The core curriculum movement assumes there is an uniform body of knowledge that all students should know. Presumably, this curriculum will produce educated and responsible graduates for the community. Unfortunately, there often isn't much consensus on who is the community and who speaks for the community. In fact, there is a growing conflict about what topics a core curriculum should contain. Some advocates would limit the core to basic academic subjects like English, math, science, and government, while others would include general learner outcomes such as problem solving, critical thinking, teamwork, and community service.
All students learn a common set of knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Though academic content remains the primary focus of the core curriculum, some core teaching is moving toward application and problem solving. Rather than focusing on discovery, teaching revolves around imparting a predetermined body of knowledge. The core curriculum method easily lends itself to traditional testing based on information recall, as well as the use of conventional letter grades. However, a core curriculum doesn't preclude the use of authentic assessment and portfolios. The content on this page was written by On Purpose Associates.