Educational Testing Service ( ETS ), founded in 1947, is the world's largest private educational testing and assessment organization. It is headquartered in Lawrence Township , New Jersey , but has a Princeton address.
79-555: ETS develops various standardized tests primarily in the United States for K–12 and higher education , and it also administers international tests including the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication), Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General and Subject Tests, and The Praxis test Series—in more than 180 countries, and at over 9,000 locations worldwide. Many of
158-449: A norm-referenced score interpretation or a criterion-referenced score interpretation. Either of these systems can be used in standardized testing. What is important to standardized testing is whether all students are asked the equivalent questions, under reasonably equal circumstances, and graded according to the same standards. A normative assessment compares each test-taker against other test-takers. A norm-referenced test (NRT)
237-456: A rubric is meant to increase fairness when the student's performance is evaluated. In standardized testing, measurement error (a consistent pattern of errors and biases in scoring the test) is easy to determine in standardized testing. When the score depends upon the graders' individual preferences, then students' grades depend upon who grades the test. Standardized tests also remove grader bias in assessment. Research shows that teachers create
316-482: A BBC investigation uncovered systematic fraud in the student visa system. Secret filming of government-approved English exams needed for a visa showed entire rooms of candidates having the tests faked for them. Standardized test A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in
395-439: A computer or via computer-adaptive testing . Some standardized tests have short-answer or essay writing components that are assigned a score by independent evaluators who use rubrics (rules or guidelines) and benchmark papers (examples of papers for each possible score) to determine the grade to be given to a response. Not all standardized tests involve answering questions. An authentic assessment for athletic skills could take
474-559: A dossier listing previous problems with ETS's service. The ETS contract with the QCA was terminated in August 2008, with an agreement to pay back £19.5m and cancel invoices worth £4.6m. Subsequently, the contract for National Curriculum assessment marking and processing was again awarded to Edexcel. Like the two prior contracts, the Edexcel contract has encountered significant quality problems and
553-414: A kind of self-fulfilling prophecy in their assessment of students, granting those they anticipate will achieve with higher scores and giving those who they expect to fail lower grades. In non-standardized assessment, graders have more individual discretion and therefore are more likely to produce unfair results through unconscious bias . Teacher #1: This answer mentions one of the required items, so it
632-635: A modern standardized test for IQ , the Stanford–Binet Intelligence Test , appeared in 1916. The College Board then designed the SAT (Scholar Aptitude Test) in 1926. The first SAT test was based on the Army IQ tests, with the goal of determining the test taker's intelligence, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking . In 1959, Everett Lindquist offered the ACT (American College Testing) for
711-659: A non-profit organization, ETS is exempt from paying federal corporate income tax on many, but not all, of its operations. It annually reports detailed financial information to the IRS on Form 990 , which is publicly available. 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. Problems administering England's national tests in 2008 by ETS Europe were
790-604: A part of United States education since the 19th century, but the widespread reliance on standardized testing in schools in the US is largely a 20th-century phenomenon. Immigration in the mid-19th century contributed to the growth of standardized tests in the United States. Standardized tests were used when people first entered the US to test social roles and find social power and status. The College Entrance Examination Board began offering standardized testing for university and college admission in 1901, covering nine subjects. This test
869-483: A practical skills performance test . The questions can be simple or complex. The subject matter among school-age students is frequently academic skills, but a standardized test can be given on nearly any topic, including driving tests , creativity , athleticism , personality , professional ethics , or other attributes. The opposite of standardized testing is non-standardized testing , in which either significantly different tests are given to different test takers, or
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#1732758371887948-432: A predetermined, standard manner. Any test in which the same test is given in the same manner to all test takers, and graded in the same manner for everyone, is a standardized test. Standardized tests do not need to be high-stakes tests , time-limited tests, multiple-choice tests , academic tests, or tests given to large numbers of test takers. A standardized test may be any type of test: a written test, an oral test , or
1027-821: A school is trying to compare students from across the nation or across the world. The standardization ensures that all of the students are being tested equally, and the norm-referencing identifies which are better or worse. Examples of such international benchmark tests include the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study ( TIMMS ) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study ( PIRLS ). Herman Witkin Herman A. Witkin (2 August 1916 – 8 July 1979)
1106-491: A test question in the same way will get the same score for that question. The purpose of this standardization is to make sure that the scores reliably indicate the abilities or skills being measured, and not other things, such as different instructions about what to do if the test taker does not know the answer to a question. By the beginning of the 21st century, the focus shifted away from a strict sameness of conditions towards equal fairness of testing conditions. For example,
1185-427: A test taker with a broken wrist might write more slowly because of the injury, and it would be more equitable, and produce a more reliable understanding of the test taker's actual knowledge, if that person were given a few more minutes to write down the answers to a time-limited test. Changing the testing conditions in a way that improves fairness with respect to a permanent or temporary disability, but without undermining
1264-838: Is a picture with many hidden figures which you are supposed to find. Field-independent people will quickly be able to find the hidden figures, while field-dependent people will have trouble locating the simple figures embedded within the more complex surroundings. Witkin found a strong correlation between the Performance on the EFT. Field independence-dependence has been linked to many traits. People who are field dependent have many more utterances per unit time in conversation with other field dependent people than do field independent people. Field-dependent folks have better memories for faces. Field-independent people have better memories for numbers. One paradigm experiment involved college students. In
1343-513: Is a type of test, assessment , or evaluation which yields an estimate of the position of the tested individual in a predefined population. The estimate is derived from the analysis of test scores and other relevant data from a sample drawn from the population. This type of test identifies whether the test taker performed better or worse than other students taking this test. Comparing against others makes norm-referenced standardized tests useful for admissions purposes in higher education, where
1422-501: Is correct and complete, so I'll give full credit. Teacher #2: This answer is correct, so I'll give full points. Teacher #1: This answer does not mention any of the required items. No points. Teacher #2: This answer is wrong. No credit. Teacher #1: This answer is wrong. No points. Teacher #2: This answer is wrong, but this student tried hard and the sentence is grammatically correct, so I'll give one point for effort. There are two types of test score interpretations:
1501-435: Is correct. Teacher #2: This answer is correct. Teacher #1: I feel like this answer is good enough, so I'll mark it correct. Teacher #2: This answer is correct, but this good student should be able to do better than that, so I'll only give partial credit. Teacher #1: This answer mentions one of the required items, so it is correct. Teacher #2: This answer is correct. Teacher #1: I feel like this answer
1580-1167: Is in nearby Ewing . ETS also has a major office in San Antonio, Texas , which houses its K–12 Assessment Programs division, and smaller offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , Washington, DC , Hato Rey, Puerto Rico , Sacramento , and Monterey , California . Overseas office locations, all of which are associated with for-profit subsidiaries that are wholly owned by ETS, include Amsterdam (ETS Global BV headquarters), London (ETS Global BV), Seoul (ETS Global BV), Paris (ETS Global BV), Amman (ETS Global BV), Warsaw (ETS Global BV), Beijing (ETS China), Delhi (ETS India) and Kingston, Ontario (ETS Canada). Not including its for-profit subsidiaries, ETS employs about 2,700 individuals, including 240 with doctorates and an additional 350 others with "higher degrees." To help support its nonprofit educational mission, ETS, like many other nonprofits, conducts business activities that are unrelated to that mission (e.g., employment testing). Under US tax law, these activities may be conducted (within limits) by
1659-586: Is not new, although the current Australian approach may be said to have its origins in current educational policy structures in both the US and the UK. There are several key differences between the Australian NAPLAN and the UK and USA strategies. Schools that are found to be under-performing in the Australian context will be offered financial assistance under the current federal government policy. In 1968
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#17327583718871738-545: Is so poor that the Department for Children, Schools and Families (formerly the Department for Education and Skills ) might not be able to publish the 2008 league tables of school performance. However, the contract was ended by "mutual consent". The UK government asked Lord Sutherland to conduct an inquiry into the failure of the 2008 tests. The report included in its main findings: • primary responsibility for this summer's delivery failure rests with ETS Global BV, which won
1817-400: Is taking the same test. The definition of a standardized test has changed somewhat over time. In 1960, standardized tests were defined as those in which the conditions and content were equal for everyone taking the test, regardless of when, where, or by whom the test was given or graded. Standardized tests have a consistent, uniform method for scoring. This means that all students who answer
1896-550: The American Council on Education (ACE), The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching , and The College Entrance Examination Board . ETS was formed in 1947 to take over the testing activities of its founders (whose organizations were not well suited to running operational assessment programs), and to pursue research intended to advance educational measurement and education. Among other things, ACE gave to
1975-641: The Gaokao system. Standardized testing was introduced into Europe in the early 19th century, modeled on the Chinese mandarin examinations, through the advocacy of British colonial administrators, the most "persistent" of which was Britain's consul in Guangzhou, China , Thomas Taylor Meadows . Meadows warned of the collapse of the British Empire if standardized testing was not implemented throughout
2054-599: The Praxis Series (for teacher licensure and certification). In England and Wales , ETS Europe , a unit of the ETS Global for-profit subsidiary, was contracted to mark and process the National Curriculum assessments on behalf of the government. ETS Global took over this role in 2008 from Edexcel , a subsidiary of Pearson , which had encountered significant and repeated problems in carrying out
2133-501: The Rod and Frame Test (RFT) . When using the RFT, the participant sits in a darkened room where he or she receives instructions about watching a glowing rod surrounded by a glowing square frame. The researcher can manipulate both the rod, the frame, and the participant's chair in different angles of tilts. The participant is then instructed to adjust the rod so that the rod is perfectly upright. For
2212-550: The War Office Selection Boards were developed for the British Army during World War II to choose candidates for officer training and other tasks. The tests looked at soldiers' mental abilities, mechanical skills, ability to work with others, and other qualities. Previous methods had suffered from bias and resulted in choosing the wrong soldiers for officer training. Standardized testing has been
2291-515: The "Nation's Report Card", under contract to the US National Center for Education Statistics . NAEP is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what US students know and can do. ETS is responsible for coordination among the nine NAEP Alliance contractors, for item development, and for design, data analysis, and reporting. In addition to the contract work that ETS undertakes for nonprofit and government entities like
2370-482: The "Saber 3°5°9°" exam. This test is currently presented on a computer in controlled and census samples. Upon leaving high school students present the "Saber 11" that allows them to enter different universities in the country. Students studying at home can take this exam to graduate from high school and get their degree certificate and diploma. Students leaving university must take the "Saber Pro" exam. Canada leaves education, and standardized testing as result, under
2449-805: The APA Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award (Frederic Lord, 1988; Howard Wainer, 2009); the AERA E.F. Lindquist Award (William Turnbull, 1981; Frederic Lord, 1988; Samuel Messick, 1994; Paul Holland, 2000; Wendy Yen, 2008; Howard Wainer, 2015; Charles Lewis, 2018; Randy E. Bennett , 2020); the NCME Career Contributions to Educational Measurement Award (Frederic Lord, 1990; Paul Holland, 2004; Howard Wainer, 2007; Neil Dorans, 2010; Linda Cook, 2017; Shelby Haberman, 2019); The Psychometric Society's Lifetime Achievement Award (Howard Wainer, 2013), and
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2528-465: The Chinese use of standardized testing, in the early 19th century, British "company managers hired and promoted employees based on competitive examinations in order to prevent corruption and favoritism." This practice of standardized testing was later adopted in the late 19th century by the British mainland. The parliamentary debates that ensued made many references to the "Chinese mandarin system". It
2607-616: The College Board's tests is the SAT , taken by more than 3 million students annually. ETS also supports The College Board's Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test ( PSAT/NMSQT ) and administers the Advanced Placement program, which is widely used in US high schools for advanced course credit. Since 1983, ETS has conducted the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as
2686-632: The College Board, the National Center for Education Statistics, and state education departments, the organization offers its own tests. These tests include the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) (for graduate and professional school admissions), the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) (for post-secondary admissions), the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) (for use by business and industry), and
2765-630: The Colombian Institute for the Evaluation of Education (ICFES) was born to regulate higher education. The previous public evaluation system for the authorization of operation and legal recognition for institutions and university programs was implemented. Colombia has several standardized tests that assess the level of education in the country. These exams are performed by the ICFES. Students in third grade, fifth grade and ninth grade take
2844-608: The IRS specifically advises against). AETR further claims that ETS is acting unethically by selling test preparation materials, directly lobbying legislators and government officials, and refusing to acknowledge test-taker rights. It also criticises ETS for forcing GRE test-takers to participate in research experiments during the actual exam. In 2014 the BBC reported that the Home Office has suspended English language tests run by ETS after
2923-671: The Jean Piaget Society's Lifetime Achievement Award (Irving Sigel, 2002); among many other awards. ETS has produced both new knowledge and methodology, especially in measurement and statistics, much of which has been taken up by assessment organizations around the world. Among the key scientific contributions were: ETS' international headquarters is located on a 376-acre (1.52 km) campus outside of Princeton, New Jersey in Lawrence Township , Mercer County ; processing, shipping, customer service and test security
3002-590: The NCLB at the end of 2015. By that point, these large-scale standardized tests had become controversial in the United States not necessarily because all the students were taking the same tests and being scored the same way, but because they had become high-stakes tests for the school systems and teachers. In recent years, many US universities and colleges have abandoned the requirement of standardized test scores by applicants. The Australian National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) standardized testing
3081-611: The SUNY Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine in Brooklyn, New York, and at Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, New Jersey, where he worked until his death in 1979. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Witkin as the 96th most cited psychologist of the 20th century. Witkin studied differences in perceptual style for almost 30 years. His first book
3160-513: The assessments it develops are associated with entry to US tertiary (undergraduate) and quaternary education (graduate) institutions, but it also develops K–12 statewide assessments used for accountability testing in many states, including California, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia. In total, ETS annually administers 50 million exams in the U.S. and in 180 other countries. ETS is a U.S.-registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization created in 1947 by three other nonprofit educational institutions:
3239-552: The course of their schooling life, and help teachers to improve individual learning opportunities for their students. Students and school level data are also provided to the appropriate school system on the understanding that they can be used to target specific supports and resources to schools that need them most. Teachers and schools use this information, in conjunction with other information, to determine how well their students are performing and to identify any areas of need requiring assistance. The concept of testing student achievement
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3318-574: The empire immediately. Prior to their adoption, standardized testing was not traditionally a part of Western pedagogy. Based on the skeptical and open-ended tradition of debate inherited from Ancient Greece, Western academia favored non-standardized assessments using essays written by students. It is because of this, that the first European implementation of standardized testing did not occur in Europe proper, but in British India . Inspired by
3397-850: The executive editors of the Journal of Educational Measurement , Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics , Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis , Journal of Educational Psychology , Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology , and Discourse Processes . Major citations received while on staff have included elected membership to the National Academy of Education ( K. Patricia Cross , 1975; Gregory Anrig, 1981; Paul Holland, 2005; Randy E. Bennett , 2022; Irwin Kirsch, 2022); (the APA Distinguished Contributions to Knowledge Award (Norman Frederiksen, 1984),
3476-410: The experiment, the subject arrived late (by premeditation) at a psychology experiment in which the other 'subjects' were asked to rate whether two lines were of equal length or unequal. The only seat for the subject was at the end of the semi-circle of other subjects, all of whom had been prompted how to respond to the prompt. Even when the lines were of clearly unequal length, the 'stooges' replied that
3555-607: The first time. As of 2020, the ACT includes four main sections with multiple-choice questions to test English, mathematics, reading, and science, plus an optional writing section. Individual states began testing large numbers of children and teenagers through the public school systems in the 1970s. By the 1980s, American schools were assessing nationally. In 2012, 45 states paid an average of $ 27 per student, and $ 669 million overall, on large-scale annual academic tests. However, indirect costs , such as paying teachers to prepare students for
3634-425: The form of running for a set amount of time or dribbling a ball for a certain distance. Healthcare professionals must pass tests proving that they can perform medical procedures. Candidates for driver's licenses must pass a standardized test showing that they can drive a car. The Canadian Standardized Test of Fitness has been used in medical research, to determine how physically fit the test takers are. Since
3713-878: The jurisdiction of the provinces. Each province has its own province-wide standardized testing regime, ranging from no required standardized tests for students in Saskatchewan to exams worth 40% of final high school grades in Newfoundland and Labrador. Most commonly, a major academic test includes both human-scored and computer-scored sections. A standardized test can be composed of multiple-choice questions, true-false questions, essay questions, authentic assessments , or nearly any other form of assessment. Multiple-choice and true-false items are often chosen for tests that are taken by thousands of people because they can be given and scored inexpensively, quickly, and reliably through using special answer sheets that can be read by
3792-539: The latter part of the 20th century, large-scale standardized testing has been shaped in part, by the ease and low cost of grading of multiple-choice tests by computer. Most national and international assessments are not fully evaluated by people. People are used to score items that are not able to be scored easily by computer (such as essays). For example, the Graduate Record Exam is a computer-adaptive assessment that requires no scoring by people except for
3871-491: The learning of the participants at the end of an instructional unit). Because everyone gets the same test and the same grading system, standardized tests are often perceived as being fairer than non-standardized tests. Such tests are often thought of as fairer and more objective than a system in which some students get an easier test and others get a more difficult test. Standardized tests are designed to permit reliable comparison of outcomes across all test takers, because everyone
3950-445: The lines were of equal length. Subjects who were field-dependent also agreed that the lines were equal. Field independent subjects asserted the lines were unequal, even when the differences were very small. Field independence-dependence has been demonstrated in many cultures worldwide and appears to be bi-modal, although with advancing age it appears to drift toward the middle of the distribution. After Witkin's death, little research
4029-649: The main point of the assessment, is called accommodation . However, if the purpose of the test were to see how quickly the student could write, then giving the test taker extra time would become a modification of the content, and no longer a standardized test. The earliest evidence of standardized testing was in China , during the Han dynasty , where the imperial examinations covered the Six Arts which included music, archery, horsemanship, arithmetic, writing, and knowledge of
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#17327583718874108-416: The marking and processing contract. As was the case for Edexcel, The first year of ETS Global's operation was struck by a number of problems, including the late arrival of scripts to examiners, a database of student entries being unavailable, and countrywide reports of problems with the marking of the papers. The opposition Conservative Party (Tory) criticized the awarding of the contracts to ETS, and produced
4187-1100: The more influential scientists have been Harold Gulliksen (whose book, Theory of Mental Tests , helped codify classical test theory ); Frederic Lord ( item response theory ); Samuel Messick ( modern validity theory ); Robert Linn (known for testing and educational policy); Norman Frederiksen ( performance assessment ); Ledyard Tucker (test analysis, including inventing the "Angoff Method" of standard setting ); Donald Rubin ( missing data and causal modeling from observational data ); Karl Jöreskog ( structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis ); Paul Holland ( differential item functioning , test equating , causal modeling); Howard Wainer ( differential item functioning , Testlet Response Theory, statistical graphics); John Carroll (language testing and cognitive psychology); Michael Lewis (infant cognitive, social, and emotional development); Irving Sigel (children's cognitive development); Herman Witkin ( cognitive and learning styles ); K. Patricia Cross (adult education); Samuel Ball (an evaluation researcher who documented
4266-609: The new organization the Cooperative Test Service and the National Teachers Examination; Carnegie gave the GRE; and the College Board turned over to ETS the operation (but not ownership) of the SAT for graduating high school students. In 2024 the company established massive layoffs. In June, the company "offered voluntary buyouts to every U.S. employee with more than two years of service." It
4345-577: The nonprofit itself, or by for-profit subsidiaries. Most of the "off-mission" work conducted by ETS is carried out by wholly owned, for-profit subsidiaries, including ETS Global BV, which contains much of the international operations of the company, ETS China, ETS India and ETS Canada. About 25% of the work carried out by ETS is contracted by the College Board , a private, nonprofit membership association of universities, colleges, school districts, and secondary schools. The most popular and well-known of
4424-454: The paper is passed to additional scorers. Though the process is more difficult than grading multiple-choice tests electronically, essays can also be graded by computer. In other instances, essays and other open-ended responses are graded according to a pre-determined assessment rubric by trained graders. For example, at Pearson, all essay graders have four-year university degrees, and a majority are current or former classroom teachers. Using
4503-462: The participant to be able to do this, he/she has to ignore cues in the visual field. If the participant adjusts the rod so that it is leaning in the direction of the tilted frame, then that person is said to be dependent on the visual field. This person will be categorized as field-dependent . On the other side there will be people who are field-independent . These people will disregard the external cues, and use information from their bodies in adjusting
4582-503: The positive educational effects of Sesame Street ); David Rosenhan (known for the Rosenhan experiment , which challenged the validity of psychiatric diagnosis); Jeanne Brooks-Gunn (the effects of poverty on infant, child, and adolescent development); Robert J. Mislevy (Evidence-Centered Design); and Anthony Carnevale (education and the workforce). Members of the ETS staff have been among
4661-1008: The presidents of the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME); the Psychometric Society ; the Measurement and Evaluation Division of the American Educational Research Association (AERA); the Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics Division of the American Psychological Association (APA); the APA Developmental Psychology Division; and the Jean Piaget Society . They have been among
4740-567: The public contract to deliver the tests; • ETS's capacity to deliver the contract proved to be insufficient. A lack of comprehensive planning and testing by ETS of its systems and processes was a key factor in the delivery failure; In 1983, students of James A. Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, California , achieved unexpectedly high exam results on the ETS Advanced Placement Exam. ETS implied that
4819-457: The results of standardized testing. Under these federal laws, the school curriculum was still set by each state, but the federal government required states to assess how well schools and teachers were teaching the state-chosen material with standardized tests. Students' results on large-scale standardized tests were used to allocate funds and other resources to schools, and to close poorly performing schools. The Every Student Succeeds Act replaced
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#17327583718874898-408: The rituals and ceremonies of both public and private parts. These exams were used to select employees for the state bureaucracy. Later, sections on military strategies, civil law, revenue and taxation, agriculture and geography were added to the testing. In this form, the examinations were institutionalized for more than a millennium. Today, standardized testing remains widely used, most famously in
4977-500: The rod to appear upright. Field-independent people seem to rely on their own sensations instead of the perception of the field, to make a judgment. The RFT is a difficult and time-consuming method for revealing field dependence and -independence. Witkin, therefore, developed the Embedded Figures Test (EFT). This test also measures field dependence without relying on the cumbersome Rod and Frame Test. An example of an EFT
5056-404: The same test is assigned under significantly different conditions (e.g., one group is permitted far less time to complete the test than the next group) or evaluated differently (e.g., the same answer is counted right for one student, but wrong for another student). Most everyday quizzes and tests taken by students during school meet the definition of a standardized test: everyone in the class takes
5135-465: The same test, at the same time, under the same circumstances, and all of the students are graded by their teacher in the same way. However, the term standardized test is most commonly used to refer to tests that are given to larger groups, such as a test taken by all adults who wish to acquire a license to have a particular kind of job, or by all students of a certain age. Most standardized tests are forms of summative assessments (assessments that measure
5214-414: The students may have cheated to obtain such results based on common mistakes across different exams. The students were required to prove their abilities and innocence by taking a second exam, which they did successfully. Americans for Educational Testing Reform (AETR) claims that ETS is violating its non-profit status through excessive profits, executive compensation, and governing board member pay (which
5293-551: The subject of thousands of complaints recorded by the Times Educational Supplement . Their operations were also described as a " shambles " in the UK Parliament , where a financial penalty was called for. Complaints included papers not being marked properly, or not being marked at all and papers being sent to the wrong schools or lost completely. It has even been suggested that the quality of service
5372-671: The surroundings. Witkin was born on August 2, 1916, in New York City. He enrolled in Cornell University but transferred to New York University where he received a BA in biology. He continued at NYU where he earned a master's degree while studying behavior. He earned a doctorate in psychology and worked with gestalt psychologist Wolfgang Kohler. He explored perception and developed his theories in field dependence and independence (Messick, 1980.) Witkin studied differences in perceptual style for almost 30 years. His first book
5451-408: The surroundings. In 1940 Witkin became an instructor at Brooklyn College and conducted cognitive and perceptual research on space orientation, particularly on how people determine the upright in space. Inspired by Heinz Werner, Witkin organized his research regarding the cognitive styles of individuals, groups, and sex differences (Messick, 1980.) In 1948, Witkin and Asch developed an apparatus called
5530-516: The tests and for class time spent administering the tests, significantly exceed the direct cost of the test itself. The need for the federal government to make meaningful comparisons across a highly de-centralized (locally controlled) public education system encouraged the use of large-scale standardized testing. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 required some standardized testing in public schools. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 further tied some types of public school funding to
5609-614: The tests themselves, the focus of longstanding controversy in the English education community and among the public, have been subjected to a massive boycott by schools. In 2009, ETS released the My Credentials Vault Service with Interfolio, Inc to "simplify the entire letter of recommendation process". ETS has been criticized for being a "highly competitive business operation that is as much multinational monopoly as nonprofit institution". Due to its legal status as
5688-467: The writing portion. Human scoring is relatively expensive and often variable, which is why computer scoring is preferred when feasible. For example, some critics say that poorly paid employees will score tests badly. Agreement between scorers can vary between 60 and 85 percent, depending on the test and the scoring session. For large-scale tests in schools, some test-givers pay to have two or more scorers read each paper; if their scores do not agree, then
5767-412: Was an American psychologist who pioneered the development of cognitive theories, especially as they pertained to learning. While many cognitive psychologists diagnosed learning disabilities with questionnaires, he preferred projective tests and problem-solving exercises. He proposed the concept of field-dependency vs. field-independency . The majority of Witkin's research was done during his tenures at
5846-805: Was commenced in 2008 by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, an independent authority "responsible for the development of a national curriculum, a national assessment program and a national data collection and reporting program that supports 21st century learning for all Australian students". The testing includes all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in Australian schools to be assessed using national tests. The subjects covered in these tests include Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy. The program presents students level reports designed to enable parents to see their child's progress over
5925-705: Was from Britain that standardized testing spread, not only throughout the British Commonwealth , but to Europe and then America. Its spread was fueled by the Industrial Revolution . The increase in number of school students during and after the Industrial Revolution, as a result of compulsory education laws, decreased the use of open-ended assessment, which was harder to mass-produce and assess objectively due to its intrinsically subjective nature. Standardized tests such as
6004-591: Was implemented with the idea of creating standardized admissions for the United States in northeastern elite universities. Originally, the test was also meant for top boarding schools , in order to align the curriculum between schools. Originally the standardized test was made of essays and was not intended for widespread testing. During World War I , the Army Alpha and Beta tests were developed to help place new recruits in appropriate assignments based upon their assessed intelligence levels. The first edition of
6083-544: Was the fifth round of layoffs in five years. In keeping with the purposes for which it was established, ETS developed a program of research that covered not only measurement and education but also such related areas as statistics , educational evaluation , and psychology, particularly cognitive , developmental , personality , and social psychology . This broad-based research program attracted many individuals who distinguished themselves in their fields, often while at ETS but also in subsequent professorial positions. Among
6162-423: Was titled Personality Through Perception (1954). The idea in this book was that personality can be revealed through differences in how people perceive their environment. Witkin was at first interested in the cues that people use in judging orientation in space. What makes one know that what one sees is a tilted object and that it is not you who are tilted? For one to find a conclusion, one examines other objects in
6241-421: Was titled Personality Through Perception (1954). The idea in this book was that personality can be revealed through differences in how people perceive their environment. Witkin was at first interested in the cues that people use in judging orientation in space. What makes one know that what one sees is a tilted object and that it is not you who are tilted? For one to find a conclusion, one examines other objects in
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