According to a new report by the Center for an Urban Future, the number of people taking high school equivalency exams on Long Island has dropped 31 percent from 2010 to 2015. The decrease is part of a statewide trend in New York.
Tom Hilliard, senior researcher at the Center. thinks equivalency exams are important in order to enter the competitive job market.
“If the students aren’t getting their HSE, then that means that they’re going to find it hard to get the next educational credential that they will need in order to grab the next rung on the career ladder.”
The biggest decrease was between 2013 and 2014 when the state switched to a new exam with higher standards that takes about nine hours to finish and tests on all main school subjects.