Lynne Munson

Lynne Munson, PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF COMMON CORE. Ms. Munson is also president of Six Consulting, Inc., which provides education policy advice and research to clients at the state and national levels. She served as Deputy Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) from 2001–2005, overseeing all agency operations. During her tenure, the NEH awarded over 3,600 grants totaling more than $442 million for institution-building projects, in addition to basic scholarly research, preservation and archival projects, museum exhibitions, and documentary films.

She is also Adjunct Fellow at the Center for College Affordability and Productivity where she writes on the issue of higher education endowment spending. In September 2007, Ms. Munson testified before the Senate Finance Committee on the issue of college and university endowment hoarding and has advised Senate staff regarding potential policy remedies in this area.

Ms. Munson led the first United States government delegation to Afghanistan in 2005 to deal with issues of cultural reconstruction. In 2004, she represented the United States at UNESCO meetings in Australia and Japan where she helped to negotiate guidelines for cross-border higher education. In 1998 and 1999 Ms. Munson provided expert testimony on higher education remediation programs to the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York and the Mayor’s Advisory Task Force on CUNY Reform.

Ms. Munson is the author of Exhibitionism: Art in an Era of Intolerance (Ivan R. Dee, 2000) and has written on contemporary cultural and educational issues for numerous national publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Inside Higher Education. She has appeared on CNN, FoxNews, CNBC, C-SPAN, and NPR, and speaks to scholarly and public audiences. Ms. Munson earned a bachelor’s degree at Northwestern University.

Why we disagree with P21

(and you should, too)

December 4 • EdWeek profile questions motives of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.

November 10 • You can now read Diane Ravitch’s op/ed on 21st century skills in the Boston Globe, Providence Journal, Metro West Daily News, Lowell Sun, and Quincy Patriot Ledger.

November 3 • Education Week highlights Common Core's concerns about the appointment of a P21 leader to a key Dept. of Education post.

November • Lynne Munson and Richard Kessler explain why arts education is vital in the November 2009 issue of Parenting magazine.

October 10 • Diane Ravitch's recent op/ed on 21st century skills has been reprinted in the Providence Journal.

September 16 • A group of prominent scholars, teachers, education reform advocates, and union leaders issued a statement today expressing concern about the program put forth by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) and calling for its revision. Press Advisory (pdf)

September 15 • Common Core’s Diane Ravitch shows how dated the idea of “21st century skills” really is in the Boston Globe

July 13 • Common Core’s Lynne Munson raises concerns about national standards at convention of the American Federation of Teachers. (PDF document)

July 9 • In USAToday Common Core’s Lynne Munson argues that a comprehensive education is more likely than a STEM education to produce new scientists.

July 2 • A USAToday editorial cites and links to Common Core’s “Still at Risk”" study which showed how little our 17-year-olds know about history and literature.

June 2 • Common Core releases Why We’re Behind: What Top Nations Teach Their Students But We Don’t, a report showing that the nations that consistently outrank us on international comparison tests provide their students with a fulsome education in the liberal arts and sciences. Why is this news? Because the U.S. is moving further and further away from this model. Read brief excerpts from the documents featured in the report here.