Expansion (1945 - 1965)
Access Services
Who should go on [to higher education] and on what grounds they be admitted, historically the College Board's central concerns, became sharply contested terrain in the nation at large.
Marvin Lazerson
"The College Board and American Educational History"
The College Entrance Examination Board's missions and programs expanded in the post World War II era as higher education became a mass industry and attempted to balance its commitments both to merit and to equity.
A dual commitment to merit and equity between 1945 and 1965 suggested that those with academic ability should receive higher education regardless of income, race or ethnicity, and of available academic and curricular resources. It also suggested that public policy should aim to eliminate financial barriers to higher education and that higher education institutions should actively seek talented students. In a politically charged era, many in society considered that access of talented students to higher education was in the best interests of the nation.
The College Board reflected this dual commitment to merit and to equity. The College Board pursued academically - oriented programs that emphasized talented students' access to challenging academic courses. At the same time, the College Board broadened its services to address concerns over financial aid for higher education and student guidance - both of which concerned access to higher education.
The College Board attempted to balance equity and merit in the admission of students to higher education through three programs. The College Board promoted the use of the SAT as a great equalizer that measured ability regardless of a candidate's academic, economic, and racial background. It inaugurated the Advanced Placement Program and other curricular initiatives as a way to emphasize academic merit, and the Board facilitated the awarding of financial aid through its College Scholarship Service (CSS).
The College Board's expanded programs and services were made possible, in part, by the creation of the Educational Testing Service and by the re - organization of the College Board.
The Educational Testing Service, or ETS, was created in 1947 to handle testing programs, specifically the SAT. Once ETS began operations, the College Board no longer was limited to issues about admissions testing and was free to address more general concerns about the transition from secondary to higher education.
By the late 1950s, College Board officers recognized that the Board had changed in size and in perspective. The number of examinations administered had expanded, membership had grown, and the Board's perspective had shifted toward improving admissions.
In 1956, the College Board tested 236,000 candidates for higher education, an increase of over 67,000 from the previous year. College Board officials expected an increase of 23% for the 1956 - 1957 year. By 1963, over 1 million candidates took College Board's college admissions examinations.
After remaining stable for close to 50 years, College Board membership grew after World War II. In 1959, the College Board accorded secondary schools full membership status. By 1963, the College Board's membership grew to include 543 colleges, 203 secondary schools, and 43 associations - a total of 789 members.
Rather than concentrating on entrance examinations, per se, the College Board now concerned itself with improved admissions. This shift reflected the concern for finding and educating talent. The College Board, like society in general, moved from seeing high school as the standard for all Americans to viewing college as the educational standard. This shift reflected the mass industry that higher education was becoming.
