Reported by Tiffany Buck

Thirty percent of students in Clarke County drop out of high school. Their only hope to make a better life for themselves was taking the GED, and now even that will be tougher.

The hope is that these changes will make the GED less of an end point and more of a stepping stone to pursuing a college degree.

Elisha Moreau is working towards his dream: a college degree; but first, he has a hurdle to jump. Elisha has to get his GED.

Tutoring and preparation centers like the one at First Baptist Church at the corner of Hancock and Pulaski downtown help others like Elisha earn their GED. Changes to these tests could really impact those preparing.

Dr. Jane Russell, an instructor at the preparation center, says that they’ve raised the bar academically, but these changes could be a challenge for a lot of people.

One main challenge to overcome is switching from paper tests to taking the test on the computer.

Dr. Russell says that having to use computers could be a real challenge for people since they don’t have very good typing skills.

Other changes include four tests instead of five and adding writing to each section. Elisha isn’t worried though.

He says as long as it isn’t more math, he’s not worried about the changes. He’s good at writing.

Whether he takes the test before the changes happen in January or not, he knows what he’ll do when he gets his GED – get his business degree and hopefully one day open his own car dealership.