I read on the Internet that ETS has acquired Wheebox, a remote proctoring firm. I’ve written here before about how testing firms really ought to do proctoring in-house, so this makes me happy. Obviously it is too soon to tell if Wheebox will eventually replace Meazure Learning/ProctorU as the proctor of ETS’s major tests, but one imagines that it is a possibility.

Longtime readers will remember that ETS purchased Prometric shortly after the launch of the TOEFL iBT. Though ETS took a very hands-off approach to Prometric, that purchase may have played a big part in ETS’s remarkably smooth transition to the new version of the test. It also turned out to be a smart business move, as Prometric was sold for more than twice its purchase price about a decade later.

Inside Higher Ed reports that ETS has laid off six percent of its employees, which is estimated to be about 150 people.  This is at least the fifth round of layoffs at the testing firm since 2021.  Impacted staff were contacted personally and a video featuring CEO Amit Sevak was sent company-wide.

A few highlights from the article:

1. Sevak said in the video: “We need to rethink how we serve our customers and align ourselves to new ways of working, re-evaluate our skills and staffing to make sure we have what we need to move forward, and to continually, effectively and efficiently manage our financial health”

2. A recent employee satisfaction survey obtained by Inside Higher Ed showed displeasure with the leadership of the group.  One responded noting: “…we still lack a coherent, actionable strategy, and leadership seems completely out of touch with the organization and its people, to the point of it seeming disrespectful.”

3. Inside Higher Ed notes that other responses “show a distinct lack of confidence in the organization’s leadership.”  Says one: “There is a general consensus across the company that Sr Leadership is not honest with staff, there is no real strategy, and decisions are being made that go against supporting data.”

4. Says another:  “Everyone is working under the constant possibility of having their job eliminated or outsourced… We’ve gone through so many staff reductions over the past year that it is demoralizing staff … Many people have left ETS, and many of those who remain at ETS are looking for jobs.”

5. The article notes:  “In 2004, a minor schism between ETS and the College Board led the latter to shift from ETS to Pearson as its main test scorer; 10 years later, that rift deepened when the College Board opted to bring test development, formerly ETS’s purview, in house.”

6. And: “ETS’s contract with the College Board to administer the SAT is up for renewal next June. When asked via email whether it was likely to renew the partnership, a spokesperson for College Board said the company doesn’t comment on vendor relationships.”

The last note is worth watching.  Just two days ago I wrote in this space about how College Board work accounts for about 30% of ETS’s revenue. A loss of that contract could be significant (though, of course, part of that revenue likely comes from work on the AP tests).

I believe there were also several rounds of layoffs in the pre-pandemic period.

It is worth noting that many of the best and brightest minds at rival testing firm Duolingo seem to be former ETSers.  I am unsure if they were affected by those layoffs or, perhaps, if they took buy-outs during the period.  Or just departed.

I do encourage readers to check out the original article.

Best of luck to those affected.

Those with an interest in knowing where all the money goes will be happy to know that the 2022 audit of the College Board is now available via Propublica. 

Operating revenue is up a shade to 915 million dollars.

That’s an impressive figure, though it is still below the pre-pandemic high of 1.04 billion dollars (from 2019).

Total assets are now two billion dollars. As usual, that’s an all-time high.

The amount College Board paid ETS for services rendered hit 312 million dollars in 2022. That makes up 35% of College Board’s expenses (and about 30% of ETS’s revenue). I’m always surprised when this number goes up, as I rarely hear anyone from ETS talk about the work they do for College Board nowadays.

According to statistics provided by ETS to news agency PTI, the TOEFL test is becoming more popular in India. Says PTI:

“According to data exclusively accessed by PTI, there was a 53 per cent growth in Indian TOEFL test takers in 2021 compared to the previous year. In 2022, the number of test takers saw a 59 per cent rise over 2021.”

I’m impressed.

Indians also make up a larger proportion of TOEFL test-takers overall. The article notes:

“Corresponding with the trend, Indians accounted for 12.3 per cent of the total test takers globally in 2022, up from 7.5 per cent the previous year.”

More details in the article.

Coincidentally, visitors from India make up about 12% of the traffic to this website nowadays. Only the USA sends more traffic (about 14% of all visitors).

The University of Toronto adjusted its TOEFL score requirements this month.

Previously, the requirements were:

Discretionary: 89-99 (at least 22 in writing)

Minimum: 100 (at least 22 in writing)

Now, the requirements are:

Minimum: 89 (at least 22 in both writing and speaking)

–

U of T accepts a ton of test scores, but the only other adjustment I noticed was to their Duolingo requirements. Those remain at an overall score of 120, but now require that all subscores be 100 or above (previously, there were no subscore requirements).

–

The IELTS requirement remains at 6.5 (no band below 6.0). That is still a somewhat low requirement, compared to the TOEFL requirement. If we go by the comparison table provided by ETS, 6.5 on the IELTS is comparable to a 79 on the TOEFL. That’s close enough now, but back when U of T was requiring a 100 on the TOEFL, would anyone bother going the TOEFL route?

The 2023/24 TOEFL Teacher Webinar series kicks off on September 14. You can register at this link. The series runs all year, and is always informative. Highly recommended for people who want to know more about how to prepare students for the TOEFL test. I spoke at one of the webinars last year.

I read today that Meazure Learning (aka “ProctorU”) has acquired rival proctoring company Examity. As readers already know, Meazure Learning is majority owned by private equity firm Gryphon Investors.

Not sure this is great news in terms of test taker experience moving forward. Meazure Learning gets the job done, but there have been complaints about their work from test-takers as long as I’ve been watching. And I worry that consolidation could reduce the motivation of proctoring firms to innovate and improve.

To be honest, I don’t think that something as important as online test proctoring should be outsourced to private equity. Testing firms should have done this entirely in-house to begin with.