NCLB Limits Curricula

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

FOCUS ON 2 R's CUTS TIME FOR THE REST, REPORT SAYS
New York Times -- July 25, 2007
by Sam Dillon
<>
Almost half the nation's school districts have significantly decreased 
the daily class time spent on subjects like science, art and history as 
a result of the federal No Child Left Behind law's focus on annual tests 
in reading and math, according to a new report released yesterday.

The report, by the Center on Education Policy, a Washington group that 
studies the law's implementation in school districts nationwide, said 
that about 44 percent of districts have cut time from one or more 
subjects or activities in elementary schools to extend time for longer 
daily math and reading lessons. Among the subjects or activities getting 
less attention since the law took effect in 2002 are science, social 
studies, art and music, gym, lunch and recess, the report said.

The report, based on a survey of nearly 350 of the nation's 15,000 
districts, said 62 percent of school districts had increased daily class 
time in reading and math since the law took effect.

Within a year of the law's implementation, teachers and their 
associations were reporting that schools and districts were suggesting 
or requiring that they spend more time on reading and math to improve 
test scores, and that they cut back time spent on other disciplines.

The narrowing of the nation's elementary school curriculum has been 
significant, according to the report, but may not be affecting as many 
schools as previously thought.

A report that the center issued in March 2006, based on a similar 
survey, gave one of the first measures of the extent of the narrowing 
trend. It said 71 percent of districts had reduced elementary school 
instruction in at least one other subject to make more time for reading 
and mathematics. That finding attracted considerable attention, with 
many groups opposed to the law decrying the trend.

The law's backers, including Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, 
argued that the intensification of English and math instruction made 
good sense on its own because, they said, students who could not read or 
calculate with fluency would flounder in other subjects, too.

The center's new report raises the question of how to explain the 
considerable discrepancy between last year's finding, that 71 percent of 
districts had reduced instructional time in subjects other than math and 
reading, and this year's, which gives the number as 44 percent.

Jack Jennings, the center's president, said in an interview that the 
discrepancy was a result of a change in the wording of the 
questionnaire. Last year's survey asked districts to say whether they 
had reduced instructional time in subjects other than reading and math 
"to a great extent," "somewhat," "minimally" or "not at all." Districts 
that reported even minimally reduced instructional time on other 
subjects were included in the 71 percent, along with districts that 
carried out more substantial changes, Mr. Jennings said.

This year, the center listed English/language arts and math as well as 
social studies, art and music, science and other subjects on the survey, 
and asked districts whether class time in each had increased, stayed the 
same or decreased since the law's enactment. In a second column, the 
survey asked districts to indicate the number of minutes by which 
instructional time had increased or decreased.

Districts that made only small reductions this year, 10 minutes a day or 
less, in the time devoted to courses other than reading or math, may 
have chosen to report that instructional time had remained the same, Mr. 
Jennings said. On last year's survey, the same districts may instead 
have acknowledged reducing the time, while characterizing the reduction 
as minimal, he said.

According to the new survey, the average change in instructional time in 
elementary schools since the law's enactment has been 140 additional 
minutes per week for reading, 87 additional minutes per week for math, 
76 fewer minutes per week for social studies, 75 fewer minutes for 
science, 57 fewer minutes for art and 40 fewer minutes for gym.

In a statement, Secretary Spellings said the report's scope was "too 
limited to draw broad conclusions."

"In fact," she said, "there is much evidence that shows schools are 
adding time to the school day in order to focus on reading and math, not 
cutting time from other subjects."

  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/education/25child.html