November 2, 2016
Many people are familiar with the General Educational Development (GED) tests, which – if passed – provide high school credentials for test takers. Up until January 2014, this was the only option of its kind for individuals without a high school diploma.
Over the past two years, however, some states began administering two alternatives: the High School Equivalency Assessment (HiSET) and Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC).
And, as of this summer, changes to the State School Act approves the use of all three tests in Michigan, noting that they all fall under the umbrella of “high school equivalency tests.”
“Michigan has quite a few GED test sites, but we’re still in the process of getting up and running on the other two,” says Annette Schlaud, Adult/ Community Education Manager for the Lapeer County ISD.
In the meantime, if you see that a job applicant references the HiSET or TASC on his or her resume, it’s likely that he or she took the test in another state. While there are some differences, Schlaud says passing either of these tests ultimately means the same thing that passing the GED does: the test-taker has high school-level academic skills.
For more information on the differences and similarities between these three tests, click here.