:''"Ceeb" redirects here. The term may also be used as a nickname for the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.''
The 'College Board' is a
not-for-profit examination board in the
United States that was formed in the nineteenth century as the 'College Entrance Examination Board' ('CEEB'). It manages many different
standardized tests which generally cater to individuals in the third or fourth year of high school planning on continuing their educations at a post-secondary level. The SAT, the most well-known of these, is a test widely used for admission to
universities in the
United States. The College Board is headquartered in
New York City with a large office in
Reston, Virginia, but also maintains thirteen other offices in the United States and in
Puerto Rico. The current president and CEO of the College Board is
Gaston Caperton, the former
governor of
West Virginia.

College Board headquarters in New York
Regional Offices
College Board maintains a small number of regional offices throughout the Continental United States. Among the functions of the regional offices are the development and execution of professional development programs for teachers and school counselors, as well as research into and product development in the area of
financial aid. The College Board currently is engaged in several top-to-bottom school redesign programs that aim to increase achievement by poor and minority middle and high school students. Funded by grants from various foundations, such as the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the
College Board Schools operate autonomously within New York City public school buildings. A similar program is the EXCELerator program operating in Washington, DC, Duval County, FL, and Chicago Public Schools.
[1] Both of these school reform programs use the
Springboard and
CollegeEd materials as part of their programs.
CEEB Code
The College Board maintains a numbered registry
[1] of countries, college majors, colleges, scholarship programs, test centers, and high schools. In the United States, in addition to the College Board's internal use this registry is borrowed by other institutions as a means of unambiguous identification; thus, a student might give his or her guidance department not only a college's name and address, but also 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
[2], test centers
[3], and high schools
[4], however these codes are less widely used outside
ACT, Inc.
College Board Tests
SAT
The
SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for
college admissions in the
United States. The SAT is administered by the College Board not-for-profit corporation[1] in the United States and is developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service (ETS).
SAT Subject Tests measure student performance in specific areas, such as
mathematics,
science, and
history.
PSAT/NMSQT
PSAT/NMSQT stands for Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. It's a standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT Reasoning Test. It also functions as a qualifying test for the
National Merit Scholarship Corporation scholarship programs.
College Level Examination Program
College Level Examination Program provides students of any age with the opportunity to demonstrate college-level achievement through a program of exams in undergraduate college courses. There are 2,900 colleges that grant credit and/or advanced standing for CLEP exams.
Advanced Placement Program
The College Board's
Advanced Placement Program is an extensive program that offers high school students the chance to participate in college level classes, broadening their intellectual horizons and preparing them for college work. It also plays a large part in the college admissions process, showing both student's intellectual capacity and genuine interest in learning. The program is also important in that it allows many students to gain
college credit for for high performance, much in the same manner as the CLEP.
Criticism
Recently, The College Board has come under a large amount of criticism from students and educators alike. The criticism comes with respect to two different areas.
Cost
Many students and parents feel that the group is too expensive. With the SAT Reasoning Test costing $43, AP Tests costing $83, and SAT Subject Tests costing a baseline of $20 with additional tests costing $8, the testing fees can be very prohibitive for many individuals. Furthermore, there are numerous other costs that can be added to the basic costs, including late registration, rescoring and various answering services that are available. Factoring in the fact that SAT grade reports cost $9.50 per college for 3-5 week delivery ($26.50 extra for 2 day delivery), and that AP grade reports cost $15, and many high-achieving students end up paying more than $600 in the course of the college applications process.
Fairness
College Board also has been attacked, especially with regard to the SAT Reasoning Test, with the argument that its tests do not accurately measure either intellectual potential or skills learned in high school. Scores for students taking the test a second time generally improve and coaching also can help students achieve much better results. In response to demand extensive preparation regimes, have become popular. As a result, many lower income students who are financially unable to attend these classes are put at a disadvantage.
See also
★
ACT
External links
★
College Board website
★
About the College Board
★
The College Board's tests
★
History of the College Board
References
1. New Investment Broadens College Board's National Education Reform Efforts to Ensure More Students Graduate Ready for College and Work accessdate=2006-11-18