Biography

Sharon Robinson
Senior Vice President &
Chief Operating Officer
Educational Testing Service

Sharon Robinson was named to the newly created position of senior vice president and chief operating officer of Educational Testing Service effective Feb.1, 1998.

Robinson joined ETS in January 1997 as vice presi-dent for State and Federal Relations. She later added the responsibilities of vice president for Teaching and Learning.

As Teaching and Learning vice president, Robinson was responsible for ETS’s major teacher assessment efforts, including The Praxis Series of Professional Assessments for Beginning Teachers, as well as assessments of accomplished teachers and of school leaders, for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and for the Council of Chief State School Officers, respectively. She, as head of ETS’s State and Federal Relations Office, coordinated government relations including efforts to increase the company’s knowledge and input on educational issues involving excellence and opportunity.

She was formerly Assistant Secretary of Education with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Education Research and Improvement (OERI). She focused her attention on ensuring that all federally funded education research advances the goal of improving instruction in America’s classrooms.

A life-long civil rights activist, Robinson has waged a personal crusade to convince educators of the eco-nomic necessity and ethical responsibility to develop strategies for educating and maximizing the potential of minority and disabled students in rural and inner city districts. She has frequently lectured on the topic of tests serving as a bridge to achievement not a barrier to greater opportunity.

She also held a variety of leadership positions at the National Education Association (NEA), including serving as director of the National Center for Innovation, NEA’s research and development arm.

She served on the editorial board of the American Educational Research Association’s Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis Journal, as a member of the Chapter 1 Study Commission, and as a consultant to the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards.

Robinson received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Kentucky, where she also earned her doctorate in Educational Administration and Supervision.

ETS is the world's largest private educational measurement institution and a leader in educational research. It develops and administers achievement, occupational and admission tests, such as the SAT for the College Board, for clients in education, government and business. ETS annually administers more than 9 million exams in the United States and 180 other countries. For more information, contact its Web site at www.ets.org.

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