ETS® Proficiency Profile Overview

How do you measure student learning while making the best use of your institution's resources?

Choose the test that assesses four core skill areas — critical thinking, reading, writing and mathematics — in a single, convenient test that the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) has selected as a gauge of general education outcomes. Gain additional flexibility by adding an optional essay for greater insight into students' writing skills.

The ETS® Proficiency Profile test allows you to:

• gain a full perspective of the effectiveness of your general education program to meet requirements for accreditation and performance funding
• inform teaching and learning with actionable score reports you can use to pinpoint strengths and areas of improvement
• take your institution to the next level by providing comparative data on more than 400 institutions and over 500,000 students nationwide
• create greater flexibility in your testing program by adding 50 locally authored questions and using both paper-and-pencil and online formats, as well as choosing to use proctored and nonproctored versions

Who Takes the Test and Why?

College students take the ETS Proficiency Profile so that their institutions can demonstrate program effectiveness for accreditation and funding purposes.

Colleges and universities can also conduct various studies, such as cross-sectional and longitudinal, using ETS Proficiency Profile data to determine how much their students are learning and how they can improve learning outcomes.

When and Where Do Students Take the Exam?

There are no preset test administration dates. Testing is conducted at your convenience, either onsite or remotely via computer. A variety of testing formats offers flexibility to meet your specific scheduling and staffing needs. Format options include:

• standard (two-hour) and abbreviated (40-minute) test forms
• paper-and-pencil or online delivery
• proctored and nonproctored administration

For more information, review the Format section.

 How Are the Results Used?

Colleges and universities nationwide use the ETS Proficiency Profile to:

• measure and document program effectiveness to meet requirements for accreditation and accountability
• assess student proficiency in core academic skill areas to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities to improve curriculum and instruction
• compare performance against programs at more than 400 institutions nationwide
• conduct trend analyses to evaluate program improvement efforts and overall learning outcomes
• help meet their VSA and Transparency by Design (TbD) requirements

For more information about the ETS Proficiency Profile and for sample reports, review the User's Guide or contact an ETS Advisor.

For information on validity, review the ETS Proficiency Profile white paper and the Validity of the Academic Profile.