Mohegan is in one of the nation’s worst neighborhoods: almost all of the students’ families live below the poverty level. But Mohegan is also one of more than 50 schools around the country that have revamped their curricula around a system known as the Core Knowledge plan. The scheme was developed by University of Virginia English professor E. D. Hirsch Jr., author of the 1987 best seller “Cultural Literacy.” Since Core Knowledge was introduced last fall, the results have been dramatic. Reading scores are up by 10 percent; discipline problems are down. “What we’re doing here,” says principal Jeffrey Litt, “is creating an educated child.”
Litt has a very specific idea of what that means. It’s the theory behind Core Knowledge, the common body of information that constitutes the “cultural literacy” of Hirsch’s book. “If you’re going to be a working member of society, you have to have the same background knowledge that others have,” Hirsch says. That knowledge includes history, science, literature and the arts.
Hirsch originally thought of his book as a theoretical work that would inspire teachers. But after it was published, he decided teachers needed more than theory; they needed details of exactly what to teach and when to teach it. In 1990 he got the ball rolling by arranging a national conference attended by 100 educators, including subject specialists and representatives of different ethnic groups. Hirsch was anxious to counteract criticism that his original book represented a white, Eurocentric vision. The result was a series of books, starting last year with “What Your 1st Grader Needs to Know.” The third- and fourth-grade volumes have just been published. In the course of writing the books, Hirsch found that coursework varies wildly, even within the same school. “American teachers pick and choose,” he says. “Each class has a curriculum unto itself.”
In Core Knowledge, children are exposed to a carefully constructed ladder of themes and ideas in all subjects, from math and science to music and art. Each grade builds upon earlier work. Just as arithmetic progresses from computation to measurement and mathematical theory, history moves from simple stories about the Liberty Bell in first grade discussion of the suffragist movement by fourth grade.
At Mohegan, teachers work from thick course outlines based on Hirsch’s work. First graders study the solar system, algebraic concepts and the fundamentals of music. They analyze the Mona Lisa and the ruins of Machu Picchu, in Peru. Fourth graders read “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.” They study Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, the Tang dynasty and the plays of Shakespeare.
Each school in the Hirsch network is expected to include lessons of particular interest to its local community. Mohegan is nearly 100 percent Latino and African-American. Beate Bernheim, the school’s staff developer, says Mohegan’s Core Knowledge program includes a lot of information that could be classified as multicultural, although she adds: “I want the children in Iowa to know about the Harlem renaissance, too.” Mohegan transformed its curriculum without substantial financial assistance from the New York City Board of Education; most of the money came from $40,000 in grants from the Center for Educational Innovation, a nonprofit group run by the Manhattan Institute.
Test scores are one measure of success. Another is what students say about their school. “I like doing the homeworks,” says 6-year-old Elizabeth Sanchez. Her classmate, Danielle Normil, is even more enthusiastic: “I like doing lots of homeworks.” Amanda DeJesus, 7, loves reading so much that she even takes a book along when she goes to the movies (for the bus ride there and back). Litt says Core Knowledge is a mission for him. “The kids in this school were never given what they needed. They didn’t have a fair shot, their slice of the Big Apple.” Now, at least, they have a chance.
