I believe you are right, but, to my knowledge it is not possible to get a state high school diploma without doing one of two things:
1) Graduate from high school.
2) Pass the GED which students are forbidden to take until they are 16 in most states ( to my knowledge), and in some states, 18.
Without a GED, getting government scholarship aid ( and even private ) is very difficult.
Also, as an employer, I simply could not depend on a high school diploma as any indication that the student could even read. I wasted far, far, too much time interview people who could not do the job because they could not speak standard English, or read and write well enough.
I resorted to insisting on at least some community college on the resume before asking a person in for an interview. The job absolutely does **not** need a community college level education. All that is needed is basic literacy and reasonable command of English, ( not even math), but other than seeing community college on the resume I simply could not tell of the person could read well enough to do the job.
As an employer, I would like to see a private company issue a certified transcript that a person was literate, and could speak and write English, to a certain grade level, and abandon having to rely on seeing community college on the resume.
By the way, I once hired a homeschooler ( part-time) who was only 14. She was absolutely terrific in the job! She went on to get another job with a larger office, and now is making a career, with an **excellent** salary in being an office manager of a very large health clinic. She never went to college. She never graduated from high school or took the GED. So far, for her there has been no need.
I see now. You're saying the high school diploma isn't a reliable enough indicator. I'd like to see private companies offer testing, too. It would give us homeschoolers yet another option.
“As an employer, I would like to see a private company issue a certified transcript that a person was literate, and could speak and write English, to a certain grade level, and abandon having to rely on seeing community college on the resume.”
I would recommend that you consider the link below as the solution to your need. Many states are now using this in their workforce/unemployment offices to validate the skills of potential employees before sending them out for interviews. In my state (OK), the vocational schools are using this to create a Career Readiness Certificate so employers can validate student competence levels in three areas: Reading for Information, Locating Information, and Applied Math.
It is also possible for employers to confirm the skills needed to be successful in particular positions by using the Job Analysis tool. This service may be available to you through the workforce/unemployment office.