Core Knowledge Foundation
Encyclopedia
| Core Knowledge Foundation | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1986 by E.D. Hirsch, Jr. |
| Headquarters | Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for... |
| President | Linda Bevilacqua |
The Core Knowledge Foundation is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan educational foundation founded in 1986 by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. The Foundation is dedicated to excellence and fairness in early education.
Ideals of Core Knowledge
Core Knowledge is an educational reform movement based on the premise that a grade-by-grade core of common learning is necessary to ensure a sound and fair elementary education. Based on a body of research in cognitive psychology and effective school systems worldwide, Core Knowledge posits that, in order to attain academic excellence, greater fairness, and higher literacy, early education curriculum should be solid, specific, shared, and sequenced. By teaching a body of specific, lasting knowledge in a way that allows children to succeed by gradually building on what they already know, the Core Knowledge mission is to provide all children, regardless of background, with the shared knowledge they need to be included in our national literate culture.Resource books—including "What Your Preschooler Needs to Know" and the series of books "What Your __ Grader Needs to Know" (grades K-8)—are based on the "Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence" and the "Core Knowledge Sequence, K-8," which serve as the backbone of the Core Knowledge curriculum and outline the specific topics and skills to be covered in each subject area from grades PreK through 8.
The Impetus behind Core Knowledge
E. D. Hirsch was motivated to create the Core Knowledge curriculum upon working in a community college class in 1978.
“Hirsch's awakening began one day in 1978 in a community college English class in Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
. He had conducted most of his research on reading comprehension and writing at the University of VirginiaUniversity of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
. On this day, however, Hirsch was testing reading assignments at the community college. The community college students, most of them black, read with roughly the same fluency and comprehension as their UVA. peers. But to Hirsch's surprise, the students "became baffled when they had to read about Lee's surrender to Grant at AppomattoxAppomattoxAppomattox may refer to:*Appomattox, Virginia, a town*Appomattox County, Virginia* Appomattox Basin, a name for the Tri-Cities, Virginia region*Appomattox Court House, a court house in Virginia...
. That passage was as incomprehensible to them as a Hegel essay on philosophy was to the U-Va. students."
The students' puzzlement jolted Hirsch to a catharsis of sorts: Background knowledge, a common set of cultural facts and information mattered-not for the sake of knowing facts per se but because a shared intellectual landscape was all-important in empowering students to read and write richly.”
The Role of the Core Knowledge Foundation
The Foundation staff serves as the support system for Core Knowledge schools, educators, and parents. The Foundation conducts research on curricula; develops books and other materials for students, parents, and teachers; and serves as a training and communications hub for schools using Core Knowledge.The Foundation has developed a number of publications, including general information packets about Core Knowledge, the Sequences, textbooks, and other supplementary materials for use in conjunction with the Sequence.
The Core Knowledge Foundation also offers a variety of staff development workshops to facilitate the process of implementing the Core Knowledge program in schools and hosts an annual national conference, which focuses on the sharing of ideas between educators at every level and making connections across the Core Knowledge network.
Implementation of Core Knowledge in Schools
The Core Knowledge Curriculum begins in preschool and continues through eighth grade. A group that decides what is important for students to learn in able to consider them culturally literate and then forms the curriculum around those ideas.The three goals of implementation of the Core Knowledge Curriculum are to teach all of the topics included in the Core Knowledge Sequence, to teach the topics at the grade levels assigned by the Sequence, and to teach the topics to all students whenever possible.
Implementation of the Core Knowledge Curriculum and the process required necessitates cooperation between teachers, administrators, and parents. Implementation often occurs over a two- to three-year period, with schools phasing in topics subject-by-subject or adding additional grade levels each year.
There are three levels of Core Knowledge schools based on the level of implementation and excellence achieved by the school—Friends of Core Knowledge, Official Core Knowledge Schools, and Official Core Knowledge Visitation Sites. Friends of Core Knowledge are schools implementing Core Knowledge at any level, beginning on the first day of implementation. Official Core Knowledge Schools implement 80% or more of the Core Knowledge Sequence and have an eventual goal of 100% implementation. They submit curriculum plans, alignment with state standards, and sample lessons for review by the Foundation. Official Core Knowledge Visitation Sites are schools visited by representatives of the Foundation deemed to be model schools for Core Knowledge implementation.
As of April 2006, Core Knowledge schools were 44% public, 35% charter, 15% private, and 6% parochial. Additionally, they were 39% urban, 39% suburban, and 22% rural.
Core Knowledge in the UK
The Core Knowledge Foundation has partnered with the UK educational charity CivitasCivitas
In the history of Rome, the Latin term civitas , according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the cives, or citizens, united by law . It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities on the one hand and rights of citizenship on the other...
to offer Core Knowledge UK
Core Knowledge UK
Core Knowledge UK provides British teachers, parents, grandparents and home educators with the educational resources to help children succeed. Gradually developed and refined by teachers and educational specialists, the Core Knowledge Sequence UK is a year-by-year outline of the specific and shared...
. Civitas
Civitas
In the history of Rome, the Latin term civitas , according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the cives, or citizens, united by law . It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities on the one hand and rights of citizenship on the other...
is in the process of adapting the Core Knowledge Sequence and the Core Knowledge curriculum for use by British schools and home educators . They have also published the first Core Knowledge UK resource book, What Your Year 1 Child Needs to Know that provides teachers, parents, grandparents and home educators with the resources to help children succeed in school and beyond.
Just as in America, for decades there has been no consensus about how or what to teach children in Britain. There's been a focus on skill-based learning, in lieu of knowledge, which is often dismissed as 'rote learning' and irrelevant. E.D. Hirsch, who inspired the original Core Knowledge curriculum, was among the first to see that the retreat from knowledge was misguided. Above all, he showed that to compare 'knowledge' with 'thinking skills' was to make a false contrast. They are not mutually exclusive alternatives. Knowledge does not get in the way of reasoning: it's what we reason with. The British school system is at a new and defining point in its development: the overhaul of the National Curriculum and freedom from the auspices of local authorities for academies and free schools places a great emphasis on individual schools selecting successful curricula for their pupils. The Core Knowledge UK curriculum can be used alongside the National Curriculum. Alternatively, it can also form the backbone of a school's curriculum, providing direction and flexibility to respond to local interests and needs.
Civitas is working with a broad range of stakeholders to adapt the American Core Knowledge Sequence and resources for teachers and parents in Britain. Most of the content in the American Core Knowledge Sequence will remain the same—because knowledge is universal! The most significant change is the replacement of American history and geography with British history and geography. Civitas has also adapted the visual arts selection to reflect widely acknowledged masterpieces on display in galleries that are within reach of primary schools across the UK because it is important for children to be able to experience artwork in their living and breathing context.