New York City Education Department officials in recent months quietly relaxed a controversial curriculum mandate for early childhood education programs, Chalkbeat has learned.
The 2023 mandate, part of former Mayor Eric Adams’ sweeping NYC Reads curriculum overhaul, required all classrooms in the city’s publicly funded early childhood education system to adopt The Creative Curriculum, a nationally-used program created by the Washington, D.C.-based Teaching Strategies. It applied to some 140,000 kids ages 5 and under in the city’s free infant and toddler, 3-K, and prekindergarten classrooms, whether in home-based programs, community-run facilities, or public schools.
The move drew backlash from some educators and early childhood education experts who argued it burdened teachers with bureaucratic busywork and diminished their ability to tailor lessons to their students’ specific needs and backgrounds…