Company Profile
The College Board
Company Overview
The College Board: Connecting Students to College Success
The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 5,000 schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations. Each year, the College Board serves seven million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,500 colleges through major programs and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are the SAT®, the PSAT/NMSQT®, and the Advanced Placement Program® (AP®). The College Board is committed to the principles of excellence and equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs, services, activities, and concerns.
For further information, visit www.collegeboard.com.
Company History
HISTORY
Founded in 1900, The College Board is a not-for-profit educational association with a challenging mission: To connect students to college success and opportunity. The Board is driven in its work by a strong commitment to excellence and equity. Although founded with the mission of giving all students an equal opportunity for college admissions, The Board has evolved from being exclusively a testing organization to one that helps to prepare all students academically for college readiness, and that helps both students and colleges through the financial aid process.
First conceived at a gathering of distinguished educators in Trenton, New Jersey, led by the dean of Columbia and the president of Harvard Universities, The College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) was formed to address the then increasingly complex arena of school-to-college transition. The founding members were primarily concerned by the multiplicity of college entrance examinations and conflicting curricula. Consequently, a common entrance examination was first introduced as an efficient means of addressing these problems and creating a “standard” high school curriculum, raising the level of instruction in secondary schools, and giving all students an equal opportunity for college admissions. This early instrument led to the creation of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) in 1926. During its century-long history, The Board has maintained its leadership role in the development and assessment of academic standards. Helping schools and colleges define standards for students’ achievement and assessing students’ success in meeting those standards has been part of The College Board’s mission since its founding.
In 1947, the members of The College Board voted to join with the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in creating a single testing agency known as The Educational Testing Service (ETS). ETS is a separate and independently governed non-profit educational organization located in Princeton, New Jersey. Viewed as the world’s largest and best testing organization, ETS conducts most of The College Board’s testing and related services. Until recently the two organizations were deeply intertwined, the College Board acting as the association that defined needs and services, while ETS developed and offered tests and other products. While still connected, The Board has begun to operate with a greater degree of independence over the past 10 years.
The Advanced Placement (AP) Program was begun in 1954 as a means of offering college-level courses to students while still in high school. The program has since grown to be the largest and most successful general education program in the nation’s history. Last year nearly 1.5 million students took over 2.5 million AP exams in 37 subjects, which were scored by 10,000 college professors and high school teachers.
With the growth of AP, The Board became more concerned with giving ALL students an equal chance at participating in college-level courses. Beginning with EQUITY 2000 and Pacesetter, The Board began increasing its college readiness offerings. Pacesetter evolved into SpringBoard, a math and English language arts program that integrates formative assessments, model instructional units, and teacher professional development, all built around the College Board Standards for College Success. In addition, The Board now offers a wide range of professional development workshops from Pre-AP through AP levels. The PSAT/NMSQT was recently redesigned to focus on providing detailed diagnostic information that can be used by students, teachers, and schools to inform instruction.
Notable Products / Brands
SAT; Advanced Placement Program; PSAT
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
To learn more, please visit our website at www.collegeboard.com