Dr. David Pook completed his undergraduate work at Penn with honors and went on to earn teaching and research awards in graduate school at Indiana University. His studies included the fields of cognitive science and art history leading to a Master's and PhD in philosophy. Prior to his move to The Derryfield School, where he teaches courses in the humanities and chairs the History department, he taught at St. Paul’s School and The Berkshire School. He has been recognized with numerous teaching accolades, including a National Presidential Scholars Commendation.
As an educational consultant he worked closely with Susan Pimentel and the Council of Chief State Officers in drafting the Core Standards for English Language Arts, and currently has several projects underway with Student Achievement Partners on work aligned with the CCSS. On his own and in partnership with consulting organizations like Achieve, The Aspen Institute, and EdFirst, he has helped evaluate and design English and History standards, curriculum, and courses for numerous states, districts, and charter schools. With Achieve, David helped design the PARCC Model Content Frameworks and provided analysis regarding their college-readiness materials for the American Diploma Project. He is currently working with CCSSO on the design of the English Language Development Proficiency Framework and assists AFT on creating close reading exemplars for EL students. His consulting work takes him to Boston, Chicago, Hillsborough (Tampa), and Memphis to work with those districts on the implementation of the Common Core. David also teaches art history and philosophy classes at Granite State College and lectures regularly at Colby-Sawyer’s Adventures In Learning program and the Concord Music School.