The offer unites two of the most influential assessment and measurement organisations in American education at a time when institutions, companies and policymakers are coming to grips with fast AI changes and shifting labor force demands.
Educational Screening Service (ETS), best known worldwide for administering the TOEFL and GRE tests, said the acquisition will strengthen its capability to support learners from school to college and work. It has not revealed the value of the deal.
“Our mission goal is to all set 100 million individuals for the next generation of tasks … this will help us advance that objective and help progress people that are in the instructional system in addition to the labor force context,” ETS CEO Amit Sevak told The PIE News.
“When we set that goal we stated we wished to attain it by 2035, but due to the fact that of [the deal] we believe we can accelerate that and do that even faster.”
The acquisition unifies ETS’s international evaluation portfolio with ACT’s substantial footprint across United States K-12 and higher education. While ACT is widely understood for its college admissions examination– a direct competitor to the SAT– the organisation has increasingly broadened its focus to labor force preparedness and profession advancement.
“Every trainee is worthy of a strong education, a fair shot at college, and a course to a good job,” stated Sevak, announcing the news.
“Together with ACT, we’re determined to serve students and moms and dads together with teachers and states by broadening access to education and task chances across America.”
Beyond college admissions, ACT operates ACT WorkKeys, a workforce abilities evaluation system that grants the National Career Preparedness Certificate (NCRC), a credential utilized by countless United States companies to assess work environment competencies.
The organisation also offers profession preparation tools developed to assist trainees align their skills with labour market opportunities and discover suitable profession paths.
By integrating ACT’s recognized relationships with schools, districts and state education systems with ETS’s global reach and assessment know-how, the organisations say they are positioning themselves to play a larger role in connecting education results with labor force needs in an economy significantly formed by AI and technological disruption.
“There’s a real belief that college students are feeling distressed … of the two million trainees that are finishing in 2026 with a university degree, 10% are jobless and 40% are underemployed,” stated Sevak.
Of the two million students that are finishing in 2026 with a university degree, 10% are jobless and 40% are underemployed
Amit Sevak, ETS
“That implies out of the 2 million students who invested time, cash, energy and the emotional effort to get a college degree … only one million are actually getting jobs paid at the proper level for a college grad.”
As such, he said the offer was a “substantial chance” to serve those trainees.
In the near term, ACT customers will see no disruption of services, with Sevak highlighting the brand-new branch of ETS would be dealt with as a “standalone operation” while taking advantage of the organisation’s competence in measurement science and innovation development
He included that the merger would enable the combined organisation to use more integrated options that support knowing, measure progress and connect individuals with education and employment opportunities.
ACT CEO Steve Tapp said the move would permit the business to broaden its impact while staying concentrated on trainee success. Before ETS, ACT was owned by Nexus Capital Management.
“Becoming part of ETS will enable us to take what we have actually built and scale it within a wider vision for preparedness,” stated Tapp.
“Joining ETS provides us the platform to satisfy our mission at a scale we couldn’t reach alone. This has to do with more trainees getting the assistance they should have, and more of them discovering their way forward with self-confidence.”