David Coleman, is the “lead architect” of Common Core State Standards. Coleman also founded the non-profit Student Achievement Partners and developed the site AchieveTheCore to “guide” publishers in ways to shift their materials to meet the new standards. Coleman also took on the position as the head of the College Board, which runs the SAT college entrance tests. So we have the same person spearheading up standards, curriculum, and test. With an $18 Million grant from GE Foundation, Coleman is well-funded and ready to transform our educational system to create workers for a global economy.
Learn who David Coleman is and you’ll understand a lot about the Common Core.
Coleman said in 2011, “[A]s you grow up in this world you realize people really don’t give a shit about what you feel or what you think.”
Pardon the language. These words guide the Common Core which places a greater emphasis on “informational texts” for utilitarian purposes rather than fiction or writing personal narratives for that matter.
In his words, “It is rare in a working environment that someone says, “Johnson, I need a market analysis by Friday but before that I need a compelling account of your childhood.”
The Atlantic profiled Coleman in 2012,
“ David Coleman’s ideas are not just another wonkish trend. They have been adopted by almost every state, and over the next few years, they will substantively change what goes on in many American classrooms. Soon, as Coleman steps into his new position as the head of the College Board, they may also affect who applies to college and how applicants are evaluated. David Coleman’s ideas, for better or worse, are transforming American education as we know it.
With little debate, the “Gates-led” Common Core Standards have been adopted by over 45 states. Coleman was right there writing those standards. (Did you know the standards are copyrighted by a private group, the National Governors Association and the Chief Council of of State School Officers)
New assessments (See Smarter Balanced and PARCC) are currently being written to the standards and scheduled to be implemented in 2014/15 school year. Coleman is right there making sure the tests match the standard. He said,
“If you put something on an assessment in my view you are ethically obligated to take responsibility that kids will practice it 100 times.”
Next up, is the national Curriculum written to the standards so that children can “practice it 100 times” before they take the test. (Look to Pearson for that.)
What is tested is what is taught. What is taught, is what is thought. Why parents and publishers are blindly giving up so much to one man’s philosophy of education is mind boggling. Just mind boggling.
Education policy expert, Diana Ravitch has spoken against the Common Core and asks the question that should be on the mind of every parent in America, “Is there not something unseemly about placing the fate and the future of American education in the hands of one man?”