Schools Push Reading, Writing, Reform (not much else)

Sciences Shelved in Effort to Boost Students to 'No Child' Standards

Monday, May 31, 2004; Page A01

Here is 9-year-old Zulma Berrios's take on the school day: "In the morning we read. Then we go to Mrs. Witthaus and read. Then after lunch we read. Then we read some more."

Zulma has left out math, recess and the daily hour of such offerings as art and P.E. But otherwise, her summary is accurate.

In Katherine Segal's third-grade class at Highland Elementary School in Wheaton, much of the science and social studies curricula has been glossed over, or skipped entirely, because Zulma and other students must be taught -- soon -- to read better.

Those kinds of tradeoffs are being made across the nation, primarily at public schools such as Highland that have low test scores and large numbers of poor children. In recent years -- particularly since the No Child Left Behind Act passed in 2001 -- many schools have shifted to a fervent focus on reading, writing and math, bringing in program after program in search of what might help struggling students.

A look inside one school shows how life has changed in the new era of educational accountability. Highland students encounter a constant series of assessments. The school might lose a popular bilingual program because it does not meet the terms of a federal grant. And if test scores fail to rise, Highland faces strict sanctions, including the possibility of a state takeover in 2006.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3179-2004May30.html