Curriculum narrowing a key issue in revamping NCLB debate

 The No Child Left Behind law has led many elementary schools to spend more time on reading and math and less on social studies, science, art and recess, a report released last week finds. The Center on Education Policy’s survey of 349 school systems across the country bolsters anecdotal evidence that the 2002 federal law’s goal of having every child proficient in reading and math by 2014 has forced schools to focus on those subjects, sometimes squeezing out other lessons.

Curriculum narrowing, as the phenomenon is known, has become a key issue in the debate over revamping the law. Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has said he plans to introduce a bill this spring to reauthorize the law with changes. Read the article in The Washington Post online.