David Coleman (born 1969) is an American businessman, currently serving as the ninth president of the College Board, a non-profit organization that designed the SAT exam,

SAT Subject Tests SAT Subject Tests were 20 multiple-choice standardized tests given by the College Board on individual subjects, typically taken to improve a student's credentials for college admissions in the United States. On January 19, 2021, the College Board ...

, and Advanced Placement (AP) exams. He is often described in the media as "the architect" of the

Common Core State Standards Initiative The Common Core State Standards Initiative, also known as simply Common Core, is an educational initiative from 2010 that details what K–12 students throughout the United States should know in English language arts and mathematics at the conc ...

Early life and education

Coleman was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

to a Jewish family. His father is a psychiatrist; his mother, Elizabeth Coleman, was the president of

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

from 1987 to 2013. At the time Coleman was growing up, his mother was Dean of

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

in downtown Manhattan. When Coleman was in college, the family had moved to

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. Coleman attended Stuyvesant High School, and earned a B.A. in philosophy from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

in 1991.Dana Goldstein, "The Schoolmaster", ''The Atlantic'', September 19, 2012.
/ref> As an undergraduate at Yale, he participated in the Ulysses S. Grant tutoring program in reading for inner-city New Haven high school students. He started Branch, a community service program for inner-city students. Coleman was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1991 and earned a second B.A. in English literature at

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

. He then earned a MPhil in

classical philosophy This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, namely philosophical thought extending as far as early post-classical history (). Overview Genuine philosophical thought, depending upon original individual insights, arose in many cultures ...

from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

. During his stay in England, he met Jason Zimba, a graduate of

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

and a fellow Rhodes Scholar, who was studying mathematics and physics. The two became good friends and future business partners. Zimba would receive his doctorate in mathematical physics from

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

in 2001.

Career

Coleman returned to New York City from Oxford intending to work as a high school English teacher, but, according to Todd Balf of the ''New York Times Magazine'', when he realized he wouldn't find a job in the field, he became a consultant at McKinsey & Company. While there, he did some pro bono work for school districts trying to improve performance. In partnership with Zimba, Coleman then founded The Grow Network, an internet-based consulting organization that analyzed test scores for states and large school districts. In 2001, The Grow Network negotiated contracts directly with Pennsylvania, California, Nevada, New Mexico and New Jersey as well as New York City and Chicago public school districts. In 2004 McGraw-Hill Education, at that time the digital educational division of

The McGraw-Hill Companies S&P Global Inc. (prior to April 2016 McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013 The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financ ...

financial and publishing conglomerate, purchased the organization for an undisclosed sum and renamed it Grow Network/McGraw-Hill. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. In 2007 Coleman and Zimba together with educational analyst Sue Pimentel co-founded Student Achievement Partners (SAP), a non-profit organization which researches and develops "achievement based" assessment standards. Funded in part by the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was ...

, SAP played a leading role in developing the

Common Core State Standards The Common Core State Standards Initiative, also known as simply Common Core, is an educational initiative from 2010 that details what K–12 students throughout the United States should know in English language arts and mathematics at the conc ...

in math and literacy, which focus on "in-depth learning, knowledge across different disciplines, and strong math skills." When Coleman left SAP in October 2012 to head the College Board, Zimba and Pimentel continued to lead the organization, which is now devoted to facilitating the implementation of the Common Core Standards.

Common Core

In 2009, the

National Governors Association The National Governors Association (NGA) is an American political organization founded in 1908. The association's members are the governors of the 55 states, territories and commonwealths. Members come to the association from across the politica ...

and the

Council of Chief State School Officers The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the U.S. states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense E ...

launched an initiative to write

for elementary through high school English Language Arts and Mathematics. The Common Core State Standards aim to prepare students for college and careers by identifying the skills students should learn from kindergarten through high school. Coleman was on the English Language Arts writing team, which was chaired by SAP co-founder Pimentel. SAP co-founder Zimba was a leader on the Mathematics writing team. As of June 2014, the standards have been adopted by 44 states. Other states have not adopted the standards, or have adopted them temporarily then later backed away from adoption. Since Coleman's departure to head the College Board, Student Achievement Partners has continued to support implementation of the Common Core standards.

College Board

On 16 May 2012, College Board chose Coleman as its president for the

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...

. Coleman has spoken about the need for the College Board to expand access to college for minority and low-income students who have demonstrated college potential. In 2014, Coleman and the College Board announced a redesign of the SAT, implemented in the spring of 2016. Changes included no penalty for unanswered questions, removal of obscure vocabulary words, making the essay optional, and a partnership with the

Khan Academy Khan Academy is an American non-profit educational organization created in 2008 by Sal Khan. Its goal is creating a set of online tools that help educate students. The organization produces short lessons in the form of videos. Its website also in ...

to provide free test prep resources. The College Board's proposed changes to the SAT were discussed in the ''New York Times Magazine''.

Educational reform

Coleman, Zimba, and Ann-Margaret Michael (Coleman's former assistant and current operations manager for Student Achievement Partners), were the founding board members of

Michelle Rhee Michelle Ann Rhee (born December 25, 1969) is an American educator and advocate for education reform. She was Chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools from 2007 to 2010. In late 2010, she founded StudentsFirst, a non-profit organizati ...

StudentsFirst StudentsFirst is a political lobbying organization formed in 2010 by Michelle Rhee, former school chancellor of Washington D.C. public schools, in support of education reform. The organization worked to pass state laws on issues such as expandin ...

, a lobbying advocacy organization for "standards driven" educational reform. Coleman left the board when he joined the College Board in October 2012.

Honors and financial awards

Coleman was in the 2013

Time 100 ''Time'' 100 (often stylized as ''TIME'' 100) is an annual listicle of the 100 most influential people in the world, assembled by the American news magazine ''Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, ...

, ''Time'' magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. The encomium was announced in the magazine in an article written by former Florida Governor

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush ...

, a prominent supporter of the Common Core State Standards. Coleman was also honored by NewSchools Venture Fund, which invests in charter schools, as one of its "Change Agents of the Year for 2012".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, David Living people 20th-century American Jews Stuyvesant High School alumni Education reform Standards-based education American Rhodes Scholars Standardized tests in the United States 1969 births People from Manhattan Alumni of University College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Cambridge Yale College alumni 21st-century American Jews