AETR: Revealing the standardized testing industry's failure to recognize test-takers rights, unethical political lobbying, forced research participation and more

This site describes the efforts of American students and other test-takers to encourage major educational testing companies to act with greater integrity and fairness. Most of these companies are considered non-profit organizations and have been granted special tax-exempt status by the IRS. They can - and should - be held to a higher standard of corporate responsibility. Founded on principles of corporate ethics and responsibility, AETR is dedicated to making sure every American test-taker is treated fairly by their testing company. Lend your support by taking a few seconds to sign our online petition.

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Failure to Recognize Test-Takers' Rights

As Ralph Nader and Allan Nairn observed back in 1980, "the consumer enters a contract with ETS when 'he tenders a fee to ETS and signs an application form.' Yet, the ETS application forms list no conditions - such as scoring the tests accurately, getting the information out on time, or protecting confidentiality - that the consumer can legally compel ETS to honor. The registration forms fail to acknowledge that ETS has contractual responsibilities or that consumers have contractual rights. The only way an ETS consumer can claim such rights is to argue in court that ETS obligations exist where none are written." (Nairn, Allen. The Reign of ETS. 264)

While product failures and the urge to conceal them may be routine in many large corporations, what sets ETS apart is that there is no recourse for test consumers damaged by ETS errors or corporate strategies. É Consumers pay the highest price, for without access to the facts, without due process, and without the means to hold ETS accountable, the test-takers remain the captives of ETS. (292)

The time has come for the Big 3 to start recognizing that test-takers have clear, legally enforceable rights to:

• Accurate scoring

• Prompt submission of results

• Protection of confidential information

Forced GRE Research Participation

Imagine you are in the middle of the most important exam of your life. You have just completed the first test section and you are then requested to complete a difficult experimental section without compensation of any sort. Would you do it? Probably not. That's why ETS actually forces students to participate in this high-stress research. Despite paying full price to take their exam, and often not being warned beforehand, GRE test-takers are given special "unidentified unscored sections" as a part of their regular exams. For the "privilege" of taking the GRE (usually a requirement for grad school applications and not a voluntary decision), you must submit to this unreasonable requirement. Read more about this in AETR's article "America's Corporate Guinea Pigs - How ETS Exploits GRE Test-Takers."

And more...

Visit our pages for each of the Big 3 to learn more about how they are acting unethically:

• ETS

• ACT Inc

• College Board