Reading the NJ Core Content Standards through the eyes of E.D. Hirsch’s Cultural Literacy

1. Reading the NJ Core Content Standardsthrough the eyes of E.D. Hirsch’sCultural Literacy By: Kristen Purich Dee Ross Alyson Severino David Zwirz

2. What is Cultural Literacy? • Cultural Literacy refers to the concept that citizens in a democracy should possess a common body of knowledge that allows them to… • communicate effectively • govern themselves • share in their society's rewards

3. Who is E.D. Hirsch? • An American educator & academic literary critic. • Best known for his work on cultural literacy, ‘What Every American Needs to Know’, 1987. • He co-wrote The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy 1988 (with Joseph F. Kett and James Trefil) and was the main editor of A First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy 1989. • Born in March 22, 1928, Memphis, Tenn., U.S

4. Hirsch’s Literary Stance • Two part curriculum • Extensive- Covering all shared information • Intensive- Specific areas of knowledge • This two-part curriculum avoids the idea that all children should study identical materials. • It resists the idea of a core curriculum • Eg: All high school graduates should study Romeo and Juliet.

5. Hirsch vs. John Dewey • Set a higher bar for Americans… beyond basic reading + writing • Opposed the long-accepted view of educator John Dewey, who stressed experiential learning. • Hirsch maintained that early education should focus on content and that all students could achieve cultural literacy. • Hirsch offered in his book 5,000 terms that he thought culturally literate Americans should recognize.

6. Hirsch Affecting Politics and Globalization • The argument drew initial support from officials in President Ronald Reagan's administration, and educational policy-makers in the 1980s and 1990s • Hirsch’s ideas create a higher level of economic competitiveness, which will strengthen the US global market

7. Theory of Learning • Hirsch states that "learning builds on learning" (Hirsch, 1996) • The more that a person knows, the more they will be able to learn. • He argues that learning requires effort, regardless of any natural abilities. • Drill, practice, and repetition are necessary to learn. • Hirsch believes that the current practice of hands-on learning and critical thinking should be replaced by a common core curriculum of content knowledge. • He favors whole group instruction as opposed to individualized education plans.

8. Three Principles Important in Improving Reading Comprehension • Fluency allows the mind to focus on comprehension • accurate and quick decoding aids understanding • A broader vocabulary will increase comprehension and aid in further learning • Domain knowledge allows people to determine the appropriate meaning of words and understand the combination of words.

9. Broad Shallow Knowledge • Hirsch feels cultural literacy is shallow and true education is deep • But broad shallow knowledge is the best route to deep knowledge. • Hirsch argues that broad knowledge enables us to read and learn effectively and has the best guarantee for us to keep reading and learning. • True literacy opens doors for all • Knowledge, Economic Success, Reduces Ignorance for other People & Cultures

10. Reading: CCCS + Hirsch • Hirsch feels we should start early… in preschool. • NJCCCS start with first grade. • Hirsch believes students need to understand surface meaning of words to understand what someone is saying. • "To grasp words on a page we have to have background knowledge". • NJ CCCS 3.1.12.F.1 Use knowledge of word origins and word relationships, as well as historical and literary context clues, to determine the meanings of specialized vocabulary. • Goes along with how Hirsch feels. • Successful reading requires a knowledge of shared, taken for granted information that is not set down on the page.

11. Preschool Teaching & Learning Expectations • According to Hirsch, in the early years there is virtually no difference in ability and performance regardless of socio-economic background. This is the time to begin cultural literacy. • NJ has adopted the Standards of Quality for Preschool. • Language Arts/Literacy Expectation #3 states that children demonstrate emergent reading skills • Language Arts/Literacy Expectation #4 states that children demonstrate emergent writing skills

12. Current Educational Trends vs. Hirsch • IEP’s represent another component of today’s schools that does not concur with Hirsch’s ideas. • Hirsch strongly favored whole group instruction over more individualized instruction. • Because IEP’s often utilize modifications, such as “Do not mark off for spelling errors,” or “Extended time for written or lengthy assignments,” whole group instruction becomes difficult and at times impossible in today’s schools, much to the disagreement of Hirsch’s principles and teachings. • Although IEP’s include the core curriculum content standards for each specific subject, they can become so modified that the content often becomes altered, disturbing the goal of true literacy.

13. Current Educational Trends vs. Hirsch • Differentiated Instruction is a major part of this trend: • Students differ in their multiple intelligences and learning styles • Classrooms in which students are active learners, decision makers and problem solvers are more effective than those in which students with a "one-size-fits-all" approach • "Covering information" is not the primary goal, but the emphasis is extracting meaning from the lesson. • The key to a DI classroom is that all students are regularly offered choices and students are matched with tasks compatible with their individual learner profiles. • Ideas of Hirsch and DI= Do Not Align • Hirsch sees the act of “Covering information” as a vital lesson to encourage culturally literate citizens and teach essential background information.

14. Rote Learning • Rote learning: a technique which favors memorization of information over deep understanding, • Recently, rote memory learning has been replaced with DI. • Hirsch on rote learning: • “Our current distaste for memorization is more pious than realistic. At an early age when their memories are most retentive, children have an almost instinctive urge to learn specific local traditions…to thrive, a child needs to learn the traditions of the particular human society and culture it is born into. Like children everywhere, American children need traditional information at a very early age” (Hirsch, 1996)

15. Works Cited Hirsch, E.D. (1996). The schools we need and why we don't have them. New York, NY: Doubleday. Retrieved March 18, 2009 from http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Hirsch.html Hirsch, E.D. Reading Comprehension Requires Knowledge—of Words and the World. American Educator Spring 2003. Retrieved from http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/spring2003/AE_SPRNG.pdf Hirsch, E. D. Jr. Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. Kates, James (2009). Answers.com. Retrieved March 18, 2009, Web site: http://www.answers.com/topic/cultural-literacy Moses, Wilson Jeremiah. Afrotopia: The Roots of African American Popular History. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. The New Jersey Department of Education, New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards. Retrieved March 20, 2009 , from http://www.state.nj.us/education/ece/code/expectations/expectations.htm What is differentiated instruction?. Retrieved March 21, 2009, from Sacramento City Unified School District Web site: http://www.scusd.edu/gate_ext_learning/differentiated.htm World News, (2006). Eric Donald Hirsch, USA. Retrieved March 18, 2009, from World People's Blog Web site: http://word.world-citizenship.org/wp-archive/941 From lecture 9 notes--the theory behind the dictionary