The Next 30 Years Substack (February 19, 2025)
Robert Pondiscio (American Enterprise Institute) provides a synopsis of the state of the art in cognitive science as it relates to reading, background knowledge, and academic achievement. Contra the claims of some critics, knowledge-rich curricula are not “merely teaching facts.” Rather, as the researchers who authored Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking: The Knowledge Revival argue, the evidence is overwhelmingly supportive of “a coherent curriculum that systematically builds students’ background knowledge to facilitate deeper understanding and better reading comprehension.”
