Karen Barton Named Vice President of Assessment Operations at ETS

September 19, 2023 — ETS CEO Amit Sevak named Karen Barton as the Vice President of Assessment Operations at ETS. Barton will work with ETS Senior Vice President of Production and Delivery Dennis Stetzel in leading the global organization’s design, development and delivery of assessments across operations.

“Karen brings the experience we need to realize the future of assessment which is focused on enabling the progress of individuals of all backgrounds,” said Sevak.

Barton will head assessment operations and lead a team of professionals in re-envisioning the design and implementation of our assessments, psychometrics, and scoring and reporting. Assessment operations will continue its industry-leading role in delivering best-in-class assessments to learners across the globe.

“I am truly honored to be in this role at ETS, and I look forward to innovating how we measure the skills of all learners,” said Barton. “From design through delivery, we have an obligation to ensure that ETS assessments support sound decision making so learners can access more opportunities to learn, grow and be successful.”

Barton began her journey into psychometrics as a special education teacher when she became dissatisfied with the utility and truth in the assessments of her students. She went on to serve as a research scientist, psychometrician and assessment designer. Most recently, Barton led the solutions and innovations team at Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA). She received her B.S. in psychology and M.S. in special education from Longwood University in Virginia and holds a Ph.D. in educational research from the University of South Carolina.

About ETS

We believe in the life-changing power of learning. For the last 75 years, we’ve been driven by a vision of what’s possible when all people can improve their lives through education. It’s why our uncompromising commitment to equity and fairness is behind everything we do. ETS serves learners, educators and government agencies by providing measurement solutions, and conducting research, analysis and policy studies. ETS develops, administers and scores tens of millions of tests annually — including the TOEFL^® and TOEIC^® tests, the GRE^® tests and The Praxis Series^® assessments — in more than 200 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org