Gaston Caperton

America is and always has been a nation of dreamers -- people who struck out from distant shores in search of a better life, people who yearned for freedom, people who imagined what's next and made it real. And for a hundred years the backbone of our uniquely American dream...

Every year since 2008, the College Board and Asia Society have joined forces to host the annual National Chinese Language Conference (NCLC). Today it has grown to become the largest conference of its kind in North America, and it has become one of the...

In a recent New York Times piece, columnist Thomas Friedman shares some startling numbers on the true state of our union.

The unemployment rate for Americans with no high school diploma is 14 percent.

The unemployment rate for Americans with a high school diploma is 9 percent.

The...

For decades, Americans have been searching for The Education President -- that one person who could put the school system on his or her back, make education the government's top priority and bear the heavy burden of reform. Unfortunately, every four years it seems like a new issue comes along...

There are many valid questions to be asked about the future of education in the United States, but there's one simple proposition with which I think most Americans would agree: college and career readiness are essential to America's future. We must ensure that by the time our students graduate high...

One of the problems with education reform is that US high schools operate under ambiguous orders. On the surface, there seems to be a shared vision. A recent Gallup poll echoed President Obama's sentiments when it found that nearly all Americans (84 percent) agree that "high school students should be...

Since this nation was founded over two centuries ago, there has been nearly constant tension between tradition and evolution. Yet over the years, from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement, the forces of progress have haltingly advanced, and continue to do so today. After all, just fifty years...

Last month I visited Furr High School in Houston, Texas to present a College Board Inspiration Award for tremendous academic improvement. One of the highlights of the trip was meeting Dr. Bertie Simmons, the woman almost single-handedly responsible for Furr's dramatic turnaround.

Ten years ago Dr. Simmons was a retired...

As president of the College Board, I get to do a lot of traveling. Over the last 10 years, I've gone from Ft. Lauderdale to San Francisco, from Beijing to Dubai, and lots of places in between. Along the way I've met many prominent people doing great things...

On the last Program for International Student Assessment, a well regarded standardized test, students in Shanghai outscored their American counterparts in every subject. But it's not just the Chinese we're trailing; we ranked 23rd and 32nd, respectively, in science and math, well behind dozens of our international economic competitors. Additionally,...

In his State of the Union address last month, President Obama proclaimed that by the end of this decade America will once again be the global leader in college graduates. The president framed the issue as essential to our economic future. He called on parents, educators and elected officials to...

If there's one thing I've learned as the president of the College Board, it's this: every person is born with the fundamental capacity to learn. The only question is whether that capacity is neglected or nurtured.

Unfortunately, even at the outset of the 21st century, lower income...

It was a catchy anecdote, to be sure.

"The fellow who cut my tree down had a master's degree and was an honors grad," said an economics professor in a recent news article.

The professor and reporter cite the example as some sort of evidence that a college education just...

I had the opportunity recently to watch Waiting for Superman, a provocative new documentary that offers an incisive look at the dire state of public education in America today. I encourage everyone to see the film and to answer its challenge to get involved in being part of the solution.

When I was governor of West Virginia in the early 1990s, there was a ranking of developed countries based on the number of young people who had earned college degrees. Among 25 to 34 year-olds, the United States ranked third. I remember thinking that wasn't good enough. We used to...