Core Knowledge^® Research

Paul H. Cale Elementary

Albemarle County, VA

Results:

A statistical analysis commissioned by the Albemarle County Schools reported results that tend to confirm the Core Knowledge idea that a strong core curriculum will especially benefit disadvantaged students. In the graph below, the diagonal lines represent the best prediction of the percentage of low-income students who would score above the 50th national percentile on standardized tests (in this case, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills). The dots on the graph show that while most of the district's elementary schools performed within their predicted range, Cale Elementary performed significantly above what would be predicted by the socioeconomic composition of its students.

"We can show that for the last four years, which is since we implemented Core Knowledge, our scores for all students have consistently gone up, especially in social studies, science and math. The scores surprise us because they constantly go up. We are scoring well above the national norms in social studies, above the 75th percentile. That is very good for our diverse population. These are not all middle-class kids. Half of our students taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills each year come from low-income homes. Our scores defy what you might expect."

Gerald Terrell, Principal

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Last updated: Fri, May 23 2008