The Core Knowledge Sequence

The Core Knowledge Foundation embraces the concept of Core Knowledge by association with the Four S's. These Four S's underscore the logic of Kinard’s content-based curriculum.

Core Knowledge instruction is SEQUENCED because children, and adults for that matter, learn by building upon what they already know. This idea is widely accepted in mathematics instruction, as geometry and algebra concepts would be impossible to learn without the prior knowledge of arithmetic. For example, it is the prior knowledge of addition that supports the learning of the Pythagorean Theorem. At Kinard, this sequenced approach supports learning in language arts, history, science and the fine arts, as well as math.

Core Knowledge content is SPECIFIC. By clearly specifying important knowledge in six areas, the Core Knowledge Sequence presents a practical answer to the question, "What do our children need to know?" And in a bigger sense, "What do adults need to know?" It is the answer to this second question that identifies what it is to be culturally literate. You see, the goal of a Core Knowledge school is to lay the foundation of a culturally literate society. For example, it is clear that children (and adults) should be able to 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? The specific nature of the Core Knowledge Sequence answers these questions and those that acquire a familiarity with this knowledge.

Since the Core Knowledge Sequence contains SPECIFIC content, it must be determined what belongs and what does not. And it must also be considered that content relevant to one generation may not be important to the next. This is why roughly 80% of the content found in the Core Knowledge Sequence is part of a lasting body of knowledge that has been a significant part of American life over time. This is the SOLID feature of the CK Sequence. Current fads or elements of popular culture are not included in Core content, but they someday may be. It is this test of time that will determine whether today's new content will merge into that body of lasting knowledge.

Finally, SEQUENCED, SPECIFIC and SOLID content can support the general state of Core Knowledge only if the knowledge is widely SHARED. This is more easily understood by considering that language literacy is generally seen as the ability to read and write the common, or SHARED, language of everyday communication. Core Knowledge is similar in that it also supports effective communication by demanding a familiarity with the broad variety of references made by speakers and writers engaged in the daily expression of ideas. To be fully literate then means, simply, to be familiar, not only with the mechanics of words and sentences, but also with the broad range of knowledge taken for granted by those with ideas to share. At Kinard, therefore, it is our goal to provide all of our children, regardless of background, with the SHARED knowledge they need to be included in the national conversation of ideas.

Source: www.coreknowledge.org