National Institute for Testing and Evaluation (NITE)
(Last edited: Thursday, 5 November 2015, 12:19 PM)
The National Institute for Testing and Evaluation (NITE) was established in 1981 by the Associated Heads of the Universities in Israel in order to centralize the development and administration of admissions and placement tests. The founding of NITE made it possible to bring together leading professionals in the field of psychometrics and measurement with a view to enhancing the quality and efficiency of university admissions testing on a national scale. Since then, NITE has been instrumental in the university admissions process, providing a uniform testing program.
NITE administers proficiency tests in a number of other areas, including an English proficiency test used by universities for admissions and for placement of applicants in language courses.
NITE is a member of many international organizations such as AERA, NCME, IAEA and ITC, and is involved in international projects in the field of educational assessment in several countries.
(The role of the organisation in the project. )
NITE will be responsible for developing and scoring the assessments related to the projected reform in the teaching of English at the tertiary level. In addition to a standardized placement test currently used by many universities and colleges in Israel, NITE will be able to provide standardized, uniform exit tests for all students.
The development of high-quality, standardized placement and exit exams in English in this project can serve as a basis for the export of these tests to Europe and to neighbouring countries. The tests can be adapted to suit professional, not only academic, settings. In the future, this test could be linked – through a series of validity studies – to the Common European Framework of Reference for languages. This would serve to better define language proficiency levels and interpret language qualifications in Israel, in Europe and in the world at large.
