TestMagic Forums - View Single Post - Meeting with NABP: Are you ready to talk to NABP?

knok · 04-14-2008, 07:17 PM

Dear fellow pharmacists,

I sent this letter to every NABP executive committee. I hope that they read it and consider our concerns to make the changes. I know that human beings are afraid of changes. What can be the trigger of the changes?

Fellow pharmacists, please ask yourself. I believe that all of you are not afraid of changes because if you are, you won't step out of lands of your countries to seek adventure.

Below is the cover letter. It was enclosed all documents in above posts, TOEFL iBT complaint, Petition to NABP, and Score descriptor.
------------------------------------------------------

April 3, 2008

.....
NABP Executive Committee
...

Subject: Test used to certify pharmacists

Dear Ms./Mr.

We are writing to share with you some serious concerns we have with the practices of the organization operating these tests located in New Jersey, and with the format, administration, and scoring system of the Internet-Based Test of English as a Second Language (TOEFL iBT).

Educational Testing Services (ETS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, is responsible for the administration of the TOEFL iBT. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) requires all foreign pharmacists seeking licensure in the United States to take the TOEFL iBT and pass each of the four sections reported on one official score report as a result of one testing session. Official score reports with a less than minimum score in any section will not be considered. The minimal acceptable score for the TOEFL iBT is 24 for the writing, 26 for the speaking, 18 for the listening, and 21 for the reading.

However, the format of this speaking section in the TOEFL iBT, as well as the results a test-taker receives, follows no logical path. If the true purpose of this type of exam were to test English proficiency, then the test should focus on speaking ability and not the ability to answer difficult questions or strange questions in time limit and other such scenarios completely unrelated to the pharmacy profession.

Foreign doctors, nurses, and teachers are given the choice to take either the TOEFL iBT or other more appropriate tests. Foreign pharmacists, however, do not have this choice, meaning the test-takers are at the mercy of one company. ETS has a monopoly on the test, so it is particularly important that the test administration and the scoring process be handled fairly.

ETS has demonstrated that its scoring process is neither logical nor fair. The test results we received only notify me of what our base scores were, never specify us on sentences or phrases that we made mistakes. The evaluation sheet provides only a vague and overly general evaluation, so that candidates who receive the same score ranges will receive the same evaluation. Copied and pasted evaluations or computer generated evaluations have been used instead of customized evaluations. They sometimes receive an evaluation pointing out that there is inadequate topic development. How can you expect people to provide perfect answers when they were given 15 seconds to think and organize their answers and must compress them to 45 or 60 seconds?

How can they expect to improve their performance when they were not given any specific idea of where they faltered? This alone makes us question the company’s integrity and true goals. By failing test-takers, ETS can guarantee their future profits through application fees from those having to take subsequent tests.

Every time we take the TOEFL iBT we must pay a one hundred fifty dollar testing fee. With the TOEFL iBT being offered only a few times a month, and the results taking over three weeks to receive, we are forced to schedule several more sessions before we even know the results of the last test. The hardship our families and we have endured due to the expenses for this test is enormous. We have to register several times ahead because the seats will be full four months in advance.

The only source of appeal for the test scoring is through ETS itself. ETS requires an additional fee of sixty dollars to rescore each test and they handle the rescoring themselves. This is asking a company to judge its own performance.

All we are asking for is a fair chance at achieving our U.S. pharmacy licensure. We are not seeking to be allowed to practice our profession without verification that we can communicate effectively, but we do ask that the only company authorized to administer the test should do so fairly. ETS has shown that they are not doing so, and we believe another alternative to the TOEFL iBT is necessary. The current requirements are causing us, much grief, and are only serving to prevent us from alleviating the great shortage of pharmacists country-wide.

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is an extremely comprehensive assessment of a persons speaking ability and is an option for foreign nurses seeking U.S. licensure. This test is available world-wide and is used by several countries, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to assess the speaking ability of foreigners applying for work visas and residency. Offering the IELTS as an alternative to taking the TOEFL iBT would allow for fair practices and eliminate the self-serving monopoly that ETS currently holds.

We are requesting you to investigate the practices of Educational Testing Services, as we believe their operating standards, and the monopoly they hold, are unfair and based solely on turning a profit, not providing the service they were entrusted to by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.

Hundreds of foreign pharmacists have agreed on complaints concerning the testing practices of ETS. We would like to share our experiences with you in the hope that you will understand that we feel that ETS is not providing what they claim. ETS has gone to great lengths and published many reports to give the appearance that TOEFL iBT is given fairly and scored fairly. This has not been our experience as test-takers and we would like to relate to you our personal experiences and tell you about areas of the TOEFL iBT that we find problematic.

From the point of view of many test-takers, the TOEFL iBT - Speaking is deeply flawed as an evaluation of our spoken English. We feel that the management of the exam by ETS is equally flawed. Our group is seeking positive solutions to the concerns we have listed. It is our hope to be contributing members of society and practice our profession of pharmacy in the USA. We have expressed our frustration many times with the TOEFL iBT process and would respectfully request that the TOEFL iBT be replaced with the much more widely accepted tests.

Furthermore, TOEFL iBT is not an appropriate format for professionals at all. The content of the exam relates to subjects in schools, which has nothing to do with pharmacy careers. The TOEFL iBT is more appropriate for academic purposes, not professional purposes. In addition, in the Speaking section, ETS does not offer a real interview. Therefore, we request that the State Boards of Pharmacy and NABP issue its own communication skills test as foreign physicians do, or allow other spoken tests as an alternative.

In addition to what we mentioned above, we heard several complaints from spouses. For example, one of them said, “I have sat around not doing anything, except complain about the situation, for too long now. ETS will do nothing; we all know that, so it does no good to write them directly, no good at all. ETS is a corrupt organization, no better than street level thieves, and they operate in plain view of the public. They have a good thing going and they know it. We have spent well over two thousand dollars on tests, transportation, and rescores and all they have to do is keep failing my wife knowing that there is almost nothing we can do.”

There are not enough pharmacists in this country. Businesses are in dire need of pharmacists and you need to realize that no one is coming to this country to take work away from “Americans” per se. The need is there and all of foreign pharmacists coming here and working here is a boost to the economy and workforce. How can we improve the situation? How can we get rid of the monopoly? How can those foreign pharmacists who are qualified to work as pharmacists serve the need of Americans? How can we reduce the shortages of pharmacists?

There are a lot of qualified foreign pharmacists who are ready to work but, they cannot pass the TOEFL iBT - Speaking and cannot get a pharmacy license, they cannot work. The only way to overcome this problem is to get rid of the monopoly and allow other spoken tests as an alternative.

Thank you for taking the time to read our letter. We are looking forward to your consideration to use alternate English tests for pharmacy licensure.

Sincerely,

04-14-2008, 07:17 PM	#19 (permalink)
knok TestMagic Guru Moderator Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: USA Posts: 3,045	Dear fellow pharmacists, I sent this letter to every NABP executive committee. I hope that they read it and consider our concerns to make the changes. I know that human beings are afraid of changes. What can be the trigger of the changes? Fellow pharmacists, please ask yourself. I believe that all of you are not afraid of changes because if you are, you won't step out of lands of your countries to seek adventure. Below is the cover letter. It was enclosed all documents in above posts, TOEFL iBT complaint, Petition to NABP, and Score descriptor. ------------------------------------------------------ April 3, 2008 ..... NABP Executive Committee ... Subject: Test used to certify pharmacists Dear Ms./Mr. We are writing to share with you some serious concerns we have with the practices of the organization operating these tests located in New Jersey, and with the format, administration, and scoring system of the Internet-Based Test of English as a Second Language (TOEFL iBT). Educational Testing Services (ETS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, is responsible for the administration of the TOEFL iBT. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) requires all foreign pharmacists seeking licensure in the United States to take the TOEFL iBT and pass each of the four sections reported on one official score report as a result of one testing session. Official score reports with a less than minimum score in any section will not be considered. The minimal acceptable score for the TOEFL iBT is 24 for the writing, 26 for the speaking, 18 for the listening, and 21 for the reading. However, the format of this speaking section in the TOEFL iBT, as well as the results a test-taker receives, follows no logical path. If the true purpose of this type of exam were to test English proficiency, then the test should focus on speaking ability and not the ability to answer difficult questions or strange questions in time limit and other such scenarios completely unrelated to the pharmacy profession. Foreign doctors, nurses, and teachers are given the choice to take either the TOEFL iBT or other more appropriate tests. Foreign pharmacists, however, do not have this choice, meaning the test-takers are at the mercy of one company. ETS has a monopoly on the test, so it is particularly important that the test administration and the scoring process be handled fairly. ETS has demonstrated that its scoring process is neither logical nor fair. The test results we received only notify me of what our base scores were, never specify us on sentences or phrases that we made mistakes. The evaluation sheet provides only a vague and overly general evaluation, so that candidates who receive the same score ranges will receive the same evaluation. Copied and pasted evaluations or computer generated evaluations have been used instead of customized evaluations. They sometimes receive an evaluation pointing out that there is inadequate topic development. How can you expect people to provide perfect answers when they were given 15 seconds to think and organize their answers and must compress them to 45 or 60 seconds? How can they expect to improve their performance when they were not given any specific idea of where they faltered? This alone makes us question the company’s integrity and true goals. By failing test-takers, ETS can guarantee their future profits through application fees from those having to take subsequent tests. Every time we take the TOEFL iBT we must pay a one hundred fifty dollar testing fee. With the TOEFL iBT being offered only a few times a month, and the results taking over three weeks to receive, we are forced to schedule several more sessions before we even know the results of the last test. The hardship our families and we have endured due to the expenses for this test is enormous. We have to register several times ahead because the seats will be full four months in advance. The only source of appeal for the test scoring is through ETS itself. ETS requires an additional fee of sixty dollars to rescore each test and they handle the rescoring themselves. This is asking a company to judge its own performance. All we are asking for is a fair chance at achieving our U.S. pharmacy licensure. We are not seeking to be allowed to practice our profession without verification that we can communicate effectively, but we do ask that the only company authorized to administer the test should do so fairly. ETS has shown that they are not doing so, and we believe another alternative to the TOEFL iBT is necessary. The current requirements are causing us, much grief, and are only serving to prevent us from alleviating the great shortage of pharmacists country-wide. The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is an extremely comprehensive assessment of a persons speaking ability and is an option for foreign nurses seeking U.S. licensure. This test is available world-wide and is used by several countries, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to assess the speaking ability of foreigners applying for work visas and residency. Offering the IELTS as an alternative to taking the TOEFL iBT would allow for fair practices and eliminate the self-serving monopoly that ETS currently holds. We are requesting you to investigate the practices of Educational Testing Services, as we believe their operating standards, and the monopoly they hold, are unfair and based solely on turning a profit, not providing the service they were entrusted to by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. Hundreds of foreign pharmacists have agreed on complaints concerning the testing practices of ETS. We would like to share our experiences with you in the hope that you will understand that we feel that ETS is not providing what they claim. ETS has gone to great lengths and published many reports to give the appearance that TOEFL iBT is given fairly and scored fairly. This has not been our experience as test-takers and we would like to relate to you our personal experiences and tell you about areas of the TOEFL iBT that we find problematic. From the point of view of many test-takers, the TOEFL iBT - Speaking is deeply flawed as an evaluation of our spoken English. We feel that the management of the exam by ETS is equally flawed. Our group is seeking positive solutions to the concerns we have listed. It is our hope to be contributing members of society and practice our profession of pharmacy in the USA. We have expressed our frustration many times with the TOEFL iBT process and would respectfully request that the TOEFL iBT be replaced with the much more widely accepted tests. Furthermore, TOEFL iBT is not an appropriate format for professionals at all. The content of the exam relates to subjects in schools, which has nothing to do with pharmacy careers. The TOEFL iBT is more appropriate for academic purposes, not professional purposes. In addition, in the Speaking section, ETS does not offer a real interview. Therefore, we request that the State Boards of Pharmacy and NABP issue its own communication skills test as foreign physicians do, or allow other spoken tests as an alternative. In addition to what we mentioned above, we heard several complaints from spouses. For example, one of them said, “I have sat around not doing anything, except complain about the situation, for too long now. ETS will do nothing; we all know that, so it does no good to write them directly, no good at all. ETS is a corrupt organization, no better than street level thieves, and they operate in plain view of the public. They have a good thing going and they know it. We have spent well over two thousand dollars on tests, transportation, and rescores and all they have to do is keep failing my wife knowing that there is almost nothing we can do.” There are not enough pharmacists in this country. Businesses are in dire need of pharmacists and you need to realize that no one is coming to this country to take work away from “Americans” per se. The need is there and all of foreign pharmacists coming here and working here is a boost to the economy and workforce. How can we improve the situation? How can we get rid of the monopoly? How can those foreign pharmacists who are qualified to work as pharmacists serve the need of Americans? How can we reduce the shortages of pharmacists? There are a lot of qualified foreign pharmacists who are ready to work but, they cannot pass the TOEFL iBT - Speaking and cannot get a pharmacy license, they cannot work. The only way to overcome this problem is to get rid of the monopoly and allow other spoken tests as an alternative. Thank you for taking the time to read our letter. We are looking forward to your consideration to use alternate English tests for pharmacy licensure. Sincerely, _ _ _ _ SIG _ _ _ _ "Every reason that tells you that things will never change disappears." "I did what I had to do because it is the right thing to do."