 | Gaston Caperton BiographyGaston Caperton, a former two-term governor of West Virginia, was appointed in 1999 as the eighth president of the College Board, a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the membership association is today made up of more than 5,900 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. |
Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success — including the SAT and the Advanced Placement Program®. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators and schools.
Caperton is a lifetime advocate for the importance of excellence and equity in education. He transformed the College Board from an assessment company into a mission-driven, values-oriented organization that takes bold steps to connect greater numbers of students to college success and opportunity, while raising educational standards in schools across the nation.
Caperton’s most notable accomplishments include the creation of the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center, which connects policy, research and real world practice to develop innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges in education today. Caperton has also been responsible for more than tripling the number of students from low-income backgrounds taking AP courses; dramatically changing the SAT by adding a new writing section that elevated the importance of writing on the nation’s education agenda; and developing the College Board Standards for College Success™ to drive rigor in American schools.
Additionally, over the last decade, the College Board has accelerated its efforts to help more traditionally underserved students enter the college pipeline. Caperton believes that the “single most un-American aspect of our great society is the lack of truly equal educational opportunity.” With a firm conviction that a quality education opens the door to greater opportunity and equality, Caperton directed the organization to place a strong focus on helping low-income, minority and first-generation college students gain access to higher education. Under Caperton’s leadership, College Board Schools were opened to prepare underserved middle and high school students for success in college. With the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates and the Michael & Susan Dell foundations, the first schools were introduced in New York City’s public school system in 2004. There are currently 17 College Board Schools, operating in New York City, Yonkers, Rochester and Buffalo, N.Y.
Caperton’s vision also recognizes globalization’s influence on education. He initiated a new series of AP world language and culture courses and embarked on a historic education exchange program with the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban) in China. Known as the Chinese Language and Culture Initiative, the program is helping to support the growth of Chinese-language education in U.S. schools, and to build a solid foundation for the AP Chinese Language and Culture course and exam. The initiative also brings teachers from China to teach in U.S. schools for one to three years, and sends delegations of U.S. educators to visit China to learn about its education and culture.
Education has been a priority of Caperton’s throughout his career. During his two terms as governor from 1989 to 1997, Caperton brought West Virginia back from the brink of bankruptcy and made significant improvements to the education system. He supported an aggressive school-building and renovation program directly benefiting two-thirds of West Virginia’s public school students. Teachers’ salaries in West Virginia were raised from 49th to 31st in the nation. He developed programs promoting the use of computers in the public schools, beginning with kindergarten. As a result of his work, by 1996, West Virginia’s advances in education technology were second to none.
While in office, Caperton served as chair of the Democratic Governors Association and on the National Governors Association Executive Committee. After leaving office he taught at Harvard University and Columbia University, where he founded and managed the Institute on Education and Government.
Caperton began his career as a businessman in his home state of West Virginia. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he went to work for his family’s insurance agency in Charleston and soon became the company’s principal owner. Through his leadership, the small local company became the 10th-largest privately owned insurance brokerage firm in the nation. Caperton currently serves on the board of several major corporations, including Owens Corning and Prudential Financial Inc.
His leadership, public service and work on behalf of education have been recognized with numerous state and national awards, including 10 honorary doctoral degrees. In 2007, he received the prestigious James Bryant Conant Award from the Education Commission of the States in recognition of his significant contributions to the quality of education in the United States.