Is it Time for the Core Knowledge Program?

Two recent items came across my desk that had me pause and reflect on the Core Knowledge program. The program is an offshoot of the research and writings Professor E.D. Hirsch. Hirsch, author of Cultural Literacy and The Cultural Literacy Dictionary, believed that American students have fallen behind their peers in other countries sin part by what was being taught in the school,. He devised a list, a quite controversial list, of 5000 items that every American should know. Included in Hirsch’s list were items in science, math, literature, music, geography and history. From this list and ongoing research, the Core Knowledge Foundation evolved, founded by Hirsch. What the members of the organization did was to break down the list by grade level. This brought about the publication of What Every First Grader Should Know and so on up to the end of elementary school.  Hirsch also authored The Knowledge Deficit: Closing the Shocking Education Gap for American Children .In this book Hirsch makes the case for exposing students to a broad spectrum of knowledge as a route to more effective reading comprehension skills for students.

Hirsch was not alone in his sentiment. In a recent interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, noted author and historian David McCullough observed that American students, even at the college level, were “historically illiterate.” Apparently some groups are taking these allegations seriously and are doing something about it. Recently in Naples, Florida, a group has obtained permission from the county superintendent of schools to operate a charter school whose academic foundation will be based in part on the Core Knowledge Curriculum.

An in depth article appeared in the fall 2012 issue of American Educator Magazine published  by the American Federation of Teachers. The article focused on an elementary school classroom in Queens, New York. In all, ten school s participated in a pilot project in language arts utilizing the Core Knowledge concepts. Students who participated in this program outscored their peers on reading comprehension tests. The results are encouraging and are certainly worthy of further exploration. The article, More than Words, written by Jennifer Dubin, can be found on pages 34-40 of the magazine. The article also has a list of endnotes with references to other research and articles about the Core Knowledge program.

You can obtain more information about the project at www.sft.otg/pdfs/smericaneducator/winter2022/CommonCorte.pdf.

The web site for the Core Knowledge Foundation can be found at http://www.coreknowledge.org/

Teachers can obtain lesson plans and project ideas and learn more about the foundation and its goals from the site. If you  believe that content is important and are interested in trying  new ways to motivate and stimulate your students, take a look at the Core Knowledge Program.

Copyright 2012 - J. Margolis