为什么马萨诸塞州学生理科成绩突出？
Expecting the Best Yields Results in Massachusetts

Conventional wisdom and popular perception hold that American students are falling further and further behind in science and math achievement. The statistics from this state tell a different story.

传统的智慧和流行的看法认为，美国学生的科学和数学成绩与其他国家的差距越来越大。来自马萨诸塞州的统计数据则讲述了一个不同的故事。

If Massachusetts were a country, its eighth graders would rank second in the world in science, behind only Singapore, according to Timss — the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, which surveys knowledge and skills of fourth and eighth graders around the world. (The most recent version, in 2011, tested more than 600,000 students in 63 nations.)

国际数学和科学趋势研究中心（Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study，简称TIMSS）发布报告称，倘若马萨诸塞州是一个国家，其八年级学生的科学成绩将位列世界第二，仅次于新加坡。这家研究机构专注于调查全球各地四年级和八年级学生的知识和技能，最新版本调查在2011年发布，测试了遍及63个国家的60多万名学生。

Massachusetts eighth graders also did well in mathematics, coming in sixth, behind Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan. The United States as a whole came in 10th in science and 9th in math, with scores that were above the international average.

马萨诸塞州八年级学生的数学成绩也非常出色，位居全球第六位，排在韩国、新加坡、台湾、香港和日本之后。作为一个整体，美国学生的科学成绩位列第十位，数学成绩排名第九，均高出国际平均水平。

布伦特里学区数学和技术课总监威廉·肯德尔说，以往有些学生高中毕业时可能还没有学过代数。

Of course, Timss is only one test, and achievement tests are incomplete indicators of educational prowess. But behind Massachusetts’ raw numbers are two decades of sustained efforts to lift science and mathematics education. Educators and officials chose a course and held to it, even when the early results were deeply disappointing.

当然，TIMSS只有一个测试，而学业成就测验作为教育实力指标并不完善。但在马萨诸塞州的这些原始数字背后，是该州20年来为提振科学和数学教育所做的持续努力。教育工作者和政府官员选择了一条路线，然后坚持不懈地走下去，甚至当早期结果令人深感失望的时候，他们也没有放弃。

While Massachusetts has a richer and better-educated population than most states, it is not uniformly wealthy. The gains reflected improvement across the state, including poorer districts.

虽然马萨诸塞州拥有一个比大多数州更加富裕，受教育程度更高的人口群体，但该州居民也并非全是富人。这种改善所反映的是该州包括较穷困地区在内的整体情况。

“I think we are a proof point of what’s possible,” said Mitchell D. Chester, the state education commissioner.

“在我看来，我们的成就足以证明，教育质量完全有可能大幅提升，”州教育专员米切尔·切斯特(Mitchell D. Chester)如是说。

On a sunny day in May, fifth graders at Donald E. Ross Elementary School here were gathered at an outdoor gazebo, learning about fulcrums by using a ruler set up like a seesaw and balancing weights at both ends.

5月份一个阳光明媚的日子，唐纳德·E·罗斯小学(Donald E. Ross Elementary School)的五年级学生聚集在一个户外凉亭，学习杠杆支点知识。他们将一把尺子设置成跷跷板的模样，然后平衡两端的重量。

At South Middle School, seventh graders in a science class worked in small groups to brainstorm how a box of items — a plastic jar, beaker, water, and a mix of sand, soil, clay and pebbles — could help answer a question posed by the teacher: How do sediments carried in water get deposited? They devised small experiments and wrote down their observations, and at the end of class each group presented its findings.

在南方中学(South Middle School)的一节科学课上，七年级学生分组讨论一箱子物品——一个塑料罐、一个烧杯、一些水，以及沙、土、粘土和卵石构成的混合物——如何帮助他们回答老师提出的一个问题：水中的各种沉积物是如何沉淀下来的？他们设计了一些小实验，并记录各自的观察，临近下课时，每个小组向全班同学介绍了他们的发现。

None of the topics were novel, but they were consistent in their hands-on approach, inviting students to explore and explain. “Much more hands-on than what we ever used to do,” said Dianne D. Rees, the district’s science director. “Hands-on as much as possible.”

所有这些教学主题都谈不上别具一格，但它们都始终不移地坚持动手实践的方式，邀请学生去探索，去解释。学区科学课总监戴安娜·里斯(Dianne D. Rees)表示：“相较于往昔的做法，我们现在增加了更多的动手实践环节，让学生尽可能多动手。”

Braintree, a town of about 35,000 south of Boston, is neither an inner-city area nor a wealthy suburb. “We’re sort of, we used to say, a blue-collar area,” said William Kendall, the director of mathematics and technology for the Braintree schools.

波士顿以南拥有大约3.5万人口的布伦特里镇，既不是一个内城区，也不是一个富裕的郊区。“我们就是人们常说的那种蓝领区，”布伦特里学区数学和技术课总监威廉·肯德尔(William Kendall)说。

When Dr. Kendall arrived in 1973 as a math teacher, the standard approach was talking at the front of the classroom and writing on the blackboard.

当肯德尔博士于1973年来这里当数学老师的时候，标准的上课方式就是老师站在教室前面讲，在黑板上写。

Some children learned well from lectures. Others did not. “And it was O.K. those people don’t get it, because only we, the math elite, get it,” Dr. Kendall said.

有些孩子学得不错，其他孩子的成绩则很差劲。“这没什么，那些人学不会，是因为只有我们这些数学精英才能掌握这些知识，”肯德尔博士说。

Back then, one could graduate from high school without ever taking algebra. “Then came ed reform,” Dr. Kendall said, “and now everybody had to learn math.”

那时候，有些学生高中毕业时可能还没有学过代数。“接下来就是教育改革，现在每个人都必须学数学。”

Ambitious Goals

雄心勃勃的目标

“Ed reform” was the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993, passed by a Democratic Legislature and signed by a Republican governor, William F. Weld.

所谓“教育改革”意指1993年由民主党掌控的州议会通过，后经州长、共和党人威廉·维尔德(William F. Weld)签署的《马萨诸塞州教育改革法案》(Massachusetts Education Reform Act)。

The three core components were more money (mostly to the urban schools), ambitious academic standards and a high-stakes test that students had to pass before collecting their high school diplomas. All students were expected to learn algebra before high school.

该法案的三大核心内容是，增加教育经费（主要是面向城市学校），制定雄心勃勃的学业标准，并推行高风险测试，不通过就拿不到高中毕业证。所有学生都需要在上高中前学习代数。

“It was a combination of carrots and sticks,” said David P. Driscoll, deputy education commissioner at the time.

“这是一种胡萝卜加大棒政策，”时任副教育专员的大卫·德里斯科尔(David P. Driscoll)这样说道。

Also noteworthy was what the reforms did not include. Parents were not offered vouchers for private schools. The state did not close poorly performing schools, eliminate tenure for teachers or add merit pay. The reforms did allow for some charter schools, but not many.

这项改革法案没有包含的内容同样值得关注。家长们没有拿到孩子上私立学校的教育补助金券。州政府没有关闭表现不佳的学校，也没有取消终身教职制度或增加绩效工资。这项改革的确允许建立一些特许学校，但不是很多。

Then the state, by and large, stayed the course.

就总体而言，该州坚决执行了这项教改方案。

The new achievement test, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS for short), was given to 10th graders for the first time in 1998. (The graduation requirement of obtaining an acceptable score on the 10th-grade MCAS did not take effect until 2003.)

1998年，十年级学生首次参加新的学业成就测试——马萨诸塞州综合评估系统（Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System，简称MCAS）。需要说明的是，直至2003年，在十年级MCAS测试中获得一个可接受的成绩，才正式成为高中毕业的条件之一。

The troubled urban schools performed terribly.

在陷入困境的市区学校，学生的成绩惨不忍睹。

In the small city of Chelsea, which borders Boston, almost 90 percent of the students come from low-income families and most did not speak English as their first language. On the first MCAS, two-thirds of Chelsea 10th graders failed math. The science scores were nearly as dismal.

在跟波士顿接壤的小城切尔西，几乎90%的学生来自低收入家庭，其中大多数孩子的第一语言并非英语。在首次MCAS测试中，切尔西市三分之二的十年级学生未能通过数学考试，其科学成绩也几乎同样差劲。

Two years later, scores in the urban districts showed only glacial improvement. A report from the University of Massachusetts at Boston concluded that the reforms were not delivering on the promises.

两年后，市区学生的成绩只出现了极为缓慢的改进。马萨诸塞州大学波士顿分校(University of Massachusetts at Boston)的一份研究报告总结称，教育改革并未产生期望的效果。

Critics worried that when the use of MCAS as a graduation requirement kicked in, thousands of students would be deprived of their diplomas and would drop out in despair. Dr. Driscoll, who was elevated to education commissioner in 1998, kept the MCAS.

批评者担心，一旦MCAS成绩作为毕业的先决条件，数千名学生将被剥夺文凭，心灰意冷的他们会选择中途辍学。于1998年攫升为教育专员的斯科尔博士逆风而行，继续推行MCAS测试。

“People were expecting it to go away,” Robert D. Gaudet, the lead UMass researcher, recalled in a recent interview. “He held to his guns.”

“人们当时预期这项测试将无疾而终，”马萨诸塞大学首席研究员罗伯特·德特(Robert D. Gaudet)最近在接受采访时回忆称。“但他毫不动摇，始终坚持自己的立场。” Officials did make adjustments. Students who fail the MCAS can take retake it several times until they pass, and can still graduate if they otherwise demonstrate they have learned the material.

官员们随后做了一些调整。未通过MCAS考核的学生有好几次补考机会，直至最终达标。此外，如果学生能够以其他方式证明他们已经掌握了相关知识，他们依然可以顺利毕业。

Test scores have risen markedly. Last year, 54 percent of Chelsea 10th graders were proficient or advanced on the math MCAS.

测试成绩已明显上升。在去年的MCAS数学测试中，54%的切尔西十年级学生达到了熟练或高级水平。

On tests administered by the federal Education Department, Massachusetts, which had been above average, rose to No. 1 among the 50 states in math.

在联邦教育部组织的测试中，马萨诸塞州的数学成绩（此前一直高于平均水平）在全美50个州中高居榜首。

Building Blocks

成功的积木

Two decades after Massachusetts passed its education reform, there is still much disagreement over what were the crucial components to its success.

在马萨诸塞州通过教育改革法案20年后，对于什么构成其成功的关键要素这一问题，教育界仍然存在很大分歧。

Some think it was the added money; others note that successful countries operate schools at much lower costs.

有些人认为教育经费增加是主因；其他人则指出，一些成功国家的学校运营成本要比美国低得多。

Some think high-stakes testing imposed accountability on administrators, teachers and students; others say that it merely added stress and that the proliferation of tests takes away too much time from learning.

有些人认为高风险测试针对学校行政人员、教师和学生实施了问责制；其他人表示，这样做只是增加了压力，考试泛滥吞噬了太多的学习时间。 广告 Some think the standards gave clarity on what was expected of teachers and students; others say there is little correlation between well-written standards and student performance.

有些人认为，清晰的标准进一步明确了对教师和学生的期许；其他人则声称，精心编写的标准和学生表现之间几乎没有相关性。

Officials like Dr. Driscoll say all three components were essential.

斯科尔博士等官员表示，所有这三个要素都是至关重要的。

Dr. Rees, the Braintree schools’ science director, said the standards helped make sure that teachers across the state covered the same subjects, laying the groundwork for subsequent grades.

布伦特里学区科学课总监里斯博士表示，标准有助于确保全州教师传授相同的科目，为后续年级的教学工作奠定基础。

“There’s a logic to that, a progression,” she said. “You start learning about solids in kindergarten. In first grade, you learn about solids and liquids, and then in second grade, you start to learn about solids and liquids and gases.”

“这样做有逻辑可循，它是循序渐进的，”她说。“你在幼儿园开始学习固体知识。在一年级时，你学习固体和液体，然后在二年级，你开始学习固体、液体和气体知识。”

The MCAS has helped Braintree figure out what works and what doesn’t. Middle school students were struggling with chemistry questions on the eighth-grade MCAS. The district changed the order of instruction, covering concrete science concepts in sixth grade and moving some chemistry topics to seventh. “And it worked,” Dr. Rees said. “They’re doing better on their chemistry.”

MCAS帮助布伦特里学区弄清楚了什么可行，什么不可行。鉴于许多中学生做不出八年级MCAS测试的化学题，该学区改变了教学次序，从六年级开始讲授具体的科学概念，并把一些化学知识挪到七年级。里斯博士说：“这样做很有效果，他们的化学成绩正在明显改善。”

Still, Massachusetts officials admit they have more to do.

不过，马萨诸塞州官员承认他们依然有很多工作要做。

While scores have improved across the board, the gap between the highest achievers and the lowest — notably blacks, Hispanics and special education students — has persisted.

尽管学生的成绩全面提升，但最高分和最低分——尤其是黑人、西班牙裔和接受特殊教育的学生——之间的差距依然在延续。

Seeing Results

成果浮现

At East Middle School, the elixir is Kristen Walsh, who teaches math to sixth, seventh and eighth graders with so-called special needs, a potpourri of learning disabilities that include dyslexia and autism. On this day she was introducing a lesson on variables and linear equations with a problem involving gym memberships.

在东方中学(East Middle School)，克里斯汀·沃尔什(Kristen Walsh)堪称一位神奇老师。她给那些有所谓特殊需要的六至八年级学生教数学，这是一帮学习障碍各有不同的学生，其中包括诵读困难症和自闭症。采访这天，她正在使用一个涉及健身房会员资格的问题，导入一节关于变量和一次方程式的数学课。

She explained the usual math concepts of beginning algebra — the slope of a line indicating the rate of change, the y intercept where the line intersects the y axis. Where she lingered was less the math concepts but the words used in the word problem, repeatedly checking that the students understood that the “start-up fee” of one health club was the same thing as the membership fee at another. 她解释了开始学习代数时通常需要掌握的数学概念——一条线的斜率代表y随x的变动率，y轴截距就是这条线与y轴相交的点。她阐述时间较长的，并不是数学概念，而是文字问题使用的词汇，她反复检查以确保学生们明白，一家健康俱乐部的“启动费”与另一家的会员费其实是一回事。

In essence, she was teaching how to interpret a math problem as much as how to solve it.

就本质而言，她不但教学生们如何解决一道数学题，还传授如何解释它。

Dr. Kendall says teachers now laugh when he tells them that it was once possible to graduate from Braintree High School without ever taking algebra. “You can’t get out of eighth grade without knowing Algebra I now,” he said. “We’re teaching it to everybody, and everybody is having success.”

肯德尔博士表示，当他现在对老师们说，过去的学生即使没有上过一节代数课也有可能从布伦特里高中顺利毕业时，他们都笑了。“现如今，如果你不掌握代数一级课程，你就不能从八年级升级，”他说，“我们正在向每个人传授代数知识，每个人都在收获成功。”

The first new math standards in Massachusetts, in the 1990s, echoed the “constructivist” pedagogy then in vogue. Students would construct their knowledge through trial and error, resulting in a deeper understanding.

20世纪90年代，马萨诸塞州首次制定了一套全新数学标准，它所附和的是“建构主义”教育学。这种学派认为，学生会通过试错构建自己的知识，从而产生更深层次的理解。

But many parents rebelled, complaining that their children never mastered basic skills. The state officials in charge of the next revision wanted a back-to-basics curriculum. But Dr. Kendall and others argued that that old approach had already failed.

但很多家长对此非常反感，抱怨说自己的孩子从来没有掌握基本技能。负责颁布下一个版本的州政府官员有意推行一个回归基础训练的课程。但肯德尔博士和其他人则认为，老办法已经失败。

The “math wars” erupted at the turn of the millennium, culminating in a sort of détente — constructivism was purged, but the new Massachusetts standards did not prescribe a new approach. They stated what students were to learn, but not how teachers were to teach. “What came out of it ended up being a good document, because it contained no pedagogy,” Dr. Kendall said.

“数学战争”在千年之交全面爆发，最终以某种程度的“缓和”宣告结束——建构主义被清除，但马萨诸塞州的新标准并没有规定一种新方法。它只是确定学生应该学什么，但并未规定老师应该怎样教。“最终出炉的是一份很好的文件，因为它没有包含教育学理念，”肯德尔博士说。

That allowed teachers like Ms. Walsh to devise and improve.

而这让像沃尔什这样的老师得以设计和改进教学方法。

Take the multiplication table. The traditional approach was to memorize it in order. A strict constructivist would have children figure it out by playing with sticks and other so-called manipulatives.

就以乘法表为例。传统的学习方式是按顺序背熟。一位严格的建构主义者会要求学生摆弄枝条和其他所谓教具把它搞清楚。

Braintree combines those approaches, with the teachers guiding the learning in a particular order.

布伦特里学区结合了这些方法，由老师按照特定的顺序指导学习。

“Now research shows when you’re teaching multiplication facts, you should start with the 2s, go to the 10s, go to the 5s, do the 4, the 8, don’t hit 0, because the idea of multiplying 0 by 0 is complicated, until they’ve got a foundation in multiplication,” Dr. Kendall said. “Do 0 and 1 in about the middle, and save 7 and 3 until the end, because those are the really hard ones.”

“现在的研究表明，当你传授基本的乘法时，你应该从2的乘法开始，然后是10、5、4和8的乘法，但不要教乘数为0的计算，因为0乘以0蕴含的思想很复杂，在他们打好乘法基础之前先不要教，”肯德尔博士说，“0和1的乘法放在中间教，7和3留到最后，因为这些真的很难。”

He added, “We’re helping them construct their own knowledge in a way that is successful.”

他补充道：“我们正在以一种非常成功的方式帮助他们建构自己的知识。”

Abby Federico, one of Ms. Walsh’s special-needs students, said her mother told her the middle school math curriculum was much more advanced than when she was in school. “She was like, ‘I learned this stuff in high school,’ ” Abby said.

艾比·费德里科(Abby Federico)是沃尔什老师班里有特殊需要的学生之一。艾比说，妈妈告诉她现在的中学数学课程要比她上学的时候复杂得多。“她大概是说，‘这些东西是我上高中时才学会的，’”艾比说。

Dr. Kendall said that special needs students in Braintree used to routinely fail the math MCAS. Now those in Ms. Walsh’s class often get “proficient.”

肯德尔博士表示，布伦特里学区中那些有特殊需要的学生，过去常常无法通过MCAS数学测试。但现在，沃尔什老师班里的学生往往能达到“熟练”水平。

“It’s pretty easy in my opinion, because Ms. Walsh usually teaches us a lot of methods to use in math to make it seem easier,” Abby said, adding that she might even choose a career that requires math skills.

艾比说：“我觉得很容易拿这样的分数，因为沃尔什老师经常教我们使用许多方法，数学题现在看起来更容易了。”她还说，她自己甚至有可能选择一门需要数学技能的职业。

“Math is pretty nice,” she said.

“数学太好玩了，”她说。

本文最初发表于2013年9月3日。 翻译：任文科