Adult High School Specialist

Since 1993, I have had the position (part of my workload) of Adult High School Specialist at Blackhawk Technical College.  We have five options available for adults to complete either their actual high school diploma or a GED/HSED.   As the Adult High School Specialist, I assist individuals with deciding which of the options best fits their needs.  Depending on the option chosen, I may then work closely with the individual or have them work with instructors in the various educational sites of the Academic and Career Development division at BTC.  Following are short descriptions of the six options.

Options 1 and 2: The tests of General Educational Development (GED) and the Wisconsin High School Equivalency Diploma (HSED).  I'm lumping these two together because they are closely related.  To be eligible for either, generally,  students must be residents of the state of Wisconsin and either eighteen years six months old or the class they started 9th grade in must have graduated.  These two options are based on the 5 national GED tests.  They are Language Arts - Writing, Language Arts - Reading, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies.   Passing the five tests with the required minimum points and completing an approved aptitude and interest assessment will earn your GED.  To complete an HSED, you must start by completing the requirements for the GED and then adding components on Health, Civic Literacy, and Employability Skills which can be done in a variety of ways.  The current cost is $75.00 plus additional fees to replace lost testing cards or retaking tests.  For more information call 608-757-7734 or 608-757-7666.

Option 3: Adult High School.  Adult High School is a good option for individuals who failed to graduate because they were short one or two credits.  The missing credits can usually be made up at Blackhawk Technical College and transferred to their former high school which will then issue a diploma.  All the local high schools work with their former students in this program and I have had success with schools outside of Wisconsin.  Interested individuals should start by contacting their high school and talking to either their counselor or the Principal and find out in writing if they can complete credits to earn their diploma, and if so, exactly what courses they need to complete.  Having a copy of their transcript is also often helpful.  They should then contact me to help design a program to complete the required work.  

Options 4 and 5 allow an adult to earn a Wisconsin High School Equivalency Diploma (HSED) following Department of Public Instruction policies.  Option 4 allows individuals who are enrolled in a postsecondary institution (Blackhawk Technical College, UWC-ROCK, others) to use college credits to earn their HSED.  Option 5 is a competency based program where individuals need to demonstrate their skills in all areas required by the State of Wisconsin's Competency Based P.I. 5.09 program.  This can be a long process, but it can be appropriate for individuals who have a difficult time demonstrating their knowledge in a timed test setting.  Individuals in these programs still need to pay the $75.00 GED/HSED testing fee after attending an orientation and complete an approved aptitude and interest assessment.

My office is at Blackhawk Technical College's Central Campus, located halfway between Beloit and Janesville, 6004 County Road G, P.O. Box 5009, Janesville, WI  53547-5009 .  My office phone is 608-757-7612, FAX 608-743-4578, e-mail to dschmidtke AT blackhawk.edu

BTC Home Page  David's BTC Home Page  Last updated 03/03/2009    e-mail to dschmidtke AT blackhawk.edu