Press Releases
Statement by College Board President Gaston Caperton on the Report of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education
09/20/06
The report of the Commission on the Future of Higher Education, presented this week to Secretary of Education Spellings, is an important call to action for organizations and individuals that value American higher education. The College Board, a national not-for-profit membership association composed of more than 5,000 schools, colleges, and universities, with a mission of connecting all students to college success and opportunity, strongly supports the following principles in the report:
- Expanding access to higher education by improving student preparation and retention, better aligning K-12 and higher education standards, and removing financial barriers to college enrollment and completion;
- Meeting the needs of students from low-income families by increasing need-based grant aid and by streamlining the entire student financial aid system.
While the College Board is less directly engaged in the following areas, we also support the following additional principles and accompanying recommendations:
- Ensuring that colleges and universities have the resources and capacity necessary to lead our nation in scholarship and research in response to the global challenges of the 21st century.
- Improving the quality of teaching, learning and research in all institutions of higher education, and exploring new ways to measure learning outcomes within colleges and universities.
The College Board is engaged in a number of its own initiatives that directly support the principles and recommendations of the Commission, including:
Student Financial Aid—The College Board has just launched the "Rethinking Student Aid" project. Led by a dozen of the nation's leading researchers and scholars, the project will examine and recommend ways to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the student aid system.
Advanced Placement Program®—The College Board's AP® Program includes 37 college-level courses offered in high school. Participation in AP gives students a head start on developing the critical-thinking and problem-solving skills they need for success in college, and also enables students to earn college credit, thereby reducing college costs.
Rigorous Academic Standards—The College Board Standards for College Success™ are a rigorous set of content standards in reading, writing and mathematics for students in grades 6-12 that reflect what students need to know to succeed in college. These standards can be the basis for K-16 standards alignment in states across the country.
Quality, innovation and investment in resources have distinguished America's world-class colleges and universities. Today's report underscores the need to strengthen these basics. The Commission has created a roadmap not just for higher education, but for building a stronger, more competitive and productive America. The ongoing work of the College Board supports the Commission's recommendations and will be essential to meeting the report's goals. We look forward to working with our member institutions, higher education partners, and federal and state agencies to achieve this goal.
Highlights of the Commission's final recommendations to Secretary Spellings are available at: www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/pre-pub-report-highlights.html
To view the Commission's final report, please visit: www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports/pre-pub-report.pdf