E.D. Hirsch, Jr. is the founder of the Core Knowledge Foundation and professor emeritus of education and humanities at the University of Virginia. For decades, he has been a leading voice for equality of educational opportunity, making the case that all children deserve access to the shared knowledge that enables full participation in civic and economic life.
Earlier in his career, Dr. Hirsch was a highly regarded literary critic and professor of English. His transition to education reform began when, while researching written compositions at two Virginia colleges, he discovered that students’ ability to comprehend a text depended not only on its readability but—more crucially—on their background knowledge.
This insight led to his groundbreaking concept of cultural literacy—the understanding that reading comprehension requires not just decoding skills but also broad, shared knowledge. In 1986, he founded the Core Knowledge Foundation to advance this vision. The following year, he published Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, which spent more than six months on the New York Times bestseller list.
Dr. Hirsch’s influential books include The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them, The Knowledge Deficit, The Making of Americans, American Ethnicity and Shared Knowledge, and How to Educate a Citizen: The Power of Shared Knowledge to Unify a Nation. His most recent work, The Ratchet Effect, explores how building a coherent, knowledge-rich curriculum can reverse the downward spiral of inequitable outcomes and strengthen democratic society.
Throughout his career, Dr. Hirsch has championed the idea that a common, sequenced curriculum, particularly in preschool through eighth grade, can unite communities, narrow achievement gaps, and prepare all children for informed citizenship.
Royalty earnings from all Core Knowledge books edited by Dr. Hirsch go to support the nonprofit Core Knowledge Foundation. He receives no remuneration from the Foundation.
ARTICLES BY E. D. HIRSCH, JR.
The following links take you to a selection from among the many articles, essays, and speeches of Core Knowledge founder E. D. Hirsch, Jr. (Each link opens a new web page or PDF document.)
Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Spring 2017
American Educator, Winter 2016-2017
The Atlantic, September 21, 2016
Remarks on Receiving the James Bryant Conant Award, July 10, 2012
American Educator, Spring 2008
Presentation to the 18th Education Trust National Conference, Washington, D.C., November 9, 2007
American Educator, Spring 2006
An essay that first appeared in Education Week, February 2, 2000
Convocation address, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, October 6, 1999