INQUIRY PAPER THE COLLEGE BOARD

Inquiry Paper The College Board

EDUC 5303 Cultural Foundations Section KS56
Dr. Samuel Maldonado
November 1, 2015
Carolyn Elizabeth Barrette

INQUIRY PAPER THE COLLEGE BOARD

(http://rhsram.com/opinion/2013/06/10/editorialap-tests/#sthash.27bt1elK.dpuf)

(http://lacronicausa.com/hey-conservadores-ustedes-ganaron-se-reescribela-historia-de-ee-uu/)

(Vey, 2013, The New Yorker)

Inquiry Paper The College Board

The miscellany of AP courses offered in U.S. high schools under the

imprimatur of the College Board probably started with good intentions.

checked the sensitivity of her findings by

Speaking of the College Board, its about time this company is met with
some opposition. Capitalism only works with a competitive market, and
the way this company is monopolizing the college admissions process
right now is both unfair to students and inhibitory to the underprivileged.
By way of the SAT, AP, and SAT II exams, it is virtually impossible to get
into a school without going through the College Board in some way. A
school is judged based on its amount of AP classes, so other, better
programs like SUPA (Syracuse University Project Advance) have no
chance. While the ACT does serve as another option, its universality is
nowhere near as accepted as the SAT, and both of them are really a
measure of economic, not academic prowess. Those with the funds to pay
for multiple tests or tutoring are provided with the opportunity to do better
than those of a lower socioeconomic status. Perhaps more universities
around the country should look into doing what Pitzer College and Wake
Forest University are doing: making their schools standardized test
optional and taking the power away from the College Board monopoly.
( http://rhsram.com/opinion/2013/06/10/editorial-aptests/#sthash.27bt1elK.dpuf.)
Dr. Joel H. Spring weighs in by observing that home schooling is one answer for
parents who want to take charge of their childrens education[they can] dodge control

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of an unrepresentative school board and school bureaucracy (Spring, 2014, p. 209). He
further notes that Charter schools represent another method of bypassing
unrepresentative school boards and educational bureaucracies and cites the remarkable,
nearly four-fold increase in charter school enrollment between school years 1999-2000
and 2009-10 (Spring, 2014, p. 201). While charter schools are technically public schools1,
admission is not a given. Student selection is typically determined with a lottery system
and/or entrance exam(s). Moreover, as the Tornoe cartoon above illustrates, various states
utilize the practice of converting public schools to charter schools; this has raised a
legitimate concern for school students who in the conversion of their campus are
effectively left to a potentially substandard educational fate. In states permitting new
charter schools to be established through public or private business initiatives, concerns
exist as well. Though the National Council of Education Providers2 avers that private
corporate developers are not hatching a satanic plot to destroy public education
(Spring, 2014, p. 205), important criticism has been leveled at many charter schools lack
of diversity and innovative creativity and the for-profit motivations that may supersede
same.
To stem the exodus, it will likely serve public school systems well to give concerted
focus and action on the factors outlined by Drs. Bukhari and Randall. Dr. Bhatt also
concludes, Given the far-reaching implications of homeschooling, a fundamental task
for educators and policy makers is to understand how the legislation proposed and
enacted by these stakeholders influences households decisions to homeschool. (Bhatt,
2014, p. 194). Yet, this is not a public school systems issue alone. Vicki L. Phillips,
1 i.e., they cannot charge tuition nor be affiliated with a religious institution
2 Established in 2004 to lobby for more money for charter schools and charter-friendly
regulations (Spring, 2014, p. 205).

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director of the Education Division for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, eloquently
argues for increased private sector investment into both public and charter schools:
Writing for The Atlantic, former teacher John T. Tierney takes on advanced
placement (AP) courses, the purportedly college-equivalent high school courses
that we all want our kids to take and ace. Ultimately, his concerns get to the
question of whether the College Board, which most people know for its SAT and
PSAT tests, is really operating as a nonprofit at all. Tierney, who is not to be
confused with U.S. Rep. John F. Tierney (D-Mass.), calls AP courses one of the
great frauds currently perpetrated on American high-school students.
According to Tierney, the College Board earns half of its revenues from AP
courses. For the period from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011, according to its most
recent available Form 990, the College Board had $720.65 million in revenues
(96.5 percent of which were program service revenues) and expenses of $684.98
million, yielding what Tierney would describe as a profit of 9.9 percent (he says
that the College Boards profit in 2009 was 8.6 percent).
Tierney argues that the College Board may be a bit thin in its nonprofit DNA. He
cites Americans for Educational Testing Reforms (AETR) criticism of the
College Boards profit margin; the organization gives the College Board a D
grade. AETRs position is that the College Board and two other major testing
organizations, ETS and ACT, should have their nonprofit status repealed.
Among AETRs complaints about the College Board? Political lobbying to
expand its monopoly, its massive profits, and exorbitant salaries paid to
executives. The latest numbers on the College Board show total compensation for
Gaston Caperton, who was scheduled to step down as the organizations president
yesterday, at $1.45 million, well more than twice the compensation of the
organizations second-highest paid executive.
.
I value Ms. Phillips concluding statements and find her words a fitting parting
observation:
The College Board, the programs sponsor, publishes or promotes its own
research (favoring the program) and promotes glowing accounts of AP.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/03/30/ap

https://sat.collegeboard.org/about-tests/history-of-the-tests

INQUIRY PAPER THE COLLEGE BOARD

A lofty ideal, perhaps, yet more than that a mandate.

INQUIRY PAPER THE COLLEGE BOARD

References

Cohen, R. (2012, October 16). Is the College Board a NINO (Nonprofit in Name Only)?
Retrieved from https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2012/10/16/is-the-college-board-anino-nonprofit-in-name-only/
Spring, J. H. (2014). American Education (16th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2012/10/16/is-the-college-board-a-nino-nonprofit-in-nameonly/
Editorial: AP Tests. (2013, June 10). <i>The Ram (Ramsey High School, Ramsey NJ)

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Appendix
Fair Use Statement: I am making the following material, as well as the cartoons headlining this essay,
available in an effort to advance understanding in environmental, political, human rights, economic,
scientific and social injustice issues. These graphics will not be published or distributed publically. I
believe this constitutes Fair Use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S.
Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material in this appendix is distributed
without profit to those who have expressed a particular interest in receiving the included information for
research and education purposes. No infringement of copyright intended.

(Bhatt, 2014, p. 193)

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(Bukhari & Randall, 2009, pp.256, 258)