European students and educators have been complaining since last year that the Educational Testing Service’s rollout of a new online version of the Test of English as a Foreign Language has been a mess, particularly since ETS planned to simultaneously stop offering a paper version. Now the same problems that the Europeans have experienced since last year are hitting American students whose native language is not English and who want to use the test to demonstrate their English proficiency on college applications, according to today’s Washington Post.

The examination, which is a gateway to study at American colleges for thousands of foreigners, has been criticized by Europeans for technical glitches and limited chances to take the test that, they say, have robbed many would-be students of the opportunity to study in the United States (The Chronicle, December 16, 2005). The Europeans urged ETS to delay introducing the online-only test to other countries until the problems had been ironed out (The Chronicle, January 25). ETS has responded that it takes the complaints seriously and is fixing the problems.

But the identical problems are now cropping up in the United States, as ETS phases in the online-only test: technical snafus, limited test sites, and suddenly canceled tests that leave college applicants dangling. An ETS spokesman told the Post that problems have been rare so far.