Stop the Narrowing of the Curriculum by ‘Right-Sizing’ School Time

By S. Paul Reville

These days, the loudest rallying cry against the No Child Left Behind Act, and standards-based reform in general, is the persistent claim that the law’s reliance on testing and emphasis on reading and math are driving a “narrowing of the curriculum.” According to this view, core subjects like English and mathematics are being overemphasized at the expense of other subjects, and of educating the “whole child.” The implied antidote is to lower the bar: have less, or softer, performance accountability and a lower standard to take the pressure off educators, reduce the time spent on core subjects, and make room for other important parts of the curriculum, such as the arts, foreign languages, and social studies.

The logic of this well-intentioned response to a legitimate problem has two flaws: It assumes that students can go forward and be successful at the next stage of their lives with substandard proficiency in core subjects, and it treats school time in its current form as absolutely immutable.

I interpret the facts a bit differently. There is compelling evidence on the narrowing of the curriculum. More time is undeniably going to core subjects, especially in schools where students are struggling to meet basic standards. Why? Because the new basic standard is considerably higher than previous expectations, and it now applies to all students. Teachers are understandably discovering that it’s going to take far more time to guarantee that each and every student achieves proficiency in the gateway subjects now considered the standard. In other words, they need the extra time to...