The National External Diploma Program (NEDP) provides a unique way for adults to earn a high school diploma. The program allows adults to demonstrate their high school level skills by applying their life experiences in real-life situations.

NEDP awards a traditional high school diploma to adults who have acquired many of their high school level abilities through work, family, and community experiences. NEDP is not a traditional instructional program. Instead, it provides the opportunity for participants to demonstrate their skills and knowledge. Because NEDP participants are adults, the program structure offers considerable flexibility. Participants complete parts of the program at home and the other parts in a series of meetings on site with a trained NEDP advisor and assessor.

The program consists of two phases: the Diagnostic Phase and the Assessment Phase. In the Diagnostic Phase an NEDP advisor evaluates the participant’s basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics, and completes a survey of prior life experiences.

Once the participant has met the requirements of the Diagnostic Phase, the Assessment Phase begins. In this phase, the participant demonstrates writing, speaking, mathematics, problem-solving, reading, and critical thinking academic skills through the performance of real-life tasks. Embedded in these real-life tasks are sixty-five individual competencies. A trained NEDP assessor determines that the participant has demonstrated each of these competencies with one hundred percent accuracy. Download the complete list of NEDP Competencies

The Assessment Phase also requires that each participant satisfy an individualized competency. This is verified through an assessment in one of the following:
Once the NEDP participant has satisfied all Assessment Phase requirements, the high school diploma is awarded.

If you want to earn your high school diploma and want to find out if the National External Diploma Program is right for you, click Students

To learn more about becoming a National External Diploma Program site, click Adult Education and Postsecondary

If you are an employer and would like to learn about being an NEDP partner, contact CASAS at 1-800-255-1036.