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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2014)
3 Street roots June 20, 2014 Although Timothy Pool received his G E D certificate from the Londer Learning Center this month, he already has attended college courses fo r the past few months. Pool, who described him self as a former “deadbeat drug addict, ” made the President’s List at Portland Community College in his first term. Challenges ahead for GED schools BY JACQUES VON LUNEN f ' A : ST A FF W R IT E R ' ’ ’ >• he Londer Learning Center is facing new dual challenges to its mission of educating adults transitioning out of prison or drug treatment - from the loss of federal money and a new testing standard. It is unclear yet exactly how these changes will afreet the program. But they likely will lead to loss of services to certain students and to lower graduation rates among those who remain. After Myldred Silvia graduated from the GED program last year, she got a call from her oldest sqn. He wanted to follow her example and get his diploma, too. But when Silvia called the center, where teachers had shown her so much love and compassion during her own schooling, she was turned away. Her son wasn’t on parole and didn’t . need treatment for addiction. That meant he didn’t meet the center’s requirements for entry. But two weeks later, Londer staff called her back with good news: h erso n , would be able to attend weekend classes taught by volunteers at Londer, an d th e. center;Would coordinate with other adult education programs around town to fill his weekdays with learning, too. His admittance to the center wasn’t based on the desperate plea of a mother — it was the result of a nationwide effort to graduate as many adults as possible . before the introduction of tougher GED ’ exams in January, -GED tests hadn’t changedsince 2002 — until this January when the company PJfiO TO B Y J A C Q U E S V O t y L U N E N rolled out new exams based on the Common Core standards that are the new norm in the public schools of 45 states and Washington, D.C. . • ; GED is a brand name. The tests are created by GED Testing Service, a for- ” profit corporation jointly owned by textbook publisher Pearson and the American Council on .Education. But just like the Common Core standards, which are hotly debated in school districts around the country and better than the keynote speaker of the June which some states are threatening to 6 ceremony — Londer alumna Myldred discard after dismal test results, the new Silvia. GED standards aren’t universally loved, Silvia dropped out of high school as a TWo competitors issuing high school sophomore in 1984. She Was using drugs equivalency diplomas have emerged, in and “wanted to get fast money and do part because education anything to cheat the departments weren’t system,” Silvia said, a happy with the new GED week before the | standards. Several states graduation ceremony. " I was like a gerbil in a started offering these By 1988, she was cage," Silvia said. " I new exams instead of, or sick of using, but her could jump <m ike wkeel | sometimes alongside, the beloved or get oil m y w heel— bat ■ GED te s t Oregon offers grandmother’s death only the new, beefed-up I was still la tk e cage. I caused a mental breakdown. “I really kept myself ia a box fo r a \ GED exam. The new GED exam’s got into my addiction loag time." most visible change is after that,” Silvia said. LONDER ALUMNA SILVIA^ that it is only offered in a She didn’t computer-based version. successfully enter . No more paper. It’s treatment again until meant to foster much-needed computer 2010. literacy in adult students, the company Silvia finally got clean and enrolled at has said. Londer. She reconnected with her family But some advocates question the and turned into a role model for her wisdom of mandating computer tests for children. people who may not have a PC at home. Buf her struggle wasn’t over yet Thought The other changes are more patterns formed over decades didn’t just complicated and arguably much tougher vanish overnight, “I found out‘I was scared ’ than the fact that students need mouse of success,” Silvia said. clicks to give their answers. She realized she’d gotten comfortable The reading curriculum, for example, with failure and limitations^ includes more nonfiction materiaL “I was like a gerbil in a cage,” Silvia said. Students are asked to analyze what they “I could jump on the wheel or get off my read more deeply and sum up their wheel — but I was still in the cage. I kept ■ More than a GED Graduates of Londer Learning Center master learning and life drug treatment program or judge, Scholl said. One exception: last year, the center participated in a nationwide push: to housands of fresh-faced high school graduate more GED students before new graduates filed through the Veterans tests were rolled out in January. As part of Memorial Coliseum this month, happy to transition out of their teenage this effort, students without referrals from law enforcement or drug counselors were years. admitted for special weekend classes taught But the small group of students who by volunteers. threw their caps in the air inside the (These students were also in the June 6 Multnomah Building in Southeast Portland ceremony, which is why not everyone shown on June 6 celebrated the closure of in these photos can be assumed to have a something much more somber. criminal record or1 drug-abuse history.) - Most of these graduates, members of the Classes at the center are small, never Londer Learning Center, have overcome more than 15 people. And every one of its drug addiction, prison, homelessness and - 11 employees knows that it’s a “huge deal similar hardships. for these people to make the leap backto The GED certificates they received on school,” Scholl said. June 6 proved much more than their The students’ ages range from 18 to 60. mastery of high-school lével math and And most of them are in a transitional phase writing - they signaled self-esteem/ restored of their lives, battling addiction, housing family ties and perseverance. issues and unemployment. One of a kind Recognizing these special difficulties'in their students’ lives is the focus of the The Londer Learning Center is the only adult education program in Oregon that that center staff. If a student’s attendance falls off, for example, teachers call to see what caters exclusively to adults who’ve recently prompted the change. They provide stress - been released from prison or drug toys - squeeze balls that restore calmness - treatment facilities. in class for students who last dealt with The center operates in a county building algebra two decades ago, on Southwest Fifth Avenue in downtown “We want to be that positive place where Portland, where it helps about 800 students they can see success,” Scholl said. per year move toward a high school Success, completion and achievement can equivalency diploma, said Carole Scholl», a be scary concepts. community justice manager who leads the Gerbil on a wheel ' center. Students have to be referred to the Nobody understands the fear of success center by a probation officer, parole officer, BY JACQUES VON LUNEN STAFF WRITER ■ See GEDs, p ag e 7 See CHALLENGES, p ag e 7
