Inmates Have Good GED Success Rate

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Oklahoma prison inmates who took the General Educational Development Test last year had a 75% pass rate, the Department of Corrections said Friday.<br/><br/>A total of 1,374 inmates

Friday, August 24th 2007, 1:17 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Oklahoma prison inmates who took the General Educational Development Test last year had a 75% pass rate, the Department of Corrections said Friday.

A total of 1,374 inmates took the high school equivalency test and 1,031 passed. The 75% pass rate for the inmates ranks higher than the national pass rate for the GED test.

The GED program is one of several educational programs offered to the inmate population. Other programs include literacy, adult basic education and life skills courses.

All programs are accredited by the Oklahoma State Department of Education and the North Central Association for Curriculum Education and School Improvement.

All the teachers are certified. During fiscal year 2007, 12,818 inmates participated in educational programs.

Educational programs in prisons have been shown to reduce recidivism, DOC spokesman Jerry Massie said.