Standards (1890-1920)
The Formation of the College Board
To make a long story short, the [formation of the College Entrance Examination Board] was carried forward by a system of trench warfare without ... the use of any poison gas.
Nicholas Murray Butler
The College Entrance Examination Board officially came into existence to provide some uniformity and standardization to higher education admissions. However, there are other perspectives on why the College Board was formed.
Educators in higher education, preparatory schools, and secondary schools noted the problems stemming from admission and testing requirements. Multiple tests, over multiple and various subjects, administered at multiple times and in multiple places made admissions testing and requirements unmanageable and chaotic.
Higher education institutions had courted the high school graduate in a number of ways, such as relaxing the admission requirements and diversifying the collegiate curriculum. However, colleges and universities were also concerned about determining the academic competency of the students recruited, especially given the changes in collegiate admissions and curriculum.
Elite Eastern colleges and universities faced the possibility that the high schools, by de facto, would determine college admission requirements and standards because of the chaos of admissions testing, the growing acceptance of the admission by certificate system, and the student-driven market of higher education.
Prior to the formation of the College Board, Harvard University President Charles Eliot and Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler participated in attempts to standardize college admissions.
As early as 1885, educators, including Eliot, formed the New England Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools. Eliot envisioned a common examinations board that would standardize the admissions testing process. The New England Association was a means to encourage discussion between colleges and secondary schools about entrance requirements.
Eliot's participation on the National Education Association's Committee of Ten and his association with Nicholas Murray Butler positioned him close to the center of the discussion over the articulation between secondary and higher education.
Butler's involvement with the National Education Association's Committee on College Entrance Requirements and his workings inside Columbia University helped to foster the idea of a common examination system.
In 1900, both Eliot and Butler exerted considerable influence in persuading colleges to adopt a uniform examination system and forming the College Entrance Examination Board.
