ETS® Proficiency Profile

ETS has a long history of effectively helping institutions satisfy accreditation requirements and measure student performance. And, as the conversations around student learning outcomes and the shifting higher education landscape continue, it is important to work with a market leader who can provide valid and reliable data and position you for the future.

Get the Data you Need to Help Evaluate and Inform Teaching and Learning

Your students need to be proficient in critical thinking, reading, writing and mathematics. You need an assessment that can measure and demonstrate student learning while optimizing your time and resources.

The ETS® Proficiency Profile 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. Plus, get greater insight into your students’ writing skills with a direct and authentic measure of their ability to construct a response by adding an essay to the ETS Proficiency Profile assessment.

The ETS Proficiency Profile test helps you to:

• measure the effectiveness of your general education program to meet requirements for accreditation and accountability initiatives and performance funding
• evaluate and inform teaching and learning with actionable score reports you can use to pinpoint strengths and areas of improvement
• gauge program effectiveness by providing comparative data on more than 500 institutions and over 550,000 students nationwide
• create greater flexibility in your testing program by adding up to 50 locally authored questions and using both paper-and-pencil and online formats, as well as choosing to use proctored (both on- and off-campus) and nonproctored versions

Focused on the Needs of Today’s Institutions – New for 2013!

Additional Administration Options — Coming Soon

Currently the ETS Proficiency Profile provides the ability to administer a 40-minute abbreviated test or a more robust two-hour standard assessment using proctored on-campus, or nonproctored delivery methods. Soon you will also be able to administer the assessment using a proctored off-campus method. This newly introduced option to use remote proctoring provides institutions with even more flexibility to securely test remote students or students studying in online courses.

Certificates of Achievement — Available Now

Recently published ETS research proves that motivation has an important impact on performance, In order to help you motivate students to perform their best and increase participation, ETS has introduced performance-level certificates for students taking the standard form of the ETS Proficiency Profile. These new certificates can provide students with motivation to do well, which ultimately helps institutions to better position themselves for accreditation and performance funding.

The certificates not only show successful completion of the assessment, but also categorize scores in three different performance levels to show the kinds of tasks that can commonly be performed by test takers in each score range:

• Level 1 Proficiency
• Level 2 Proficiency
• Level 3 Proficiency

Each performance level is clearly defined on the certificate. And the certificate includes a detailed explanation of the test-taker’s levels of strength in the various task areas aligned with the assessment's proficiency classifications.

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. Plus, students taking the standard form can earn a Certificate of Achievement. Students can share the certificate with an unlimited number of academic institutions and prospective employers. The certificate also adds value to institutions looking to measure student learning outcomes. Knowing a certificate — with value beyond the classroom — is at stake, students will have the motivation to perform well and demonstrate their true ability.

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 on-campus administration
• proctored off-campus administration
• 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 information on validity, review the ETS Proficiency Profile white paper and the Validity of the Academic Profile.

Contact Us

For more information about the ETS Proficiency Profile and for sample reports, call 1-800-745-0269, review the User's Guide or contact an ETS Advisor. ETS Advisors are available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.–4:30 p.m. ET.