ETS^® Major Field Tests Now Offer Online Flexibility and Convenience!

In the current higher education environment, where pressure for increased accountability in higher education continues to grow, student learning outcomes can be valuable tools for documenting institutional effectiveness. Specifically, outcomes assessments can help colleges and universities:

• Identify and analyze trends – provide evidence to institutions at regular intervals that shows if they're improving as desired and teaching as intended.
• Demonstrate institutional performance – to parents and students, administrations and boards of trustees, accrediting bodies and state and local governments.
• Counsel students – to help gauge preparedness for graduate school or for a career in their major field of study.

While deciding whether to use outcomes assessments, institutions of higher education must consider the value of using a standardized assessment. The most compelling benefits of using this type of test are reliability and validity. Without the assurance of reliable, consistent results based on valid, research-based measures, a test has limited worth. But, with a valid, reliable standardized outcomes assessment in place, institutions can glean important and credible information. That's why, more and more, institutions are turning to outcomes assessments such as Major Field Tests from ETS.

Major Field Tests are end-of-major outcomes assessments that provide valid, reliable measures of a student's ability to analyze and solve problems, understand relationships, and interpret material, and are offered in 15 undergraduate fields of study, plus MBA programs.

Constructed according to specifications developed by experts within each field of study, Major Field Tests now offer two modes of delivery: paper-based administration and the new, Internet-based administration.

The Internet-based delivery method offers all the benefits of its paper-based predecessor, such as the opportunity to customize tests with up to 50 faculty-written questions, access to comparative data (local and national) and the option to create cohorts (groups) and subgroups for even more detailed score reports. What's more, the online version also provides point-and-click access to score reports, a downloadable score report format and expanded organizational capabilities.

Additional convenient features of the Internet-based tests include online purchasing (via purchase order number or credit card) and free technical support. Those who have pre-purchased paper-based tests and wish to switch to the Internet-based version will be pleased to know paper-based tests can be exchanged for their Internet-based equivalent.

For information about online Major Field Tests, go to www.ets.org/mft. There you will find everything you need to know about these end-of-program outcomes assessments and the optional new Internet-based test format, as well as an online guided tour of the test and score reporting capabilities.

To learn more about Major Field Tests, contact a Major Field Tests specialist at 1-800-745-0269 (press 1) or highered@ets.org.

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