Adult Education Centers Now Giving New, Harder High School Equivalency Exam

April 4, 2014 | 4:19 PM

By Elle Moxley

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Last year Indiana’s adult education centers raced to get students through the GED curriculum before the state officially switched to a new high school equivalency test.

Indiana is now using the Test Assessing Secondary Completion, which aligns more closely with the state’s goals for preparing students for college and jobs.

Brown County Career Resource Center Career Facilitator Charity Robertson says the transition has been smooth for the teachers. It’s a different story, however, for some students.

“It’s been a struggle with the new students we had,” says Robertson. “The new test is harder. It is more thorough in investigation of what students know from the high school realm. So we have had trouble with the level of material and the things we have to teach them that is new and higher.” 

Indiana Department of Workforce Development spokesperson Joe Frank says the increased difficulty makes the certification more valuable to employers.

“It’s actually one of the things we were looking for in a new exam,” says Frank. “We want this exam to be more rigorous, to follow college and career pathways, so folks who take it will not be just taking it to get their high school equivalency, but it will be a true high school equivalency seen by employers, the military and by post-secondary institutions.”

State officials called for the exam switch when the company that administers the GED moved it to computer-only and increased the price. Frank says computer-based exams would make it difficult for rural providers and the Department of Corrections to administer the test to students.