Would you believe the movement to support the Common Core’s “Career Pathways” has come up with a ‘skills passport’?! Yes, indeed. I’ve got all the information you need to help fight this in your school…no matter if it’s somewhere in preK-12th OR in post-secondary education (which includes community colleges, public/private universities and colleges, for profit trade school, and, online career courses).

The Sales Pitched by Viridis Learning:

Normally, I provide video evidence further into each article, but today, I’m starting out with it so you can see the similarities between the “Skills Passport” and the “National Certificates/Credentials” I’ve shared with you in earlier articles.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au9YJgQbJb8&w=560&h=315]

Did you catch all that? “Stackable Credentials”, “personalized career pathway”? I sure did!

From the Viridis Learning’s website (https://viridislearning.com/), the way in which your passport becomes filled begins with DATA MINING! Followed by an assessment that allows your path to be aligned for your ‘dream job’. If this isn’t enough, you are continued to be tracked/monitored throughout your path to the ‘dream’ career. Then, much like a dating service, your information and someone’s job are ‘perfectly matched’. The difference in this type of hiring and ‘old school’ hiring is the data trail doesn’t END when you become employed..it follows your for LIFE! Look below to see the Virdis Learning’s model for job seekers.

Viridis Learning relies not only on all kinds of student data, but COMPETENCY BASED education as well. Founded in 2009 by a U.S. Veteran who, like others exiting the military, had issues transitioning from serving their country to civilian life. From then until now, here’s the Mission Statement: “Viridis Learning seeks to develop a global qualified and sustainable middle-skill workforce, and ultimately thriving middle class, through the adoption of its highly customizable, data-driven technology platform.”

Among the partners of Viridis Learning, is Pearson Publishing’s  Workforce Education arm. There are many other partners as well. See them all:
https://viridislearning.com/#about-us

Send in the Venture Capitalists!

From the website above, I was able to find the press releases. Now, like you, I don’t have tons of time to read the many that are there, but you can learn a tremendous amount about the company’s allegiance to Workforce aligned education. You’ll also see the push for “STEM” careers. If you’ve followed my blog/research for long, you how connected “STEM” is to “Common Core” and “Career Technical Education/Career Pathways”.

However, it was this particular article that caught my eye immediately.
“Human Capital Growth Company Viridis Backed by Comcast Ventures”
This article was featured on “PR Newswire” back in 2013. In this article, not only do you get the exact companies invested in VL, but you can learn the data companies or other workforce/education companies THEY own. (See: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/human-capital-growth-company-viridis-backed-by-comcast-ventures-228155241.html)

You really should see some of the other news about VL on their media page. Not only will you find “STEM”, you’ll find the “Clinton Global Initiative”, and many other obvious connections to the CCSS Machine. See: https://viridislearning.com/#news

To access Comcast’s Common Core support: http://business.comcast.com/resource-library/premium-content?NewsItemID=85b42b47-2963-62fe-b0b5-ff0000efc36d

To access Comcast’s Common Core Strategy for in the classroom support: Comcast CCSS strategy

Other venture capitalist groups in on all kinds of educational overreach:
Blue Ridge Foundation, I shared with you their CCSS data mining ties:
 https://www.commoncorediva.com/2015/05/04/monday-musings-learning-for-whom/

CNF Investments, holds “American Honors College”. The CCSS/CTE ties? This virtual learning company combines community colleges (I’ve shown you how nation wide, they’ve gone over to teaching CCSS/CTE), data mining, nation-wide teachers, and use Quad Learning. Both AHC and QL are basing all their efforts on outcome based education for lifetime pathways..oh, I almost forgot..while saving you money. See both:
 https://americanhonors.org/about-us AND http://quadlearninginc.com/about/index.html

Dauk Wagner Investments, LLC, while their website won’t reveal much, you can see that one of the founders had ties to Citibank (a well known CCSS Machine member). There are other clues as well. See if you can identify them: http://www.daukwagnerinvestments.com/
(*Note: Mrs. Dauk is a sitting Board Member of Student Agencies, Inc. Student Agencies, Inc. is tied to Student Agencies Foundation which is tied to Cornell University. Cornell University has been granted millions in all kinds of research, global policy, and more. See the 4 pages of grant descriptions: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database#q/k=cornell%20university)
You might also find that Cornell is big on student start up businesses. Businesses mean jobs. Jobs mean the economy is growing. Can you see the pattern which most of the Viridis Learning and others involved are promoting?

Expansion Venture Capital, gives you “Careerosity” (find them on Twitter or Facebook). Founded by Waine Tam (former point person for Gates Foundation’s  iMentor, which was a non profit program geared for ‘college readiness’. See the Gates grant: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We-Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database/Grants/2011/11/OPP1049005
The “Careerosity” is so social media and flash mob-like in their get-togethers, finding a dedicated website was tough. However, I’m including a link to an event “Careerosity” hosted in NY where attendees were given all kinds of career advice. Among the panelists: College Board! We know how sold out to the CCSS/CTE/CCR they are! See: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/transitioning-to-a-career-in-social-impact-tickets-6431788653
ULU Ventures, holds “LearnZillion”, a cloud based curriculum operation. See their website: https://learnzillion.com/
While that may not seem harmful, consider what ‘clouds’ like this thrive on: DATA MINING! This totally open curriculum is also GLOBAL. Here’s an excerpt from their ‘About Us’ page: “LearnZillion.com offers a free and growing set of Math and English Language resources for grades 2-12 that have been developed by expert teachers directly from the Common Core State Standards. LearnZillion’s premium participatory curriculum platform enables schools and districts to accelerate the successful implementation of the Common Core, augment the efficacy of their coaches, create classtime capacity to address differentiation needs, and build teacher leaders.”
The concept for “LearnZillion” came from a public charter school. See: https://learnzillion.com/about
Promote a Conference!

Viridis Learning is helping promote career pathways via a first-of-its-kind conference in about 1 week. ETurboNews announced the conference recently. Here’s an excerpt:
” First Annual Employment Pathway Innovation Conference 2015 that will take place in New York City from September 21-22….This important event is being promoted by Viridis Learning, an organization founded by Felix W. Ortiz III, dedicated to helping students identify and pursue specific, lifelong career pathways and provide them with the educational and certification resources to follow them.” (the entire article:
http://www.eturbonews.com/63445/education-crucial-determination-future)

Among the panelists are: Sir James Mancham, NC Governor Pat McCrory, lots of former presidents from other countries, retired US Army staff, and, private corporations devoted to the CCSS Machine. If you aren’t familiar with the ties to CCSS/CTE/CCR that Sir James or Gov. McCrory has, please look them up. You’ll learn quite a bit. As a resident of NC, I can tell you the Governor’s devotion to Common Core is well publicized. What also very big on his agenda is Career Tech Education, Career Pathways. Sir James is president of the Global Peace Council. HIs autobiography’s title includes “Global Citizen”…hmm, still wondering about the CCSS’s global citizen aspect? See a pro CCSS sided article: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/global_learning/2012/01/the_common_core_state_standards.html
For anti CCSS global citizenship articles, google “CCSS global citizen”.

Closing:
What do all these companies have in common? Besides helping the CCSS/CTE/CCR efforts out, each holds other companies besides the ones I’ve highlighted here. It’s no secret that venture capitalists look to education as a profit maker, NOT as academic learning! See my article about the SBA (Small Business Administration‘s CCSS/CTE/CCR funding for venture capitalists: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2015/02/10/ftf-the-sba-and-common-core/  THEN, this one about the diabolical education plans some venture capitalists have for our country: https://www.commoncorediva.com/2014/09/16/from-the-files-tuesday-down-in-the-valley/ (Note: one of the main goals by this type of group is abolishing all local school boards)