The extinction of home economics: A study of Family and Consumer Sciences

The purpose of this study was to determine the affects of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) on Family and Consumer Science (FACS) program sustainment in the state of Arizona. FACS programs were not addressed in the NCLB mandates, but are part of the Arizona secondary education programming. FACS programs had seen a decrease in the number of programs being offered in the state of Arizona; therefore, suggesting a decline in enrollment. This quantitative study used two data collection techniques. Arizona public enrollment records represented enrollment trends over a 15-year period and a 15-question Likert scale survey represented the opinions of FACS educators as to the effects of NCLB on FACS programs and their opinions on the views of experts in the literature in regards to aligning FACs curriculum with NCLB mandates. Surveys were administered to 455 FACS educators using the Arizona Department of Education FACS e-mail database, 110 participants responded to the survey. Data results indicated that NCLB had an overall affect on FACS programs, but there was little statistical evidence in both data sets that NCLB affected enrollment trends. The results also suggested that FACS educators agreed with experts in the literature in aligning FACS curriculum with NCLB mandates. Experts suggested that FACS curriculum be aligned with Arizona state standards in the areas of reading/writing, mathematics, and science; while FACS educators concurred this would help align FACs programs with NCLB mandates. Experts also expressed the importance of aligning classroom testing procedures with those represented in NCLB mandates in the form of standardized testing. A high number of participants agreed that aligning classroom testing with standardized testing measures introduced in NCLB would help align FACS curriculum to NCLB mandates.