2012 Global Institute Highlights

In 2012, the Global Institute (GI) program grew in prominence as an important resource for government agencies interested in providing development opportunities for their leadership and staff. Over 150 professionals from seven different countries participated in the program last year, which included groups from Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam and Ethiopia. The GI training courses offered these groups an opportunity to build assessment expertise, as well as enhance the value of services they provide to their own customers.

Program highlights during 2012 included:

  • a contract with the World Bank to provide customized training on large-scale testing topics to Ethiopian test developers
  • a performance assessment course delivered to an international group consisting of representatives of Ministries of Education and other governmental agencies from Indonesia and Chile

"Capacity building is the goal of the Global Institute. By sharing ETS's expertise in this very specialized area of learning, we provide opportunities for educators and testing professionals around the world to learn from us … and we in turn, to learn from them," says Annabelle Simpson, Director of the Global Institute.

A new feature added to the Global Institute portfolio last year and implemented in the World Bank Ethiopia project was the GI Distance Learning program. This program offers GI clients pre-recorded or live transmitted sessions and video streams through the Internet. The feature was added to allow easier access to sessions, so individuals around the world can receive training anytime, anywhere.

GI continues to offer a valuable, capacity-building program for educational professionals worldwide. The expertise of ETS Assessment Development and Research, Statistical Analysis, and Information Technology experts ensures that the courses delivered are of the highest quality. The willingness of ETS staff, such as Timothy Davey, Research Director; Mary Pitoniak, Strategic Advisor; Barbara Suomi, Assessment Specialist III; Michael Zieky, Distinguished Presidential Appointee in Assessment Development; Jinghua Liu, Psychometrics Manager; and Jennifer Geoghan, Process Administrator, along with the many others who have taken time out of their busy schedules to share their expertise, is what makes GI a successful enterprise.