After Core Knowledge, What Next?

Some Ideas for K-12 Schools

by Matthew Davis

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From Common Knowledge, Volume 18 Number 2, May 2005
© Core Knowledge Foundation. Not to be copied or reproduced without permission from the Core Knowledge Foundation, 801 E. High Street, Charlottesville, VA  22902.

In recent years, due in part to the growth of the charter school movement, the U.S. has seen a growing number of schools that combine elementary, middle, and high school under a single roof and/or administration. Some of these K–12 schools choose Core Knowledge as their curriculum for the early grades. But this inevitably raises the question

What should such a school do for curriculum after Core Knowledge ends in grade 8?

Staffers at the Core Knowledge Foundation field a lot of questions about this.

For starters, many people want to know if the Foundation intends to produce a high-school curriculum. The answer to that question is no: we do not plan to produce a high school curriculum — at least not in the next few years. The Foundation feels that it needs to devote most of its time and resources to providing increased support for students and teachers in the early grades (Pre-K through grade 8). The Foundation also feels that because romantic and formalist ideas about education — and hostility to rich academic content — are most pronounced in the early grades, that is where our efforts are most needed.

People also ask if Core Knowledge is meant to “lead into” a particular curriculum for grades 9–12. Again, the answer is no. Core Knowledge is not intended to be a “preparatory” curriculum for any specific high-school curriculum. Rather, Core Knowledge should serve as a good preparation for all sorts of different high school curricula. The broad base of knowledge students acquire in Core Knowledge schools through eighth grade should be an excellent foundation for students who follow a college preparation or gifted track, but it should also be suitable for students who follow a general education track or, for that matter, students who decide not to finish high school. Students who have learned the Core Knowledge content in grades K–8 should be able to read newspapers, understand important documents, and participate in democratic political processes. The whole point of the Core Knowledge Sequence is to provide to students the core background knowledge needed by every adult for full participation in the general American society and culture. This is the great democratic ideal that rests at the core of Core Knowledge.

What then should schools do after Core Knowledge? In preparing this article we spoke to staffers at a number of schools that extend beyond eighth grade and asked them how they organize their curriculum for grades 9–12. We also spoke to a handful of curriculum experts. What follows is a summary of ideas and resources for developing a curriculum for grades 9–12. It should be noted that the suggestions and ideas that follow are somewhat miscellaneous. In some cases we have listed curricula that already exist; in other cases we describe general approaches or ideas that could be used to develop or improve a curriculum for the later grades. Some of the curricula described are taught at a single school; others are national or international models implemented on various campuses. The Core Knowledge Foundation does not endorse any of the specific approaches listed below. The various ideas and curricula listed are offered for consideration.

Following State Standards and Guidelines

When we spoke with staffers in K–12 Core Knowledge schools, many of them told us they began their 9–12 curriculum design by consulting state guidelines, then introduced modifications depending on their philosophy, mission, or staff strengths.

Certainly state guidelines would seem to be a logical starting point for many schools. If most students in your state study American History in eleventh grade, it makes sense to leave the subject in that grade so that students who transfer in or out of your school mid-year will suffer a minimum of curricular confusion.

State standards may also offer a starting point for determining which specific topics should be taught in each subject and grade. However, many state standards are too vague to be of much use in this regard. A typical standard might say, “students will learn about major figures and movements in American History” or “students will learn to read and understand poetry,” without specifying which historical figures and movements need to be taught or which poems should be read. Educators who believe in the value of a highly specific curriculum of the sort provided in the Core Knowledge Sequence and Preschool Sequence will want to add detail to their curriculum documents and to flesh out vague state standards. For some suggestions on how to do this, see the sections below.

Adapting Other States’ Standards

If your state has vague standards, unambitious standards, or no standards at all, you might consider looking at other states’ standards. Most state standards are available electronically on the web, and most of the individual standards are as relevant in other states as they are in their own state. (The few that are state-specific can simply be deleted or replaced.) Some curriculum experts we spoke to thought that perhaps there ought to be more borrowing of this sort: if a particular state has done the hard work of developing good standards for a particular subject, why should other states, or individual schools, reinvent the wheel?

But how can one determine which state standards are worth inspecting? One organization which has made a concerted effort to assess state standards is the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. Their website includes reviews of English, history, science, and math standards, all completed within the past few years. Here’s a general rule to follow: Look for standards that avoid generalities and list specific knowledge and procedures that students are supposed to come away with.

A Cultural Literacy Approach

Another way of fleshing out vague state standards would be to extend the “cultural literacy” concept to the high-school years by trying to identify specific names, works, and events for each of the key subject areas. Since teachers in high school tend to be specialists, with considerable knowledge of their subject areas, a sensible way to develop or refine an existing curriculum would be to set up committees based on areas of expertise. The history teachers could work out a list of specific topics and texts (analogous to the standards in the Core Knowledge Sequence for grades K–8) to be covered in history at each grade level. The same process could be repeated with different groups of specialists for other subjects like English, Visual Arts, Music, and Science.

One book that will be of great use to schools undertaking such a procedure is The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (NDCL), now available in a revised edition from the foundation and also in electronic format on the web. The NDCL defines the knowledge that, in the judgment of a wide range of experts, comprises cultural literacy. It identifies a body of shared knowledge that allows educated Americans to communicate with one another and that should be taught in American schools in grades K–12. Indeed, for a short period in the early 1990s the Core Knowledge Foundation distributed the list of entries in an earlier edition of the dictionary, without definitions, under the title “The Twelfth-Grade General Knowledge List.”

At about the same time, the foundation developed the earliest editions of the Core Knowledge Sequence. The Sequence as it now stands includes a great many of the topics from the NDCL/Twelfth-Grade General Knowledge List, but not all of them. One logical way to develop a continuation of Core Knowledge for grades 9–12 would be to begin with the lists of terms in the NDCL and check these lists against the Core Knowledge Sequence. In this way, it will be possible to produce lists of cultural literacy topics in each subject area that are not covered in the Core Knowledge Sequence for grades K–8 — and might be covered in grades 9–12.

Although this approach would require some work, it would not be as hard as it sounds at first, since the NDCL is already organized into subject areas that are similar to the sections in the Sequence, (e.g. the sections on “Proverbs” and “Idioms” in the NDCL correspond with the “Sayings and Phrases” sections in the Sequence). The “Proverbs” and “Idioms” sections could be assigned to an individual staffer who would compare the NDCL listings with the Sequence topics. Such a comparison would reveal that many of the proverbs and idioms in the DCL are listed in the Sequence and taught in the earlier grades in Core Knowledge schools, but many others are not. (Under the letter A alone there are a half dozen proverbs that are not taught in the earlier grades, including “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” “All that glitters is not gold,” and “All’s fair in love and war.”) Once the individual staffer has identified what is not included in the Sequence, a committee could meet to divide the remaining sayings among the four high-school grades.

In the same way, English teachers could use the NDCL listings for literature to identify poems and novels that would be suitable for study in high school. Art and music teachers could comb the “Fine Arts” section for songs, paintings, and movements deserving of study. History and science teachers could use the NDCL lists to assess possible textbooks and to fill in gaps in instruction once textbooks have been identified. For example, if a school chooses an earth sciences program for use in a particular grade, one of the science teachers might be asked to check the topics in the program (or the book index) against the “Earth Sciences” section of the NDCL to see if any important “cultural literacy” concepts are omitted in the program.

Two caveats about this approach should be introduced. First, administrators should bear in mind that the fact that a topic was covered in an earlier grade does not necessarily mean that there is no reason for studying it again in later grades. Perhaps a proverb only needs to be studied once, but most people would agree that American History is a subject that should be studied several times, with increasing levels of sophistication. Second, it seems likely that this approach would be more successful in some areas than others. Although it would seem to be an excellent way to construct a curriculum of sayings and phrases, it would not be an especially sensible way to construct a math curriculum. In such cases, buying a well-sequenced textbook or math program is the most sensible approach.

The Baltimore Curriculum Model

Many Core Knowledge schools make use of the Baltimore Curriculum Plan (BCP) lesson plans for the elementary years. The Baltimore Curriculum Project, funded by the Abell Foundation in Baltimore, Maryland, is a not-for-profit institution organized in 1996. BCP brought together experienced teachers and curriculum writers to develop curricula for Baltimore schools.

BCP lessons are designed to combine Core Knowledge content with Direct Instruction strategies and techniques. The BCP lessons for the elementary years cover literature, history, geography, science, art, and music. They generally follow the Core Knowledge Sequence, although some works discussed in visual arts are based on local museum holdings rather than on the Sequence. Drafts of lessons for grades K–5 are available online here, and additional materials can be purchased.

In 2000, two staffers who had worked on the BCP team, Barbara Lachman and John Blackley, began an independent endeavor to continue the BCP–CKF-style humanities lessons through high school. Lachman and Blackley drew up a scope and sequence for 576 lessons — 144 for each grade, 9–12. The lessons focus on the humanities — English (literature, grammar, and syntax), visual arts, and music, with many interconnections among the sub-fields. Each grade has an overall theme. Ninth grade is concerned with genres — types of literature, of music, of the visual arts. Tenth grade looks at the arts from the standpoint of world history. Eleventh grade focuses on the United States, and twelfth grade on England.

Although the outline for the lessons has been created, the lessons themselves have not been written. Lachman and Blackley would be happy to enter into a consulting arrangement with a school or funding agency to develop these materials. For more details, write to blaclach@rockbridge.net.

The Jefferson Academy Model

Jefferson High School in Broomfield, Colorado, is one Core Knowledge school that has addressed the question of what to do after Core Knowledge. Jefferson designed its “Coordinated Humanities” program for grades 9–12 to continue some features of the Core Knowledge curriculum for grades K–8. For example, the history topics for the high-school grades spiral back to topics that have been studied in less depth in earlier grades, much as the Core Knowledge curriculum for the middle years recapitulates many historical topics of study from the earliest years. In ninth grade, students go back to the beginnings of history by studying pre-history, classical history and history up to about 1650. Tenth graders study the period from 1650 to 1900. Eleventh graders study U.S. History, with an emphasis on the twentieth century. Twelfth graders study U.S. government and economics.

Jefferson calls the curriculum “Coordinated Humanities” because important works from other humanities subjects like literature, art, and music are woven into the history curriculum. Students study literary and artistic works written during the historical periods under consideration.

In developing the curriculum, Jefferson paid close attention to college admissions requirements for Colorado colleges and universities. Most institutions of higher learning in Colorado require a certain number of science and math courses. Jefferson makes sure its graduation requirements meet or exceed the universities’ entrance requirements.

Jefferson requires students to take four years of English and social studies, three years of science and math, and two years of foreign language. The Jefferson curriculum also includes an ambitious technology strand and several electives. For highly-motivated, college-bound students, a number of AP courses are offered, including AP English, AP history classes, AP Calculus, and AP Spanish.

For more details on Jefferson’s curriculum and the lessons learned while developing it, contact Tammy Stringari at tstringa@jeffco.k12.co.us.

The Ridgeview Classical Model

Ridgeview Classical School, a public charter school in Fort Collins, Colorado, is another Core Knowledge school that has addressed the question of what to do after Core Knowledge — and developed an interesting solution. Ridgeview teaches Core Knowledge in grades K–8. Principal Terrence Moore says he is actually glad that Core Knowledge stops at the eighth grade “because there are so many directions it can be taken.” Moore explains that the approach he and his colleagues at Ridgeview take is based on the structure of classical education:

At Ridgeview we take a classical approach to education, K–12. We look at Core Knowledge as the best curriculum out there that corresponds to the grammar stage of the trivium. We continue with Core Knowledge through the eighth grade, but we augment it considerably by the time students are in the middle school/logic stage. Latin is required in grades 6–8. We also go somewhat beyond the Sequence in asking children to work with more original sources in history, and we assign some more difficult literary texts, such as Fahrenheit 451, To Kill a Mockingbird, Jane Austen novels, Dickens’s Hard Times, and even Flannery O’Connor short stories in the seventh and eighth grades. We also beef up the Constitutional unit in the eighth grade with a study of the Founding Fathers.

By the time our students get to high school, they are ready for a classical/great books curriculum in the high school that I think rivals [the curriculum found in] many colleges. Students spend a whole year on Greece and Rome as freshmen in both history and literature. They read whole works of literature rather than selections from an anthology. Our Western Civilization course is really spread out over three years: classical in freshman year, medieval through French Revolution in sophomore, modern European in senior. Juniors take American history, American literature, and American Government/Economics. The sciences probably are not radically different from most other schools, except that we try to teach more theory and history, especially in physics. We try to follow the conceptual approach to math K–12 as recommended in the TIMSS study. Therefore, you will find more history or more effort [directed] at students discovering or deriving equations. We continue the great art program from the Sequence by offering two art electives a semester — one in art history, the other in studio. We also just added moral philosophy as a requirement for graduation. Our seniors must write a senior thesis on a topic in modern literature using the texts of Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra, Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment, and Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. The students must defend the thesis in front of the class, the principal, and any teachers or guests who want to attend.

Ridgeview Classical is therefore doing what the designers of the Core Knowledge Sequence intended — teaching the Sequence as a core and building upon that core. For more information on Ridgeview’s curriculum visit the school’s website here, or contact Ridgeview principal Terrence Moore at tmoore@ridgeviewclassical.com.

The Hillsdale Academy Model

Hillsdale Academy in Michigan has developed a curriculum for grades 9–12. This curriculum includes extensive emphasis on the Western tradition and the Christian tradition. Ninth-grade topics of study include foreign language, Latin, and Greek mythology. Tenth grade features world history combined with Western literature, art, and music. Eleventh grade features American history, literature, art, and music. Twelfth grade topics include economics, English literature, and formal study of logic. The curriculum is available online here.

Advanced Placement

One national curricular model that is widely used in American high schools is the Advanced Placement program of the College Board (AP). AP offers course descriptions and exams for more than thirty subjects. The intention is to provide college-level courses and introduce students to “a universe of knowledge that might otherwise remain unexplored in high school.” Through AP Exams, students have the opportunity to earn credit or advanced standing at most of the nation's colleges and universities.

The fact that all AP courses have matching exams distinguishes the AP program from the single-school curricula just mentioned and provides administrators with a reliable way of tracking not only student performance but also teacher performance.

Although AP is generally considered a gifted/talented curriculum and is generally offered only in eleventh and twelfth grades, a few schools have begun to experiment with broader use of the curriculum. An ambitious experiment involving intensive use of AP courses and exams is currently underway at the BASIS School, a charter school in Arizona. Click here to read a Jay Mathews article from The Washington Post about the BASIS School, its founders, Olga and Michael Block, and its use of AP courses and exams. You can also read previous Jay Mathews columns to learn more about his use of the AP as an index of the level of academic challenge in American High Schools. (Note: if you are not already registered on the Washington Post’s website, you will have to register to read the Jay Mathews articles. Registration is free.)

Even if a school elects to offer AP courses only in grades 11 and 12, AP can serve as a guidepost for developing curriculum, for schools may plan the curriculum in early grades so that students who complete it successfully are well prepared for AP courses.

For information on the AP program, visit the AP website.

International Baccalaureate

Another widely used program that is sometimes mentioned as a good choice after Core Knowledge is International Baccalaureate (IB). IB is an international program, run by a nonprofit organization, and used in more than 1,300 schools in more than 100 countries. Like AP courses, IB courses are keyed to subject exams.

The IB “Middle Years Programme” is a five-year course of study intended for students aged 11–16 years. Areas of study include English, second language, humanities, science, mathematics, technology, art, and physical education. The “Middle Years Programme” is followed by “The Diploma Programme,” which is characterized by IB as “a demanding pre-university course of study that leads to examinations.” The IB website has this to say about the Diploma Programme:

It is designed for highly motivated secondary school students aged 16 to 19. . . . The programme has earned a reputation for rigorous assessment, giving IB diploma holders access to the world’s leading universities. The DP's grading system is criterion-referenced, which means that each student’s performance is measured against well-defined levels of achievement. These are consistent from one examination session to the next and are applied equally to all schools.

As the spelling of “programme” suggests, IB has a strong international flavor. Although IB has traditionally had a reputation for excellence, some curriculum experts we spoke to in preparation for this article suggested that the academic content has gotten weaker and trendier in recent years.

One consultant we spoke with added that IB differs from AP in one significant way. Whereas it is possible to dabble in AP courses, incorporating one or two, or five or ten, into a school’s curriculum, IB requires a more wholehearted commitment: “IB is a complete curriculum . . . It dictates the course content, sequence, and structure, of all the majority of the school’s courses.”

For more details about International Baccalaureate, visit the IB website.

The American Diploma Project

The ADP is a joint project led by Achieve, Inc., the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, and The Education Trust. It aims to restore the value of an American high school diploma by outlining benchmarks that describe the specific content and skills that graduates must have mastered by the time they leave high school if they expect to succeed in postsecondary education or in high-performance, high-growth jobs. As of January 2004, the ADP website included English and Mathematics standards. To learn more, click here.

The Great Books Foundation

The Great Books Foundation does not offer a complete curriculum, but it does offer suggestions for reading selections for grades 9–12 as part of its Junior Great Books Program. It might provide valuable information for those developing a curriculum or looking for supplementary material. Click here for more information.

As I mentioned at the outset the resources covered in this article are somewhat miscellaneous and they, no doubt, are also incomplete. If you have other ideas about what to do after Core Knowledge, please send them to Matthew Davis.

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Last updated: Thu, May 22 2008