Kaylee Bouchard

Article Review
EDU 371
July 26, 2015
I read the article, National Trends in Elementary Instruction: Exploring the Role of Social
Studies Curricula, written by Tina Heafner and Paul Fitchett. The article was written to address the
decline in social studies teaching since the national education policy changed and the No Child Left
Behind Act (NCLB) has been introduced. The NCLB was established to hold schools responsible for
the academic progress of their students while putting an emphasis on boosting the performance of
particular groups of students; English-language learners, special education students, and students who
fall into the poor and minority region (Klein, A.). This law requires schools to test students in grades 38 and once again in high school in reading and math. All scores are to be reported both as a student
body as a hole, as well as broken up into subgroups of students mentioned above.
The scores are taken seriously and schools are to bring all of their students to a proficient
level that is agreed upon by the state. There are serious penalties for schools who fail to meet this
proficient level which range from allowing students to transfer to a higher performing school, offering
free tutoring, or even having to give up large amounts of federal grants. Because of this subject-area
importance, there is a large, noticeable decline in the role of social studies.
Haefner and Fitchett mentioned that there have been nationally documented gaps in
instructional time for social studies as time allocations were manipulated to ensure academic goals of
standardized tests in English-language Arts (ELA) and Math were met for all students. Social Studies is
no longer being perceived as important because spending the time to teach it will not effect
standardized testing scores. They also add, social studies has never achieved an academic status equal
to ELA and mathematics and, thus, has perennially held a minimal role within elementary curriculum
and consistently receives proportionately less instructional time (pg. 68).
As a future teacher, I am going to find it difficult that we will not be able to teach what we know
students need to be taught because of the extreme outside pressures of the NCLB. The article adds that
in the late 1980's, there was confirmed evidence that external pressures of curriculum standardization
compelled elementary teachers to overemphasize math and language arts at the expense of social
studies. These external pressures have now added up to (in a 2010 study) a national decline of thirty
minutes a week in social studies education, and even worse news, the number of states that test social
studies declined from thirty to twelve over the last ten years (National Trends in Elementary
Instruction: Exploring the Role of Social Studies Curricula, pg. 68).
After testing how social studies reported instructional time compared to other core subject
areas, the results were as follows. Over a course of fifteen years, data shows an increase in reported
instructional time for ELA and math. Between 1993 and 2008, when the NCLB began and when it was
reinstated, ELA instruction rose on average 52 minutes per week, math instruction rose 30 minutes per
week, and social studies showed a loss of 56 minutes in a week. Haefner and Fitchett add that the most
substantial decreases occurred within the last decade, by 48 minutes a week, due to testing policies and
curriculum standardization becoming more common (pg. 69). I am blown away that over this 15 year
research period, instructional time in ELA and math increased almost as much as science and social
studies declined (National Trends in Elementary Instruction: Exploring the Role of Social Studies
Curricula, pg. 70).
As I mentioned above, it is devastating that teachers are unable to teach these subject areas
because of all of the external pressures on them to succeed in other places. Haefner and Fitchett include
that results from their study support prior studies that implicate an overemphasis on tested curricula in
elementary grades, and further substantiate the large-scale impact of standardization, accountability,
and testing in redefining what is nationally taught and with what frequency in grades three through

five. Testing is the most significant determinant of what is taught as well as associated instructional
time distributions, and as a result, across the nation social studies has taken a backseat to other content
areas; most notably, math and ELA.
The authors add one last thing that makes me really stress my agreement with their argument,
results of this study bring to light the necessity for exploring how the status of social studies
instruction in elementary schools might be improved... National data results not only raise awareness of
the large-scale impact of marginalization, but also emphasize the need to develop ways to reverse
policy trends (pg. 71). The authors have added a very important note here, that these results show the
amount of decline in social studies education over the past 10-15 years and show that something needs
to be changed before it declines fully. The stressors pushed onto schools to succeed in only certain
subject areas is causing them to fail in other areas because they are trying too hard to excel. It is not
okay to take away other subject areas just because the students aren't going to be tested on them. I find
it so terrible how badly a school system will try to make itself 'up to standards,' but in the process,
completely ruin all that it had going for it. When I was in high school, Ellsworth became a failing
school and as soon as that had happened, there were far too many changes made that put even more
pressure on not only the teachers but the students as well. Everything became miserable and we didn't
get any breaks throughout the day. Our advisory time before lunch became a study block where we
were to work on our reading, writing and math skills. It turned into bribery and the classes that fully
participated and excelled were entered into a drawing for a pizza party.
School is no longer a place to go to learn, it is a place that people go to to learn basic principles
in detail in order to achieve a proficient level and keep the school in good ratings. Teachers are no
longer interested in their subjects and are finding it more and more difficult to get interested and
involved because their lessons are coming out of books that are put together by leaders. I find it
extremely hard to believe that it is okay for our society to expect people to know more and more at the
same age from year to year. The things I learned in first grade, compared to what first graders are
learning now are completely different. We used phonics and lots and lots of handouts, but unfortunately
phonics are something that are no longer seen in classrooms today.
I plan to use the information I have gathered from this article to really make sure that I focus on
incorporating social studies into my lessons, even if I need to combine subject-areas together to do so.
Children can easily learn vocabulary that applies to social studies as well as write about and research
current events and things going on around them. Making maps and talking about distances can be
incorporated in with math, if children are going to use any amount of measuring units for their maps, it
definitely includes math. The integration of social studies in all grades is extremely important and I
plan on never letting it slide. I will work around the expectations of the standards and bring in
information in new and creative ways to get my students thinking. Overall, I hope that I am not the
only teacher who sees this for their future, and I hope that others can look past the pressures coming
from the outside to continue on with teaching these important subjects as well.

References
Heafner, T. L., & Fitchett, P. G. (2012). National Trends in Elementary Instruction: Exploring the Role
of Social Studies Curricula. Social Studies, 103(2), 67-72. doi:10.1080/00377996.2011.592165
Klein, A. (n.d.). No Child Left Behind Overview: Definitions, Requirements, Criticisms, and More.
Retrieved July 24, 2015, from http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/no-child-leftbehind-overview-definition-summary.html