No Child Left Behind

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No Child Left Behind

王灿明

    昨天天气突变，风夹着雨打在脸上，特别冷，好象又回到冬天，晚上睡觉，把窗子关得密密的，把被子裹得紧紧的。
    今天早上，醒来一看，暖暖的太阳挂在东边，光线很刺眼，气温也上升了好多，才知道原来是上帝打了个盹，我们还是在春天。
    尽管天气变化很大，但我心情一直很愉快，因为我听了两场精彩的学术报告。
    昨天上午10点，和韦老师一起去文科大楼1613教室，听的是Louise C. Wilkinson 教授的《U.S. TEACHER QUALITY AND THE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT GAP》。
    应华东师大国际教师教育中心、课程与教学系和学习科学研究中心之邀，Louise C. Wilkinson 18、19日访问华师大并发表两次学术演讲。
    Louise教授曾任美国罗格斯（新泽西州立）大学（Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey）原教育学院院长、美国教育研究学会（AERA）副主席，现任意大利Syracuse University教育学院院长，是国际知名的教育、心理和沟通研究学者，主要研究学龄儿童的语言和读写学习。
    她满头白发，身材不高，但穿着入时，尤其是那件红色的V领衫使她显得容光焕发，银铃一般的动人的笑声很容易让人忘记她的实际年龄。报告中主要介绍了《No Child Left Behind Act》的背景、意义以及对教师提出的新要求,对我们全面推行素质教育和改革师范教育很有启发。
    无独有偶，今天下午三点，教育学系在二楼学术报告厅也举行了一场报告会，报告人是深受学生欢迎的师大博士生导师熊川武教授，报告的题目是《教育理论工作者如何感动中小学教师》，他以理解教育和自然分材教学为案例，深入浅出地论证了如何“感动”中小学教师以形成教学改革共同体的策略（求同存异）。
    这是我第一次听熊教授的报告，他对当代教育理论的驾御，对源自于现实问题的剖析和创造性的思考、出色的演讲能力、幽默的谈吐、丰富的体态语言以及略微眯着的笑眼，都使我亲自感受到一流学者的教育情怀。
    能做熊教授的弟子，是一种幸福。
    报告厅座无虚席，许多人争相提问，报告结束以后，一些研究生久久不愿离开，继续和熊教授交流，与他合影留念。作为一个理解教育理论的创立者，他以自己最真实的思想和最有感染力的报告来诠释了理解教育。因而，这对我来说是一个非常难得的聆听机会。
    熊教授以较多的时间谈了他正在全国一些地方实施的自然分材教学实验，其中一些理论与教法与Louise教授不谋而合，比如“知者先行”“自学互帮”“问题跟踪”“零作业批改”等等，都是为了让学生学得更好，更轻松，更快乐，用熊教授的话讲，就是高标准实现“弱生上进、优生更优、全体学生齐发展”，所以他提出发展教师的职业道德与能力，建设“巧用情智、全面敬业”的师资队伍，大幅度减轻师生的教学负担，使师生的学校生活更幸福的主张。
    No Child Left Behind，这是中美两国基础教育改革共同的话题。问题在于，你以什么理论，什么方法来实现这个诱人的目标？

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U.S. TEACHER QUALITY AND THE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT GAP

This presentation provides an overview, assessment and critique of the implementation of the landmark educational policy reform in American education:  The legislative act, No Child Left Behind (NCLB; 2001). In particular, the requirement that there will be a qualified teacher in every American classroom by 2006 will be examined.  The context for the passage of NCLB was a perceived crisis of illiteracy and student achievement in the United States.  At the turn of the last century, the vast collection of federal data reported points to four conclusionsa)there is a racial/ethnic and socioeconomic gap in literacy knowledge that is evident when children enter kindergarten; (b) the gap is greater for children who enter school with a combination of multiple risk factors, including mothers with less years of schooling, living in a single parent family, whether the family receives welfare benefits, and whether the primary language spoken in the home is not English; (c) by grade 4, a significant discrepancy exists between the reading comprehension proficiency of Caucasian non-Hispanic students and their African-American and Hispanic peers, and this discrepancy continues through grade 12; and (d) these gaps generally have been stable for more than a decade. These patterns point to the most intractable problem in American education:  The achievement gaps among groups of children by socioeconomic status, first language preference, and/or race and ethnicity.  Importantly, the federal legislation requires that states report student achievement data by school and that the data be disaggregated for students by poverty level, special education status,first language, and race/ethnicity. If any group of students fails to meet the bar, then schools could lose their share of federal funding.There are four key provisions of the law; (a) increased accountability,(b) increased choices for parents and students, (c) putting reading first, and (d) an emphasis on "highly qualified teachers. NCLB requires that, by 2005-2006, states must have highly qualified teachers in every classroom who can deliver evidence-based education, a mandate that also applies to teachers in charter schools. This provision of the law stems from the long-standing concern that low-income students elementary, middle, and high schools are more likely to be taught by general education teachers who are less experienced and do not have certification in the core academic subjects that they are teaching.NCLB largely leaves to states the task of developing their own definitions of highly qualified as long as these definitions include: (a) at least a bachelor''s degree, (b) full state certification or licensure (which can be obtained through alternate routes), and (c) a rigorous method for assessing an individual''s subject knowledge and teaching skills in the content area.