TESTING, TESTING, 1, 2, 3: The new GED, launched this past January as a for-profit partnership between Pearson and nonprofit American Council on Education, is creating some uneasy waves in the testing world. Politico reports that while the old GED’s pass rate hovered around 72%, the new exam is aligned to Common Core and is deemed much harder. Not surprisingly, it’s averaging a 53% pass rate (out of 105,000 students who have taken it through the end of July). But CT Turner, senior director of state accounts for the GED Testing Service, is optimistic: about 80% of people who fail the new math section “are just two to three right answers away from passing,” Turner said.