PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 27, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Educational Testing Service’s Enterprise Resiliency Team has won both the North America Business Continuity and Global Continuity and Resilience Team of the Year awards from the Business Continuity Institute (BCI). The Business Continuity Institute trains and certifies companies in disaster preparedness.

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The award recognizes ETS’s high level of training and readiness to carry on its critical operations in case of a natural or human-made disaster. One example was ETS’s effective response to Super Storm Sandy, the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, and the second-costliest in United States history.

The driving force behind preparing for Sandy and coming out of it relatively unscathed was ETS’s Enterprise Resiliency team, created in 2006, which conducts emergency management simulations, business continuity and disaster recovery walkthroughs, and validation exercises year-round. But it was an organization-wide effort coordinated to merge the best resources of every department that made the outcome a successful one as illustrated in this White Paper on ETS’s response to Super Storm Sandy.

“How was ETS able to keep functioning? A lot of planning and hard work,” President and CEO Walt MacDonald said. “Planning is all about prioritizing. When disaster hits, we know what to focus on to get things done. But it doesn’t happen without great people and lots of hard work. This award recognizes that effort and the outstanding practices and policies we’ve implemented over the years to ensure business continuity and disaster recovery.”

“All ETS employees should be proud that we have been selected as Enterprise Resiliency Team of the Year. The work that ETSers do every day to ensure that the company is protected in the event of a disaster is what this award recognizes”, says Tim Mathews, Executive Director of Enterprise Resiliency.

“This award also recognizes ETS’s executive management commitment to make certain the company’s operations are protected in case of a disaster, whether that is something like Super Storm Sandy, a fire, a power outage, or even an intruder on campus,” Mathews adds.

The Enterprise Resiliency team plays a critical role at ETS, working with Business Continuity and Emergency Management teams to establish recovery requirements, strategies and plans. “By reviewing and exercising our capabilities, and adjusting our plans accordingly, we can better prepare ourselves when adverse situations arise,” notes Wayne Cosner, ETS Business Continuity Manager.

“By working closely with the Business Continuity teams and Disaster Recovery teams, we identify the hardware that is critical for recovering our business and then contract for disaster recovery resources and services,” said Paul Steinberg, ETS Disaster Recovery Manager. “Without their help and support, our ability to plan for, and recover from, a disaster would be severely limited.”

Angela Gill, Business Continuity Analyst, says, “It is difficult to predict a disaster, but you can do everything possible to be prepared in case something happens. Our goal is to protect not only the company, but each and every staff member,” she adds. “We could not have earned this award without the dedication and participation of all ETS staff who are members of the recovery teams that strive to keep ETS resilient.”

The lessons of Sandy proved helpful not only to ETS’ future, but as a model that others took note of on subsequent visits to the campus. ETS’s Business Continuity Management System has been certified to the BS-25999 certification since 2009 and is now certified to the ISO-22301 standard. ETS also earned PS-Prep certification from National Quality Assurance in 2013 for meeting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Private Sector Preparedness Program. All of these programs are designed to guard against threats and disruptions including sudden loss of critical services, failures of technology, natural disasters and more.

About ETS
At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 60 million tests annually — including the TOEFL^® and TOEIC^® tests, the GRE^® tests and The Praxis Series^® assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org

MIAMI, Jan. 27, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — CNN en Español and the Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies (CLACLS) at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY), have partnered to provide an exclusive focus on Latino voters in America, the fastest growing minority voting bloc that could play an instrumental role in determining the next President of the United States.

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CNN en Español will present CLACLS’s detailed monthly reports — spanning a variety of election-related topics — across the television network and digital platforms leading up to key caucus and primary election dates.

The first report, THE LATINO VOTER REGISTRATION DILEMMA, focuses on the historic low voter turnout level among Latinos in presidential elections, despite their increase as a percentage of all voters at the national level to a projected 9.9% in the upcoming 2016 presidential elections. Only 48% of eligible Latino voters cast ballots in the 2012 elections compared with 64% of non-Hispanic whites and 66% of non-Hispanic blacks. The critical problem identified in this report is that voter registration rates among Latinos have remained steady at 58% of potential voters between the 1992 and 2012 presidential elections, despite well publicized voter-registration drives. An analysis of voter registration patterns by age and sex reveals that the most numerous eligible Latino voters, those between 18 and 44 years of age, register at even lower rates than the average and that Latino males in this demographic register at significantly lower rates than Latinas. Once registered, however, Latinos turn out at fairly high rates in presidential elections, over 80%, but their overall impact in national elections is compromised by low registration rates. The details of THE LATINO VOTER REGISTRATION DILEMMA as well as key state-level data is reviewed with precise data and is the first in a monthly series.

CLACLS’s flagship program is the Latino Data Project, established in 2003 by Laird W. Bergad founding and current CLACLS director. Professor Bergad is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Latin American, Puerto Rican, and Latino Studies at Lehman College and with the Ph.D. Program in History at the Graduate Center.

The Latino Data Project conducts detailed quantitative research on the Latino population of the United States and New York City metropolitan region, analyzing raw data files produced by the U.S. Census Bureau and other government agencies.

CNN en Español will be the exclusive media partner releasing CLACLS’s focused research of Hispanics living in the United States. Combined with its extensive coverage of the 2016 election and its reach with U.S. Hispanics, CNN en Español’s partnership with CLACLS is a powerful combination examining CLACLS’s research into the impact of Latinos on the U.S. elections.

“The Graduate Center is among the few academic institutions examining the impact of Latino voters in U.S. elections,” said Chase F. Robinson, President of the Graduate Center, City University of New York. “This research has never been more necessary, and we couldn’t be prouder of the partnership between CLACLS and CNN en Español to educate the wider public and promote a deeper understanding of diversity.”

“I am extraordinarily gratified for the partnership CLACLS has formed with CNN en Español, a leading global television network, to provide newsworthy data about the Latino electorate across the United States — especially in key states in which Latino voters have the potential to determine the outcome of the 2016 presidential elections,” said Professor Bergad. “This partnership is testimony to the extraordinary quality of work accomplished by more than 100 Graduate Center Ph.D. candidates from varied disciplines who I have personally mentored during the past 14 years and deepens our commitment to educate New York City’s diverse population.”

“We are pleased to announce this very important partnership as it reflects our commitment to the U.S Hispanic market and our leadership among Latino voters and opinion leaders who count on CNN en Español’s multiple platforms as their most trusted source for news and information,” said Cynthia Hudson, senior vice president and general manager of CNN en Español and Hispanic strategy for CNN/U.S. “This first report focuses on the real issue facing Latinos for the 2016 elections, which is the low rate of young Latinos registering to vote. If Latino registration efforts continue to use the same strategies and traditional outlets, they are missing out on the largest potential electorate – younger Latinos – who need to be engaged to register to vote in order to effect influence on the U.S. political system.”

About the Graduate Center, City University of New York:

The Graduate Center (GC) is the principal doctorate-granting institution of the City University of New York. Offering more than 30 doctoral degrees and fostering globally significant research in a wide variety of centers and institutes, the GC affords rigorous academic training in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. It is home to a core faculty of approximately 140 teachers and mentors, along with 1700 faculty from across the CUNY colleges and New York City’s cultural, academic and scientific institutions. Through its public programs, the Graduate Center enhances the City’s intellectual and cultural life.

About CNN en Español:

The CNN en Español business unit is responsible for several multi-media platforms geared toward Spanish-speaking audiences around the world, including CNN en Español 24 hour cable news for Latin America, Mexico and the U.S. in three separate feeds, reaching 38 million cable and DTH households throughout Latin American and 7.4 million households across the U.S., CNNEspanol.com and CNN en Español Radio, which include affiliate radio stations across Latin America and the U.S. in its partnership with Stardome Radio Networks.

PRINCETON, New Jersey, Jan. 27, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — Access to opportunity shaped our nation’s past and defines its future. Opportunity has always been intangible, but for too many Americans, it’s becoming invisible. If access continues to constrict to the few, the affluent and the well-connected, America’s future is at risk. 

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As individuals — and as a nation — we need deeper and more honest conversations about the nature and magnitude of the crisis of opportunity in America and its long-term implications. A new report released today, Choosing Our Future: A Story of Opportunity in America, examines the forces that are constraining opportunities for tens of millions of Americans and calls for a renewed national dialogue about how to address this problem.

For the past several years, ETS — the world’s leading nonprofit educational research and assessment organization — has been convening discussions with a national advisory panel to analyze the dynamics that impact opportunity in America. Along with the release of the report, ETS is also publishing an edited volume, The Dynamics of Opportunity in America:  Evidence and Perspectives, with chapters written by leaders from a range of fields including economics, education, demography and political science. 

“We believe strongly that it is not only time to deepen and broaden the conversation, but to advocate for effective solutions,” says Irwin Kirsch of ETS, an author of the report. “To understand this issue is to be compelled by it, and in publishing these two works, we hope to advance the national conversation about why we must take action now and how best to do so.”

Research indicates that the growing opportunity crisis is not specific to any particular region or racial group — it is truly national in scope. If these disparities were confined to this generation alone, it would be concerning enough. But there is evidence that the accumulation of advantage or disadvantage experienced by one generation is increasingly passed along to the next. As a result, life outcomes are increasingly dependent on circumstances of birth.

“If, as a nation, we do nothing, then we will continue to drift apart, placing an unsustainable strain on the nation’s social fabric and the character of our democracy,” says Henry Braun of Boston College, also an author of the report. “Understanding the dynamics governing the distribution and transmission of opportunity — and transforming this understanding into policies and programs — is critical for not only the life outcomes of individual Americans and their children, but also the country as a whole.”

Both works are being published as part of The ETS Opportunity Project. For more information visit opportunityproject.ets.org. You can also join the conversation on Twitter^®@ETSopportunity and Facebook^®.

About ETS
At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® tests and The Praxis Series® assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org

Irwin Kirsch is Tyler Chair in Large Scale Assessment and Director of the Center for Global Assessment at Educational Testing Service (ETS). Henry Braun is Boisi Professor of Education and Public Policy in the Lynch School of Education and Director of the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation and Education Policy at Boston College. Both are authors of the ETS policy report Choosing Our Future: A Story of Opportunity in America and editors of The Dynamics of Opportunity:  Evidence and Perspectives. 

PRINCETON, New Jersey, Jan. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — As higher education officials struggled to find race-neutral alternative college admissions policies in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2013 Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin ruling, a new series of studies commissioned by Educational Testing Service (ETS), finds that race-neutral approaches fall far short.

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The four studies were commissioned by ETS’s Policy Evaluation & Research Center and conducted in cooperation with the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. In the search for substitutes for race, nationally known researchers looked at:

• socioeconomic (SES) factors
• state-sponsored guaranteed college admission programs
• use of correlates of race, and
• the University of California’s race-neutral efforts.

In the first study, “Can Socioeconomic Status Substitute for Race in Affirmative Action College Admissions Policies?” Sean F. Reardon, Stanford Graduate School of Education, et al, researchers concluded that even relatively aggressive SES-based affirmative action policies do not mimic the positive effects of race-based policies on racial diversity. They also found that the SES model will not have much effect on who attends college, but only on which college they attend if they do. Moderate levels of race- and/or SES-based affirmative action appear unlikely to result in high-achieving minority or low-SES students enrolling, on average, in colleges where their academic preparation was below the average level for the college in which they enrolled.

In the second study, “Texas Top Ten Percent Plan: How It Works, What Are Its Limits, and Recommendations to Consider” by Stella M. Flores, New York University and The Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy, New York, NY and Catherine L. Horn University of Houston and the Institute for Educational Policy Research and Evaluation, researchers examined guaranteed admission, or “percent plans” currently being used by Texas, California and Florida as race-neutral paths to college admissions. Besides determining that the effectiveness of percent plans may be more attributable to soaring numbers of non-White students, especially Latinos, seeking college, the authors also found that underrepresented students who are percent-plan-eligible are more likely to enroll in a nonselective flagship institution. This is likely the result of concentrated disadvantage both economically and in high schools attended.

In the third study,”The Promise and Peril for Universities Using Correlates of Race in Admissions in Response to the Grutter and Fisher Decisions,” Mark Long University of Washington, looked at the question, “If university admission offices used all the information they could obtain on an applicant (aside from the student’s race), how well would that information correlate with a student’s race?” Long found that using 195 characteristics of ELS students correctly predicted the student’s underrepresented minority status 82% of the time. This might be further improved, the author notes, if universities acquired information on household purchasing habits. However, that might engender adverse behavioral responses and invite political challenges. Thus, replacing underrepresented minority status with the predicted likelihood of being one in the university’s admissions decisions has serious limitations that challenge its workability and might not be deemed race neutral by the courts.

“As a nation it is useful for us to periodically revisit and reconsider college and university admissions policies and standards. This is one way to view the Fisher case. It is of great value to our society to ask whether the criteria and standards that are being applied in the admissions process are appropriate and valid and yielding greater access, academic achievement and sufficient institutional diversity with underserved students, says Michael Nettles, Senior Vice President of ETS’s Center for Evaluation & Policy Research. “These reports illustrate that that using race-neutral approaches may leave us short of these outcomes and describes strengths and limitations of the various alternative criteria for admission to college.”

Later this year three of the four papers will be published through Wiley’s Research Report series. The fourth study will be released in the near future. Free downloads of the studies are available at http://www.ets.org/s/achievement_gap/diversity/

About ETS
At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 60 million tests annually — including the TOEFL^® and TOEIC^® tests, the GRE^® tests and The Praxis Series^® assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org

About the Civil Rights Project
Founded in 1996 by former Harvard professors Gary Orfield and Christopher Edley, Jr., the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles is now co-directed by Orfield and Patricia Gándara, professors at UCLA. Its mission is to create a new generation of research in social science and law, on the critical issues of civil rights and equal opportunity for racial and ethnic groups in the United States. It has commissioned more than 400 studies, published 14 books and issued numerous reports from authors at universities and research centers across the country.