College Board

Imagine that you're a high school senior on pins and needles waiting to learn if you've been accepted or rejected by colleges, and you hear that the College Board - which administers the SAT - confessed last week to a foul-up in the scoring of a recent exam. Or imagine that you're a high school junior about to subject yourself to the whole arduous process of preparing for and taking the SAT, including a new, somewhat subjectively graded essay section. Feeling more than a little queasy?

With anything as emotional as a test determining a young person's higher education prospects, job opportunities and earning ability, controversy abounds. The College Board's long-awaited changes to the 64-year-old Scholastic Aptitude Test are no exception.Critics at the Massachusetts-based Center for Fair and Open Testing have labeled cosmetic the proposed elimination of lists of words of opposite meanings, greater emphasis on reading comprehension, open-ended math problems, allowing students to use calculators and essay sections added to achievement tests.

WASHINGTON - College costs continue to rise faster than inflation and wages, but financial aid is rising as well, the College Board reported yesterday. "There's no better investment than a college education," said Gaston Caperton, president of the association of more than 4,000 educational institutions. "But financing that dream can cost many sleepless nights." The College Board reported these increases in annual tuition and fees between the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 academic years: Four-year private colleges and universities, up $1,001, or 5.8 percent, to $18,273.

Mary S. Bode of Millersville assumed responsibilities as new assistant dean for fiscal services at Anne Arundel Community College July 1.Bode's appointment makes her responsible for management of all college fiscal operations, including development of the operating budget.A certified public accountant, Bode is a 1978 graduate of the college and has served on the college Board of Trustees as student member.She served for seven years as director of finance for the Maryland State Board for Community Colleges and was an auditor with the accounting firm Coopers and Lybrand for two years.

Tuition and fees have climbed an average of 10.5 percent, or $487, this year at the nation's public four-year colleges and universities, the College Board reported yesterday. The increase was smaller than last year's 13.3 percent but still among the biggest in the past quarter-century. Officials with the nonprofit group and other analysts said that the latest tuition and financial aid trends are forcing many students to go more deeply into debt than in the past to pay for their education.

Anne Arundel County schools have developed a new way to recognize students who tackle college-level Advanced Placement courses and do well: an "AP diploma endorsement" to be awarded for the first time with the Class of 2005. The diploma, available to students who have taken at least five of the demanding classes and their corresponding exams, is part of a county push to encourage students to challenge themselves with more AP courses. To merit the special seal on their diplomas, students must choose courses from four of five areas - languages, social studies, mathematics, natural sciences and computer science/fine arts - and earn an unweighted 3.0 grade point average in those courses.

Average scores by 1995 Maryland high school seniors on the Scholastic Assessment Test rose one point in verbal and were unchanged in math -- compared with gains nationally of five points in verbal and three in mathematics, according to scores released yesterday by the College Board.U.S. Education Secretary Richard W. Riley said the increase nationally was "heartening news.""Kids are taking harder courses and it's showing up in their scores," Mr. Riley said. "That's a good lesson for parents, teachers and, most importantly, our students as they go back to school," he said.

Anne Arundel County schools have developed a new way to recognize students who tackle college-level Advanced Placement courses and do well: an "AP diploma endorsement" to be awarded for the first time with the Class of 2005. The diploma, available to students who have taken at least five of the demanding classes and their corresponding exams, is part of a county push to encourage students to challenge themselves with more AP courses. To merit the special seal on their diplomas, students must choose courses from four of five areas -- languages, social studies, mathematics, natural sciences and computer science/fine arts -- and earn an unweighted 3.0 grade point average in those courses.

Four North County High School students have been named AP Scholars by the College Board for their exceptional achievement in the college-level Advanced Placement Examinations.The AP Scholars are Matthew Lentz, Christina Spiker, Timothy Valenta and Hue Yoon. They qualified for the award by completing three or more exams with grades of 3 or higher.About 10 percent of the country's graduating seniors have taken one or more AP Examination. Only about 12 percent of the more than 459,000 students who took the examinations in May performed at a sufficiently high level to merit such recognition.

WASHINGTON -- Average scores on the Scholastic Assessment Test by 1996 college-bound Maryland high school seniors rose by one point in both test categories -- verbal and mathematics, according to data released yesterday.The rise was slightly less than the national gains of one point for verbal and two for math.An official of the College Board, which administers the nation's main college-entrance exam, said use of Advanced Placement college-level courses by Maryland schools continued to increase, but he criticized Baltimore for lagging behind the rest of the state and other cities in use of the program, which has been credited with increasing scores.