Richard Kessler, TREASURER OF COMMON CORE and EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER OF ARTS EDUCATION (CAE). Mr. Kessler is one of the principal authors of the plan that led to the creation of the CAE in 1996, when he was serving as an arts education consultant. As a keynote speaker, conference panelist, and workshop facilitator, he has been engaged by organizations such as the League of American Orchestras, Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and Bank Street College of Education, among others.

From 1997 to 2004, Mr. Kessler was executive director of the American Music Center (AMC), the national service and information center for new American music. During his tenure, Mr. Kessler’s accomplishments included the creation of award-winning web magazine NewMusicBox.org, a nationwide career development program for composers and performers, the establishment of the American Music Center Collection at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the establishment of AMC’s first endowment, the creation of the National Music Coalition, and an increase in AMC grant making programs to more than $7 million from 2002–2004.

From 1993 to 1997, Mr. Kessler was vice president of Artsvision, an arts education consulting company where he created and implemented arts and education programs throughout the United States and Canada. He designed programs for school communities, arts organizations, and foundations, including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, GE Fund, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, New York Community Trust, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and many others. Before joining Artsvision, Mr. Kessler was a Naumburg Award-winning chamber musician, performing as a trombonist and teaching throughout the world for almost fifteen years.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Mr. Kessler holds two degrees from The Juilliard School and was a faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music from 1988 to 1993. He is a board member of the American Composers Orchestra, the Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT), Sequitur–a new–music presenting organization, and the Steering Committee of the New York City Arts Coalition. In May 2005, Kessler received a Letter of Distinction from the American Music Center for his significant contribution to the field of contemporary American music.

Earlier this year, Common Core's report shows a nation STILL AT RISK. Nearly a quarter of students polled could not identify Adolf Hitler and half had no idea what the Renaissance was. To learn more read the report, press release or stories at ABC News, CBS News, The New York Times, and USA TODAY. Or take the test yourself.

FROM THE BENCH: "One unintended effect of the No Child Left Behind Act, …, is that it has effectively squeezed out civics education because there is no testing for that anymore and no funding for that. And at least half of the states no longer make the teaching of civics and government a requirement for high school graduation. This leaves a huge gap, and we can't forget that the primary purpose of public schools in America has always been to help produce citizens who have the knowledge and the skills and the values to sustain our republic as a nation, our democratic form of government," former justice Sandra Day O'Connor said. (cont'd)

CAMPAIGN FILE: Sen. John McCain recalls his English teacher: “There was one friendship that enriched my life at Episcopal High School beyond measure... Mr. Ravenel was head of the English Department... He loved English literature, and taught us to love it as well... He made us appreciate how profound were the emotions that animated the characters in Shakespeare's tragedies. MacBeth and Hamlet in his care were as compelling to boys as they were to the most learned scholar.” (cont'd)

CAMPAIGN FILE: Sen. Barack Obama said “One of the problems with No Child Left Behind is that it has become so reliant on a standardized test model that—first of all—subjects like history and social studies have gotten pushed aside. Arts and music time is no longer there. So the child is not having the well-rounded educational experience I benefited from and most in my generation benefited from.” (cont'd)