Electives Getting the Boot? It Depends on Where and What

Backers of time-honored electives ranging from band to consumer sciences fear they are being crowded out of the school day as districts, facing tougher state and federal requirements, devote more time and money to core academic subjects.

“It’s narrowing the focus of schools and forcing a number of subjects to the sideline,” said Bob Morrison, the chairman of the Music for All Foundation, a nationwide advocacy organization. Mr. Morrison calls the combination of academic and financial pressures on districts “a double-edged sword.”

Electives’ place during the school day has periodically been squeezed since the current movement for standards-based improvement began in the late 1980s. Those demands ratcheted up again with passage of the federal No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. Although most of the testing mandated by the federal law is at the elementary and middle school levels, students are assessed at least once in mathematics and reading during...