Core Knowledge Foundation

The CORE for Building KNOWLEDGE Ensuring educational excellence and equity built on strong foundations of shared knowledge. Excellence and Equity in Education The mission of the Core Knowledge Foundation is to advance excellence and equity in education for all children. To achieve this mission, we offer detailed curricular guidance and materials to schools, teachers, parents, and policy makers—to anyone who believes, as we do, that every child in a diverse democracy deserves access to enabling knowledge. By providing open access to an exemplary curriculum for preschool through eighth grade, we endeavor to: create literate citizens able to contribute to a democratic society empower each child to achieve his or her greatest academic potential shrink the excellence gap between the academic achievement of American students and that of their international peers from high-performing countries shrink the fairness gap between the academic achievement of American students living in poverty and that of their economically advantaged peers. The Core Knowledge Sequence What do students need to know? To answer that question, we undertook a long process of research and consensus-building to develop the Core Knowledge Sequence. The Core Knowledge Sequence is a detailed outline of recommended content knowledge and skills to be taught in language arts, history and geography, visual arts, music, mathematics, and science from preschool through grade eight. The Sequence complements the general skills and objectives typically found in state and local curriculum guides. Find out more about the Core Knowledge Sequence—what it is, how it was developed, and how you can use it in your classroom, school, or district. The Blueprint for Knowledge-Based Schooling The Core Knowledge Sequence provides the blueprint for knowledge-based schooling. Knowledge-based schooling puts the emphasis of early education on teaching and learning an enabling core of broadly shared knowledge—enabling because it builds strong foundations for later learning and opens doors to effective participation and mutual understanding in the wider society. Learn more about the thinking behind knowledge-based schooling, read about schools using Core Knowledge, and listen to our podcast Building Knowledge, which dives deeper into the topic. Resources for Knowledge-Based Schooling We develop content-rich resources to support knowledge-based schooling in preschool through grade eight. Many of our books and materials are available at no cost for non-commercial use. Others may be purchased from our store. By making the Core Knowledge Sequence and other curricular materials freely available, we work to put into practice the principle that every child in a democracy should have access to shared, enabling knowledge and language.