The number of adults taking and passing the GED exam in Texas has plummeted recently, reports the Jacksonville Progress.The General Education Development test serves as a stand-in for a high-school diploma, for students who dropped out or failed to graduate.
Texas has set a goal that, by 2030, 60 percent of residents ages 25-34 should have a college degree or its equivalent. But the new GED numbers reveal that students in the Lone Star State may be heading in the wrong direction. From 2003-2012, the number of Texans who were receiving their GED stood at an average annual rate of 34,000. By 2016, that number had dropped by over a third, to just over 22,000.
Chandra Villanueva, a senior policy analyst who authored the GED report, noted that “Texas historically has the highest percentage of adults without a high school diploma or equivalency.”