The Rise of Reading and Math

Schools are teaching more reading and math, and pushing aside other subjects. So says the New York Times in this Page One article today. The article is based on a study by the Center for Education Policy that surveyed schools nationally. I can't tell if the center has taken a position on the narrowing of the curriculum. The study gets released Tuesday and I'll try to remember to find out.

At Martin Luther King Jr. Junior High School in Sacramento, about 150 of the school's 885 students spend five of their six class periods on math, reading and gym,
leaving only one 55-minute period for all other subjects.

About 125 of the school's lowest-performing students are barred from
taking anything except math, reading and gym, a measure that Samuel Harris, a
former lieutenant colonel in the Army who is the school's principal, said was
draconian but necessary. "When you look at a kid and you know he can't read,
that's a tough call you've got to make," Mr. Harris said.

The increasing focus on two basic subjects has divided the nation's
educational establishment. Some authorities, including Secretary of Education
Margaret Spellings, say the federal law's focus on basic skills is raising
achievement in thousands of low-performing schools. Other experts warn that by
reducing the academic menu to steak and potatoes, schools risk giving bored
teenagers the message that school means repetition and drilling.

"Only two subjects? What a sadness," said Thomas Sobol, an education
professor at Columbia Teachers College and a former New York State education commissioner. "That's like a violin student who's only permitted to play scales, nothing else, day after day, scales, scales, scales. They'd lose their zest for music."

But officials in Cuero, Tex., have adopted an intensive approach and
said it was helping them meet the federal requirements. They have doubled the
time that all sixth graders and some seventh and eighth graders devote to
reading and math, and have reduced it for other subjects.

"When you only have so many hours per day and you're behind in some
area that's being hammered on, you have to work on that," said Henry Lind, the
schools superintendent. "It's like basketball. If you can't make layups, then
you've got to work on layups."

Of course, not all schools are doing this, and some say it's necessary. But the article argues in its structure that this is a bad trend. One school has to do this because only 15 percent of its students are proficient at grade level in math.

I'm curious to hear what people think. Read the article for a more complete look.