What is Core Knowledge?
An Idea . . .
that for the sake of academic excellence, greater fairness,
and higher literacy, elementary and middle schools need a
solid, specific, shared core curriculum in order to help children
establish strong foundations of knowledge, grade by grade.
A
Guide to Specific, Shared Content . . .
as outlined in the Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence and the
Core Knowledge Sequence (K–8) (a grade-by-grade guide
to important knowledge) and supported in Core Knowledge resources,
including the What Your Kindergartner – Sixth Grader
Needs To Know book series.
A
School Reform Movement . . .
taking shape in hundreds of schools where educators have committed
themselves to teaching important skills and the Core Knowledge
content they share within grade levels, across districts,
and with other Core Knowledge schools across the country.
Core Knowledge
Is:
Four S's - Solid, Sequenced, Specific, Shared
Solid
Many people say that knowledge is changing so fast that
what students learn today will soon be outdated. While current
events and technology are constantly changing, there is nevertheless
a body of lasting knowledge that should form the core of a
Preschool-Grade 8 curriculum. Such solid knowledge includes,
for example, the basic principles of constitutional government,
important events of world history, essential elements of mathematics
and of oral and written expression, widely acknowledged masterpieces
of art and music, and stories and poems passed down from generation
to generation.
Sequenced
Knowledge builds on knowledge. Children learn new knowledge
by building on what they already know. Only a school system
that clearly defines the knowledge and skills required to
participate in each successive grade can be excellent and
fair for all students. For this reason, the Core Knowledge
Sequence provides a clear outline of content to be learned
grade by grade. This sequential building of knowledge not
only helps ensure that children enter each new grade ready
to learn, but also helps prevent the many repetitions and
gaps that characterize much current schooling (repeated units,
for example, on pioneer days or the rain forest, but little
or no attention to the Bill of Rights, or to adding fractions
with unlike denominators).
Specific
A typical state or district curriculum says, "Students
will demonstrate knowledge of people, events, ideas, and movements
that contributed to the development of the United States."
But which people and events? What ideas and movements? In
contrast, the Core Knowledge Sequence is distinguished by
its specificity. By clearly specifying important knowledge
in language arts, history and geography, math, science, and
the fine arts, the Core Knowledge Sequence presents a practical
answer to the question, "What do our children need to
know?"
Shared
Literacy depends on shared knowledge. To be literate means,
in part, to be familiar with a broad range of knowledge taken
for granted by speakers and writers. For example, when sportscasters
refer to an upset victory as "David knocking off Goliath,"
or when reporters refer to a "threatened presidential
veto," they are assuming that their audience shares certain
knowledge. One goal of the Core Knowledge Foundation is to
provide all children, regardless of background, with the shared
knowledge they need to be included in our national literate
culture.
Copyright
©2002 by the Core Knowledge Foundation; used by permission,
all rights reserved.
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