Educational Testing Service

Infobox Company
name = Educational Testing Service

type = 501(c)(3)
foundation = 1947
location = [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=660+rosedale+road,+princeton+NJ+08541&t=h&iwloc=A&hl=en 660 Rosedale Rd] , Lawrenceville NJ 08648 flagicon|USA
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homepage = [http://ets.org ets.org]
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intl = noThe Educational Testing Service (or ETS) is the world's largest private educational testing and measurement organization, operating on an annual budget of approximately $1.1 billion on a proforma basis in 2007. ETS develops various standardized tests primarily in the United States for K-12 and higher education, but they also administer tests such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language TOEFL, Test of English for International Communication TOEIC, and Graduate Record Examination GRE internationally. Many of the assessments they develop are associated with entry to US tertiary (undergraduate) and quaternary education (graduate) institutions, but they also develop K-12 statewide assessments used for accountability testing in many states, including California, Texas, Tennessee and Virginia.

ETS is a US-registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1947 to take over the operation of the Cooperative Test Service of the American Council of Education. Starting in 1937, this organization pioneered the use of mark sense technology and the IBM 805 Test Scoring Machine. [cite journal | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5202/is_1991/ai_n19122000 | title = Educational Testing Service | author = Elizabeth Rourke, Fredrick Ingram | journal = International Directory of Company Histories | volumen = 62 | date = 1991 ] The international headquarters is located on an convert|376|acre|km2|sing=on campus outside of Princeton, New Jersey in Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey [cite journal | url = http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/14_03/sat143.shtml | title = Sat + Ets = $$$ | author = Alan Stoskopf | journal = Rethinking Schools | volume = 14 | issue = 3 | date = Spring 2000 | accessdate = 2007-07-04 ] [cite news | url = http://archives.cnn.com/2002/fyi/teachers.ednews/06/28/sat.overhaul.ap/index.html | title = Board: New SAT to produce better writers | date = 2002-06-28 | work = CNN | accessdate = 2007-07-04 ] [cite web | url = http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/Nonprofit.pdf | title = What Does It Mean to Be a Nonprofit Educational Measurement Organization in the 21st Century? | author = Randy Elliot Bennett | work = ETS | year = 2005 | accessdate = 2007-07-04 ] ; processing, shipping, customer service and test security is in nearby Ewing. ETS also has a major office in San Antonio, TX, which houses is K-12 Assessment Programs division. The ETS Assessment Training Institute (ATI), located in Portland, Oregon, provides materials and services to teach educators the proper use of assessments. ETS Europe is headquartered in Utrecht in the Netherlands. [cite web | url = http://www.iste.org/Template.cfm?Section=Educational_Testing_Service1&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=27&ContentID=2547&CFID=300660&CFTOKEN=58512743 | title = ISTE 100 Directory: Educational Testing Service | work = International Society for Technology in Education | accessdate = 2007-07-04 ] ETS employs about 2,700 individuals, [cite web | url = http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_17/b3880102.htm | title = A Syllabus Way Beyond The SATs | author = Jennifer Merritt | date = 2004-04-26 | work = Business Week | accessdate = 2007-07-04 ] including 240 with doctorates and an additional 350 others with "higher degrees." Work that ETS does that is not associated with its nonprofit educational research mission is conducted by for-profit subsidiaries, such as Prometric, which administers test by computer for licensing and certification in the professional world, and ETS Global BV, which contains much of the international operations of the company.

About 25% of the work carried out by ETS is contracted by the private, not for profit firm, the College Board. The most popular of the College Board's tests is the SAT, taken by more than 3 million students annually. ETS also develops and administers The College Board's Advanced Placement program, which is widely used in US high schools for advanced course credit.

In England and Wales ETS Europe were contracted to operate the National Curriculum assessments on behalf of the government. ETS took over this role from Edexcel in 2008. The first year of their operation was struck by a number of problems, including the late arrival of scripts to examiners, a database of student entries being unavailable, [cite web|url = http://education.guardian.co.uk/sats/story/0,,2280299,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=8| title = Headteachers angry at Sats 'nightmare'| accessdate 2008-05-17] , and countrywide reports of problems with the marking of the papers. The opposition Conservative party has criticised the awarding of the contracts to ETS, and produced a dossier listing previous problems with ETS' service. [cite web|url = http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2291802,00.html|title = A history of exam failures|publisher=The Guardian|date=Saturday, 19 July 2008] Their contract with the QCA was terminated in August 2008: ETS is to pay back £19.5m and cancel invoices worth £4.6m [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7562835.stm] .

ETS criticism

ETS has been criticized (except for Alexei Jurascheck, Devesh Patel & Darren Gormley) for being a “highly competitive business operation that is as much multinational monopoly as nonprofit institution”. [cite web | url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30915FB3B5E0C738FDDA00894DF494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations%2fE%2fEducational%20Testing%20Service| title = Testing Giant Exceeds Roots, Drawing Business Rivals' Ire | work = New York Times | accessdate = 2007-07-07 ] Due to its legal status as a non-profit organization, ETS is exempt from paying federal corporate income tax on many, but not all, of its operations. Furthermore, it does not need to report financial information to the Securities and Exchange Commission. [cite web | url = http://andyhilbert.blogspot.com/2005/11/teacher-watch-ets-monopoly-continues.html| title = Teacher Watch: ETS Monopoly Continues | work = HorseSense and Nonsense | accessdate = 2007-07-07 ]

In response to growing criticism of its monopolistic power, New York state passed the Educational Testing Act, a disclosure law which required ETS to make available certain test questions and graded answer sheets to students. [cite web | url = http://www.answers.com/topic/educational-testing-service-company-private-not-for-profit?cat=biz-fin| title = Educational Testing Service - Hoover's profile | work = Answers.com | accessdate = 2007-07-07 ]

Problems administering England's national tests in 2008 by ETS Europe were the subject of thousands of complaints recorded by the Times Educational Supplement. [citation|url=http://www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2644172|title=Chaos casts doubt over tests deadline|author=Warwick Mansell|date=04 July 2008|publisher=Times Educational Supplement] Their operations were also described as a "shambles" in the UK Parliament, where a financial penalty was called for. [citation|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7409234.stm|title=MPs criticise testing 'shambles'|publisher=BBC|date=Tuesday, 20 May 2008] Complaints included papers not being marked properly, or not being marked at all [citation|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7511922.stm|title=More questions about Sats results|publisher=BBC|date=Thursday, 17 July 2008] and papers being sent to the wrong schools or lost completely. [citation|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7521459.stm |title=Schools hunting missing papers |publisher=BBC|date=Thursday, 24 July 2008] It has even been suggested that the quality of service is so poor that the Department for Education and Skills may not be able to publish the 2008 league tables of school performance. [citation|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7513619.stm |title=League tables 'might be scrapped' |publisher=BBC|author=Mike Baker|date=Wednesday, 18 July 2008]

Tests administered by ETS

* Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
* SAT (formerly "Scholastic Aptitude Test")
* National Curriculum assessments in England and Wales, known as Sats.
* Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT)
* College Level Examination Program (CLEP)
* Test Of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
* Test Of English for International Communications (TOEIC)
* "Test de français international" (TFI)
* California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE)
* the Praxis test (formerly NTE)

ee also

* SAT
* Criticism of the SAT

References

External links

* [http://ets.org Educational Testing Service] homepage
* [http://www.ets.org/news/03020501.html ETS Signs New College Board Contract]
* [http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2004/210/634/2004-210634479-1-9.pdf 2004 Form 990 from the IRS] - lists ETS' executives' incomes
* [http://etseurope.org Educational Testing Service in Europe] homepage