ETS and StraighterLine™ Broaden Access to Student Data Through "MyData Button" Initiative
PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Educational Testing Service (ETS), the world's largest educational measurement and research organization, and StraighterLine™, one of the nation's leading providers of online college courses, announced their support today for a U.S. Department of Education program to improve the availability and use of high-quality education data to improve student achievement.
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U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the initiative today at a meeting of the Recommendations for Education in Advancement of Learning Agenda Commission, which is part of the TechAmerica Foundation. This White House-supported effort will provide students — or their parents, in the case of minors — with the option to download their education information, so they can examine it, check it and share it with schools, colleges and even employers as they see fit.
Today's announcement comes on the heels of an agreement between ETS and StraighterLine that, starting in the fall of 2012, they will offer "MyLine," a place where students may purchase, and gain access to, general education coursework and validated tests from leading educational organizations. The agreement calls for StraighterLine to offer a variety of core skills, information literacy and subject-specific tests from ETS and the Council for Aid to Education.
"ETS, in cooperation with StraighterLine, plans to offer test takers and students secure, timely and electronic access to their iSkills™ assessment and ETS® Proficiency Profile data via a 'MyData Button,'" says Daniel Wakeman, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at ETS. "Both organizations commit to working in a voluntary fashion with others in the education technology industry to reach consensus on standardizing this process to encourage its reuse by third-party application developers."
The iSkills assessment measures a student's critical thinking and problem-solving skills in a digital environment. The ETS Proficiency Profile assesses critical thinking, reading, writing and mathematics skills in a single test.
About ETS
At 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 as a nonprofit 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
About StraighterLine
StraighterLine has been recognized as a revolutionizing force in education by major news organizations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for offering students online courses that earn real college credit for just $99 a month. Fast Company named StraighterLine one of the "10 Most Innovative Companies in Education."
In order to facilitate the award of credit, StraighterLine has forged partnerships with leading accredited online colleges and universities. A student ultimately earns a degree from those institutions but realizes tremendous savings and convenience by starting with StraighterLine.
StraighterLine's courses are evaluated and recommended by the American Council on Education's College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT). In addition to the institutions with which StraighterLine has a direct relationship, students have indicated that at least 250 other colleges have accepted StraighterLine coursework for transfer credit. Currently, StraighterLine offers 31 entry-level college courses online in the sciences, humanities, English, math and business.
SOURCE Educational Testing Service
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