Indiana DWD Seeking Alternatives to Traditional GED Test

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development announced this week that it will be seeking a new high school equivalency credential exam as an alternative to the traditional GED test. The department is tasked with monitoring and issuing high school equivalency credentials and the Indiana Adult Education Program, and DWD officials and their counterparts from 40 other states and the District of Columbia have been taking part in national working groups to consider feasible options to the GED test.

The search for alternatives began when Pearson, the company who owns the rights to the current test, informed states that the test will only be available online beginning in 2014 and, with that transition, the price to take the test will double. DWD suspects that moving from traditional “paper and pencil” exam locations and the presence of a proctor could cut the number of test providers in the state by at least half, and the price increase could have the same effect on the number of Hoosiers able to afford the test.

State officials released the request for proposal yesterday – the first step to having a new high school equivalency credential exam in place by Jan. 1, 2014.

The department is also urging Hoosiers who are currently enrolled in the Indiana Adult Education program aimed at GED preparation to continue working toward completion and to take the exam before the end of the year to avoid their scores expiring at the end of the year.