Priorities and Ongoing Initiatives

The Development Office liaises between the College Board's members, students, and educators; its programs and services; and potential funders to ensure that all students are given the opportunity to achieve at high levels in secondary and postsecondary education. The Development Office helps support ongoing College Board initiatives and respond to the new challenges facing education. A few of the College Board's priorities include the following:

• The College Board Center for Innovation and Advocacy in Education

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    Through the new College Board Center for Innovation and Advocacy in Education, we are addressing an urgent need for coordinated national leadership as the country works to meet the critical challenges of college access and success. The Center is organized around three strategic categories with a portfolio of projects under each:
    
    • •  Preparation & Access
    • •  College Affordability
    • •  College Admissions & Success
    The Center manages incubation projects, identifies opportunities for innovation, defines goals and objectives for large-scale initiatives, and provides oversight during the life cycle of each project. Building on the College Board's long history of educational advocacy, the Center is a national resource for educators, policymakers, and citizens concerned about the future of higher education and its accessibility for all students.
    
    

• Empowering Students through Advanced Placement

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    The Advanced Placement Program (AP) empowers high school students to reach their highest potential by participating in college-level courses. Students can earn college credit through outstanding performance on the courses' accompanying exams and increase their knowledge and the skills necessary to excel in higher education. The opportunity to earn college credit while in high school can significantly impact the total cost (.pdf/835K) of a student's college education. The National Governors Association released a new report (.pdf/1.6M) that demonstrates how states can successfully increase rigor by increasing student access to AP courses.
    
    Through philanthropic and in-kind support, the College Board seeks to prepare all students for the rigor of Advanced Placement and college. The College Board provides a $22 fee reduction per exam which, in combination with federal fee reductions, makes the AP Exam completely free for low-income students in most states. During the 2008-09 school year, fee waivers were provided for 459,086 AP Exams. As Advanced Placement increasingly becomes the cornerstone for rigorous academic standards in the United States, the College Board plans to increase its efforts to make access to Advanced Placement courses the norm rather than the exception.
    
    

• Supporting School and District Success

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    The College Board works closely with schools and school districts committed to the College Board's models for K-12 success and with funders willing to support a culture of college readiness for all students. College readiness models are based on district- and school-specific needs assessments and include programs and services that fit those needs.
    
    The College Board Schools model helps guide middle school and high school students in underrepresented groups along the path to higher education. Watch a video about College Board Schools.
    
    The district-level reform model involves close partnerships between the College Board and individual school districts to foster the design of comprehensive, multi-year plans that increase rigor and build district cultures that encourage all students and prepare them for college.