Caperton’s back with books about College Board, education

The Charleston Gazette, May 29, 2012
By Amy Julia Harris

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gaston Caperton is trying to save America’s education system, one book at a time.  After two terms as governor of West Virginia and 13 years as president of the College Board, Caperton has had a front-row seat to the problems besetting America’s education system — issues with school access, college affordability, recruiting high-quality teachers and combating low student expectations.

We all know the big problems, said Caperton, but in his two new books, which will be released just months before he steps down from the College Board in October, he won’t rehash what’s wrong with U.S. education, but rather showcase what’s right.

“You do not succeed by dwelling on what’s wrong,” Caperton said in an interview at his home in Charleston’s South Hills. “People have to know what are examples of excellence and what works. These books are basically stories of people who have gone into situations and have taken what was a bad situation and made it great.”

Caperton’s upcoming books, The Caperton Years and The Achievable Dream, chart the College Board’s transformation from a testing company to an education advocacy organization since Caperton took the helm in 1999. They also highlight on-the-ground school success stories he encountered in classrooms across America.

When Caperton came to the College Board in 1999, the non-profit education membership association had a limited mission and was known primarily as the entity that administered the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT). The College Board was facing a bleak financial future when Caperton took over, even considering scaling back its SAT fee waivers to remain financially solvent.

Caperton decided to fix the College Board’s bottom line — both in finances and core philosophy.

Read the entire story at the Charleston Gazette.

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