Something’s Got to Give
The New York State Department of Education has submitted recommendations to the state Board of Regents to make changes in the schedule of middle schools. According to this article in Newsday, the department wants to “…cut back on noncore subjects in middle school so more time spent is spent on math, reading and English to improve performance.”
The main “noncore subjects” are apparently technology and career skills courses. The department recommends cutting these classes down to about half of their current time, and refocusing the content to include other topics such as health and diet. (Less time, more topics - hmmm.)
As the focus on standards gets more intense, I suspect we’ll see more of this kind of movement. Despite the research that we have on the use of technology and improvement of test scores, it’s not the kind of straight-line connection that many decision makers are looking for.