Governor Phil Murphy • Lt. Governor Tahesha Way

Reports

Characteristics and Performance of High School Equivalency Exam Takers in New Jersey – August 2021

The New Jersey High School Equivalency report completed by the Regional Educational Lab Mid-Atlantic has been publicly released by the Institute for Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. 

The study addressed three research questions about exam takers who were grade 8 students in a New Jersey public school between 2008/09 and 2013/14 and attempted at least one HSE exam in New Jersey between March 2014 and December 2018:

  1. What are the demographic characteristics of exam takers, how do these characteristics compare across exams, and how do these characteristics compare with those of non–exam takers from the same cohorts?
  2. How did exam takers perform under the state’s original passing thresholds, and how did that performance vary by demographic and academic characteristics?
  3. How did passing rates change after NJDOE adopted the exam developers’ suggested passing thresholds, and how would passing rates change if NJDOE used the developers’ suggested college and career readiness thresholds as passing thresholds for the GED and HiSET?
  4. How do passing rates of exam takers with similar prior academic performance compare across exams?

The landing page to the report and related documents

The main report 

The evidence snapshot/executive summary

The technical appendices

The data below shows information on New Jersey passing rates, number of diplomas issued, and the comparison of passing rates among the three high school equivalency tests. As of 2021, data for the TASC and HiSET are not available.

2023 Test Total number of students who completed test battery Total number of students who passed and earned a diploma NJ Passing % National Passing %
GED 2604 1980 76% 75%
2022 Test Total number of students who completed test battery Total number of students who passed and earned a diploma NJ Passing % National Passing %
GED 1392 1050 75% 75%
2021 Test Total number of students who completed test battery Total number of students who passed and earned a diploma NJ Passing % National Passing %
GED 1051 828 79% 76%
2020 Test Total number of students who completed test battery Total number of students who passed and earned a diploma NJ Passing % National Passing %
GED 616 496 81% 74%
HiSET 551 423 77% N/A
TASC 1009 682 68% N/A
Statewide 1625 1178 77% N/A

 

2019 Test Total number of students who completed test battery Total number of students who passed and earned a diploma NJ Passing % National Passing %
GED 1224 1041 85% 79%
HiSET 1639 1242 76% 79%
TASC 3500 2480 71% N/A
Statewide 6082 4571 75% N/A

 

2018 Test Total number of students who completed test battery Total number of students who passed and earned a diploma NJ Passing % National Passing %
GED 812 503 62% 75%
HiSET 1595 1098 69% 76%
TASC 3475 2303 66% N/A
Statewide 5653 3766 67% N/A

 

2017 Test Total number of students who completed test battery Total number of students who passed and earned a diploma NJ Passing % National Passing %
GED 977 643 66% 79%
HiSET 1444 969 67% 76%
TASC 3902 2529 65% N/A
Statewide 6323 4141 65% N/A

 

2016 Test Total number of students who completed test battery Total number of students who passed and earned a diploma NJ Passing % National Passing %
GED 895 543 61% 80%
HiSET 1484 1002 68% 77%
TASC 4073 2724 67% N/A
Statewide 6452 4269 66% N/A

 

2015 Test Total number of students who completed test battery Total number of students who passed and earned a diploma NJ Passing % National Passing %
GED 698 457 65% 79%
HiSET 1278 732 57% 74%
TASC 4627 2918 63% 60%
Statewide 6603 4107 62% N/A

 

2014 Test Total number of students who completed test battery Total number of students who passed and earned a diploma NJ Passing % National Passing %
GED 456 239 52% 59%
HiSET 1111 655 59% 62%
TASC 4002 2707 68% Not Applicable (N/A)
Statewide 5569 3601 65% N/A

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