Core Knowledge and Project ACHIEVE - Together !

What is Core Knowledge?
Core Knowledge is a school reform movement, formally incorporated in 1986, based on the research and work of Dr. E. D. Hirsch, Jr.  The "Core Knowledge" movement is based on the premise that a grade-by-grade core of common learning is necessary to ensure a sound and fair elementary education. The movement is based on a large body of research in cognitive psychology, as well as a careful examination of several of the world's fairest and most effective school systems. Professor Hirsch has argued that, for the sake of academic excellence, greater fairness, and higher literacy, early schooling should provide a solid, specific, shared core curriculum in order to help children establish strong foundations of knowledge.

After wide consultation, the content of this core curriculum has been outlined in two books — the Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence and the Core Knowledge Sequence, K–8 — that state explicitly what students should learn at each grade level.  Currently, hundreds of schools and thousands of dedicated educators are participating in this school reform movement throughout the United States.

To Travel to the Core Knowledge website CLICK HERE

The Core Knowledge/Project ACHIEVE Partnership

Core Knowledge's Preschool Curriculum adopted Project ACHIEVE's Stop & Think Social Skills Program in early 2000.  In 2005, Core Knowledge and Project ACHIEVE formalized its partnership such that Project ACHIEVE's Positive Behavioral Self-Management System (PBSS) approach is now an explicit foundation to Core Knowledge's Social Competency and Social Skills component within its preschool curriculum.  This partnership has resulted in a number of updated and new Core Knowledge products--products that are available to any Project ACHIEVE school.

In early 2007, this partnership began to expand such that Project ACHIEVE's PBSS approaches will be available to Core Knowledge's Kindergarten through Grade 8 schools, broadening Core Knowledge exemplary emphasis on academics and effective instruction into the complementary areas of social skills and classroom management.  Once again, it is expected that this expansion will result in a number of new products for both Core Knowledge and Project ACHIEVE schools.

Core Knowledge/Project ACHIEVE Links
Project ACHIEVE is proud of its partnership with Core Knowledge, and it strongly recommends that Project ACHIEVE schools consider the benefits of the Core Knowledge approach to curriculum and instruction--either by reviewing Core Knowledge's high quality materials and/or by becoming a Core Knowledge school.

For more information on Core Knowledge CLICK HERE
For more information on Project ACHIEVE's Core Knowledge materials CLICK HERE
For more information on Core Knowledge's Project ACHIEVE materials CLICK HERE

The Benefits of Core Knowledge

For Students
Provides a broad base of knowledge and a rich vocabulary
Motivates students to learn and creates a strong desire to learn more
Provides the knowledge necessary for higher levels of learning and helps build confidence

For the School
Provides an academic focus and encourages consistency in instruction
Provides a plan for coherent, sequenced learning from grade to grade
Promotes a community of learners — adults and children
Becomes an effective tool for lesson planning and communication among teachers and with parents
Guides thoughtful purchases of school resources

For the School District
Provides a common focus to share knowledge and expertise
Decreases learning gaps caused by mobility
Encourages cooperation among schools to provide quality learning experiences for all students
Provides a strong foundation of knowledge for success in high school and beyond

For Parents and the Community
Provides a clear outline of what children are expected to learn in school
Encourages parents to participate in their children's education both at home and in school
Provides opportunities for community members to help obtain and provide instructional resources

S.A.F.E. --  The Strategic Alliance for Education

The Strategic Alliance Partners:

• Project ACHIEVE
• JP Associates, Inc.
• The Haberman Educational Foundation  

About JP Associates, Inc.

JP Associates, Inc. partners with schools and districts across the country to provide intensive professional development for scientifically based reading programs including Direct Instruction, classroom management, and the development of school-based teacher leaders and coaches.  For 20 years, JP’s staff of highly-experienced and expertly trained School Improvement Specialists has worked with a wide range of schools to develop internal capacity for ongoing, site-based professional development that directly impacts student learning.

The JP Professional Development Program, in which all School Improvement Specialists must participate, includes three intensive trainings a year. This ensures our staff is up to date on all of the latest developments in the field and that you get the best trained staff of consultants in the country. In addition to instructional methodology, each JP School Improvement Specialist is also trained in behavioral techniques.

Founded in 1989, JP has trained thousands of teachers and site-based coaches in the selection, assessment, and delivery of scientifically based literacy curricula with a focus on Direct Instruction as a tool to dramatically accelerate the academic progress of every student.

JP’s services include assistance in selecting effective intervention curricula, developing programs for responsive student assessment and grouping, student placement, pre-service training, on-site side-by-side coaching, customized after-school training sessions/workshops, site-based curriculum coach development (including our acclaimed Institute for Team Leadership), grant-writing, leadership team development, classroom/behavior management, and administrator training and coaching.

All of JP’s School Improvement Specialists and the majority of the executive management are former classroom teachers and administrators with a wide range of educational experiences from preschool to college instruction, administration, research, and community outreach.  All School Improvement Specialists hold a degree in education and many maintain active teaching credentials in their home states.  JP School Improvement Specialists’ degrees range from bachelor’s degrees to doctorates in curriculum/instruction and educational leadership.

As may be expected, the majority of JP’s partner sites begin their partnership with JP as a result of high populations of under-achieving students.  In most cases, this is coupled with an extremely high poverty rate and a very racially/ethnically diverse student population.  Since schools facing these challenges are JP’s primary partners, the majority of our School Improvement Specialists have been recruited from teaching experiences in similarly challenged schools.  This gives them an authentic understanding of the challenges faced by educators in racially/ethnically diverse and high-poverty settings.

In addition to JP’s individual work with schools implementing SBRR-based literacy curricula, JP is part of a national strategic network of providers including the Consortium on Reading Excellence (CORE), Project ACHIEVE, the Haberman Foundation, and other professional development concerns that address virtually all areas of academic and social development.

About The Haberman Educational Foundation

The Haberman Educational Foundation, Inc. is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 based in Houston, TX, and was chartered in 1994 to promote and disseminate the research of Dr. Martin Haberman.

The unified and single goal of the Haberman Educational Foundation is to teach and implement research-based models for identifying teachers and principals, particularly educators who serve students at risk and in poverty.

The Haberman Educational Foundation, Inc. staff and its Advisory Board of nationally recognized educational leaders believe that for the 15 million children and youth in America who live in poverty, having good teachers and principals is a high-stakes endeavor. Good teachers could give the 15 million children at least an opportunity to pursue the American dream.

For this reason, teachers and principals have to be good. To that end and for 40 years, Dr. Martin Haberman, Distinguished Professor, University Wisconsin, Milwaukee, developed, researched, refined, and replicated research in the area of teacher and principal selection. His pioneering efforts are now being highlighted in 160 school districts all across America, especially in areas where there are large numbers of children at risk.

For More Information About

SAFE: The Strategic Alliance for Education and its Professional Development and Technical Assistance Services CLICK HERE

Equity Alliance at ASU

Equity Alliance at ASU represents a set of funded programs that promote equity, access, participation and outcomes for all students. Recently, we were awarded a federal grant to serve in part as the Region IX Equity Assistance Center. Our job is to support state and local school systems in Arizona, California and Nevada with equity related issues. We work with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), Department of Justice and Department of Education.

Building on educational theory, cutting-edge research, and the momentum of the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRESt), the National Center for Urban School Improvement (NIUSI), and NIUSI-LeadScape, the ambition of the Equity Alliance at ASU is to promote equity, access, and participation in education. We do this by supporting the capacity of state and local school systems to provide high-quality, effective opportunities to learn for all students, and to reduce disparities in academic achievement.

The Equity Alliance at ASU embraces the fact that well-educated and supported educators are at the heart of educational equity, and we work to build capacity at all levels in order to bring about systemic and sustainable change that delivers positive outcomes for all students.

We acknowledge that building the capacity of educational systems involves broadening our view of who leaders are and what leadership means. The Equity Alliance at ASU works with principals, teachers, parents, community members, and students to create the conditions necessary for change to occur and inclusive practices to take hold. We are committed to inclusive education, value diversity, push the boundaries of traditional thinking, and lead by example.

For More Information About

Equity Alliance at ASU CLICK HERE