GED Classes Come To The Q House

Every day last spring, Latoya Armstrong dropped her daughter off for camp at the Q House. 

One day in April, on her way out she scanned a flyer QR code to learn about the programs at the Dixwell community center and found a perfect fit for herself: GED classes by the New Haven Adult & Continuing Education Center.

Thanks to a pilot General Education Development (GED) program between partners at Adult Ed and the Q House, Armstrong is one step closer to getting her high school diploma. 

This fall the Q House will host Adult Ed’s second cohort of GED-seeking students.

On Tuesday, those who helped to organize the expanded GED program gathered in the Q House’s Toni and Wendell Harp Historical Museum to talk with this reporter about how New Haveners can sign up for the fall GED cohort. 

The team said the goal is to start up classes at the Q House again in the next two weeks. 

Click here to register online. Participants must be a resident of Connecticut, aged 17 or older, and not be enrolled at any high school.

The Tuesday gathering included Adult Ed Assistant Principal Stephanie Paris-Cooper, LEAP Chief of Staff Yakeita Robinson, Adult Ed student support specialist Toni Thorpe, former NHPS educator and Adult Ed GED teacher Royce Hatfield, Adult Ed GED support specialist Sara Gonzalez, Adult Ed GED facilitator and lead teacher Richard Cowes, and Armstrong. 

Last spring the organizing team at Adult Ed met with Robinson to learn about programming needed at the Q House. The conversation led to the idea of piloting a GED-focused program to fill a ​“missing educational component beyond the library services,” Thorpe said. 

The program, which will be open enrollment, will offer classes to practice for the GED test twice a week at the Q House. 

The Adult Ed team described the expansion as ​“a no brainer” to increase its local reach beyond its satellite office.

Robinson added, ​“We want to continue to provide opportunities and resources directly to the community.”

New Haveners can join the fall cohort at no cost and register online or in-person at the Q House. If registering in person at the Q House students must bring an ID.

Robinson said the aim is to ​“empower the community to grow through education.”

Currently 12 students are registered for the fall cohort. The program will run for two months. The first spring cohort has eight registered students.

Over the next week Gonzalez will conduct placement tests with residents to then enroll them in the necessary classes. 

The fall cohort will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Armstrong was one of the first students to register for the spring pilot.

When she saw the GED pilot program in the list of Q House activities, Armstrong thought to herself, ​“I should do this.” 

She took the placement test and then began classes at the Q House, which is only five minutes away from her home. After the spring pilot ended she resumed taking classes at the Adult Ed main site.

Armstrong, who is a fitness instructor, said the convenient location at the Q house allows her to continue work and not give up her fitness classes.

“The time was perfect, it was convenient, I had to make no adjustments to schedule,” she said. 

Armstrong moved to Connecticut in 2011 from Barbados and New Haven four years ago. She thanked the Adult Ed team for expanding the program and giving her the ​“opportunity now to do what I couldn’t.”

She didn’t attend high school while in Barbados.

“When I came [to CT] it was all about my son then my daughter,” she said. ​“I finally decide[ed] it’s time for me to start.”

She said she looks forward to joining the program again this fall to continue preparing to take the GED test. 

When students get their diplomas, Cowes said, it opens doors for them to have a different economic status and further their education. 

He added that pre-Covid studies showed that one in six New Haveners don’t have a high school diploma.

Robinson said she hopes the partnership between Adult Ed and the Q House will encourage other organizations to bring their resources to the community center. 

To Thorpe, the Q House, which has senior and youth program in the arts, health, and literacy, must expand to become a one-stop shop. ​“Education just kind of fits into that fold of offerings,” she said. 

The partnership with the Q House allows Adult Ed to gain access to residents who have a more trusted relationship with the community center, Cowes said. 

Hatfield will teach the fall cohort’s Q House classes. She previously taught in New Haven for 24 years and worked part-time for Adult Ed during much of that time. Her background is in elementary and business education and she taught at schools like Beecher and Hillhouse. While at Hillhouse she introduced AP Computer Science as a class. 

Last year, 50 students graduated from Adult Ed’s homebase program in the Hill and went on to pass the GED test and get their diplomas.

GED programming is open to people ages 17 and up, but students must be 18 to test. Click here for more information about the main location’s programming. 

Thorpe has spent 20 years doing social work in the juvenile justice system. Now she’s spent the last 19 years moving forward Adult Ed’s students who may be on parole or have a background with the juvenile justice system.

Paris-Cooper, who has worked at Adult Ed for two years, was a former administrator for NHPS working at Career, Metro, and ESUMS. She also worked as an accountant in Hartford for 14 years.

Gonzalez has worked at Adult Ed for three years and has a background in sales and marketing. Her mother also previously worked for Adult Ed.

Cowes is a 14-year veteran NHPS teacher who taught at Clinton Avenue School for nine years. He’s worked at Adult Ed for the last five years.

The GED program has two full-time NHPS teachers and five part-time NHPS teachers.

Adult Ed services are free of cost to New Haven residents and are open to all. Every Tuesday and Saturday GED testing is conducted at the main site at 580 Ella T. Grasso Blvd.

The GED test includes math, language arts, science, and social studies.

For all GED programming students must take a pre-test in each of the four core subjects and score 145 points or more to be eligible for the state GED test. Adult Ed provides wraparound supports during the ​“rigorous process,” the team said. 

Adult Ed works with students at all levels in education to get them across the GED finish line.

Programs and tests for the GED are available in Spanish and English.

Thorpe added that as Adult Ed continues to work through moving to a new facility in Newhallville, taking classes at the Q House will provide students with an education in a ​“beautiful new building.” 

At Adult Ed’s main site, it offers GED courses for four days during the day and three days in the evening, Monday through Thursday. 

The GED test can be taken in person or online.

“When they get a diploma we know the world opens up for them,” Paris-Cooper.

Adult Ed will provide students with a textbook and backpack. The Q House will provide students with laptops.

The team concluded with an emphasis that the goal for the expanded Adult Ed/Q House program is to help the community access jobs at large employers like Yale while also helping the employers fill employee gaps.

“This area is drastically changing. In order for people in this community to compete for jobs and be viable resources in your own community we need to not just watch the changes happen, but be a part of it,” Thorpe said. ​“It’s important for the community to be a part of the growth.”

Cowes emphasized that ​“there is a cap on your earning capacity without a diploma” which has caused people to have to work more than one job. 

“If you get that high school diploma you might be able to parlay that into working one job and get the freedom to do other things that bring more potential to your life.”