Among those who know the truth about Common Core, it’s a well known fact that David Coleman is the primary architect behind this so-called "state led" nationalized Common Core system. It’s important to know that David Coleman, Susan Pimenthal, and Jason Zimba, all lead writers of the Common Core Standards, were the founders of Student Achievement Partners. SAP is just one of the hundreds of organizations that have been the beneficiary of the Gates Foundation’s largesse. The Gates Foundation has funded the Common Core propaganda machine by at least $2.3 billion.
Now, as the current president and chief executive officer of the College Board, Coleman has continued his agenda to turn America’s children into progressive leftists. The College Board is a massive nonprofit de facto monopoly, which produces the Advanced Placement Exam as well as the SAT and PSAT tests.
So drastic were the recent changes to the Advanced Placement U.S. History exam, that in June, an open letter signed by 120 professors and historians was sent to the College Board noting that the exam represented a "grave new risk to the study of America’s past." Here are a few excerpts:
"Many of these students will never take another American history course. So it matters greatly what they learn in their last formal encounter with the subject.
"….the interpretation downplays American citizenship and American world leadership in favor of a more global and transnational perspective. … The new framework is organized around such abstractions as ‘identity,’ ‘peopling,’ ‘work, exchange, and technology,’ and ‘human geography, while downplaying essential subjects, such as the sources, meaning, and development of America’s ideals and political institutions, notably the Constitution. Elections, wars, diplomacy, inventions, discoveries–all these formerly central subjects tend to dissolve into the vagaries of identity-group conflict.
"The new framework scrubs away all traces of what used to be the chief glory of historical writing–vivid and compelling narrative–and reduces history to a bloodless interplay of abstract and impersonal forces."
In the world according to David Coleman, what is being taught when teachers "teach to the test"?
They will use the textbooks and teach the topics recommended by the College Board. There isn’t time for them to overcome bias or add more material, without putting students at risk of not passing the test with a good score.
What students learn, in order to prepare for the test, is that homosexuality and acceptance of sexual orientation is a mark of civilization’s progress. John Calvin and Martin Luther are less important. Readings that focus on Simone de Beauvoir’s assertion that marriage is "unjust" and "undesirable" are just as important to know as World War II’s Pacific theater. Homosexual activist Harvey Milk deserves our study, as does Benjamin Franklin. See Testing the Limits.
After reading the open letter, Coleman’s College Board made some changes, probably because responsibility fell squarely on the head of David Coleman. It’s too bad that Common Core has already metastasized across America, making it difficult to stop. See Rick Hess: What Common Core Could Learn from AP US History Flap
Still, not everyone was pleased with the College Board’s "changes," especially Stanley Kurtz, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, who stated that the changes were still "hostile to America." Kurtz believes, and so do I, that the College Board needs competition.
Open the door to "More Choice."
For years, the ACT exam has been the only real competition against the College Board’s AP, SAT, and PSAT. Newcomers will have to overcome the financial and political affection that certain universities have for anything that comes out of the College Board. Nevertheless, CollegePlus allows homeschoolers to take college level courses online. Another organization, Vector ARC, is in the early stages of working on an alternative to the SAT and ACT. Also, more colleges are deciding not to require test scores for admission, stating "standardized tests aren’t the best indicator of success in school." See Local Colleges React to news of Another University deciding not to Require Test Scores for Admission.
See Also:
The National Common Core Standards System