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The College Board is a not-for-profit examination board in the United States that was formed in 1900

History

After the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik, the United States was shamed that it lost the space race. Politicians began to agitate for better education to match the rigorous educational system in the USSR. The US government responded by creating several federal education advancement programs, like CollegeBoard and the Advanced Placement program, to help facilitate the transition to higher learning and produce the next generation of scientists and engineers that could bring the US back to par with the Soviets. Over time, CollegeBoard has grown into a standard for college entrance all over the United States.

Regional offices

College Board maintains a small number of regional offices throughout the Continental United States. Among the functions of the regional offices are the development and execution of professional development programs for teachers and school counselors, as well as research into and product development in the area of financial aid. The College Board currently is engaged in several top-to-bottom school redesign programs that aim to increase achievement by poor and minority middle and high school students. Funded by grants from various foundations, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the College Board Schools operate autonomously within New York City public school buildings. A similar program named EXCELerator began a pilot program for the 2006-2007 school year at 11 schools in Washington, DC, Jacksonville/Duval County, FL, and Chicago Public Schools. Both of these school reform programs use the SpringBoard and CollegeEd materials as part of their programs.

CEEB Code

The College Board maintains a numbered registry of countries, college majors, colleges, scholarship programs, test centers, and high schools. In the United States, in addition to the College Board's internal use this registry is borrowed by other institutions as a means of unambiguous identification; thus, a student might give his or her guidance department not only a college's name and address, but also its CEEB code, to ensure that his or her transcript is sent correctly. There exists a similar set of ACT codes for colleges and scholarships 1, test centers 2, and high schools 3, however these codes are less widely used outside ACT, Inc.