The Educational Testing Service will lay off 757 employees in California at the end of the year. According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, this comes as Measurement, Inc takes over the scoring of several tests included in ETS’s longstanding CAASPP-ELPAC contract.
That contract, which runs through 2027, is quite lucrative for ETS, though it is surprising how much of the work appears to be carried out by subcontractors. For instance, for the fiscal year ending September 2023, Cambium Assessment was paid 26.8 million dollars for subcontracted services associated with the contract.
I suppose these workers are getting slightly better treatment than TOEFL raters, who (according to reports) have seen their shifts dry up without getting actual termination notices. Combined, though, it seems like something close to a thousand jobs cut, with little more than a peep from the higher-ed press.
I’ve requested a copy of the relevant WARN notice from California. Will share it here if I get it.