首页
登录
职称英语
Margaret Spellings, the secretary of education, announced a pilot reform to th
Margaret Spellings, the secretary of education, announced a pilot reform to th
游客
2023-12-15
51
管理
问题
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.
Congress, which was supposed to re-authorize 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.
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 math 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.
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 math 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 labeled "proficient" or better in the state reading test in 2006-07. Only 19% reached that level in a national test.
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 favor 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.
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.
Of course, standards alone do not improve education. Both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama propose a host of new programs 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 spent. [br] From the descripton in the passage, we learn that
选项
A、controversial proposals can be found only among the presidential nominees.
B、using pupils’ test scores to identify ineffective teachers has been widely accepted.
C、both Democratic presidential nominees support the idea of accountability.
D、neither the Republican nor the Democratic presidential nominees favor NCLB
答案
C
解析
第5段第4句表明希拉里和奥巴马都认可责任制(each endorses the idea of accountability),而选项 C的Both Democratic presidential nominees指的就是这二人,support与原文的endorse同义,故C正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3276604.html
相关试题推荐
[originaltext]TheClintonAdministrationFridayannouncedthatitwillclose
[originaltext]TheClintonAdministrationFridayannouncedthatitwillclose
AdviceforFamiliesfromtheScottishCouncilforResearchinEducation."
Theneedforasatisfactoryeducationismoreimportantthaneverbefore.Now
[originaltext]SecretaryofStateColinPowellisurgingthePalestinianstosei
[originaltext]SecretaryofStateColinPowellisurgingthePalestinianstosei
[originaltext]SecretaryofStateColinPowellsaysarecentreportshowinga
[originaltext]Israelhasannouncedplanstobuildupto750newhomesina
Nowadays,mostuniversitiesrequirestudentstopayfortheireducation,and
Inthenovel______,SamuelButlersatirizesthereligion,schooleducationand
随机试题
Howisit______yourroommate’srequestandyoursareidentical?A、ifB、soC、wha
Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowritealettertocongratulate
钻芯法检桩时,当桩长为10-30m时,每孔截取()组芯样。A.4 B.3 C
劳务派遣单位的职责包括( )。A.支付工资 B.被派遣劳动者的招聘、甄选
甲、乙签订房屋租赁合同,甲将房屋租给乙。在租赁期限内,甲、乙又达成房屋买卖合同,
根据保护知识产权的《巴黎公约》的规定,下列哪些选项是错误的?()A.《巴黎
企业从事下列项目的所得,减半征收企业所得税的有( )。A.香料作物的种植所得
李某于2018年底承包甲公司,不改变企业性质,协议约定李某每年向甲公司缴纳
某县城一家房地产开发公司为增值税一般纳税人,2019年发生如下业务:(1)1月
我国商业银行对单一集团客户的授信集中度不得高于()。A.8% B.15%
最新回复
(
0
)