New data shows time spent on math instruction has increased steadily in Illinois in recent years, while time spent on English has declined.
The data from the state's Board of Education show that more time is still spent on English, but the gap is narrowing with math minutes increasing.
Educators say the decline in time spent on English could affect students as they enter high school. Administrators say the uptick in math instruction is motivated partly by lower state exam scores in math than English.
The board has tracked instruction minutes on math, science, English and social science for third, sixth and eighth grades since 1998.
According to the data, science and social science also had a slight increase in instruction minutes over the years.
