The group willing to take on the issue forcefully is Core Knowledge, which is working with 27 Head Start classes in the Arkansas Delta. Over a two-year period, Core Knowledge will deliver 130 hours of training to the instructors. In fact, visitors probably couldn't see any obvious differences in Core Knowledge preschools, said Linda Bevilacqua, who oversees the program there. The Foundation sets learning goals for each month for each age group. The January guide, for example, lays out which nursery rhymes to read, which verbal skills to emphasize, which music to play while children move to music and which art work to talk about.
Children still play, but there is definitely a focus on developing language skills.