NEW YORK—College Board President Gaston Caperton will receive this year's prestigious James Bryant Conant Award from the Education Commission of the States at its national forum on July 11 in Philadelphia.

    The Conant Award is named for the ECS co-founder, a former Harvard University president known for his fairness and as a champion of access and educational achievement. It is given annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to the quality of education in the United States.

    Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, ECS chair, will present the award at a banquet held to honor Caperton, who, she said, “dares to lead on the vital educational issues.”

    Since becoming president of the College Board in 1999, Caperton has focused on connecting greater numbers of underrepresented and low-income students to college success and opportunity while raising educational standards. Caperton has worked to expand access to AP courses and examinations throughout the nation. In 2007, the Advanced Placement Programserved more than 1.4 million students, approximately 130,000 teachers and 16,000 schools.

    Under his leadership, the number of low-income students taking AP courses has tripled. He created partnerships with African-American colleges and universities and Hispanic- and Native American-serving institutions to increase the number of AP teachers of color. He also oversaw the formation of the College Board’s Task Force on College Access for Students from Low-Income Backgrounds.

    With financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Dell Foundation, he created College Board Schools, which serve low-income and underrepresented students. Additional support from the Gates Foundation allowed Caperton to establish the EXCELeratorprogram to bring a new model to public school districts to transform their high schools so that they prepare all students for the rigor of college-level work. This year, almost 50,000 students were served.

    Under Caperton's leadership, an expanded Web site for the College Board was created, which has grown into the dominant online resource for students, parents and educators in the college-preparation process.

    In 2005, Caperton created the Center for Innovative Thought at the College Board. Its first study dealt with the plight of U.S. teachers and found that almost half of new teachers who enter elementary and secondary schools leave the classroom within five years. The study also reported that almost half of current teachers have already worked at least 20 years and will be nearing retirement within the next decade.

    “A problem of epic proportions looms on the horizon. It has yet to register fully with the nation,” Caperton said about the results of the study.

    Under Caperton's leadership, the College Board revised the SATby adding a new writing section that has begun to elevate the importance of writing on the nation’s education agenda. In 2002, Caperton established the National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges, which has worked to strengthen writing skills among U.S. students. About the commission’s work and challenges, Caperton has said: “America has a real problem with inadequate writing skills, and it must be addressed in a forthright manner or we will lose our competitive edge in the global market. Other countries are doing more, and the time for real action is now.”

    E. Gordon Gee, chancellor of Vanderbilt University and a member of the National Commission on Writing, said Caperton articulated what many teachers knew. “This nation had to do better in advancing writing skills or lose its place as an international force for good in business and industry,” Gee said.

    Caperton's efforts on writing have been supported by prominent business leaders such as Warren Buffett who share his sense of urgency. Many state and national leaders also have lined up behind Caperton, calling for change and federal support for more writing initiatives such as the National Writing Project, which provides professional development to more than 135,000 educators annually.

    Former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey chairs the National Commission on Writing. Also president of the New School, a university in New York, Kerrey praised Caperton's efforts to elevate writing on the national agenda and draw attention to the situation. “He continues to take bold action on the central educational issues of the day, and he is a recognized leader who gets big things done.”

    West Virginia University President David Hardesty Jr. said, “No person has done more to advance the cause of writing in the United States than Gaston Caperton.” Caperton served as West Virginia’s governor from 1989 to 1997, during which time he became known as an “education governor.”

    As governor of West Virginia, Caperton worked to effect major changes in public education. His successes include:

    A statewide effort to improve students' reading, writing, spelling, mathematics and computer skills using the nation’s largest computer-based basic skills program, for which he received an Information Technology Leadership Award for Education from the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program and Zenith Data Systems;
    An aggressive school-building program that resulted in $800 million spent building 58 new schools and improving 780 existing schools, which benefited two-thirds of West Virginia's students;
    A comprehensive program that brought computers and technology into elementary and middle school classrooms, and the expansion of a program to help place computers in grades 7–12; Raising teachers'salaries to 31st in the nation from 49th, increasing the average teacher's salary from $21,904 to $32,155 with a total investment in teachers'salaries and benefits of more than $600 million; Training more than 19,000 educators through a statewide Center for Professional Development; and Launching a national prototype for connecting schools to the Internet through the World School program. More that 400 schools are linked to the Internet.

    After serving as governor and before joining the College Board, Caperton was the founding director of the Institute on Education and Government at Teachers College, Columbia University.

    The Education Commission of the States is a national organization that helps governors, legislators, state education officials and others identify, develop and implement public policies to improve student learning at all levels. Previous Conant Award winners include North Carolina Gov. James Hunt, Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and others.

    The College Board: Connecting Students to College Success

    The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 5,200 schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations. Each year, the College Board serves seven million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,500 colleges through major programs and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are the SAT, the PSAT/NMSQT, and the Advanced Placement Program(AP). The College Board is committed to the principles of excellence and equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs, services, activities, and concerns.

    For more information, please contact the Public Affairs office at (212) 713-8052.