ETS Plans TOEFL at Home in Coronavirus-Affected Countries

The Educational Testing Service is planning a Test of English as a Foreign Language that can be taken from home for those in countries where the coronavirus has made in-person testing impossible.

"We are targeting this solution to be introduced by the end of March in selected locations outside Mainland China. ETS is also working closely with the relevant government agencies in Mainland China on ways to launch this solution there as soon as possible," said a memo on the new test by Srikant Gopal, executive director of the TOEFL program. "We understand the pressure many institutions are under to come up with alternate ways of assessing English-language proficiency during this time, even if they do not meet high standards for assessment quality or security. This TOEFL testing solution from ETS will ensure you don't need to compromise your standards. It's still the high-quality, research-based test you know and trust that meets ETS's high standards for validity, reliability and security."

A spokeswoman for ETS declined to say what security measures would be added to the at-home version of the test.