PRINCETON, N.J.
The Educational Testing Service has cancelled plans to launch the revised Graduate Record Examinations General Test because of problems related to “test taker access.”
ETS officials said in a statement they originally planned to launch the revised GRE worldwide in September but will now continue its current testing format.
“As the launch approached, ETS determined that, despite the aggressive development of our Internet-based testing network, we could not guarantee complete access to all students needing to take the exam,” said Dr. David G. Payne, executive director of the GRE program.
But officials at the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, or FairTest, say the cancellation “is the latest example that the ETS has repeatedly tried to rush computerized exams into the marketplace before they were ready for ‘prime time.’”
“They pushed these flawed products to increase test-maker income, not improve assessment quality or meet students’ needs,” said Robert Schaeffer, FairTest’s public education director.
FairTest, an organization opposed to standardized tests, has documented numerous problems with ETS’ computer-administrated exams. It noted problems with the new Test of English as a Foreign Language, launched in early 2006, that resulted in many overseas students not being able to take the test in time for application deadlines.
