評論
打印
Math education: Raising expectations for engaging instruction
數學教育：推動各方攜手改善教學效果
When scores on the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress were released in October 2022, we saw the greatest decline in fourth- and eighth-grade math scores ever captured in the test's 50-year history. We didn't need those scores, however, to know that in too many K-12 classrooms, math is a chore and not a joy – and a proven barrier to high school and even college graduation, especially for Black and brown students. That's why we are investing US$1.1 billion over four years to improve the quality of math instruction for all kids.
當美國國家教育進展評估（National Assessment of education Progress）在2022 年10月公布結果時，我們看到四年級和八年級的數學分數出現了這項測試50年歷史上的最大滑坡。然而，我們不需要這些分數就能知道，在太多K-12教室里，數學都是件苦差事，而非樂趣——事實證明，數學還是高中乃至大學畢業的障礙，尤其是對黑人和棕色人種的學生來說。這就是為什么我們將在四年內投資11億美元以提高面向所有孩子的數學教學質量。
As a share of U.S. education spending, that's not a huge amount – only about one-sixth of what's likely to be spent on public schools in Wyoming, America's least populous state, over that time. But we hope it will make a big difference nonetheless.
作為美國教育支出的一部分，這并非巨額資金——在美國人口最少的懷俄明州，這個數字可能只占其公立學校支出的約六分之一。但無論如何，我們希望它能帶來重大的改變。
Most educators say the math curriculum they're given is not engaging, effective, or relevant to their students' lives. They spend lots of time – of which they have so little – adapting the materials or creating their own. Yet educational publishing companies have not done nearly enough to understand what teachers want and students need and improve what's available.
大多數教育工作者表示，他們拿到的數學課程不吸引人、效果不好，和學生的生活也缺乏關聯。他們花了大量時間——本來他們的時間就少得可憐——去適應教材或創造自己的教材。然而，教育出版公司在了解教師想要什么、學生需要什么以及改進現有內容方面做得還遠遠不夠。
So we are. We'll be funding teams of school districts and universities to conduct research, which they'll define, on what works and what doesn't in elementary and middle school math instruction. Educational technologies that give teachers more tools in their toolkit will be part of that effort, as will new approaches to teacher training and even the variety of math courses offered.
所以我們希望在此發揮作用。我們將資助學區和大學的團隊進行他們所需的研究，發現哪些做法能夠改善小學和中學的數學教學，而哪些不能。為教師提供更多教學工具的技術、教師培訓的新方法，甚至各種數學課程，都將是這一工作的組成部分。
With a consortium of other funders, we will partner with a small number of innovative publishers and educational technology companies to develop amazing new products; evaluate their efficacy in improving motivation, engagement, and persistence; and make the best of them available to as many classrooms as possible.
我們將聯合其他資助者，與少數幾個創新的出版商和教育技術公司合作，開發優秀的新產品，評估其在提高積極性、參與度和持久性方面的效果，并讓盡可能多的教室用上其中最好的產品。
Our ultimate goal is not just to foster the development of better, more engaging math materials that serve the students furthest behind standards, but also to prove to major publishers that there's a market for those materials. If we do our job well, publishers will take it upon themselves to create better resources too.
我們的終極目標不僅是促進更好、更吸引人的數學教材的開發，為那些遠遠落后于標準的學生服務，而且還要向大出版商證明這些教材是有市場的。如果我們的工作做得好， 出版商也會有動力自主開發更好的教學資源。
The promise ahead
滿懷希望，不懈努力
While we're optimistic about the potential for progress, we're also realistic. When it comes to the issues we work on, this is the toughest period in the foundation's history. And the challenges the world faces aren't likely to be resolved in 2023.
雖然我們對未來取得進展感到樂觀，但我們也很務實。就我們致力于解決的問題而言，現在是基金會歷史上最艱難的時期。而世界面臨的挑戰也不太可能在2023年得到解決。
That means we'll be looking for even more effective ways to accelerate innovation and spur action toward the global goals.
這意味著我們需要尋找更有效的方法，為實現全球目標加速創新、激勵行動。
That doesn't mean we will set the agenda of multilateral organizations like WHO and the Global Fund. Nor will we decide which malaria drugs regulators approve, or what research scientists pursue. We won't decide which seeds farmers plant in their fields or which curriculum a school system adopts or whether a bed net is hung in a home.
這并不意味著我們將為世界衛生組織和全球基金等多邊組織制定議程。我們也不會決定監管機構批準哪些瘧疾藥物，或者科學家該進行哪些研究。我們不會決定農民在田里種什么種子，也不會決定學校系統采用什么課程，更不會決定人們的家里是否掛蚊帳。
Our role is to ensure that decision-makers – be they school board members or cassava growers or health ministers – have the best possible options to choose from and the best possible data to inform their decisions. But make no mistake: Where there's a solution that can improve livelihoods and save lives, we'll advocate persistently for it.
我們的作用是確保決策者——無論是學校理事會成員、木薯種植者還是衛生部長——都能擁有最好的選擇，以及最好的數據作為他們的決策依據。但有一點是肯定的：只要有改善生計和挽救生命的解決方案，我們就會對此進行不懈地倡導。
We won't stop using our influence, along with our monetary commitments, to find solutions – as long as hundreds of thousands of children die of malaria just because of where they live, as long as students of color and low-income students don't have equitable educational opportunities, and as long as famine threatens entire populations.
只要還有成千上萬的兒童僅僅因為他們居住的地方就死于瘧疾，只要有色人種學生和低收入家庭學生得不到公平的教育機會，只要饑荒還威脅著脆弱人群，我們就不會停止利用我們的影響力和我們的資金去尋找解決方案。
We see so much promise ahead, and we're excited to play a part in realizing it.
我們對未來充滿希望，也很高興能為實現這些希望盡一份力量。
Mark Suzman,
馬克·蘇斯曼
Chief Executive Officer
蓋茨基金會首席執行官
