after leaving fitchburg state in 2002, riccards became the college board’s public policy scholar in residence in washington, d. c., and was the college board's representative to both the national governors association and the national state legislatures association. he backed the creation of an advanced placement course to celebrate the anniversary of "brown v. board of education"; the course was put on the board’s website. riccards also visited the assistant superintendent of the district of columbia public schools to advocate board programs aimed at high school predation; prior to riccards' visit, the college board had little patience and no success with the school bureaucracy. riccards wrote a history of the college board, and successfully lobbied congress to increase its advanced placement subsidy to $25 million. riccards' efforts with congress and the department of veterans affairs to help veterans enroll in clep courses were also successful.