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E.D. Hirsch Jr. is the founder of the Core Knowledge Foundation and professor emeritus of education and humanities at the University of Virginia. He is the author of several acclaimed books on education issues.

By E. D. Hirsch, Jr., and Lisa Hansel

“First Graders and Mesopotamia? New York’s model lesson plan asks too much, critics say.” And so by implication says the article with that title that ran in this paper last week.

That Mesopotamia lesson is part of a program called Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA). Right now, it’s being put up on EngageNY.org for schools (and parents) to download for free. To find out if it asks too much, you could trust critics who’ve never used it, you could give it a try with your own kids, or you could listen to the kids in the program. Last year, PBS’s John Merrow wondered if CKLA was too much, so he visited a school in Queens that was piloting it (you can see his report, which aired on PBS’s NewsHour, here.). Noting that “nobody told these first-graders” that the content was too hard for them, Merrow asked what their favorite books were. First graders called out: “the solar system,” “the skeleton,” and “an archaeologist book.” The result of the pilot test? The 10 CLKA pilot schools significantly outperformed the 10 control schools.

Click to read entire article. Watch an interview with ED Hirsch click here.