Analysis Finds Time Stolen From Other Subjects for Math, Reading

Most of the nation’s elementary schools added at least 75 minutes of instruction time in reading and mathematics each week—and often twice that amount—in the five years after the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act, but many did so by skimming that time from the teaching of science, social studies, the arts, recess, and physical education.

An analysis released this week by the Center on Education Policy , a Washington-based research group, expands on the findings of the organization’s nationally representative survey released last summer. That study found that more than six in 10 school districts had increased reading and math instruction between the 2001-02 and 2006-07 school years, and that more than four in 10 did so while significantly reducing time spent on other subjects.

The findings offer further evidence that the NCLB law has led to sizable...