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November 2006 | Volume 64 | Number 3
NCLB: Taking Stock, Looking Forward
Pages 64-68
The Side Effects of NCLB
Gordon Cawelti
If we focus only on math and literacy, what happens to
the rest of the curriculum?
Curriculum leaders have long contended that what schools teach
must reflect the needs of society, the needs of the learner, and
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the recommendations of scholars in various academic fields.
Accordingly, schools teach about environmental problems, require courses on the importance of
good nutrition and exercise, select history units that focus on noteworthy topics, and so on.
However, as knowledge continues to grow, schools face a shortage of instructional time as they
seek to accommodate these three components within a balanced curriculum that prepares
students for the future.
Today, federal legislation has complicated this broader view of knowledge. No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) focuses heavily on using reading and mathematics test scores to determine whether
schools are making progress in reducing achievement gaps among various subgroups of students.
This narrow focus has resulted in a serious imbalance that denies many students access to the
high-quality curriculums that students in more affluent schools enjoy. NCLB is now the prescribed
treatment for the achievement gaps in U.S. schools, but it has some serious side effects.
Side Effect 1: A Skewed Curriculum
Marshall S. Smith, one of the architects of standards-based reform, recently commented on the
effect of standards-based education on the curriculum:
This is a narrowing-the-curriculum problem. If we focus only on math and language
literacy, what happens to the rest of the curriculum? In California, we have lost a very
high percentage of our arts, music, physical education, and other teachers and rarely
have K–8 foreign languages. My sense is that it is time to begin to redress this
imbalance. (“Chat Wrap-Up,” 2006, p. 35)
Schools end up narrowing the curriculum because they are under considerable pressure to show
adequate yearly progress in reading and math. For example, one large urban U.S. high school in
which I worked had subgroup pass rates in the range of 15–30 percent, a long way from the 100
percent pass rate that schools are supposed to achieve by 2014 (Cawelti & Protheroe, 2001). No
wonder teachers were under pressure to focus on raising scores. Elementary schools are also
feeling the crunch, despite state and district guidelines that supposedly require time allocations in
a variety of subjects.
A study that predates NCLB legislation (Hargrove et al., 2000) offered this conclusion about the
effect of high-stakes testing on the curriculum:
Of greatest concern is the enormous amount of time that is being spent on reading,
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writing, and mathematics at the cost of instruction in science, social studies, physical
education, and the arts.
The elementary teachers studied typically spent 75 percent of their time teaching reading and
math, leaving inadequate instructional time for other subjects.
The public seems to be aware of the legislation's effect on the public school curriculum. A recent
Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll asked a random sample of respondents, “How much, if at all, are you
concerned that relying on English and math only to judge a school's performance will mean less
emphasis on art, music, history, and other subjects?” Seventy-eight percent of respondents
indicated that they were concerned either “a great deal” or “a fair amount” (Rose & Gallup,
2006).
Moreover, in its 2006 study about the effect of NCLB on school districts, the Center on Education
Policy noted evidence of a narrowing curriculum. According to the study,
71 percent of school districts reported that they have reduced instructional time in at
least one other subject to make more time for reading and mathematics. In some
districts, struggling students receive double periods of reading or math or both ...
sometimes missing certain subjects altogether. (p. vii)
Many school leaders are well aware of the curriculum imbalance resulting from NCLB's testfocused approach. However, they are understandably fearful, not only of seeing their schools
labeled as “failing,” but also of jeopardizing funding and public support.
Side Effect 2: Discouraged Teachers
Teachers are becoming increasingly concerned about the effect of high-stakes testing on their
teaching. In a study of 376 elementary and secondary teachers in New Jersey, teachers indicated
that they tended to teach to the test, often neglected individual students' needs because of the
stringent focus on high-stakes testing, had little time to teach creatively, and bored themselves
and their students with practice problems as they prepared for standardized testing (Centolanza,
2004).
Moreover, the focus on high-stakes testing is negatively affecting teacher morale. Assessment
results often discourage teachers who have worked hard to close achievement gaps with their
students. For example, if teachers have the goal of helping students in special education attain
scores in the proficient range on state tests—and their students never come close—this repeated
failure demoralizes teachers.
Side Effect 3: The Funny Numbers Game
W. Edwards Deming, a major force behind the quality movement in the United States, repeatedly
warned that a heavy reliance on single goals or other narrowly defined evidence of success tends
to encourage people to tweak the system rather than make the fundamental changes needed in
schools and classrooms to ensure student mastery of standards. Making the right numbers
appear becomes more important than improving the system. Thus we see “negotiations” between
state education agencies and Washington bureaucrats on the need to exempt English language
learners or students in special education programs as well as maneuvering by some states to
lower their cutoff scores to show higher numbers of “proficient” students.
In addition, each U.S. state defines “proficiency” somewhat differently, and these definitions
rarely line up with how proficiency is determined at the national level. For example, Texas
reported that 83 percent of its 4th graders met the state proficiency standard in reading, whereas
the most recent round of testing by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
showed that only 23 percent of those 4th graders met the proficiency level as defined by NAEP.
This variation adds further confusion to the issue of curriculum imbalance because it's part of an
accountability system that is flawed from the start through a rigid focus on only a portion of the
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“end product” desired for all students.
Creating a Balanced Diet
Despite the concerns of teachers and school administrators, a “stay the course” mentality seems
to prevail among Washington officials. The depth of these concerns will become clear as
policymakers reconsider the legislation in the months ahead. Education leaders would be wise to
prepare to articulate their own plans for restoring balance to the curriculum and eliminating
achievement gaps.
The traditional approach to ensuring a balanced curriculum in elementary schools has been to
establish the number of minutes that students should spend on various subjects; secondary
schools tend to require a specific number of semesters or years of study in the various fields.
Both remain viable approaches.
School leaders should take into account the many models that have been proposed over the
years to establish a framework for developing a balanced core curriculum for all students. To
enlist support for learning in the home and community, school leaders should also solicit feedback
from parents and community leaders about what schools should teach.
The Broad Fields Approach
Boyer and Levine (1980) proposed that high schools use traditional subjects to focus on a
number of common concerns: our relationship with nature, values and beliefs, membership in
groups and institutions, the use of symbols, our sense of time, and activities associated with
producing and consuming. Earlier, Broudy, Smith, and Burnett (1964) suggested that schools
adopt a “broad fields” approach, which would include five categories: (1) symbolics of
information, such as English, foreign languages, and mathematics; (2) basic sciences; (3) studies
of cultures and social institutions; (4) exemplars in art, music, drama, and literature; and (5)
large-scale social problems.
A broad fields approach coupled with developing proficiency in learning, thinking, and
communicating is consistent with a whole-child philosophy (Roberts & Cawelti, 1984). To develop
a balanced curriculum at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels, I propose that educators
incorporate these skills into four broad fields of knowledge: cultural studies; science and
technology; citizenship and societal studies; and health, recreation, and leisure.
Each field should include several key concepts and issues. For example, in science and technology
classes, students might discuss nuclear energy, conservation, resource scarcity, and genetic
engineering. Students participating in citizenship and societal studies should look at such issues
as participation skills, rights and responsibilities, global interdependence, poverty, population,
and disarmament.
The Cultural Literacy Approach
Lamenting the lack of “cultural literacy” in young Americans, E. D. Hirsch (1987) developed a
different approach for determining a core curriculum. He argued that too many of today's youth
are unable to have intelligent discussions about important topics because they are not conversant
with aspects of history, science, or the arts that bear on those topics.
For example, Hirsch suggests that 2nd graders should know enough history and geography to
understand the importance of the Battle of the Alamo in the history of Texas, and that to truly
understand the significance of the bold Impressionist paintings, students in the middle and upper
grades need to know how major art galleries in mid-19th-century Paris selected their art. A major
task of curriculum workers today is deciding what to add to the core curriculum—and what to
leave out. Hirsch suggests that educators enlist academic experts to help them make those
decisions.
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The Crucial Issues Approach
Schools should equip students with the skills they need to grapple with important issues that
threaten our well-being. Learning experiences should not only provide pertinent information, but
also compel students to care about the following crucial issues:
z
Perfecting the democratic process. Nonproductive partisanship has been growing in recent
years. Schools need to help students become concerned about voter participation,
campaign reform, and improved functioning of local, state, and federal agencies.
z
Competing economic systems. Capitalism, socialism, and communism have figured heavily
in 20th century revolutions, and the world has gone to war over more than one country's
expansionist policies. The rapid spread of globalization and recent protests against the
World Trade Organization are further manifestations of this important issue.
z
Population control, health and famine, and family issues. The world's population continues
to grow at an alarming rate; Africa, India, and China continue to produce populations that
they can neither fully feed nor house. Millions of people are dying of AIDS, leaving behind
young children who struggle to survive. In the United States, poor nutrition, obesity, and
lack of exercise continue to plague the young.
z
Conflicting cultures and religions. The explosive events in the news today are testimony to
the importance of resolving conflicts founded on religious differences or ethnic hatred. As
cultures and religions come head-to-head, violence across the globe is claiming millions of
lives.
z
Deteriorating environmental conditions. Global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, air
and water pollution, nuclear power and waste, the possible extinction of certain species—
these all threaten our quality of life. Students need to understand the effects of such
problems and decide how to deal with them.
Any balanced curriculum, regardless of its approach, should highlight the interconnectedness of
various fields of knowledge, expose students to a wide variety of experiences that can help them
clarify their interests and talents, and incorporate appropriate ongoing assessments to gauge
student mastery.
Providing Real Help
The “test and punish” strategy and the resulting narrowed curriculum don't appear to be helping
schools or teachers close achievement gaps. They also aren't serving to motivate teachers or
improve the system.
A test-case approach would be of great benefit. I propose that the federal government can help
by
z
Funding work in 100 school districts to help these districts apply the Baldrige National
Quality Program. The system would focus on improving achievement in all key instructional
areas established by the local board of education.
z
Funding work in 100 school districts to implement practices that characterize successful
organizations, as reported by Jim Collins in Good to Great or by Thomas Peters and Robert
Waterman in In Search of Excellence.
z
Funding work in 100 school districts to implement strategies that have proven successful in
several high-performing school districts, such as involving parents, teaching learning
strategies, offering effective tutoring and mentoring programs, and engaging students
through cooperative learning (Cawelti, 1995).
z
Funding work in 100 school districts to create effective learning communities and provide
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extensive training for teachers and administrators in applying research-based teaching
techniques.
If we spent less money on testing, we could afford to invest more money in worthwhile projects
like these that would give us a better idea of how to improve student achievement across entire
school districts.
Restoring the Balance
One of the worst-case scenarios that could result from an unbalanced curriculum is a generation
of youth who have good “word attack” skills but who know little and care less about important
facts, events, and concepts in history, science, and the arts.
Restoring curriculum balance to the schools will require vigorous and committed leadership.
Because education in the United States is constitutionally a state function, we must strengthen
the state education agency requirements relating to a broader education for all public school
students. Despite the pressures of high-stakes testing, schools need to review and enforce
existing regulations and policies that ensure student access to a wide variety of subjects. Board
members, local school leaders, and teachers must recognize that schools need to provide
students with rich reading materials and learning experiences in several core subjects and clearly
articulate this need to parents.
Ultimately, public schools must offer a common curriculum that helps perfect a democratic society
and that provides all students with a broad array of knowledge and skills for success both in and
out of school.
References
Boyer, E., & Levine, A. (1980). A quest for common learning. Washington, DC:
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Learning.
Broudy, H., Smith, B., & Burnett, J. (1964). Democracy and excellence in American
secondary education. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Cawelti, G. (Ed.). (1995). Handbook of research on improving student achievement.
Arlington, VA: Educational Research Service.
Cawelti, G., & Protheroe, N. (2001). High student achievement: How six school districts
changed into high-performance systems. Arlington, VA: Educational Research Service.
Center on Education Policy. (2006, March). From the capital to the classroom: Year 4 of
the No Child Left Behind Act. Washington, DC: Author. Available: www.cepdc.org/nclb/Year4/NCLB-Year4Summary.pdf
Centolanza, L. R. (2004, Fall). New Jersey teachers believe testing compromises sound
practices. ERS Spectrum, 22(4).
Chat wrap-up: Standards-based reform. (2006, February 15). Education Week, p. 35.
Hargrove, T., Jones, M., Jones, B., Hardin, B., Chapman, L., & Davis, M. (2000, Fall).
Unintended consequences of high-stakes testing in North Carolina: Teacher
perceptions. ERS Spectrum, 18(4).
Hirsch, E. D. (1987). Cultural literacy: What every American needs to know. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin.
Roberts, R., & Cawelti, G. (1984). Redefining general education in the American high
school. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Rose, L., & Gallup, A. (2006). The 38th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll of the
public's attitudes toward the public schools. Available:
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www.pdkintl.org/kappan/k0609pol.htm#curriculum50
Gordon Cawelti is Senior Research Associate with the Center on Innovation and Improvement, former Executive
Director of ASCD, and former Superintendent of the Tulsa Public Schools; [email protected].
Copyright © 2006 by Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
© Copyright ASCD. All rights reserved.
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