates” (http://essentialed.org/research.htm) shows that inmates who earned their GED while incarcerated were up to 14% less likely to return to prison in the next three years. With the cost of incarcerating a prisoner well above $20,000 per year and the number of inmates rising, correctional facilities are focusing on finding efficient ways to reduce recidivism, and implementing GED programs is a promising possibility.

The needs of prison systems are well defined. Correctional facilities often have limited resources… few teachers, little technical support, and little budget for equipment. Their adult learners have difficulty in classroom environments, and each individual has his or her own areas of weakness, gaps in education that need to be filled. It’s challenging.

The problem of creating an effective GED program with limited resources to serve a widely varying population seems daunting, but it is achievable with innovative educational software. The GED Academy software prep program offers a guarantee that adult learners will pass the GED using the program.

The GED Academy’s approach is to combine entertainment with learning, using storytelling to engage people who lack study skills and who function poorly in a classroom. The program uses a simple, cross-platform technology developed for the web. That means it doesn’t need an expensive, top-of-the-line computer. It can run on any system.

The software is simple, flexible, and easy to use. The courses follow a virtual classroom, peopled with adult GED students, including Curtis, an ex-convict trying to turn his life around. The GED Academy wanted to give adult learners people they could relate to, and relate their learning to their real life. How is this going to help me get a job? How is this going to make my life better? Those are the questions students ask.

Software-based educational programs have many benefits. Students can learn independently and receive immediate feedback through electronic quizzes. The costs are minimal, and since The GED Academy provides teacher support both online and on the phone, no teacher is necessary. The main criticism of independent learning software is that learners need to remain motivated to use the software. To counter this criticism, The GED Academy relies heavily on humor and character interactions in the virtual classroom, as well as providing Internet-based forums for group discussion, writing critiques, and support.

Motivation is key. To create motivation in the learner, you need to appeal to what the learner cares about… real life issues, making success possible.

Essential literacy education is defined by three basic tenets:

1. Interest and Relevance

Essential literacy education involves making the connection between learning and life skills. “Rapid changes in technology make it necessary for adults of all ages to use written information in new and more complex ways,” according to The National Survey of America’s College Students, which cites computers, tax forms, and even shopping as everyday tasks that require more and more sophisticated literacies. Showing how skills apply to real life increases motivation, and motivation is the key to learning.

2. Student-Centered Learning

Student-centered learning means that students are actively engaged in the process of creating, understanding, and connecting to knowledge. To involve students in the learning process, the GED Academy has developed a prep program that guides students through lessons in a virtual classroom. Connecting with virtual students not only activates student interest, but it also creates a student-centered environment. Learners become involved in the ways virtual students connect to and learn material. The program also includes constant student interaction to reinforce learning.

3. Customized, Dynamic Curriculum

Customizing the learning process to each unique individual is especially important for adult learners. Undereducated adult learners typically have gaps in their knowledge, and the GED Academy considers it essential for students to target their curriculum to fill those gaps. The problem for educators is that, while one student may be bored reviewing old material, another student may need extra study time on the same material. The GED Academy’s prep program is student-guided, individual study, so students can spend as much or as little time on a particular lesson as needed.

Essential literacy education isn’t about just studying for a test. It’s about absorbing the skills… critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, the ability to think clearly… that will allow you to achieve more in your life. Passing the test is just a byproduct of learning.

More than 39 million Americans lack a high school diploma, and even more lack critical literacy skills. Essential literacy education is an initiative to provide crucial basic skills to adult learners.

Over 39 million American adults lack a high school diploma, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures, and around 30 million American adults rank “Below Basic” in prose literacy, the lowest literacy ranking, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). In quantitative literacy, that number is 46 million. Even among college student, significant numbers lack prose, document, or quantitative literacy.

“These are startling figures,” comments Michael Ormsby, president of The GED Academy. “Increasingly, our world demands complex literacies in problem solving, decision making, using data, and understanding information.” The GED Academy has developed essential literacy education to address the complex issues of literacy for adult learners. This initiative focuses on bringing fundamental skills, including reading, writing, mathematics, and critical thinking skills, to undereducated adult learners.

Essential literacy education is defined by three basic tenets:

1. Interest and Relevance

Essential literacy education involves making the connection between learning and life skills. “Rapid changes in technology make it necessary for adults of all ages to use written information in new and more complex ways,” according to The National Survey of America’s College Students, which cites computers, tax forms, and even shopping as everyday tasks that require more and more sophisticated literacies. “Showing how skills apply to real life increases motivation,” says Ormsby. “And motivation is the key to learning.”

2. Student-Centered Learning

Student-centered learning means that students are actively engaged in the process of creating, understanding, and connecting to knowledge. To involve students in the learning process, the GED Academy has developed passGED software, which guides students through lessons in a virtual classroom. “Connecting with virtual students not only activates student interest, but it also creates a student-centered environment,” Ormsby says. “Learners become involved in the ways virtual students connect to and learn material.” The program also includes constant student interaction to reinforce learning.

3. Customized, Dynamic Curriculum

“Customizing the learning process to each unique individual is especially important for adult learners,” says Ormsby. Undereducated adult learners typically have gaps in their knowledge, and the GED Academy considers it essential for students to target their curriculum to fill those gaps. The problem for educators is that, while one student may be bored reviewing old material, another student may need extra study time on the same material. The GED Academy’s passGED software is student-guided, individual study, so students can spend as much or as little time on a particular lesson as needed.

“Essential literacy education isn’t about just studying for a test,” Ormsby states. “It’s about absorbing the skills… critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, the ability to think clearly… that will allow you to achieve more in your life. Passing the test is just a byproduct of learning.”

For more information about essential education, the GED test, and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com