- Petition from ETS scorers takes issue with shifts being handed to offshore colleagues, claiming that such decisions are often taken last minute.
- Concerns raised over new scorers not having English as a first language – which ETS says does not matter so long as the scorer has the correct expertise.
- ETS defends “strategic decision” to look beyond the US for some of its scorers, saying this reflects the global nature of its business.
“Over the past several months, ETS has stopped assigning shifts to US-based rates and scoring leaders without any clear or honest explanation,” states the petition.
“There has been a quiet transition to a completely offshore rater pool, with scoring for the TOEFL Speaking section now handled almost entirely out of India. US raters – many of whom have supported this work for over a decade – have been ghosted,” it claims.
According to speaking raters and leaders interviewed by The PIE News, shifts for US-based raters and scoring leaders started reducing in December 2024 and have all but dried up, though employees are still asked each month to submit their availability.
But according to the testing giant, scoring staff were informed in December 2024 of the expansion of ETS’s scoring capabilities beyond the US, including being told that the shift “could result in a reduction of scoring hours for US-based raters”.
“This change reflects our effort to meet international demand more effectively and leverage a broader, global pool of qualified scoring professionals,” an ETS spokesperson told The PIE.
And yet, employees have complained of a lack of transparency from ETS: “Those who complained to HR or Scheduling receive either silence or vague boilerplate responses citing ‘global strategy’ or ‘volume’”, the petition states.
According to Teri Anglim, a scoring leader who has worked for TOEFL since 2006: “The email that came in December was well crafted… they said they were going to be including global raters and that some would see their shifts increase and others would decrease”.
“Come February, lots of raters would email me and say they were only scheduled for five days out of the month, some having registered their availability for every day,” said Anglim.
“Come March, they might get 10 days for the month, but a day and a half before their shift, they’d get an email saying that half of their shifts were cancelled,” she explained.
Several employees have echoed similar frustrations over shifts being cancelled at the eleventh hour.
Speaking to The PIE anonymously, another scoring leader explained it was their understanding that “ETS still sends out availability requests every month and actually confirms one or two shifts at most, only for them to be cancelled at the last minute”.
“Because I work for other programs, I’m getting scheduled for them but not for TOEFL. ETS essentially wants to keep our pool of workers ‘on-call’ to the side, just in case,” they said.
By Anglim’s accounts, shifts for US test raters had all but dried up in April, though test scorers training the new global raters continued receiving shifts.
In May, the number of raters on each scoring leader’s roster was increased, with experienced leaders finding it difficult to keep up with the increased monitoring.
“It’s humanly impossible to keep tabs on 24 people who are novices at scoring,” said Anglim, who became concerned that mistakes could slip through the cracks.
And yet, by June, Anglim was assigned six shifts for the whole month and saw three of them cancelled: “That was the end of TOEFL for us, the scoring leaders,” she said.
It’s not diverse, it’s certainly not equitable, and it’s not inclusive
Teri Anglim, TOEFL scoring leader
The petition is demanding that ETS provides a “clear, honest explanation of how shifts are being assigned”, as well as detailed accounts of how many US raters have received shifts since April and the ratio of US raters and the new global pool.
The scoring leader speaking to The PIE anonymously said they were “devastated to no longer be a part of a program [they] helped build 20 years ago… ETS used to be a great side income, but it’s mere pittance now.”
“[ETS] basically told us last fall that we would be training our replacements – they didn’t word it quite like that, but we all knew our days were numbered at that time.”
Since many raters work part-time for ETS, they say they have had to rely on other jobs and pick up shifts elsewhere since the reductions.
“At this point in my life, I do get social security, and I’m looking for other remote jobs,” said Anglim, who holds a BA from Arizona State University and two MA degrees from the University of Texas Arlington.
Beyond the personal impact on employees, Anglim said she was concerned about the standard of the new scorers, with the petition claiming that the scoring of the TOEFL Speaking section is “now handled almost entirely out of India”.
Anglim, who trained many of the new scorers, said: “I have nothing against the raters in India – I liked working with them – though I was concerned about non-native English speakers marking the test without other people.”
“How can a company like the Educational Testing Service (ETS) promote DEI when having scorers only from one place is not diverse, it’s certainly not equitable, and it’s not inclusive,” she said.
For its part, ETS has countered the claims, stressing that new raters are given the same “rigorous” training as existing ones and that it is irrelevant whether or not English is their first language.
Anglim recalled a case when she was reviewing the scores given to a test-taker from Germany, whose English was “impeccable” – “his vocabulary was better than I use”, she said – though he was scored two out of four for delivery.
In that incident, Anglim initiated a score change, but she said she was worried that individuals who have taken the test since January could be “collateral damage” of the new pool of scorers.
The TOEFL exam is primarily used to measure the English proficiency of test takers applying to English speaking universities in the UK, Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand, among a few others.
Out-of-work US-based raters fear that moving the test scoring offshore will lead to a loss of raters who instinctively know the nuances of the English language that can affect score outcomes.
What matters is expertise, not where someone was born or what their first language was
ETS
Alongside a “commitment to transparency, accountability and professional respect” for its employees, the petition’s signatories want an “acknowledgment that the rater and scoring leader roles are now being filled exclusively from India”.
The scoring leader speaking anonymously also said they were “concerned about the integrity of the test”, fearing “it will be compromised due to raters and leaders who aren’t fully proficient in English”.
“My interactions with some raters over the years and with these specific ‘global raters’ left me wondering how thoroughly ETS had vetted their language abilities.
“I fear that TOEFL will die once US universities get wind of this shift and also if scores end up being inaccurate, leading to difficulties or even failure for international students,” they said.
Responding to the claims, an ETS spokesperson said that the integrity of the TOEFL would “always be [its] highest priority”.
“All of our raters, whether English is their first or learned language, go through the same rigorous training, qualification process, and continuous monitoring to ensure scores are fair, accurate, and consistent.
“What matters is expertise, not where someone was born or what their first language was and our diverse community of raters reflects exactly that.”
ETS leadership have not formally responded to the petition or addressed the 342 signatories or their demands.
Speaking to The PIE, an ETS spokesperson said the company had “a growing global customer base and a business that continues to evolve to meet the needs of learners, institutions, and partners worldwide.
“In response to these changing demands, we made the strategic decision in late 2024 to expand our scoring capabilities beyond the US.
“This shift allows us to better serve a global testing population, increase operational flexibility, and uphold the quality and efficiency our customers expect.”
It told The PIE: “We are grateful to the many raters and scoring leaders in the US who have supported TOEFL over the years and helped establish the standards we maintain today.
“ETS remains committed to treating all members of our scoring community with respect and to communicating transparently as we continue to adapt in an increasingly globalised education landscape.”
