Title: ETS(R) Personal Potential Index Information Bulletin - July 2012–June 2013 Formats available: The ETS(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 --ETS(R) PPI Steps at a Glance --Terms and Conditions --Creating an ETS PPI Account --Account Creation --Entering Evaluator Information --ETS PPI Evaluations --Sending ETS PPI Evaluation Reports --Applicant Evaluation Data --ETS 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 ETS(R) Listening. Learning. Leading.(R) ETS(R) Personal Potential Index Information Bulletin July 2012 - June 2013 www.ets.org/ppi 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview page 3 ETS(R) PPI Steps at a Glance page 3 Terms and Conditions page 3 ETS E-Records Disclosure page 3 ETS Data Transfer page 4 FERPA Consent page 4 Creating an ETS PPI Account page 5 Logging in to the ETS PPI System page 5 Security of Site page 5 User Names and Passwords page 6 Account Creation page 6 Entering Evaluator Information page 6 ETS PPI Evaluations page 7 Sending ETS PPI Evaluation Reports page 8 Applicant Evaluation Data page 10 ETS Contact Information page 10 Copyright (c) 2012 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo, LISTENING. LEARNING. LEADING., GRE and TOEFL are registered trademarks of Educational Testing Service (ETS) in the United States and other countries. PRAXIS is a trademark of ETS. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 20172 3 OVERVIEW The ETS (R) Personal Potential Index (ETS (R) PPI) is a web-based system for evaluating the personal attributes of applicants to graduate or professional school. ETS 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. ETS creates an ETS 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 GRE (R) General Test or the GRE revised General Test on or after May 1, 2009, are entitled to send up to four ETS PPI Evaluation Reports at no extra charge. Additional reports can be sent for $20 each. Other applicants may send ETS PPI Evaluation Reports at a cost of $20 per evaluation report. Payment is made online via e-check, a credit or debit card (American Express (R), Discover (R), JCB (R), MasterCard (R) or VISA (R)). ETS® PPI STEPS AT A GLANCE Step 1: Create an ETS PPI account. Step 2: Provide contact information for evaluators. ETS strongly recommends that you ask evaluators in advance whether or not they are willing to provide evaluations. Step 3: ETS sends an email to each evaluator you designate. The email contains a link enabling the evaluator to log in to the ETS PPI system. Step 4: Each evaluator logs in to the ETS 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 email. You then can log in to the ETS PPI system and designate institutions to receive ETS 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: ETS creates the ETS PPI Evaluation Reports and sends them to the institutions you have designated. TERMS AND CONDITIONS In order to use the ETS PPI system, you will need to review and consent to the ETS E-Records Disclosure, ETS Data Transfer, and the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Consent. You also will need to indicate whether or not you waive your rights to inspect your ETS PPI Evaluation Report(s) under FERPA (“FERPA Inspection Waiver”). ETS E-Records Disclosure ETS PPI is an electronic service; this section explains about dealing with ETS electronically. When you use the ETS 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 ETS PPI service. As a condition of using this service, you agree to keep current the email 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. 4 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 ETS PPI reports. ETS 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 ETS 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 ETS PPI service, you and your evaluators will need Internet access and an email account. The ETS PPI system supports the latest production versions of Internet Explorer (R) 7 or 8, Firefox (R) 3 or higher and Safari (R) 3 or higher browsers. If you access the ETS PPI website without meeting these requirements, some functions may not perform optimally or may be disabled. ETS Data Transfer You will need to provide consent for ETS to disclose, redisclose, process and transfer worldwide -— in consistency with ETS policy -— information that personally identifies you, including (without limitation) to and from evaluators, recipients of the ETS PPI Evaluation Report and ETS service providers. Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Consent You will need to provide consent under FERPA to authorize ETS to (a) request and receive ETS PPI evaluations on your behalf from the evaluators you select; (b) include the statements and other information received from evaluators in one or more ETS PPI Evaluation Report(s) ordered; and (c) transfer, disclose and redisclose the evaluation information and ETS PPI Evaluation Reports to agents and service providers of ETS and to educational institution(s) that you now or later designate. FERPA Inspection Waiver Under FERPA, you have the right to inspect education records, including any copies of the ETS PPI Evaluation Reports sent by ETS 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 under FERPA to inspect copies of your evaluations held as education records by your evaluators and your ETS PPI Evaluation Reports held as education records by any institution you now or later attend as a student. Note that your FERPA Inspection Waiver decision will be part of your ETS PPI Applicant Account profile. It will appear in the email message sent to each evaluator and on each ETS PPI Evaluation Report sent to the institutions you designate. Duration of FERPA Consent and FERPA Inspection Waiver Once you provide a FERPA Consent or FERPA Inspection Waiver during creation of your ETS PPI account, it applies to every ETS PPI report you later order. You may change your decision to waive or not waive your rights to see a completed ETS PPI Evaluation Report under FERPA; 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 email that you have changed your waiver decision and that the request has been deactivated. If you wish to send any ETS 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. Retention and Redisclosures ETS retains ETS PPI evaluations and Evaluation Reports for five years, after which time they will be purged. You can place an order anytime during that five-year period. 5 By providing a FERPA Inspection Waiver or a FERPA Consent, you agree that we may redisclose to our service providers and to ETS PPI report recipients the evaluation information and ETS PPI Evaluation Reports. CREATING AN ETS PPI ACCOUNT Logging in to the ETS PPI System To log in to the ETS PPI system, visit www.ets.org/ppi and create an ETS PPI applicant account (Figure 1). Figure 1 image shows the applicant sign-in screen. This is where you can create your ETS PPI user ID and password, and access your account. If you registered for the GRE General Test or the GRE revised 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 ETS PPI Evaluation Reports will not appear in your ETS PPI account if you sign in under a different name. If you did not register for the GRE General Test or the GRE revised General Test on or after May 1, 2009, enter your name as you would like it to appear on the ETS 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 ETS 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 ETS PPI account. During the sign-up process, if you already have a GRE, 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 ETS PPI orders will automatically be sent to the email address you provided when you created your ETS PPI account. Please add “@ets.org” to your address book to ensure safe receipt of email messages from ETS. ETS will not share your email address with any third parties, other than those you designate to receive your ETS PPI Evaluation Reports. If you would like to use the ETS PPI and you do not have an email address or access to the Internet, contact ETS PPI Customer Service. Security of the Site ETS 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. ETS will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or email. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and any account information. Your credit/debit card information is securely transmitted using SSL technology to help prevent unauthorized access to or misuse of that information. Your browser will show you that SSL is being used: * Firefox (R): A yellow lock will appear in the lower right corner of the browser window. 6 * Internet Explorer (R): A yellow lock will appear at the right side of the status bar. * Safari (R): A small gray lock will appear at the right side of the status bar. In addition to the above, secure web pages always begin with https://. User Names and Passwords 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 ETS E-Records Disclosure, the ETS Data Transfer and FERPA, and indicate whether or not you are waiving your rights to inspect your education records under FERPA, click on “Submit.” A new account will be created and an email notification will be sent to the email 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 ETS PPI Evaluation Report requests, and manage your account. A sample ETS 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: The home page the applicant sees after logging in to the ETS PPI system. Applicants can send evaluation requests, send ETS PPI Evaluation Reports, and view the status of their requests. ENTERING EVALUATOR INFORMATION Once you have created your ETS 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 ETS PPI system. Let them know that the evaluation should take about 15 minutes to complete. Also, confirm that your evaluators have access to email and make sure you have their correct email addresses. Evaluators without email access will need to contact ETS PPI Customer Service. To add evaluator information, log in to the ETS PPI system and, for each evaluator, enter the name, institution or organization, email 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: The “Add New Evaluator” screen 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 email message is automatically sent to the evaluator requesting that they complete an ETS PPI evaluation by the date that you designate. In order to ensure that the evaluations are completed in time to be included in the ETS PPI Evaluation Report, you should request that the evaluator complete the evaluation by a date that allows for sufficient processing and delivery time. At least 15 days is recommended. 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 ETS 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 email 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. ETS PPI EVALUATIONS The evaluator can accept or decline your request to complete an ETS PPI evaluation. You will receive an email 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 ETS PPI system. New evaluators must create an ETS PPI account to complete 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 logs in to the system, 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: This screen allows the evaluator to answer questions about his or her relationship to the applicant. 8 Figure 5: 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: This screen allows the evaluator to provide an overall evaluation and general comments on the applicant. You will receive an email when each evaluator has completed his or her evaluation. The status of evaluation requests also can be viewed in your ETS 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 ETS PPI Evaluation Report for up to five years from the date the evaluation was completed. SENDING ETS 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 ETS PPI system to (1) designate the institutions you would like to receive an ETS PPI Evaluation Report and (2) choose the evaluators that should be included in each report. Up to five evaluations can be included in each ETS PPI Evaluation Report. You can choose to include the evaluations of different evaluators in different evaluation reports. Important Note: Only one ETS PPI Evaluation should be sent to each school or program to which you are applying and the report should include ALL of the evaluations that you would like to send. In the unlikely event that you must send a second report to a school or program, be sure to include all of the evaluations that were in the first report as well as any new evaluations you are adding. You can send ETS PPI Evaluation Reports to graduate and professional institutions and fellowship sponsors that are ETS PPI report recipients. In general, most institutions that receive GRE test scores also receive ETS PPI Evaluation Reports. In addition, there are some institutions that do not receive GRE test scores, but do receive ETS PPI Evaluation Reports. For a list of institutions that can receive ETS PPI Evaluation Reports, visit www.ets.org/ppi/reportrecipients. Contact ETS customer service if you have any questions about the institutions you would like to designate as ETS PPI Evaluation Report recipients. If you registered for the GRE General Test or the GRE revised General Test on or after May 1, 2009, you are entitled to send up to four ETS PPI Evaluation Reports at no extra charge. ETS PPI free report credits should 9 appear in your ETS 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 ETS PPI free report credits. Contact ETS Customer Service to resolve any credit issues. It is important that you review your ETS 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 email also will be sent to the email address in your account. ETS PPI Evaluation Reports are processed within three to six business days. Allow additional time for delivery. You can review your ETS PPI Evaluation Report order history and order status anytime by logging in to your ETS PPI account. Applicants who need to resend an ETS PPI Evaluation Report should contact ETS Customer Service. ETS PPI Evaluation Reports include contact information for each evaluator. ETS 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 ETS PPI Evaluation Report pages appear in Figures 7 and 8. Figure 7: Page 1 of the ETS PPI Evaluation Report 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: Page 2 of the ETS PPI Evaluation Report 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. CONTACT INFORMATION ETS PPI Customer Service: WEB: www.ets.org/ppi EMAIL: 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. ET (except for U.S. holidays) MAIL: ETS PPI P.O. Box 6000 Princeton, NJ 08541-6000