I think it could be rephrased: what is the role of the College Board in the business of converting high school students into tuition-paying undergrads?
A few years back, in 2007, I did some napkin math on how much the College Board brings in via testing fees. A conservative estimate: "So, a low-end estimate of the gross from the tests is $107.5 million
for the SAT, $17.55 million for the PSAT, and $126 million for the AP,
for approximately $245.55 million dollars for one year." These numbers likely underestimate the amount of money brought in by students taking the test multiple times in an effort to increase their scores.
And now, let's look at the test prep companies: a business week article from February, 2005 (see http://is.gd/vvQe ) estimated that the test-prep industry brought in "an estimated $702 million in 2003, and that's expected to grow to $960 million" in 2004.
And while we're at it, let's not ignore the growing college admissions consultant industry, who market their wares to students of independent schools and give them advice about very important educational goals, like the value of squash (the sport, not the vegetable): http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/fashion/09squash.html
My (admittedly crazy) dream: a year of high school students boycotts the SAT and the AP, both depriving the College Board of a years worth of test revenue, and that years AP of any pretense of statistical validity. Then, colleges would need to find a different way to evaluate applicants because, the elephant in the room is that colleges need the students (or their tuition dollars) in order to survive.
For those of you still reading, my full rant on this is at http://funnymonkey.com/why-not-boycott-the-sat -- I wrote it back in December, 2007, so the numbers are a little dated. But the role of the College Board in education can be seen as one facet of what is wrong with institutionalized education: the system that should exist to support students is actually profiting off students, often to the detriment of the students.
Cheers,
Bill
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