A Note from Gaston

Welcome to the second edition of Connection, the online publication for members and friends of the College Board. Your feedback on the first edition was overwhelmingly positive, and we appreciate your input. You may note that we’ve incorporated some of your suggestions, such as adding an international section. We’ve also added several contributed articles to this edition that I hope you will find interesting and thought-provoking.

The Board of Trustees of the College Board held its annual retreat this month. Before the meeting began, I was considering my remarks to this group of 31 secondary school and college educators. We at the College Board have been very fortunate during the last nine years to have experienced substantial growth.  I do not say this to be self-congratulatory, but, instead, to recognize our obligation and opportunity to increasingly serve the educational needs of students in this country and around the world.

The keys to our success have been guided by our mission and values along with a careful focus on three important areas: outstanding people; creating margin to provide the dollars to successfully invest in the future; and effective planning and executing. And to these three, we must add innovation.

We see innovation all around us, but little in the field of education. If you step into an operating room today, you will see that it has dramatically changed from an operating room of 10 years ago. If you look at almost any industry -- from construction to farming to manufacturing – you will see innovation. Think about the way we listened to music five years ago and the way we listen today. Think about how we communicated five years ago and now think about how we communicate today. Innovation will be an important component of the College Board’s effectiveness in serving the education community.

Thank you for everything you do to help us accomplish our mission.