In the decadelong quest for students to master basic math and English, Uncle Sam has dictated beefed-up instruction in schools not meeting his standards.

The focus on basics has worked; test scores are up. But while students sit through double periods of math, English or sometimes both, electives — those favorite classes such as drama, graphic design or astronomy — are out of their reach.

At Lincoln High School, Principal Jackie Zeller has had to cut back arts, music and foreign languages in part to staff the intensive math and English classes that San Jose Unified School is required to offer this year.

In the East Side Union School District, the usual schedule for freshmen who are struggling the most includes English, math, general science and physical education. Period.

That doesn’t sit well with some of the faculty. “A lot of kids go to school for electives. Art gets kids to school. Choir gets kids to school,” said Marisa Hanson, president of the East Side Teachers Association.

The cutback in electives is more visible in districts such as East Side, where not enough students met federal standards, so the district is under orders to help low-scoring students catch up by assigning them double periods of basics.

Freshmen who have to take a double dose of English and math then have only two periods left in their schedule, which they fill with freshmen requirements. For them, there’s no French, music, art or drama. Some sophomores at East Side are similarly limited — some don’t even have science in their schedules.

Numbers are inconclusive, but it’s logical that electives and even academic mainstays have suffered. Nationally, the amount of science class time fell 30 percent since the federal No Child Left Behind Act went into effect in 2002, said Francis Eberle of the National Science Teachers Association.

Schools interpreted the mandate to mean they need to focus only on math and English, he said.

California’s tightening budget squeeze also cuts down on options for students wanting to take more classes. East Side canceled most summer school and has limited Saturday school and after-school help. Most of its campuses offer only six periods. And space is scarce at community colleges, where high school students before could enroll in makeup courses.

Neighboring San Jose Unified School District, also constrained by federal orders, fit in remedial periods by paring electives.

At Pioneer High School, Principal Sue Walker may reduce wood shop, one of only two such courses remaining in the district, in order to free up a teacher’s salary for a remedial class.

She points out she doesn’t have a lot of choices. Depending on how incoming freshmen perform on this spring’s state tests, Walker may have to devote more of her precious allocation of teaching slots to remedial classes next year. She can’t reduce required English classes or social studies classes, and she would like to save advanced-placement courses as well as the arts classes that maintain Pioneer’s standing as a visual-performing arts magnet school.

She said students can take wood shop at the district’s partner Central County Occupational Program, although they’ve got to enroll there for half a day.

No one likes limiting choices. In San Jose Unified, the goal is to get students up to speed in middle school, so the catch-up classes won’t be needed in high school. For now, educators say the double-period classes are helping.

At Lincoln High this week, teacher Bradley Scholten’s math intervention class was brushing up on the concept of “distributing the negative” in equations.

Scholten, a second-year teacher, thinks this class has been successful. Nearly all 25 students, who entered feeling lost in math, have almost caught up with regular Algebra I classes.

The double period allows time to reinforce and practice lessons. More important, students have overcome their math phobia.

“Mr. Scholten actually makes sense,” said Rebecca, who added that now she found the class easy. Her classmate Eric agreed and added that Scholten “is not mean.” Still, Eric said, he’d prefer not to take two periods of math, and to be able to take a science class instead. The school would not allow the full names of students in the catch-up classes to be used.

Because Principal Zeller was concerned about students resisting the double classes, she assigned some of the best teachers to teach them. “We didn’t want, ‘It’s horrible, I have two hours of English and two hours of math, I hate my life’ type of reaction,” she said.

Districts do have leeway to be creative when shoring up students’ academics. Milpitas High next year will use an online algebra program and connect struggling students via Skype to tutors in India, Principal Ken Schlaff said.

The difference between districts like East Side and those that don’t accept federal funds or aren’t quite as financially pinched is marked. Campbell Union High School District has maintained its array of electives, including industrial arts, foreign languages and music, spokesman Terry Peluso said.

Eberle draws broad conclusions from the decline in science knowledge. “If students don’t learn science, foreign language and art in elementary school, they are less successful in secondary school,” he said. “That’s a troubling trend.”

Contact Sharon Noguchi at 408-271-3775.