Title: E T S(R) Personal Potential Index Information Bulletin - July 2010 thru June 2011 Formats available: The E T S(R) Personal Potential Index Information Bulletin is currently available in Adobe PDF and text format. Print or large print versions are available upon request. This electronic edition contains the entire text of the print edition except for extraneous header and footer information, graphical elements, and navigational controls for electronic documents. This document consists of the sections listed below. --Contents --Overview --E T S(R) PPI Steps at a Glance --Terms and Conditions --Creating an E T S PPI Account --Account Creation --Entering Evaluator Information --E T S PPI Evaluations --Sending E T S PPI Evaluation Reports --Applicant Evaluation Data --E T S Contact Information Page numbers in this document are indicated with the word "page" enclosed between the less-than and greater-than symbol: . To locate material on page 1 of the printed edition, use your search or find command to search for " 1" (do not enter the quotation marks into the search window). 1 E T S(R) Listening. Learning. Leading.(R) E T S(R) Personal Potential Index Information Bulletin July 2010 - June 2011 www.ets.org/ppi 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview page 3 E T S(R) PPI Steps at a Glance page 3 Terms and Conditions page 3 E T S E-Records Disclosure page 3 E T S Data Transfer page 4 F E R P A Consent page 4 Creating an E T S PPI Account page 5 Logging in to the E T S PPI System page 5 Security of Site page 5 User Names and Passwords page 5 Account Creation page 6 Entering Evaluator Information page 6 E T S PPI Evaluations page 7 Sending E T S PPI Evaluation Reports page 8 Applicant Evaluation Data page 10 E T S Contact Information page 10 Copyright (c) 2010 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. E T S, the E T S logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING., GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATIONS, GRE and TOEFL are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (E T S) in the United States and other countries. THE PRAXIS SERIES is a trademark of E T S. 1 5 0 1 4 3 OVERVIEW The E T S(R) Personal Potential Index (E T S(R) PPI) is a web-based system for evaluating the personal attributes of applicants to graduate or professional school. The E T S PPI allows you the opportunity to provide evidence of a broader range of your capabilities. You select evaluators -- typically faculty members or supervisors -- to evaluate you on the following six dimensions that are considered critical for success in graduate or professional school: --Knowledge and Creativity --Communication Skills --Teamwork --Resilience --Planning and Organization --Ethics and Integrity There are 24 questions (four for each of the six dimensions), plus an overall evaluation rating. Evaluators provide ratings for each of the questions and for the overall evaluation. In addition, they may add comments for each dimension and for the overall evaluation. E T S creates an E T S PPI Evaluation Report that incorporates the ratings and comments and sends it to each school or program you designate. You may select up to five evaluators for each evaluation report. Individuals who registered for the Graduate Record Examinations(R) (GRE(R)) General Test on or after May 1, 2009, will be entitled to send up to four E T S PPI Evaluation Reports at no extra charge. Additional reports can be sent for 20 dollars each. Other applicants may send E T S PPI Evaluation Reports at a cost of 20 dollars per evaluation report. Payment is made online via e-check, credit or debit card (American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard or VISA). E T S PPI STEPS AT A GLANCE Step 1: Create an E T S PPI account. Step 2: Provide contact information for evaluators. E T S strongly recommends that you ask evaluators in advance whether or not they are willing to provide evaluations. Step 3: E T S sends an e-mail to each evaluator you designate. The e-mail contains a link enabling the evaluator to log in to the E T S PPI system. Step 4: Each evaluator logs in to the E T S PPI system and provides ratings. Evaluators also have the option of providing comments. Step 5: Once the evaluations have been completed, you are notified via e-mail. You then can log in to the E T S PPI system and designate institutions to receive E T S PPI Evaluation Reports and select the evaluations that are to be included in each report. Up to five evaluations can be included in a report. Step 6: E T S creates the E T S PPI Evaluation Reports and sends them to the institutions you have designated. TERMS AND CONDITIONS In order to use the E T S PPI system, you will need to review and consent to the E T S E-Records Disclosure, E T S Data Transfer, and the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (F E R P A) Consent. You also will need to indicate whether or not you waive your rights to inspect your E T S PPI Evaluation Report(s) under F E R P A ("F E R P A Inspection Waiver"). E-Records Disclosure E T S PPI is an electronic service; this section tells you about dealing with E T S electronically. When you use the E T S PPI service, all information provided to you, including waivers and signatures obtained from you, will be electronic. We do not provide an alternate, non-electronic E T S PPI service. 4 As a condition of using this service, you agree to keep current the e-mail address you provide to us and agree that we may use it for all communications with you, including (without limitation) for legal matters. We also reserve the right to communicate nonelectronically. Withdrawal of Consent to this Disclosure No law requires you to deal with us electronically; if you do not want to do so, you should not use our service or you may stop using it. You may stop by not ordering any more E T S PPI reports. E T S PPI reports already ordered and all waivers and consents already provided will not be affected by any termination of the service because we and others (e.g., evaluators and institutions receiving E T S PPI reports) rely on your electronic actions as soon as you take them. Copies You may print or make a copy of your consents, waivers, contracts and other agreements or disclosures by using the "print" functionality of your browser. You agree not to submit any order until you have printed copies for yourself. We do not undertake to provide access to e-records or to provide copies. If we are required or decide to do so, we may charge a fee for copies, our retrieval services and delivery costs. System Requirements To use the E T S PPI service, you and your evaluators will need Internet access and an e-mail account. The E T S PPI system supports the latest production versions of Internet Explorer 7.0.5, Firefox 3.0.7 and Safari 3.2.2 browsers. If you access the E T S PPI website without meeting these requirements, some functions may not perform optimally or may be disabled. E T S Data Transfer You will need to provide consent for E T S to disclose, redisclose, process and transfer worldwide consistent with its policy, information that personally identifies you, including (without limitation) to and from evaluators, recipients of the E T S PPI Evaluation Report, and E T S service providers. Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (F E R P A) Consent You will need to provide consent under F E R P A to authorize E T S to (a) request and receive E T S PPI evaluations on your behalf from the evaluators you select; (b) include the statements and other information received from evaluators in one or more E T S PPI Evaluation Report(s) ordered; and (c) transfer, disclose and redisclose the evaluation information and E T S PPI Evaluation Reports to agents and service providers of E T S and to educational institution(s) that you now or later designate. F E R P A Inspection Waiver Under F E R P A, you have the right to inspect education records, such as any copies of the E T S PPI Evaluation Reports sent by E T S and held by educational institutions you now or later attend as a student. You will need to indicate whether or not you wish to waive your rights to inspect education records under F E R P A. Note that your F E R P A Inspection Waiver decision will be part of your E T S PPI Applicant Account profile. It will appear in the e-mail message sent to each evaluator and on each E T S PPI Evaluation Report sent to the institutions you designate. Duration of F E R P A Consent and F E R P A Inspection Waiver Once you provide a F E R P A Consent or F E R P A Inspection Waiver for one E T S PPI report, it applies to every E T S PPI report you later order. You may change your decision to waive or not waive your rights to see a completed E T S PPI Evaluation Report under F E R P A; however, this change cannot be made online. You must submit a signed and dated request in writing to ETSPPI_Inquiries@ets.org. Changing a waiver decision automatically deactivates all outstanding evaluation requests and completed evaluations. For evaluation requests in progress, evaluators will be notified by e-mail that the applicant has changed his or her waiver decision and that the request has been deactivated. If you wish to send any E T S PPI evaluation reports in the future, you will need to send a new request to your evaluator(s) and your evaluator(s) will need to submit a new evaluation for you. 5 Retention and Redisclosures E T S retains E T S PPI evaluations and Evaluation Reports for five years after which they will be purged. You can place an order anytime during that five-year period. By providing a F E R P A Inspection Waiver or a F E R P A Consent, you agree that we may redisclose to our service providers and to E T S PPI report recipients any personally identifiable information provided by evaluators from your education records and evidence of your consents and waivers, and that those recipients may redisclose as relevant in the ordinary course of their admissions or business operations. CREATING AN E T S PPI ACCOUNT Logging in to the E T S PPI System To log in to the E T S PPI system, visit www.ets.org/ppi and create an E T S PPI applicant account (Figure 1). Figure 1 image shows the applicant sign-in screen. This is where you can create your E T S PPI user ID and password, and access your account. If you registered for the GRE General Test on or after May 1, 2009, enter your name exactly as it appears in your GRE General Test registration. Your four free credits for E T S PPI Evaluation Reports will not appear in your E T S PPI account if you sign in under a different name. If you did not register for the GRE General Test on or after May 1, 2009, enter your name as you would like it to appear on the E T S PPI Evaluation Report(s) that will be sent to your designated institution(s). You will be asked to provide personal, contact and educational information, including the last four digits of your Social Security number (if applicable). Be sure to review your applicant information carefully on the "Confirm Your E T S PPI Applicant Account Information" screen. Name, date of birth, last four digits of your Social Security number and user name cannot be edited online once you have created your E T S PPI account. During the sign-up process, if you already have a GRE(R), TOEFL(R), or Praxis(TM) account, select "Use Existing" and enter that user name and password to create your PPI profile. Otherwise, enter a user name, password and security question. Keep this information in a secure location. Confirmation of E T S PPI orders will automatically be sent to the e-mail address you provided when you created your E T S PPI account. Please add "@ets.org" to your address book to ensure safe receipt of e-mail messages from E T S. E T S will not share your e-mail address with any third parties, other than those you designate to receive your E T S PPI Evaluation Reports. If you would like to use the E T S PPI and you do not have an e-mail address or access to the Internet, contact E T S PPI Customer Service (see page 10). Security of the Site E T S has established safeguards to help prevent unauthorized access to or misuse of your personal information. However, we cannot guarantee that your personally identifiable information will never be disclosed in a manner inconsistent with this privacy policy (for example, as a result of unauthorized acts by third parties that violate applicable law or relevant web policies). When you open an account, you will be asked to select a password to help protect your information. This password helps us verify your identity before granting access or making corrections to any of your personal information. You should never disclose your password to anyone. E T S will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or e-mail. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and any account information. 6 When you provide credit/debit card information, it is transmitted using SSL technology to help prevent unauthorized access to or misuse of that information. You will know that SSL is being used when you see a full yellow key in a blue box in the lower left-hand corner of your Netscape browser or a full "lock" in the status bar of your Internet Explorer browser. User Names and Passwords For security reasons, E T S does not send user names or passwords via e-mail. If you forget your user name and/or password, access "Returning Users" on the sign-in page, click the "Forgot your user name or password?" link and follow the instructions provided on the screen. If you need to reset your password, sign in to your account, click the "Change Password or Security Question" link on your home page and follow the instructions to change your password. ACCOUNT CREATION After you provide consent to the E T S E-Records Disclosure, the E T S Data Transfer and F E R P A, and indicate whether or not you are waiving your rights to inspect your education records under F E R P A, click on "Submit." A new account will be created and an e-mail notification will be sent to the e-mail address you provided in your application. To access your account, visit www.ets.org/ppi. Once you have logged in to your account, you will be able to enter evaluator information, view the status of evaluation requests and E T S PPI Evaluation Report requests, and manage your account. A sample E T S PPI home page appears in Figure 2. Note that unless you indicate that you want to remain connected, the system will automatically log you out after 30 minutes of inactivity. Figure 2 shows the home page the applicant sees after logging in to the E T S PPI system. Applicants can send evaluation requests, send E T S PPI Evaluation Reports, and view the status of their requests. ENTERING EVALUATOR INFORMATION Once you have created your E T S PPI account, the next step is to add contact information for the individuals whom you would like to evaluate you. Choose people who can comment on your personal skills and potential for success in graduate or professional school, such as faculty members or employers. You may not use family members as evaluators. Before adding contact information for your evaluators, be sure to ask each individual if they are willing to evaluate you in the E T S PPI system. Let them know that the evaluation should take about 15 minutes to complete. Also, confirm that your evaluators have access to e-mail and make sure you have their correct e-mail addresses. Evaluators without e-mail access will need to contact E T S PPI Customer Service (see page 10). To add evaluator information, log in to the E T S PPI system and, for each evaluator, enter the name, institution, e-mail address and requested completion date of the evaluation. You do not have to enter information for all of the evaluators at the same time. 7 You can come back at any time and add additional evaluators up to a maximum of 25 evaluators. Up to five evaluators can be included for each evaluation report. The sample screen in Figure 3 shows the evaluator information you will be asked to enter. Figure 3 shows the "Add New Evaluator" screen which allows the applicant to add an evaluator's name and contact information and to submit an evaluation request. Once you have entered information for a particular evaluator, click "Send Request to Evaluator." An e-mail message is automatically sent to the evaluator requesting that they complete an E T S PPI evaluation by the date that you designate. In order to ensure that the evaluations are completed in time to be included in the E T S PPI Evaluation Report, you should request that the Evaluator complete the evaluation at least 15 days prior to the relevant admissions deadline. Once an evaluation request has been sent, it cannot be withdrawn. If you change your mind about including the evaluation of a particular evaluator in your E T S PPI Evaluation Report, you can simply choose not to include it in your report. If you submit an evaluation request to an evaluator and the evaluator does not respond, confirm that you have the correct e-mail address and/or check with the evaluator directly. If necessary, you can make changes to the evaluator's contact information if there are errors and then resend the evaluation request. E T S PPI EVALUATIONS The evaluator can accept or decline your request to complete an E T S PPI evaluation. You will receive an e-mail confirmation indicating whether the evaluator has accepted or declined the request. If the evaluator accepts the request, he or she must log in to the E T S PPI system and create an E T S PPI account before completing your evaluation. During the account creation, the evaluator must e-sign a statement confirming his or her identity and acknowledging that they have been informed of the potential penalties for misrepresentation. Once the evaluator creates an account, he or she answers questions about his or her relationship to you, responds to a series of 24 statements (four for each dimension), and provides an overall evaluation rating. The evaluator also can add comments for each dimension as well as for the overall evaluation. Figures 4, 5 and 6 show examples of the screens that an evaluator completes. Figure 4 shows the "Relationship to Applicant" screen. This screen allows the evaluator to answer questions about his or her relationship to the applicant. Figure 5 shows the "Teamwork Attribute" screen. This screen allows the evaluator to rate the applicant on four statements pertaining to the Teamwork attribute. The evaluator also can provide general comments on the applicant's Teamwork skills. Figure 6 shows the "Overall Evaluation" screen. This screen allows the evaluator to provide an overall evaluation and general comments on the applicant. You will receive an e-mail when each evaluator has completed his or her evaluation. The status of evaluation requests also can be viewed in your E T S PPI account under "Manage Evaluators and Evaluation Requests." You will not be able to see any evaluations in the PPI system. Evaluations are available to be included in an E T S PPI Evaluation Report for up to five years from the date the evaluation was completed. SENDING E T S PPI EVALUATION REPORTS Once all of the evaluators you would like to include in a report have completed their evaluations, you can return to the E T S PPI system to (1) designate the institutions you would like to receive an E T S PPI Evaluation Report and (2) choose the evaluators that should be included in each report. Up to five evaluations can be included in each E T S PPI Evaluation Report. You can choose to include the evaluations of different evaluators in different evaluation reports. You can send E T S PPI Evaluation Reports to graduate and professional institutions and fellowship sponsors that are E T S PPI report recipients. In general, most institutions that receive GRE test scores also receive E T S PPI Evaluation Reports. In addition, there are some institutions that do not receive GRE test scores, but do receive E T S PPI Evaluation Reports. For a list of institutions that can receive E T S PPI Evaluation Reports, visit www.ets.org/ppi/reportrecipients. Contact E T S customer service (see page 10) if you have any questions about the institutions you would like to designate as E T S PPI Evaluation Report recipients. If you registered for the GRE General Test on or after May 1, 2009, you will be entitled to send up to four E T S PPI Evaluation Reports at no extra charge. E T S PPI free report credits should appear in your E T S PPI account one to two days after registration for the GRE General Test. Your four credits will remain in your account for five years. If you are a GRE test registrant, any outstanding balance on a GRE test or service must be resolved before you can take advantage of the E T S PPI free report credits. Contact E T S Customer Service (see page 10) to resolve any credit issues. 9 It is important that you review your E T S PPI Evaluation Report order carefully prior to submitting. You will not be able to modify or cancel your report(s) after you submit your order. After submitting your order, you will receive an order confirmation screen that you should print for your records. A confirmation e-mail also will be sent to the e-mail address in your account. Allow a minimum of 15 business days for processing and delivery of reports within the continental United States; allow more time for delivery to other areas. You can review your E T S PPI Evaluation Report order history and order status anytime by logging in to your E T S PPI account. Applicants who need to resend an E T S PPI Evaluation Report should contact E T S Customer Service (see page 10). E T S PPI Evaluation Reports include contact information for each evaluator. E T S encourages report recipients to contact evaluators if they have any questions about their evaluations or if there are significant variations among the evaluators' ratings or comments. Sample E T S PPI Evaluation Report pages appear in Figures 7 and 8. Figure 7 shows page 1 of the E T S PPI Evaluation Report which includes personal and background information for the applicant, overall ratings for each of the six dimensions and the overall evaluation of the applicant, as well as the names of and contact information for the evaluators whose evaluations of the applicant are included in the report. 10 Figure 8 shows page 2 of the E T S PPI Evaluation Report which shows evaluator ratings and comments on the Teamwork and Resilience attributes. APPLICANT EVALUATION DATA Evaluation data may be used in analysis samples, interpretation data and research studies. In each instance, all identifying information will be removed. E T S CONTACT INFORMATION E T S PPI Customer Service: WEB www.ets.org/ppi E-MAIL ETSPPI_Inquiries@ets.org PHONE 1-866-473-4373 - United States, U.S. Territories and Canada 1-609-771-7670 - All other locations Available Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 7:45 p.m. EST (except for U.S. holidays) MAIL E T S PPI PO Box 6000 Princeton, NJ 08541-6000