Left behind
滞留于后
Mar 27th 2008 | CHICAGO
From The Economist print edition
Translation skittos
The missing debate over schools and accountability
学校及其责任问题缺乏明辩
ON MARCH 18th Margaret Spellings, the secretary of education, announced a pilot reform to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), George Bush's education law, which was passed in 2002. Up to ten states, she said, would be allowed to target their resources at the most severely struggling schools, rather than at the vast number needing improvement. The change drew a predictable mix of praise and censure. Above all, though, it was a reminder of utter inaction elsewhere.
美国教育部长玛格丽特.斯佩林斯于3月18日宣布, 将对2002年通过的布什教育法案,即《不让一个孩子掉队法案》(No Child Left Behind Act,简称NCLB)进行试点改革。她说，至多有十个州将获准把教育资源投给困境程度最严重的学校，而不是泛泛投向大量需要改进的学校。对此项试行改革的反应褒贬不一，本属预料之中；最主要的是, 它未对教改投资范围外的其它学校。
Congress, which was supposed to re-authorise the law last year, has made little progress. On the campaign trail, concerns over Iraq and the economy have made education a minor issue. Contrary to appearances, the law's main tenets are unlikely to be abandoned completely. But for the Democratic candidates in particular, a proper debate on NCLB is to be avoided like political quicksand.
国会原本计划在去年重新审定此法，但少有进展。 竞选途中，候选人对伊拉克和经济事务的侧重把教育挤在了一边。 相反，此项法案的基本原则看来不会被彻底丢弃。 尤其是民主党候选人，象绕开政治“流沙坑”一样回避认真讨论NCLB法。
Most politicians agree that the law has the right goals—to raise educational standards and hold schools accountable for meeting them. NCLB requires states to test pupils on maths and reading from third to eighth grade (that is, from the ages of eight to 13), and once in high school. Some science testing is being added. Schools that do not make “adequate yearly progress” towards meeting state standards face sanctions. Pupils in failing schools can supposedly transfer to a better one or get tutoring.
大多数政客赞同NCLB的目标—即提高教育标准并把达标的责任归咎于学校。 NCLB要求各州测试三至八年级(8到13岁)学生的数学和阅读水平，学生进高中后再考一次，另外增加一些科学考试。若学校没有“适当逐年提高”以达到教育标准的表现，就会面对制裁。按照法律，在这类“差校”读书的学生可以转到好点的学校或者得到辅导。
Most also agree that NCLB has big flaws that must be fixed. Few pupils in bad schools actually transfer—less than 1% of those eligible did so in the 2003-04 school year. Teachers' unions say the tests are focused too narrowly on maths and reading, fail to measure progress over time and encourage “teaching to the test”. They also complain that the law lacks proper funding. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a conservative policy group, has exposed wide gaps in state standards. Test-data reflect this. In Mississippi 90% of fourth-graders were labelled “proficient” or better in the state reading test in 2006-07. Only 19% reached that level in a national test.
同样，大多数政客也认为NCLB漏洞很大，需要改进。实际上，只有极少数（低于1%）符合条件的学生在2003-04学年中从差校转学。教师工会提出, 仅仅测试数学和阅读, 范围过于偏狭且考不出学生的与时渐进，却鼓励了“应试教学”。他们还指责该法缺乏足够资金保证。保守政策组织“托马斯B. 佛德汗基金会” 揭示各州所立的教育标准悬殊。而考试数据确实反映出这些差距：在密西西比州，在密西西比州，90%的四年级学生在该州2006-07学年的阅读考试中被定位为“熟练”或更高级别。而在一次全国考试中仅有19%的学生达到那个水平。
John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, offers NCLB tepid support but fails to elaborate. At Democratic rallies, NCLB is little more than a whipping-boy. Hillary Clinton proclaims that she will “end the unfunded mandate known as No Child Left Behind”. But though she and Barack Obama deride NCLB publicly, each endorses the idea of accountability. They favour using more sophisticated “assessments” in place of tests, want to value a broader range of skills, punish schools less and support them more. How these ideas would be implemented remains unclear.
共和党总统提名人麦凯恩对NCLB仅予不冷不热的支持，但并未详加阐述。 反观在民主党的集会上，NCLB所受到批评更像“代人受过”。希拉里宣称她“会取消没有基金支持的NCLB条例”。虽然她和奥巴马公开讽刺NCLB，但两人都支持由学校承担责任的做法。他们热衷于用更完整的“评估”来代替考试，强调更全面的求知范围，要增加对学校支持、减少对其处罚。但实现这些主张的具体措施尚未明确。
Not surprisingly, more controversial proposals can be found among those not running for president. Chester Finn of Fordham thinks the federal government needs greater power to set standards, while states should have more leeway in meeting them. A bipartisan commission on NCLB has issued a slew of proposals. Particularly contentious is a plan to use pupils' test scores to help identify ineffective teachers as in need of retraining.
毫不奇怪，不参与总统竞选的人会提出更多具争议性的方案。佛德汉的彻斯特?芬认为, 联邦政府需要更大的权力来制定标准，同时各州在达标的过程中应该有更多的回旋余地。一个两党委员会针对NCLB提出了部分修改草案，其中一个计划尤其引发争议，它参考学生的考试分数来帮助鉴定劣质老师及其是否需要回炉培训。
Of course, standards alone do not improve education. Both Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama propose a host of new programmes for schools, described on their websites if rarely on campaign. But accountability is likely to remain a big part of school reform. Last April a group of philanthropists announced a $60m effort to make education the top domestic issue of 2008. So far, it looks like money ill spent.
当然，单靠制订教育标准并不能提高教学质量。克林顿夫人和奥巴马先生为学校献了一大堆计策。若这些计策很少在竞选中被提及的话，可以到她/他们的网页上细看。不过，问责制度可能还是学校改革的主要部分。去年四月，一批慈善家捐出6千万美元以使教育成为2008年首要的国内事务。到目前为止，这些钱看来并没花在刀口上。