We’re inspired every day by the teachers and students who use our platform. But we were especially moved when we recently learned of a homeless shelter in Orlando, Florida that brought in USATestprep to provide GED training to their clientele.
The Total Restoration Transformation Center, Inc. was founded in 2002 by Executive Director Bridgett Davis. TRTC helps return homeless individuals to productive and independent lives through supplying basic needs such as meals, hygiene items, and clothing, as well as offering programs and workshops to assist in securing permanent housing and employment.
We caught up with Ms. Davis to ask her about the USATestprep GED training program, launching in late August.
Ms. Davis: Education has always been a part of our mission. It’s one of the lifeskills you have to have to pull yourself out of poverty. We’ve been pushing harder on education in the last couple of years, especially with our reading camp for kids. But the reason this came together is that our community center, which used to offer GED classes, no longer does. So there’s an urgent need for it in the community.
Ms. Davis: Honestly, it was a friend of a friend of a friend type of thing. It came back to me that a school teacher who works for the school board recommended USATestprep and I thought, “If Orange County says it works for them, that’s good enough for me.” So I checked it out and what sold me is that students can work independently, but the program helps guide them and keep them on track and motivated.
Ms. Davis: Yes, primarily adults. We’re already getting calls for the class and we haven’t even advertised it yet. I expect to launch with at least 25 people starting out.
Ms. Davis: That everyone graduates! But the other piece to this puzzle is that the community center offers a self-sufficiency program with vocational training. So we’d like to hit them holistically and tie it all together - finish their GED and then go into job training.
Ms. Davis: We’ll always have a tutor here and will encourage students to come onsite. We have retired teachers who volunteer and I’m hoping all of us will go through the USATestprep training that’s been offered to us.
Ms. Davis: I’m excited to get started. Thank you.
USATestprep, LLC is one of the nation's leading providers of curriculum resources and test prep for grades 3-12. Founded by two teachers in 1998, we help teachers prepare more than two million students annually for subject area end-of-grade, end-of-course, and college entrance assessments. The platform delivers standards-aligned content with daily tools for the creation of formative and summative assessments, progress monitoring, and customized remediation. Teachers using USATestprep are able to quickly identify student strengths and weakness for high-stakes testing in ELA, math, science and social studies.
