'WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THE TEST SCORE INTEGRITY IS ABOUT HONESTY'

ETS, a global testing service based in the United States, which is in charge of conducting Test of English as a Foreign Language TOEFL) and Graduate Record Examinations GRE), has appointed a new global chief security officer, Wallace Dalrymple. This is the first time that the company, best known for its English language proficiency test, has set up a global chief security officer. Dalrymple spoke to Careers360 about his role, the challenges to securing tests such as TOEFL, preventing impersonation and why his first priority is India. For context, tens of lakhs of Indians take the TOEFL each year to prove their English proficiency for studying or working in English-speaking countries. Edited excerpts below.

- by Atul Krishna

Q. What necessitated the creation of your role as the first global chief security officer?

A. As you mentioned, I am the first chief security officer in the history of this organisation and what that points to is our commitment to test security and the integrity of our test scores. I was brought in by ETS to show their commitment to the security and integrity of the test paper scores. My first trip is to India and it shows the importance of coming to India which is my number-one priority. To identify and understand the factors that could impact our test assessment. So, the organisation has made the security commitment and I have made the commitment to talk to the local teams on the ground and to understand

Q. Why is India a priority?

A. One factor is the growth of the number of test-takers in India which is a top priority and also because India takes test assessment so seriously. Test assessment is also the number one priority of ETS and that is why I have come here to understand the test taking environment, by talking to people, and understanding if they have any concerns. When I looked at my top 100-day plan, it was to come out to look at the market within India, especially with regard to TOEFL and GRE.

Q. Is there anything that is of immediate priority or concern?

A. I haven't identified any particular areas of concern. It's more coming out and making sure that we provide our services. So, we are a mission-driven organisation and our priority is providing fair and equitable tests. My top priority is test score integrity. So, for the honest test taker, my priority is to provide a level playing field. All of our security controls goes to making sure that we understand the Indian demographic and how important TOEFL and GRE are.