E. D. Hirsch Jr. was a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution from 1999 to 2006 and a charter member of the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education (1999–2006).

Hirsch is the founder and chairman of the nonprofit Core Knowledge Foundation and professor emeritus of education and humanities at the University of Virginia.

He is the author of several acclaimed books on education issues including the best-seller Cultural Literacy (Houghton Mifflin) and The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them (Doubleday), which was recognized by the New York Times as one of its "Notable Books of 1996." He also contributed the chapter "Research-Based Education Policy" to What's Gone Wrong in America's Classrooms by Hoover Institution research fellow and fellow Koret Task Force member Williamson Evers.