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Leading Innovations in Research and Assessment Services Globally

We are the leader in global educational assessment, serving organizations and governments in the United States and abroad to measure learning, skills, and equip policymakers with the tools and strategies to empower the next generation of students for lifelong success.

Global Leaders in Large-Scale Group Scored Assessments

Large-scale group scored assessments (LSAs) are one of the most critical sources of data for monitoring outcomes of populations, providing evidence and measures of accountability to policy makers and governments globally. With more than 40+ years of expertise designing, developing, and coordinating LSAs, we are the global leaders in this space.

Our renowned expertise in LSA has allowed us to work with organizations across the world to simultaneously lead group scored assessments and serve as a resource to governments worldwide on how to better leverage in-country assessments systems. For decades, we have been honored to collaborate with global organizations and support the critical goals of organizations including National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the United States Department of Education, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

In 2023, ETS was honored to mark its 40-year relationship with NCES on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP). Also known as The Nation’s Report Card – and the gold standard of large-scale assessments worldwide – NAEP is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students in the United States know and are able to do in subjects like Mathematics, Reading, Science, and Social Studies. In addition, NAEP collects contextual information from students, teachers, and schools  — providing meaningful results to improve education policy and practice for the U.S. Since 1983, we have expertly led work for NCES in areas including assessment design, assessment development, questionnaire development, analysis and reporting, planning and coordination of the NAEP contractors, and designing and building a new assessment delivery system, eNAEP.

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From 2015 to 2022, ETS oversaw the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a multinational survey that measures 15-year-olds' ability to use their reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges. We also managed the first cycle of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), also known as the Survey of Adult Skills, which was conducted in three rounds (2012, 2014 and 2017), and the second cycle that will be completed in 2024. PIACC is the large-scale international study of key cognitive and workplace skills of adults. Both multinational surveys assess cognitive skills and collect an array of valuable background information from hundreds of thousands of participants that can be used to better understand the skills and abilities around the world.

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Vocational Education and Training (VET) ensures skill development in occupational fields through both school- and work-based learning, becoming an essential pathway to a highly productive workforce.  ETS is collaborating with OECD, ASCOT and WorldSkills to create PISA-VET, the first international large-scale assessment of VET skills. Focusing on selected occupational areas, the assessment will include knowledge items, interactive simulations of workplace tasks, and demonstration tasks to measure workplace practical skills.

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ETS is leading the way by collaborating with the ASCOT research program (ASCOT, WorldSkills, 13 participating countries, trade union representatives, businesses, and philanthropic foundations to launch a new international assessment with OECD to measure the skills of learners completing vocational education and training (VET). PISA-VET will be the first international assessment to measure and internationally compare the knowledge, skills and abilities of students gearing up to be business workers, electricians, hotel receptionists, car mechanics and nursing assistants. Green and digital transitions are underway, making the ability of VET workers to develop skills more essential than ever, and PISA-VET is designed to allow countries, institutions, and organizations to learn and fine-tune their policies and practices to meet VET learner needs.

Empowering Partners Through Technical Assistance and Capacity Building

How can our research expertise and capabilities help you achieve your goals? Learn more about training opportunities through our Global Academy, and our expertise in survey questionnaire design and development, data science and visualization capabilities for small- and large-scale projects.

The ETS Global Academy is a central resource for international educators, researchers, and organizations to receive test-related training, consultation, and educational solutions. Led by ETS experts, customized trainings include:

  • Learning state-of-the-art assessment design, development and implementation methodologies from experts who have worked on some of the most prominent assessment programs in the world.
  • Discovering how to conduct world-class data and psychometric analyses of test results that support reliable and valid score interpretations.
  • Learning about recent innovations and advancements in the field of educational testing from leaders in the testing industry who are engaged in groundbreaking assessment research.

Serving the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, we are providing intensive capacity-building services to identify, implement, and sustain effective evidence-based practices that support improved educator and student outcomes. The technical assistance to state educational agencies in this region we provide builds their capacity to:

  • Support local educational agencies and schools, especially low-performing districts and schools.
  • Improve educational outcomes for all students.
  • Close achievement gaps.
  • Improve the quality of instruction.
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In 2023, ETS was honored to be selected to support the set-up of India’s first national assessment regulator, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development). Serving as technical partners to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), we are supporting the set-up of the PARAKH initiative – including the setting of norms, standards, and guidelines for student assessment and evaluation for all recognized school boards in the country. We are hyper-focused on building quality assessments to better measure and increase knowledge and skill acquisition across India.

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Press Release: ETS Selected to Help Establish India’s First National Assessment Regulator, PARAKH – https://www.ets.org/news/press-releases/ets-selected-to-help-establish-indias-first-national-assessment-regular-parakh.html