The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization. It 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 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.
History
The College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) was founded at Columbia University in the City of New York on December 22, 1899, by representatives of 12 universities and three high school preparatory academies in the states of New York and New Jersey. 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".
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 their guidance department a college's name and address and its CEEB code to ensure that their 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 digital 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—Reading and Writing and Math—both worth up to 800 points. The digital SAT is an adaptive test, made up of two reading and writing modules and two math modules. If the test taker does well on the first module of a section, then the second module of the section will be harder, and if the test taker does poorly on the first module, the second module will be easier. Most students take the test during their junior or senior year of high school. The SAT competes with the ACT, another standardized college admissions test.
Currently, the base test is $68. Various fees can accumulate—registering beyond the registration deadline results in a $30 late fee and changing a test date, center, or test type results in a $25 fee. The waitlist testing fee is $53; the first four score reports are free, and each additional score report is $14. Students sitting for the test in regions outside the United States pay an additional 'Non-U.S. Regional Fee' 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 (previously, the test had been scored out of 2400 points). 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 has discontinued 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, and as a result many colleges temporarily or permanently changed to a test-optional or test-blind admissions policy (that is, they either did not require the submission of SAT scores, or they refused to accept SAT scores).
On January 25, 2022, College Board announced that the SAT would be delivered digitally, in an attempt to change the format of the test itself. Vice President of the College Readiness Assessment at College Board, Priscilla Rodriguez, said, "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 two-hour testing period instead of the three-hour period that had been used for the current SAT, more relevant topics that cover material given in college courses, and calculators allowed for the entirety of the Math portion of the exam. A digital version of the exam allows College Board to address inequities associated with student accessibility to technology. This 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 the test, compared to 2.2 million students in 2020.
As of spring of 2024, all SATs have been transitioned to be taken on the Bluebook exam application.
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, the PSAT 10 and the PSAT 8/9 do not qualify a student for the National Merit Scholarship.
As of spring of 2024, all PSATs have been transitioned to be taken on the Bluebook exam application.
Advanced Placement Program
The College Board's Advanced Placement Program (AP) 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. 290 colleges grant credit or advanced standing. Critics of the program charge that courses and exams emphasize the breadth of content coverage instead of depth.
In 2020, due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, College Board began offering some exams digitally. In May 2020, glitches prevented some students from submitting their AP exams, forcing those students to re-take them in June. As of 2025, 28 of 36 course exams were digital-only.
College Level Examination Program
The College Level Examination Program (CLEP) provides students of any age 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.
Triunfadores
On June 23, 2020, the College Board and NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises launched a joint public campaign Triunfadores 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 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.
Bluebook
Bluebook is a secure testing application for Windows, MacOS, iPadOS, and ChromeOS. Bluebook is used to take digital College Board exams, such as the SAT, PSAT, and certain AP exams. All SAT and PSATs transitioned to digital only in spring 2024. Some AP exams are fully digital, while others are paper only or a hybrid of the two. College Board is working to transition the remaining AP paper exams to digital exams.
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.
Criticism and controversies
Criticism of the Board and its exams goes back to at least 1922, with a Harvard Alumni Bulletin article from prep school teacher Morgan Barnes. Barnes took ten different examinations "in cognito qua candidate", requested the graded booklets of his exams, and attempted to confront some readers who scored them. Among Barnes's grievances were general incompetence in grading, excessive focus on exam preparation in classrooms, and overreliance on exam scores in the college admissions process.
Since the late 1970s, the College Board has been subject to criticism from students, educators, and consumer rights activists. The College Board owns the SAT, and many students must take SAT exams for admission to competitive colleges. Some colleges also require students to submit a College Board CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE when applying for financial aid. As there are no broadly accepted alternatives to College Board products such as AP, SAT Subject Tests, and CSS/Financial Aid, the company is often criticized as exploiting its monopoly on these products.
FairTest, an organization that advocates against over-dependence on standardized tests in school admissions, maintains that the SAT often underestimates the aptitude of African-American students and others. FairTest maintains a list of more than 1000 SAT-optional colleges on its website.
The consumer rights organization Americans for Educational Testing Reform (AETR) has criticized the College Board for violating its non-profit status through excessive profits and exorbitant executive compensation; nineteen of its executives make more than $300,000 per year, with CEO Gaston Caperton earning $1.3 million in 2009 (including deferred compensation). AETR also claims that College Board is acting unethically by selling test preparation materials, directly lobbying legislators and government officials, and refusing to acknowledge test-taker rights.
Nonprofit status
The College Board's designation as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit has drawn sustained criticism from consumer advocates, journalists, and education policy commentators, who argue that its financial practices are more consistent with those of a for-profit corporation than with those of charitable organizations that operate under the same designation, such as the American Red Cross.