{"product_id":"the-myth-of-achievement-tests-the-ged-and-the-role-of-character-in-american-life","title":"The Myth of Achievement Tests: The GED and the Role of Character in American Life","description":"\u003cp\u003eAchievement tests play an important role in modern societies. They are used to evaluate schools  to assign students to tracks within schools  and to identify weaknesses in student knowledge. The GED is an achievement test used to grant the status of high school graduate to anyone who passes it. GED recipients currently account for 12 percent of all high school credentials issued each year in the United States. But do achievement tests predict success in life?  The Myth of Achievement Tests shows that achievement tests like the GED fail to measure important life skills. James J. Heckman  John Eric Humphries  Tim Kautz  and a group of scholars offer an in-depth exploration of how the GED came to be used throughout the United States and why our reliance on it is dangerous. Drawing on decades of research  the authors show that  while GED recipients score as well on achievement tests as high school graduates who do not enroll in college  high school graduates vastly outperform GED recipients in terms of their earnings  employment opportunities  educational attainment  and health. The authors show that the differences in success between GED recipients and high school graduates are driven by character skills. Achievement tests like the GED do not adequately capture character skills like conscientiousness  perseverance  sociability  and curiosity. These skills are important in predicting a variety of life outcomes. They can be measured  and they can be taught.  Using the GED as a case study  the authors explore what achievement tests miss and show the dangers of an educational system based on them. They call for a return to an emphasis on character in our schools  our systems of accountability  and our national dialogue.  Contributors Eric Grodsky  University of WisconsinMadison Andrew Halpern-Manners  Indiana University Bloomington Paul A. LaFontaine  Federal Communications Commission Janice H. Laurence  Temple University Lois M. Quinn  University of WisconsinMilwaukee Pedro L. Rodrguez  Institute of Advanced Studies in Administration John Robert Warren  University of Minnesota  Twin Cities\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44985333809205,"sku":"ByrdShop_022610009X","price":90.97,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780226100098.jpg?v=1770916468","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-myth-of-achievement-tests-the-ged-and-the-role-of-character-in-american-life","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}