In 1987, University of Virginia Professor E. D. Hirsch Jr. proposed a national return to "core knowledge" in his book, "Cultural Literacy." He advocated that students be taught a core body of cultural facts which would help them later achieve success in their careers. He thought the process would be especially helpful to poor children reared in culturally deficient environments.

To assist educators, Hirsch produced a Core Knowledge Sequence -- a curriculum guideline for grades one to six.

A decade later, Hirsch's model may be at the head of the class in an evaluation of 26 educational approaches commissioned by five groups, including the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, which is to appear in December.

• Hirsch's approach -- which uses acclaimed literature, old sayings, famous people, landmark events and the functions of government to instill cultural knowledge -- differs from education ideas that have dominated the Twentieth Century, stressing experience and skill based on the theories of educator John Dewey.

• Sam Stringfield, chief researcher for the Center for School Organization at Johns Hopkins University, has compared the test results of various reform models and says that "core knowledge "seems to work.

• Based on a four-year study of schools that employ "core knowledge" in Maryland, Stringfield reports that Hirsch's techniques "produced gains in five out of six sites."

• Today, 800 elementary schools in 44 states use the Hirsch approach.

Aided by the Core Knowledge Foundation in Charlottesville, Va., the first school to come aboard was Three Oaks Elementary in Fort Myers, Fla. -- and Maryland's Calvert County was the first school district to apply it to all elementary schools.

Stringfield reports that when a school volunteers to use the curriculum and there is enthusiasm, "they usually get a pretty solid" testing result.