No Child Left Behind Act Narrowing America’s Curriculum

When the No Child Left Behind Act was implemented, the expectation was that the renewed emphasis on reading and mathematics would encourage schools to spend more time on those two subject areas. However, many expected that an unintended consequence of that focus would be that schools would in turn spend less time on other subjects.

Elementary Schools
That prediction is now taking place across America. A study conducted by the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy (CEP) indicates that nearly two-thirds of elementary schools surveyed reported they had increased the amount of time spent on reading and mathematics since the law was enacted in 2001.

In those districts reporting an increase, elementary schools were spending an average of 37 minutes more each day on either reading or math or a combination of the two subjects. In addition, nearly 50% of the schools that had made those adjustments had in turn reported cutting approximately 30 minutes in total from other subjects, including social studies, science, art, music and gym.

Middle and High School Levels
At the middle school level, about 25% reported an increase in time spent on reading or the subject referred to as English. About 20% reported increasing time on math. However, middle schools did not indicate that the increased time in those two areas created cuts in other subjects.

The logic being expressed is that middle schools may be incorporating reading into classes such as social studies and mathematics into science. Some schools did report cutting special projects and assemblies to gain the additional time.

At the high school level, students are taking more math and science classes but the reason for that increase may be attributed more to additional graduation requirements being implemented in various states rather than as a result of NCLB. The recent CEP study fails to note whether or not the additional time on reading and math at the high school level is coming at the expense of other subjects.

However, a separate federal report indicates that the higher graduation standards are having unintended consequences at the high school level as well. That report indicates a reduction in high school student time spent on vocational education.

NCLB the Cause
Experts in the field were quick to point out the rationale for the trends. Brian Stecher, a social scientist at the Rand Corporation states, “It shows that the stronger the threat of sanctions, the more the curriculum narrows.”

As has been well-documented, schools currently face sanctions if they miss the yearly testing benchmarks in those two subject areas. And the president of CEP Jack Jennings also weighs in with a key aspect of the issue. “Clearly what this is showing is, what schools are held accountable for is what they put the emphasis on,” said Jennings.

All proponents of school reform, especially those who advocate for NCLB, feel very strongly that one of the best ways to increase student performance is to increase student literacy levels. Certainly, in our current school classrooms, reading serves as a basis for much of how knowledge is acquired. That is just one issue that is problematic for children.

A focus on learning through reading denies another key way to learn new things. Hands-on, activity-based learning is yet another approach to use with students who learn better by doing. For certain youngsters, reading is the more challenging way to learn new things. In fact, if reading at a specific level is considered critical then that topic could be taught as a by-product of learning by doing. Voactional and technical schools provide such options all the time.

Should not be an Either-Or Proposition
In addition, the greatest failure of NCLB is its lack of a comprehensive approach towards improving student performance. The idea that testing students and then labeling schools as failures if the students do not make adequate progress does not directly address any of the most difficult aspects of school reform.

Instead of making the issue of time spent on reading and mathematics an either-or proposition, the issue of the amount of time students should spend in school, both in terms of the length of the school day and school year, should be discussed and a specific recommendation put forth. The school day and school year in America are simply too short for teachers to be able to get all of the instruction time in that is expected of them.

If Congress were to address just that one specific issue formally, it would impact student learning far more than the current concept that attempts to shame schools if certain students do not meet academic expectations.