Teaching students to read, write, and compute are important goals of public education, but near obsession with basic skills testing is crowding out other goals. Socially responsible citizenship has long been an important purpose of school, but teachers and schools have cut back on developing citizenship skills because accountability sanctions now rely solely on academic test scores.

In a 2007 survey, the Center for Education Policy found that accountability for academic achievement works in the sense that it increases instruction in the subjects for which schools are accountable. For example, because of accountability requirements, nearly two-thirds of school districts had increased reading and math time. Increases were greatest in urban districts with disadvantaged students where schools were sanctioned under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) because of low test scores. In these districts, reading and math instruction increased by more than four hours each week.