External Diploma Program (EDP)
Earn a traditional high school diploma on your own time!
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 65 individual competencies. A trained NEDP assessor determines that the participant has demonstrated each of these competencies with 100% 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, a high school diploma is awarded from Seattle Central
Community College.
For more information, visit the National EDP site.
For more information, by appointment only, contact:
Maude
Houston
EDP Advisor/Assessor
206.782.2050 x 108