GED, HiSET, and TASC

Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description

GED Testing Service, ETS, and Data Recognition Corporation provide these standardized high school equivalency assessments, which states use to award secondary-school equivalency credentials to individuals who did not graduate from high school.

Components

• New Jersey's three high school equivalency exam options (GED, HiSET, TASC): Since 2014 the New Jersey Department of Education has offered three high school equivalency exams for nongraduates seeking credentials: the GED, the High School Equivalency Test (HiSET), and the Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC). The study analyzed takers of these exams using records of students who were grade 8 public school students between 2008/09 and 2013/14 and attempted at least one exam between March 2014 and December 2018. The exams serve as alternative credential pathways, and the state sets and revises their passing thresholds. (Jacob Hartog et al. (2021))

Claims

• GED takers had higher grade 8 test scores and were more likely White and less likely lunch-eligible than HiSET and TASC takers [+W]
• HSE exam takers completed fewer years of school and were more likely to be lunch-eligible and to identify as Black or Hispanic than non-exam takers [+W]
• Under the new thresholds, two-thirds of GED takers and more than half of HiSET and TASC takers passed on the first attempt, and three-quarters of all takers ever passed each exam [+W]
• Under New Jersey's original passing thresholds, first-attempt passing was more likely on the HiSET and TASC than on the GED after controlling for grade 8 test scores [+W]
• After New Jersey reduced the passing thresholds for two exams, first-attempt passing rates were similar across the three HSE exams [+W]

Related Products and Programmes

-

Key Sources

• Jacob Hartog, Lily Fesler, Brittany Tabora. (2021). Characteristics and Performance of High School Equivalency Exam Takers in New Jersey. Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/rel/regions/midatlantic

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	product
id	ged-hiset-and-tasc
title	GED, HiSET, and TASC
description	GED Testing Service, ETS, and Data Recognition Corporation provide these standardized high school equivalency assessments, which states use to award secondary-school equivalency credentials to individuals who did not graduate from high school.
status	review
moved_from	element/nj-three-hse-exam-options
product_kind	assessment
generated	by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — jacob-hartog-2021

Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.