VOA教育报道2023--How A Rural US School System Makes Gains in Math

How A Rural¹ US School System Makes Gains in Math

Many students across the United States fell behind in math during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many educators are seeking ways to bring students back up to usual math levels.

Such efforts paid off for a rural school system in the southern state of Alabama. It has shown major improvement².

A study called the Nation's Report Card shows that Alabama students led the nation in maintaining⁴ math learning⁵ during the pandemic. And the state's Piedmont City school system landed at the top in a comparison⁶ of scores from before and during the pandemic. Nationwide, students on average fell half a year behind in math, researchers say.

The Piedmont school system has about 1,100 students. Seven out of 10 children receive reduced-cost or free meals in the schools.

The school system has stuck with a policy it established before the pandemic: Teachers use test scores to learn where students are struggling and then target teaching⁷ to each child.

"We made a total transformation⁸ about five years ago," said Mike Hayes, the school system's chief. "We decided⁹ that we were going to let data make every decision."

Targeted instruction for small groups of students has years of research and evidence to back it up, said Rebecca Dreyfus of the educational nonprofit TNTP.

"The short answer is that using data effectively and efficiently¹⁰ to plan and monitor instruction is always going to make instruction better for kids," Dreyfus said.

Piedmont students were 35th in math skills for the state in 2017, when Hayes became the school system's leader. By spring 2022, Piedmont's students had moved to the 12th position.

"Once we made that decision and stuck to it and made changes and allowed our teachers time to look at the data and dive into the data, it paid off," Hayes said.

Teachers go deep into data

As part of the effort, the Piedmont school system made the school day longer. This permitted time every four weeks for "data days," when educators get together to study the numbers.

Cassie Holbrooks teaches fourth-grade math. She said the "data days" help teachers see where the weaknesses are and target instruction.

Sixth-grade teacher Lisa Hayes joined the school system five years ago. She said she was surprised to see how hard teachers worked during the data days.

"When I came here and we had a workday," she said, "you don't sit in your room. You're in here (the media center) most of the day, digging through test scores."

Teachers then use the information to decide how to divide the students into small groups for targeted instruction.

Grouping two to six students together to work on a specific skill has long been used for reading instruction and in younger grades. There is less research on the use of targeted small group instruction in math. But researchers like Dreyfus say it involves the same idea of identifying students who need extra help, rather than simply pulling out children who are "behind."

Small groups and independent work

While math teachers in Piedmont schools work with small groups, other students write in their math books, play learning games, or work on individual learning plans.

At first, when Piedmont expanded small group instruction in math, teachers said they did not have enough time to do the work well, Hayes said. So the schools expanded math and English language study time to between 80 and 120 minutes each day.

The longer math classes made a big difference, teacher Landon Pruitt said. "In a 52- or 53-minute class," he said, "there's no way you can consistently¹¹ do (small groups) and work on getting through the standards that you have to cover."

The schools also had to help teachers adjust classroom management techniques as small groups and independent work would be done at the same time. Hayes said one solution was to give teachers a program to monitor each students' screen. The district wants to make sure teachers have the support and resources to do the job well, he added.

"I'm not sure we have a secret sauce or anything..." Hayes said. But, he noted¹² that the teachers believe in learning data, and letting that data direct instruction.

Words in This Story

maintain³ - v. to continue doing something

transformation - n. a complete or major change

instruction - n. action or process of teaching

monitor - v. to watch, observe, listen, or check something for a period of time

allow - v. to permit

consistently - adv. doing something with the same quality

standard - n. a level of quality

adjust - v. to change in order to do better

1 rural   

adj.乡下的，田园的，乡村风味的

参考例句：

• He lived a rural life.他过着田园生活。
• We left the city for a rural home.我们离开城市，去农村安家。

2 improvement   

n.改进，增进；改进之处，改善的地方

参考例句：

• The doctor noticed a gradual improvement in his patient.医生注意到病人在逐渐恢复健康。
• I can detect signs of improvement in your thinking.我可以察觉出你思考问题方面的进步。

3 maintain   

vt.支撑；赡养，抚养；维持，保有

参考例句：

• He has to maintain a large family on a small salary.他不得不依靠很少的工资养活一家人。
• We must do our best to maintain sales at their usual rate.我们要尽力使销售额保持在平日的水平上。

4 maintaining   

保持( maintain的现在分词 )； 保养； 坚持； 保卫

参考例句：

• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem. 维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。
• It's endless work maintaining the house in good repair. 要让房屋保持得很好是件干不完的活。

5 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

6 comparison   

n.比较，对照；比拟，比喻

参考例句：

• They make a comparison of New York to a beehive.他们把纽约比作一个蜂巢。
• This dress is really cheaper by comparison.比较起来，这件衣服确实便宜。

7 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

8 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

11 consistently   

ad.一贯地，一直

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。
• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law. 部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。

12 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。