• What is Core Knowledge?

    <font=helvetica>The "Core Knowledge" movement is an educational reform based on the premise that a grade-by-grade core of common learning is necessary to ensure a sound and fair elementary education.

    The movement was started by Dr. E. D. Hirsch, Jr., author of The Schools We Need, and is based on a large body of research in cognitive psychology, as well as a careful examination of several of the world's fairest and most effective school systems.

    Dr. Hirsch has argued that, for the sake of academic excellence, greater fairness, and higher literacy, early schooling should provide a solid, specific, shared core curriculum in order to help children establish strong foundations of knowledge. After wide consultation, the content of this core curriculum has been outlined in two books -- the Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence and the Core Knowledge Sequence, K-8-- that state explicitly what students should learn at each grade level. Currently, hundreds of schools and thousands of dedicated educators are participating in this school reform movement throughout the United States.

    Resources for Understanding the Core Knowledge Curriculum:

    The Core Knowledge Sequence: Content guidelines for Grades K-8: A comprehensive topic guide to the curriculum.
     
    The Core Knowledge Grader Series: What Your Kindergartner - Sixth Grader Needs to Know
     
    What Your Fourth Grader Needs to Know

    Books to Build On: A Grade-by-Grade Guide for Parents and Teachers - An annotated list of books that complement the Core Knowledge curriculum. Several hundred additions to this list are presented on the website.

    Core Classics - Illustrated classics abridged for young readers but faithful in style and substance to the original works.

    On www.coreknowledge.org you can:

    • read articles about the curriculum
    • order resource materials
    • subscribe to the Foundation's e-newsletter, Common Knowledge

     

    Books by E. D. Hirsch, Jr.:

    • Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know
    • The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Edited by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph Kett, and James Trefil
    • First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (a resource for elementary school students)
    • The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them

     

    For more information or to order books call Core Knowledge Foundation at (800) 238-3233 or consult their website: www.coreknowledge.org