I have been busy during the month of September preparing and submitting several reports to the state office. I feel pretty good about having those submitted on time and behind me now. (Shirley handed me these reports on my first day on June 1, so I have been thinking about them for a while!)
October will be just as busy for me with several state meetings scheduled in Columbus. I have a meeting in Bellville for the Ohio Leadership Excellence Academy on Friday, October 5. This is a 2-year long program that will help our program become more strategic in planning and in improving what we do. I will be asking for everyone's input in the future. I have a GED Examiner meeting on October 12 in Columbus. And the Fall Director's meeting is in Columbus Oct. 15 and 16. I'll be burning a path in the road to the "big city."
In this article, I would like to address the subject of student SAFE accounts. It seems that not all of us are having the students create their own SAFE account, and we are just signing students up to take the GED under our own accounts. I know that it has only been relatively recent that students could even create their own accounts on the ODE website, and most of us were trained to enter the application for them.
I also know it is easier to do it ourselves. We can get it done faster. And then we can move on to the other things we need to do with other students and get more done. Often the first step is to sign them up for an email account, and that process can be more frustrating than signing up for the ODE account.
The State of Ohio told us we cannot sign other people up when students had to start paying for the test. Because payment confirmation is sent to the email account they enter on the website, they must have their own email account. Even if it isn't their personal account, that payment info should not be going to an instructor's email account.
It turns out that there's more to the story when students do not have access to their own SAFE account. These are the students who call in to the office asking for the results of their GED Test. We cannot give this information out over the phone. The only way we can give this information out is if they come to the office and show us a valid ID. Depending on work schedules, transportation, child care, etc. etc. etc. this can often be more difficult than going to their local library, logging on to the ODE website and seeing for themselves how they did.
And yes. Your students tell on you. They tell us that you signed them up and that they did not create accounts when they call us. They call the office because our program did not give them the tools to get the information they need on their own. And because they can't go back to your class for some reason or other. Or they don't want to wait. Or because we have an 800 number.
Maybe the thing to do is to have students create an email account way before they ever need it to sign up for the GED test. This breaks the process up for the instructor and spreads the frustration out over time. Don't forget that you probably have other students in your class that can walk a student through signing up for an email account.
And after all, don't we want out students to learn to use email? So much of the world works through email they are really at a disadvantage if they aren't somewhat familiar. Just like you need to use your email. Because with all those meetings I have, I'm going to have a lot to tell you...
Oh hey! And have you checked out the ABLE website? Jim Sacco has been working really hard on it. Let us know your thoughts, changes, corrections, etc. Websites are always a work in progress, but I have to tell you. I go here to get my info before I holler for Shirley these days. It is quite handy.
http://www.mid-east.k12.oh.us/AdultLiteracy.aspx
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