See examples of Core Knowledge projects on the grade level pages!!

Core Knowledge

Mills Involvement in Core Knowledge® 

During the 1998 - 1999 school year, teachers were exposed to Core Knowledge through In-service and several trips to schools in Lubbock and San Antonio.  Each year, a subject has been implemented into the Curriculum.  Since that time, the staff has gone on to fully implement this supplemental curriculum into every classroom in the school, becoming an Official Core Knowledge® School in January 2004. 

What is Core Knowledge®? 

The Core Knowledge® Sequence is a detailed outline of specific content to be taught in the eight content areas typically addressed in the elementary and middle school settings. The Core Knowledge® Foundation evolved from the writings of Dr. E.D. Hirsch, Jr., professor of English and the Humanities at the University of Virginia. In Dr. Hirsch's best-selling book, Cultural Literacy: What Every American Should Know, research is presented to examine what ills were affecting the curricula in the American school system and what steps could be taken to help right those wrongs. From the research presented in that book and further practice applied in the classroom, came the Core Knowledge® Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to excellence and fairness in early education. The content provided in this supplemental curriculum can be summarized as follows: 

• Shared Knowledge 
  It is important that Americans have a shared body of knowledge. It is from this shared knowledge that cultural literacy and social cohesion can grow. 
• Solid Knowledge 
  Even in this age of changing information in which we live, there exists a body of knowledge that is constant. The Core Knowledge® Sequence helps to provide children with that body of solid, unchanging information. 
• Sequenced Knowledge 
  Research has shown that we learn best by building upon the knowledge that we currently possess. The content found within the Core Knowledge® Sequence helps to ensure that children have a common body of knowledge upon which to build further learning. The Sequence provides the structure necessary within a school to help focus the curriculum, thus eliminating the numbers of gaps and repetitions often found within a child's education. 
• Specific Knowledge 
  In the last decade, there has been a strong focus in the educational world calling for a system of accountability. In response to this call for greater accountability, states have begun the process of writing standards that will help to guide the educational focus. In many instances, these standards are focused upon broad concepts and specific skills. The Core Knowledge® Sequence provides the vehicle through which these concepts and skills can be taught. It provides the specific body of content upon which to hang the concepts and skills. 

To learn more about the Core Knowledge® Foundation, you may visit: www.coreknowledge.org

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Updated 11/08