During the 2020 Adult Education Conference and Exceptional Adult Georgian in Literacy Education (EAGLE) Leadership Institute held recently in Atlanta, Georgia Northwestern Technical College’s (GNTC) Adult Education program was awarded the Distinguished Test Center Performance Award by the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG).

The award reflects the number of GNTC testers who passed all four parts of the GED® test in Fiscal Year 2019. The center saw 628 students complete all four portions of the test during Fiscal Year 19, around a 10 percent increase from the previous year.

According to Latanya Overby, TCSG director of the High School Equivalency Program, the award recognizes GED Testing Programs in each of the three categories serving test-takers. The award was based on the testing center's volume of test-takers completing all four tests - also known as completers - and its percentage of growth in completers from the previous year.

"First and foremost, we have a great team,” said Lisa Shaw GNTC vice president of Adult Education. “Our instructors and staff members are committed to ensuring individuals entering our test centers have all of the support and resources they need in order to meet their educational goals.”

In addition to the award, GNTC’s Adult Education program was also recognized in the TCSG newsletter for its best practices in adapting classes to better serve students during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Shaw, the Adult Education program’s online distance learning implementation plan involves identifying resources and the resources available to students. The program then identifies a delivery program and methods for contacting students.

The program contacted each student to gain information about their interest and ability in distance learning. GNTC staff then utilized this information to develop distance education plans catered to each student, such as assigning students to teachers with the same time availability. This approach took into consideration student feedback in order to create a program that meets student’s needs, preferences, schedules and changes in day-to-day life.

“At the root of all of our ‘best practices,’ both in our testing centers and our educational plan, is the desire for student success,” said Shaw. “When we put the success of the people we serve as our first priority; their success becomes our success.”