Over the past six years, eighth-grade social studies teacher Karen Maynard has watched her subject slip in stature.
What was once offered every day for a full school year is now taught every other day, for less overall time. This fall, social studies will be refashioned into a half-year course - meaning some students will go as long as a year without seeing the subject again.
"I feel left out by all of this," said Maynard, who heads the social studies department at Chesapeake Bay Middle School in Pasadena. "The lack of a state test in social studies [in eighth grade] has put us on a different footing. It's frustrating for me to see that I get half the time math gets."
The recent decision by Anne Arundel County schools Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell to turn social studies and science into semester-long courses in middle schools has sparked fierce criticism among parents, students and some teachers who accuse the district of robbing students of a well-rounded curriculum.
The roiling debate in Anne Arundel County reflects a trend in which a fifth of middle schools surveyed in a recent national study say they have sharply cut science, social studies, art, music and physical education in order to double up on math and reading.
"There's no question high-stakes testing is having an effect on what's being taught in public schools," said Jack Jennings, president for the Center on Education Policy, a Washington think tank that released the study in July.
"You'll get a division of opinion, with some educators saying the emphasis on reading and math is good because those are the fundamental subjects that form the building blocks for success in other areas," Jennings said. "But others in social science areas say kids are being shortchanged, and will be handicapped later in life. It's an issue that's of great concern and debate right now."
Anne Arundel's challenge offers a clear example of how a local suburban school system is scrambling to make adequate yearly progress, or AYP, under No Child Left Behind, which threatens harsh sanctions against schools unless they show they're on track to have every child pass state tests by 2014. The sweeping federal testing mandate is in its sixth year, and President Bush is struggling to renew it against a backdrop of growing bipartisan opposition.
