Overview:

E.D. Hirsch, Jr., founder and chairman of the Core Knowledge Foundation and professor emeritus at the University of Virginia, is an esteemed voice in education reform, championing equal educational opportunity. Originally a literary critic and English professor, Hirsch was prompted towards education reform when he observed the impact of students’ background knowledge on their reading comprehension.

This led to his concept of cultural literacy, which asserts that effective reading comprehension requires extensive background knowledge in addition to basic decoding skills. Hirsch established the Core Knowledge Foundation in 1986 and quickly gained renown with his book, “Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know,” which topped the New York Times bestseller list for over six months. His subsequent publications, including “How to Educate a Citizen: The Power of Shared Knowledge to Unify a Nation,” continually advocate for the use of common, coherent, and sequenced curricula in public schools, particularly from preschool to grade 8.

Core Knowledge Foundation: https://www.linkedin.com/company/core-knowledge-foundation/