School of Thought: 11 Education Activists for 2011

Coleman may not be the most well-known education player in his family — his mom is president of Bennington College in Vermont — but his quiet work behind the scenes on the proposed Common Core standards make him among the most influential figures in American education today. A classicist and Rhodes Scholar who now runs his own consulting firm (after founding and selling a successful education data and assessment company), Coleman wants students to learn to think by analyzing what they're reading. Sounds obvious, but it's a radical departure from today's prevailing practices in classrooms. Forty states have agreed to adopt the standards, but key details, including who will govern the Common Core and what tests will be used, still need to be worked out.