Children at 10 schools who were taught reading using a curriculum designed by the education theorist E.D. Hirsch Jr.’s Core Knowledge Foundation have significantly outperformed students taught at other schools under a variety of other methods, most of which fell under the definition of “balanced literacy,” an approach that was promoted citywide by the former schools chancellor, Joel I. Klein, beginning in 2003.

In a joint hearing of the higher education and K-12 education committees, City Council members asked Department of Education officials how it was possible to assign meaning to an increasing graduation rate if a majority of students remain unprepared for college.

Former school teachers and principals, political aides and the spokeswoman for two Congressional leaders are among the people in Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott’s cabinet.