A new GED trend?

[Tullia]

I hadn't thought to post this here earlier because it's not specifically hs related, but several recent threads made me reconsider. I know, too, that GED regs differ by state. Homeschooling in New Mexico is fairly easy and generally socially acceptable because our schools don't have a good reputation. Our local district was an exception 20-30 years ago, but has been losing students for quite a few years even though there's been a lot of growth in this area. The reasons generally given for the enrollment decline just never made sense to me. Some thought it was due to a new charter high school, but the charter didn't enroll enough students from our district to fully explain the decline. Another theory was that most of the new residents moving here didn't have children, but realtors said otherwise. The one reason that could be documented (withdrawing to homeschool) didn't make sense to me, because the local hs groups never seemed to be aware of large numbers of new hs families--at least not in the past 10-12 years--and particularly not new families homeschooling high school students. We know many families who hs K-8 and then ps for high school.

 

Last week, a friend gave me a possible explanation. People in the area have been quietly withdrawing their children either just before or during 9th--sometimes as late as 10th grade, having them take the GED, and enrolling them in CC where they usually begin with lower level courses. Many are able to complete CC, earn an associate degree, and transfer to univ. before they would have graduated from public high school. I'm guessing, but perhaps many of these new homeschool families are only doing so for a short time. NM regs on taking the GED before age 18 require approval of the principal if the student has been publicly schooled; it's somewhat easier for home school operators to give the necessary permission.

 

BTW, our district offers dual enrollment, but it's an arrangement with a CC located in the eastern part of the state. These students are simply bypassing all or most of high school instead of dual/concurrent enrollment.

 

NM has a serious budget deficit although compared to California it isn't much; most of the budget goes to education, yet education cuts seem to be off limits. I wonder how long it will be before someone asks on the floor of the legislature why the state is funding two full sets of high school level courses...one set offered in the high schools and another in community colleges. Right now, the primary goal of the state government seems to be to eliminate or consolidate post-secondary campuses and services.

[mommaduck]

Interesting. We considered going this route with oldest son...putting him straight into CC.