College Board facts for kids
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One of College Board's office buildings in Reston, VA
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| Founded | December 22, 1899 (as College Entrance Examination Board) |
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| Type | Nonprofit educational |
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CEO
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David Coleman |
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President
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Jeremy Singer |
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Revenue (2019)
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 US$1.11 billion |
| Expenses (2019) | ▲ US$1.05 billion |
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Formerly called
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College Entrance Examination Board |
The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an association of colleges, it runs a membership association of institutions, including over 6,000 schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations.
The College Board develops and administers standardized tests and curricula used by K–12 and post-secondary education institutions to promote college-readiness and as part of the college admissions process. The College Board is headquartered in New York City. David Coleman has been the CEO of the College Board since October 2012. He replaced Gaston Caperton, former Governor of West Virginia, who had held this position since 1999. The current president of the College Board is Jeremy Singer.
In addition to managing assessments for which it charges fees, the College Board provides resources, tools, and services to students, parents, colleges, and universities in college planning, recruitment and admissions, financial aid, and retention.
Contents
History
The College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) was founded at Columbia University on December 22, 1899, by representatives of 12 universities and three high school preparatory academies. These were:
- Columbia University
- Colgate University
- University of Pennsylvania
- New York University
- Barnard College
- Union College
- Rutgers University
- Vassar College
- Bryn Mawr College
- Women's College of Baltimore (now Goucher College)
- Princeton University
- Cornell University
- Newark Academy
- Mixed High School, New York
- Collegiate Institute, New York
The organization's intent was to "adopt and publish a statement of the ground which should be covered and of the aims which should be sought by secondary school teaching in each of the following subjects (and in such others as may be desirable), and a plan of examination suitable as a test for admission to college: Botany, Chemistry, English, French, German, Greek, History, Latin, Mathematics, Physics, Zoology". According to the board's plan of organization, the exam fee was $5, around $155 in 2020.
CEEB code
The College Board maintains a numbered registry of countries, college majors, colleges, scholarship programs, test centers, and high schools. In the United States, this registry is borrowed by other institutions as a means of unambiguous identification; thus, a student might give his or her guidance department a college's name and address and its CEEB code to ensure that his or her transcript is sent correctly. There exists a similar set of ACT codes for colleges and scholarships, centers, and high schools; however, these codes are less widely used outside ACT, Inc.
Tests and programs
SAT and SAT Subject Tests
The SAT is a fee-based standardized test for college admissions in the United States, first administered in 1926. The College Board decides how the SAT is constructed, administered, and used in the United States. Educational Testing Service (ETS) develops, administers, publishes, and scores the SAT. The SAT covers writing, reading, and mathematics. SAT scores range from 400 to 1600, with each of the two sections—Evidence-based Reading and Writing and Mathematics—worth up to 800 points. Most students take the test during their junior or senior year of high school. In the marketplace, the SAT competes with the ACT, another standardized college admissions test.
Currently, the basic test is $60. Also, various fees can accumulate—registering later results in a $30 fee and changing a test date, center, or test type results in a $25 fee. The waitlist testing fee is $53, and each score report costs $12. Additionally, students sitting the test in regions outside the United States pay an additional 'Non-U.S. Regional Fee' of between $43 and $53. As a result, student testing fees may run up to $200 or more for a single test. However, fee waivers and reductions are available for some low-income students.
On March 5, 2014, the College Board announced that a redesigned version of the SAT would be administered for the first time in 2016. The exam reverted to the 1600-point scale, and the essay became optional. The testing process was changed to give students three hours to take the exam plus 50 additional minutes to complete the essay. In the same announcement, the College Board also said they would be partnering with Khan Academy to make available, from spring 2015, free test preparation materials for the redesigned SAT. This included a preparation application to help students practice and identify areas of improvement. Practice problems and videos demonstrating step-by-step solutions were also made available.
The SAT Subject Tests were standardized tests intended to measure student performance in specific areas, such as mathematics, science, and history. On January 19, 2021, the College Board discontinued Subject Tests. This was effective immediately in the United States. The following summer, the tests were to be phased out for international students. CollegeBoard also announced the discontinuation of the optional essay section of the SAT after June 2021.
On May 13, 2015, the College Board announced the release of a new credential initiative to get students more interested in careers focused in STEM with a Project Lead the Way partnership.
In March 2020, College Board announced the cancellation of several test dates during the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On January 25, 2022, College Board announced that the SAT will be delivered digitally in an attempt to change the format of test itself. Vice President of the College Readiness Assessment at College Board, Priscilla Rodriguez, states "The digital SAT will be easier to take, easier to give and more relevant". Some new features of this digital version of the SAT include: a 2 hours testing period instead of the 3 hours period that has been used for the current SAT, more relevant topics that cover material that is given in college courses, and calculators will be allowed the entirety of the Math portion of the exam. Digital versions of the exam gives College Board the opportunity to address inequities that are associated with student accessibility to technology by providing students who don't have computers on testing days. This new change was brought forth by College Board following disruptions in testing that were COVID related. The 2021 SAT Suite of Assessment Program results showed that 1.5 million high school students took compared to the 2.2 million students in 2020 who participated taking this test.
PSAT/NMSQT
The PSAT/NMSQT is a fee-based standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT for a cost of $18. However, the cost may vary based on state, district, or school. The test also functions as a qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship Corporation's scholarship programs. There are also other forms of the PSAT, including the PSAT 10 and the PSAT 8/9. However, it is important to note that the PSAT 10 and the PSAT 8/9 do not qualify a student for the National Merit Scholarship.
Advanced Placement Program
The College Board's Advanced Placement Program is an extensive program that offers high school students the chance to participate in what the College Board describes as college-level classes, reportedly broadening students' intellectual horizons and preparing them for college work. It also plays a large part in the college admissions process, showing students' intellectual capacity and genuine interest in learning. The program allows many students to gain college credit for high performance on the AP exams, which cost $97 each, much in the same manner as the CLEP. Granting credit, however, is at the discretion of the college. Two thousand nine hundred colleges grant credit or advanced standing. Critics of the Advanced Placement Program charge that courses and exams emphasize the breadth of content coverage instead of depth.
In May 2020, glitches prevented some students from submitting their AP exams, forcing those students to re-take them in June.
College Level Examination Program
The College Level Examination Program (CLEP) provides students of any age, including high schoolers, college students, homeschooled students, adults, senior citizens, children, and exceptional toddlers, with the opportunity to demonstrate college-level achievement through a program of exams in undergraduate college courses. Two thousand nine hundred colleges grant credit for passing CLEP exams.
Accuplacer
The College Board's Accuplacer test is a computer-based placement test that assesses reading, writing, and math skills. The Accuplacer test includes reading comprehension, sentence skills, arithmetic, elementary algebra, college-level mathematics, and the writing test, Writeplacer. The Accuplacer test is used primarily by more than 1,000 high schools and colleges to determine a student's needed placement. Often community colleges have specific guidelines for students requiring the Accuplacer test. The Accuplacer Companion paper-and-pencil tests allow students with disabilities (specifically students with an Individualized Education Program or 504 Plan) to take the test through its braille, large print, and audio tests. The biggest benefit of the Accuplacer and Accuplacer Companion tests is their ability to be scored immediately through an online scoring system and taken in remote locations. While there are normally no fees for taking the test, some institutions may charge a fee to retake the test. Note that if a testing institution is not local, an examinee may be required to arrange a proctor for the test. If so, a local library may be willing to serve as a proctor as there are not many other options for individuals in this case. Most schools will only test their own admissions candidates.
SpringBoard
SpringBoard is a pre-Advanced Placement program created by the College Board to prepare students who intend to take AP courses or college-level courses in their scholastic careers. Based on Wiggins and McTighe's "Understanding by Design" model, the SpringBoard program attempts to map knowledge into scholastic skill sets in preparation for Advanced Placement testing and college success. Units of instruction are titrated to students within and across all school grades, providing a vertically articulated curriculum framework that scaffolds learning skills and subject test knowledge. Implicit in the course curriculum, the program embeds pre-AP and AP teaching and learning strategies across grade school levels and classwork.
The curriculum applies to grades 6 through 12. Teachers are provided with formative assessments, professional training, and various teaching tools to track student progress. The instructional framework is integrated into the curriculum content and subject materials. SpringBoard also provides other Web 2.0 resources aimed at making the program more community-oriented.
Truinfadores
On June 23, 2020, The College Board and NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises launched a joint public campaign Truinfadores in order to help guide primarily Spanish-speaking families through their child's college planning process. This campaign will offer funding to scholarships that are included in the College Board Opportunity Scholarship program that encourages students to apply for a chance to earn $40,000 dollars towards their college tuition. These scholarships are open to any student, regardless of their citizenship status and are strictly reserved for students whose household income is less than $60,000.
BigFuture
BigFuture is a free online resource that helps students plan for college, pay for college, and explore careers. BigFuture's National Recognition Program awards honors to underrepresented students, including African American students, Hispanic students, Indigenous students, and students who live in rural areas or small towns.
CSS Profile
The College Board also offers the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE, a financial aid application service that many institutions use in determining family contribution and financial assistance packages. Students also must pay a $25 fee to apply and another $16 for each additional school to which they submit the profile.
See also
In Spanish: College Board para niños
- ACT, a test by ACT, Inc., the main competitor to the College Board's SAT
- College admissions in the United States
- IB Diploma Programme, a pre-university educational program administered by the International Baccalaureate, the main competitor to the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) Program
- Writing assessment
