Comparative study of peer organizations with National Organization for Educational Testing: Educational Testing Service (ETS), Central Institute for Test Development (CITO) and Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE)

The present article aims to compare the performance and activities of Educational Testing Service (ETS) of USA, Central Institute for Test Development (CITO) of Netherlands, and Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) with the National Organization for Educational Testing (NOET) as the largest and most creditable testing institute in Iran so as to present a model for the revision and promotion of its organizational activities and a groundwork for strategic evaluation. The mission, activities, educational assessment services, and organizational structure of these three peers were compared with NOET and their similarities and differences were studied in order to give a better understanding of the current shortcomings. The findings indicate the comprehensiveness and vastness of the mission and educational activities, the development of a wide range of tests consistent with the customers’ requirements, the development of standard tests with the purpose of monitoring learner’s progress, the consideration for international activities, the provision of educational services for different countries and the presence of expert and skilled human resources and the working conditions based on teamwork, interaction, and intellectual exchange in ETS, CITO, and KICE. These results highlighted the need for modelling and fulfilling the desirable issues within the future research frameworks of the NOET as a pioneer organization in the realm of high-level policy making and leadership.