VOA慢速英语2010年-Education Report - National Standards

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Americans have never had national education standards. Goals for what public schools should teach are set by state and local school boards. Their members are often elected.

But some Americans say the lack of national standards is wrong in a competitive global economy. Former president Bill Clinton said it was as if somehow school boards "could legislate¹ differences in algebra² or math or reading."

President George W. Bush and Congress expanded federal intervention³. His education law, still in effect, required states to show yearly progress in student learning as measured by the states' own tests.

Now, the Obama administration supports what are known as the Common Core State Standards. These were developed in a year-long process led by state governors and chief state school officers. Texas and Alaska were the only states not to take part.

The standards are in two subject areas, English-language arts and mathematics. They establish goals for each year from kindergarten through grade twelve. The aim is for students to finish high school fully⁴ prepared for college and careers.

Jennifer Ries, a third-grade teacher in Baltimore, Maryland, works with her students in March

The developers considered standards in other countries, along with almost one hundred thousand public comments.

One way the Education Department is trying to persuade states is with money. States are competing to share in almost three and a half billion dollars as part of a school reform competition. They will earn extra points in the Race to the Top if they approve the standards by August second.

States are trying to recover from the recession. There are concerns that some could accept the standards and then lack the money to follow them.

The final standards were released June second. A new report say about half the states have approved them already.

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is an education group in Washington. It says the standards are clearer and stronger than those used in three-fourths of the states. But the comparison also found that existing English standards are "clearly stronger" in California, Indiana and the District of Columbia.

States that approve the new standards have a right to add up to fifteen percent of their own.

In California, the State Board of Education plans to vote on August second to accept or reject a new set of standards. These are based largely on the common core, but also existing California standards.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Avi Arditti. I'm Bob Doughty
 

1 legislate   

vt.制定法律；n.法规，律例；立法

参考例句：

• Therefore,it is very urgent to legislate for the right of privacy.因此，为隐私权立法刻不容缓。
• It's impossible to legislate for every contingency.为每一偶发事件都立法是不可能的。

2 algebra   

n.代数学

参考例句：

• He was not good at algebra in middle school.他中学时不擅长代数。
• The boy can't figure out the algebra problems.这个男孩做不出这道代数题。

3 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

4 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。