Study to Assess the Impact of the No Child Left Behind Initiative on Social Studies Instruction in the Commonwealth

January, 2005

Rationale for the survey

This survey was initiated to assess the degree to which social studies instruction has been impacted in Pennsylvania Schools by the No Child Left Behind legislation and related mandates.

Process

Each Intermediate Unit in the State was contacted by a PCSS Board Member. A request was made for the Curriculum Department of the Intermediate Unit to share the survey instrument with member districts and to provide for an orderly manner of collecting the completed surveys. A follow-up communication was sent to each school district that initially elected not to respond. This effort resulted in an additional 112 responses.

Response

Responses were received from a total of 305 school districts. This represents a rate of return of approximately 60% of the Commonwealth’s School Districts. One Intermediate Unit, that did not identify itself, returned all of the surveys with a note that its school districts elected not to participate in the survey.

Data

Of the districts that responded, 106 indicated that they had been identified as not meeting AYP. The referenced districts indicated the following pattern of response with regard to the impact of not meeting AYP on social studies:

• 12 districts reported that they had compacted social studies for specific subgroups that had been identified as needing intervention.
• 39 districts reported that that had compacted social studies instruction in response to the demands of NCLB.
• 3 districts indicated that they eliminated social studies entirely in order to respond to the demands of NCLB.

The following list of comments serves to clarify on the various actions by school districts with regard to NCLB based actions that impacted social studies instruction:

Summary Comments

Any district action that reduces student exposure to social studies should be a matter of concern to all. While there is no lack of appreciation for the pressures that drive school districts to respond to NCLB by eliminating or compacting social studies, there can be no denial of the long term consequences of that action. As the pressures increase with higher NCLB benchmarks for student achievement levels in math and reading, we will likely see an increase in this pattern. With the introduction of the state science assessment even more resources will be diverted away from social studies. It is urgent that this issue receive statewide attention regarding the consequences of this observed pattern.