原文标题：

School catch-up after covid-19

Mountains to climb

America risks fumbling its chance to help schoolchildren catch up

新冠后的学校补习

需要征服的高山

美国可能会错过帮助学生赶上进度的机会

Enormous extra funding is not all being well spent

额外巨资没有花在刀刃上

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HAVING STRUGGLED through some of the rich-world’s longest school closures, America’s pupils have fallen far behind.

在发达国家中，美国学校关闭的时间最长，该国学生成绩已经远远落后了。

Nationally representative data released by the government on October 24th show that, since the start of the pandemic, scores in reading and maths have dropped back to levels of 20 years ago (see chart).

10月24日，政府发布的具有全国代表性的数据显示，自新冠开始以来，阅读和数学成绩已降至20年前的水平（见图表）。

Numeracy has suffered its biggest decline since comparable testing began in the early 1990s.

自20世纪90年代初有测试数据以来，计算能力下降幅度最大。

Miguel Cardona, President Joe Biden’s education secretary, told journalists the numbers were “appalling and unacceptable”.

乔·拜登总统的教育部长米格尔·卡多纳告诉记者，这些数字“骇人听闻，难以接受”。

How America responds, he said, will affect its “standing in the world”.

他说，美国的应对方式将影响它的“世界地位”。

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The depressing findings of this year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, tests that are sometimes called “the nation’s report card”, outline the grim task facing America’s schools.

今年的国家教育进步评价（有时被称为“国家成绩报告单”）的结果令人沮丧，这表明美国学校面临严峻的考验。

Although lawmakers have sent them historic amounts of money, not all of it is being well spent.

尽管立法者已经向他们发放了破历史记录的资金，但并非所有资金都花在刀刃上。

Over the summer analysts at NWEA, a test provider, reported that learning is starting to recover.

测试提供商NWEA的分析师报告称，今年夏天学习才开始慢慢恢复。

But they guess it could take three to five years for grades in elementary schools across the country to return to pre-pandemic levels, and longer for older kids.

但他们猜测，全国小学生可能需要3-5年才能恢复到新冠前的水平，而高年级学生的恢复时间则更长。

Millions of youngsters will have aged out of school—or dropped out—before then.

在恢复之前，期间将有数百万年轻人或毕业或辍学。

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Financially, at least, America’s schools have been fairly well supported.

美国学校至少在财政上得到了拨款支持。

Some $190bn of federal relief money has flowed to schools since the start of the pandemic, equal to about one-quarter of what America spends on public schooling in a normal year.

自新冠开始以来，联邦政府向学校发放了约1900亿美元的救济资金，相当于美国一年公共教育支出的四分之一。

More than one-third of this was used setting up remote learning, and on safety measures (such as masks and screens) that teachers and many parents deemed essential for classrooms to reopen.

其中三分之一以上的资金用在远程学习和保障措施上（如口罩和屏幕）。教师和许多家长认为想要重新开放教室，保障措施则必不可少。

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The pressing question is how school districts should invest a $122bn windfall which Mr Biden signed off in March 2021. It is meant to be spent by the end of 2024.

迫切的问题是，学区应该如何使用1220亿美元的意外资金。这笔资金是拜登在2021年3月签署同意的，且需要在2024年底前用掉。

But there are few rules about what it may be used for, notes Vladimir Kogan at Ohio State University. Only 20% of it has to go on schemes that aim to get children’s learning back on track.

但俄亥俄州立大学的弗拉基米尔·科根指出，几乎没有明文规定这笔资金的用途。其中只有20%的资金必须用在帮助孩子们学习恢复正常的计划上。

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School districts that are taking catch-up seriously have converged on similar strategies.

认真对待学习进度的学区也采取了类似的策略。

Some 70% of districts have created or expanded summer-school programmes at some point during the past two years, says Heather Schwartz of RAND, a think-tank.

兰德智库的希瑟·施瓦茨表示，在过去两年中的某个时候，大约有70%的学区创建或扩大了夏校项目。

They are hiring more counsellors and social workers to help children who have lost interest in their studies.

他们多雇了辅导员和社会工作者来帮助学生找回学习兴趣。

They are often investing in tutoring, by far the surest way of accelerating learning.

他们经常投资请私教，这是目前最可靠的快速提升学习进度的方式。

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Yet some good ideas are going begging.

然而，一些好想法不尽如人意。

Not many districts have chosen to add hours to the school day or weeks to the school calendar, according to RAND’s study.

根据兰德智库的研究，并没有多少学区选择在教学日中增加学时或在校历中增加周数。

That is a missed opportunity: in many bits of America the school year is short by international standards.

这是一个失掉的机会：按照国际标准，美国许多地方的学年都很短。

Schools are also swiftly discovering that there are not nearly enough temporary tutors and substitute teachers available for cleverer catch-up schemes to work on the scale that is required.

学校也很快发现，学习进度追赶计划无法达到所需的规模，因为没有足够的临时私教和代课老师参与。

In that context, paying existing staff for more work seems smart.

在这种情况下，为现有员工支付加班费用似乎是明智之举。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量519/950左右）

原文出自：2022年10月29日《TE》United States版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene

仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）

美国“国家教育进步评价”（National Assessment of Educational Progress，NAEP）也被称为“国家成绩报告单”，是美国国内唯一长期的且具有全国代表性的教育评价体系，在美国教育领域占据着独特的地位，在世界范围内也产生了重要影响，成为其他国家建立教育质量监测体系的榜样，被多个国家借鉴和模仿。NAEP的主要评价包括全国评价和州评价，旨在检测全国及各州学生在核心学科领域知道什么、能做什么。全国评价每年实施一次，以4、8、12年级学生为样本，评价内容包括阅读、数学、科学、写作、美国历史、经济学、公民学、地理和艺术等9个科目，但每轮评价只选择其中的两到三个科目和两个年级的学生参加。州评价每两年实施一次，以4、8年级学生为样本，评价内容为数学、阅读、科学和写作4个科目。数学和阅读评价各州必须参加，其他两个科目则遵循各州自愿的原则。

夏校(Summer School)是美国学校为学生提供暑期学习机会而设置的，其目的在于让学生能够利用暑假的时间完成一部分课程，提前修得学分，并提前完成学业。随着国际化进程，现在已经有越来越多的美国学校接受海外学生参加夏校项目，使得海外学生们也能够利用假期体验美国一流大学的校园生活，同时丰富个人的国际化背景，提升各方面的软实力。夏校的申请开始日期通常在前一年的12月份或是当年的一月份，截止日期集中在夏校开设当年的四、五月份(通常五月份很多项目就名额已满)，开课时间通常为每年的六月下旬至八月末。夏校课程可以分为学分课程、非学分课程和语言课程。

【重点句子】（3个）

Although lawmakers have sent them historic amounts of money, not all of it is being well spent.

尽管立法者已经向他们发放了破历史记录的资金，但并非所有资金都花在刀刃上。

They are hiring more counsellors and social workers to help children who have lost interest in their studies.

他们多雇了辅导员和社会工作者来帮助学生找回学习兴趣。

Yet some good ideas are going begging.

然而，一些好想法不尽如人意。

自由英语之路