ETS Selected as the Exclusive Provider of the Development and Administration of Texas Educator Certification Examinations

Contact:

• Jason Baran
  (609) 683-2428
  mediacontacts@ets.org

Princeton, N.J. (May 24, 2011) —

Educational Testing Service (ETS), the nation's largest provider of teacher licensure assessments, today announced that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) intends to enter into a five-year contract with ETS for the management of the Development and Administration of the Texas Educator Certification Examinations.

Program staff at the TEA have been authorized to hone with ETS a development plan and schedule to ensure a seamless continuation of test administration and the rollout of new and innovative features.

"ETS appreciates the opportunity to continue the development and administration of the Texas Educator Certification Examinations," said ETS President and CEO Kurt Landgraf. "We are well versed in creating large-scale, custom assessments such as the Texas licensure and certification system, and will work tirelessly to provide excellent service to the state."

As the current vendor for the customized program since 2006, ETS administers the Texas Examinations of Educator Standards™ (TExES™), Texas Examinations for Master Teachers™ (TExMaT™), and other certification examinations. In addition, ETS has supported the TEA in overseeing the transition of a largely paper-based program into one in which 70 percent of the candidates are tested on computer.

Landgraf said, "The superior quality of our tests and the strength and accessibility of our computer-based delivery systems speak for themselves. Our objective is to work with the TEA so that the Texas educator certification program continues to evolve into one that helps assure that an effective educator is in every classroom."

As the chosen contractor, ETS will provide the TEA with high quality, valid, and reliable assessments that are responsive to the changing demands of preparing a 21st century teaching force and which will allow candidates to demonstrate their grasp of content and pedagogical knowledge and skills.

Within the period covered by the new contract — September 2011 through August 2016 — ETS will support the TEA's work on expanding educational opportunities in Texas and driving innovation in assessment. The collaborative work could possibly include:

• developing assessments of educator effectiveness
• determining the impact of new Texas standards for college readiness on educator certification examinations
• participating in the development of meaningful professional development materials related to assessment
• helping to develop certification assessments for educators who work in distance-learning or virtual environments
• adding additional world language assessments to the array of what is currently available in Texas
• developing new family and consumer science assessments

For more information about Texas's certification requirements, visit ETS's Texas state requirements Web page.

About ETS

At nonprofit ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education, as well as conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® tests and The Praxis Series™ assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org