Core knowledge in American schools: A portrait of contemporary curricular reform.

Abstract

This is a study of contemporary school reform in America. The object of the study is the Core Knowledge Movement, a content oriented curriculum reform initiative advocated by E.D. Hirsch Jr. and promoted by the Core Knowledge Foundation he founded. The study seeks to assess the potential of the movement as viable education reform, as described in an embedded case study. The elements of the case study are the Core Knowledge Foundation and three elementary schools in which the curriculum has become policy. The research seeks to assess the potential of the Core Knowledge Movement by examining its organizational infrastructure and its implementation in the three schools. The study is framed by reform theories derived from the literature. In particular, nineteen criteria for enduring education reform are applied to the analysis of the three Core Knowledge schools. The study concluded that the Core Knowledge Movement met, to a significant degree, all nineteen reform criteria, satisfying some more than others. The three schools were found to be continuously committed to implementing the Core Knowledge course of studies and to have been revitalized and accepted by their respective school communities as a result. However, because the Core Knowledge Movement is a grassroots movement, spreading from school to school through the initiatives of parents, teachers, and principals, doubt is cast on the potential of the movement to become policy in districts, states, or nationally. The study concluded with suggestions for further research to better assess the evolution of the Core Knowledge Movement and to apply its lessons in other settings.