Education Commission of the States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Education Commission of the States (ECS) was founded as a result of the creation of the Compact for Education, supported by all 50 states and approved by Congress in 1965. The original idea of establishing an interstate compact on education and creating an operational arm to follow up on its goals was originally proposed by James Bryant Conant, Harvard University's president from 1933 to 1953. Between 1965 and 1967, John W. Gardner, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and former North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford took up the idea, drafted the proposed Compact, obtained the endorsement of all 50 states and got Congress' approval.
The organization opened its offices in Denver in 1967 and began administering the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test until the Reagan administration in 1982 made the decision to privatize the test, which is now administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). That decision threatened the very existence of the Commission, leading to the virtual closing of ECS's Information Clearinghouse, the laying off or early retirement of half of its 117-member staff and a 50% cut in the organization's budget.
At the present time, every state, except Washington, as well as 3 United States territories and the District of Columbia are a part of the Compact and are members of the Commission. Each jurisdiction has seven seats on the Commission, including the Governor and six appointed members, which usually include legislators and education officials.
The current ECS Chair is Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas.
