McHenry County College to offer new high school equivalency test, eventually

Officials in McHenry County College’s office of adult education are eager to start offering an additional path toward a crucial educational milestone – a high school equivalency certificate – but they say the state’s financial woes have stalled the rollout of the new option.

This year, in addition to Pearson VUE’s GED test, which for years has been the only test administered in Illinois, two additional tests were approved to be offered to Illinoisans seeking a high school equivalency certificate.

They are the High School Equivalency Test, or HiSET, a product of New Jersey-based Education Testing Services; and the Test Assessing Secondary Completion, or TASC, offered by California-based Data Recognition Corp.

The approval from the Illinois Community College Board, the administrator of the high school equivalency test, came last year after the paper-and-pencil component was removed from the GED in 2014, ICCB spokesman Matt Berry said.

At that time, the cost to take the GED test also shot up from $50 to $120, and the rigor increased to be parallel with Common Core State Standards. The higher score threshold, however, has since been lowered.

“This will provide a battery of additional options, and so greater flexibility and, hopefully, increased access to taking the high school equivalency test for those not interested in a computer-based test,” Berry said, adding both additional tests are available to take on paper.

However, the rollout, which was supposed to have taken place in January, remains stalled as state legislators prove themselves incapable of passing a budget. Berry said while the cost of the tests will cover the contracts with both companies – individuals will pay $90 to take the HiSET and $92 for the TASC – there are behind-the-scenes expenses for computer programs the ICCB is working to cover on its own.

“It’s slowed our progress,” Berry said, adding the state entity is looking into outside funding and in-house work to cover costs. “There is some back-end stuff that we have to have administratively that ICCB has to have to receive test scores and do some of that work.”

The stall has left testing centers, such as the one at McHenry County College, waiting, said Julio Capeles-Delgado, executive director of adult education.

After reviewing the two additions, MCC chose the TASC, which will be offered in addition to the GED, MCC Testing Center Coordinator Jill McDonald said.

The college not only facilitates testing, but also provides training and practice tests to those who are interested. Capeles-Delgado said he has participated in some ICCB training geared toward the new tests, but much of it is similar to that of the GED.

“We haven’t started marketing this to people yet because it’s not a reality yet,” he said.

Once implemented, the additional test will especially help about half of test takers who don’t have the computer skills necessary to take the online GED test, said Marie Day, MCC coordinator of adult education and literacy supportive services.

Increasing access to such people will help them achieve a better life, Berry said.

“It’s going to significantly increase the opportunity for a higher standard of living, access to job opportunities, pathways to further education,” he said. “It’s critical for students and individuals that lack a diploma to get access to this education.”

According to a 2014 report from America’s Promise Alliance, one-fifth of young people who begin ninth grade do not complete high school on time, if ever.

MCC works on the tests with the McHenry County Regional Office of Education, which issues high school equivalency certificates and gave MCC a grant to help fund proctors. Over the past several years, the number of recipients has ebbed and flowed, at its highest in 2007 at 703 and its lowest in 2015 at 122. While the numbers, provided by the regional office, do not reflect the total number of participants, the fall in the amount of certificates issued is in line with that of the number of test takers nationwide after the changes were implemented.

Once the new tests are rolled out, which Berry said he expects to happen by May, the task will be to make people aware of their options, McHenry County Regional Superintendent Leslie Schermerhorn said. While most are familiar with the term GED, which is now owned by Pearson VUE, not many will know to look for other names, she said.

“Now all subsequent tests will be called ‘high school equivalency tests,’ but there’s a delineation that most people aren’t going to know to make [between the test and the GED],” Schermerhorn said. “This is really a term that needs to be publicized.”

For testing in McHenry County, call the college's testing center at 815-479-7624.