I’m still working on Part One* of my “How we Got Here” series on the possible sale of the TOEFL and GRE, but if you want a 30-minute deep dive into what went awry with the GRE, I do encourage you to check out the newest episode of “Testing Ain’t Easy” with Stefan Maisnier and Mark Skoskiewicz. I’ll post a link in the comments. Note there are a few faulty comments early on about the TOEFL program, as the main beat of the hosts isn’t language testing.
Some readers have suggested that I’m too hard on ETS** when it comes to their stewardship of the TOEFL program, but my mild criticisms of that program are nothing compared to some of the comments here about what has happened with the GRE. Says one host, for instance:
“I don’t think I can name a single person that actually advocates for the GRE based on its quality of evaluating a candidate’s readiness for college.”
Tough words. But it is arguable that the wheels have fallen off the bus, as test volumes are down 53% from their pre-pandemic peak. The loss of those fees equates to about 72 million dollars of lost program service revenue… and that doesn’t include the really high-margin extras like score sending fees, the search service, and test prep. Percentages-wise, that’s also a much bigger drop, I think, than the one which has impacted the TOEFL program.
*of many
**not really