Petition Against the Re-Authorization of the No Child Left Behind Act

  • Author:
    n/a
  • Send To:
    U.S. Congress: Massachusetts Senators and Representatives
  • Sponsored By:
    Members of the Five College Community
  • More Info at:
Are you the Author?
We, members of the Five College community, ask that Congress does not re-authorize the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in its current state. Since 2002, this law has proven to be more detrimental than beneficial to the students, educators, and communities it was intended to serve. Despite its supposed objective of closing the achievement gap, NCLB has failed to promote equity in schools because:
The law is focused on punishing schools, students, and educators, rather than supporting them.
Its system of accountability puts too much weight on just one measure of assessment.
The Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) system sets unrealistic goals for many schools and does not take into account progress that does not meet its artificial objectives.
This law imposes additional requirements on schools (an expanded testing program, providing students in schools that do not make AYP the option to transfer, etc.) without providing them with adequate resources to carry out these mandates.
The expanded high-stakes testing program forces some schools to narrow their curricula to tested subjects and/or spend an increasing amount of time on test preparation. For some students, these curricular changes sacrifice learning with understanding for rote memorization of disjointed facts.
The law's sanctions for underperforming schools and the negative consequences of its implementation disproportionately punish students of color, students living in poverty, students with disabilities, and English language learners

109 Signatures

  • Miriam Stevens
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Sarah Westendorf
  • Morgan Conner
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Maria Diaz
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Candace Yorston
    • College/University
    • University of Southern Maine
  • Geraldine Diaz
    • College/University
    • Mt. Holyoke
  • Lena Harwood
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Karina von Karolyi
    • College/University
    • Hampshire
  • Emily Brown
    • College/University
    • Smith College
  • Maggie McAdam
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Ariel Garfinkel
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke
  • Jericha Senyak
    • College/University
    • Hampshire College
  • Sanford Klanfer
    • College/University
    • Amherst College
  • Gina D'Allessandro
  • Danielle Perreault
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Edward M Bitter
    • College/University
    • University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • B Schumacher
  • Tracey Kennedy
    • College/University
    • Smith College
  • Sierra Maloch
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Liliana Delman
    • College/University
    • Smith College
  • Alexander Therkelsen
    • College/University
    • UMass Amherst
  • Kristin M Raymond
    • College/University
    • Colby College
  • Ariela Lovett
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Jocelyn Schur
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Abigail Buchhalter
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Elana Knight
    • College/University
    • UMass Amherst
  • Casey Cokkinias
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Maureen E. Halton
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Ryan Dorsey
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Nicole Cameron
  • Peter Hildebrand
    • College/University
    • Eastern Connecticut State University
  • James Drobnis
    • College/University
    • Purdue University
  • Jennifer Pike
  • Sarah Goodby-Botting
    • College/University
    • Mt. Holyoke
  • Yasmin Navarro
    • College/University
    • Amherst College
  • Elizabeth Counterman
  • Meredith Munn
    • College/University
    • Mount Holyoke College
  • Erik M. Roithmayr
    • College/University
    • Hampshire College
  • Elizabeth Barton
    • College/University
    • University of Mary Washington
  • J.D. Martell
    • College/University
    • Central Connecticut State University
  • Joseph LaFrance
    • College/University
    • Central CT State University
  • David Alt
    • College/University
    • MIT
  • Peter D'Amato
    • College/University
    • Boston University
  • Stephanie Twedt
    • College/University
    • University of Connecticut
  • Brian Chapron
  • charles Salvatore
    • College/University
    • Uconn
  • Crystal Fontaine
    • College/University
    • University of Connecticut
  • Lane Phillips
    • College/University
    • Colby College
  • Sarah Graham-Shaw
  • Andrea Davis
    • College/University
    • Syracuse University