The Need
Just the word “assessment” may immediately start your adrenaline pumping and elevate your stress levels. Tests with names like the SAT, GRE, LSAT, TOEIC and TOEFL do not do much to allay those fears. Educational Testing Services (ETS), a non-profit with a long history of effectively helping institutions satisfy accreditation requirements and measure student performance found this innocuous style of acronym naming inappropriate for future offerings and they needed more engaging, less ominous names.
The Names
NameStormers helped ETS create a naming architecture that was more institutional and student-focused. The new architecture helped ETS to develop easier to understand, more intuitive and approachable names. Names that would appeal to prospective students while working for the universities and colleges administering the assessments. Names like:
- iSkills- An assessment to measure critical thinking in a digital environment
- ReadyEdge- An assessment and learning tool for self-reporting and situational judgment tests for community college students.
- Proficiency Profile- To evaluate critical thinking, reading, writing, and math
- Personal Potential Index- To quantify a student’s potential for achievement and success in graduate or professional school.