ABSTRACT
In 2001, the number of individuals who took the tests of General Educational Development (GED) topped one million for the first time in history. The GED Testing Service (GEDTS), an arm of the American Council for Education (ACE), oversees the GED testing program, producing the tests and disseminating them to state departments of education. The roots of the GED program trace to World War II. In 1942, an advisory committee to the Army Institute, headed by Ralph Tyler, selected five tests from the Iowa Test of Educational Development to form the first GED tests. The purpose of the exams was to certify that veterans returning from World War II without a conventional high school diploma had the skills to take advantage of the postsecondary education benefits provided in the GI Bill. Hand in hand with the performance indicator requirements in the AEFLA has been the National Reporting System (NRS).
