2023年03月08日 VOA慢速英语：有些父母不知道他们的孩子在学校有困难

 


It is widely known that students' test scores decreased across the United States because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
众所周知，由于 COVID-19 大流行，美国学生的考试成绩有所下降。
 
But many parents do not know that their own child or children are among those whose scores have suffered.
但许多父母并不知道他们自己的孩子或孩子也在那些成绩下降的人之列。
 
In Boston, Massachusetts, Evena Joseph did not fully understand how much her 10-year-old son was struggling in school. She found out only with help from somebody who knows the Boston school system better than she does.
在马萨诸塞州的波士顿，Evena Joseph 并不完全了解她 10 岁的儿子在学校里有多么挣扎。她是在比她更了解波士顿学校系统的人的帮助下才发现的。
 
Joseph is a Haitian immigrant. Her son, J. Ryan Mathurin, was in the 30th percentile in reading. That means 70 percent of students had stronger reading scores than him. But Joseph did not know how far behind her son was until a hospital where he was receiving treatment connected her with a bilingual aid.
约瑟夫是海地移民。她的儿子 J. Ryan Mathurin 在阅读方面排名第 30个百分位。这意味着 70% 的学生阅读成绩都比他好。但约瑟夫并不知道她的儿子落后了多远，直到他正在接受治疗的一家医院为她联系了双语援助。
 
"It's only because I was assigned an educational advocate that I know this about my son," Joseph said.
“只是因为我被指派了一名教育倡导者，我才知道我儿子的情况，”约瑟夫说。
 
Schools have long faced criticism for failing to inform some parents about their kids' progress in school. But after COVID-19 school closures, the importance of keeping parents informed has in many ways never been greater.
长期以来，学校因未能告知一些家长孩子在学校的进步而受到批评。但在 COVID-19 学校停课后，让家长了解情况在许多方面变得前所未有的重要。
 
There are many chances to catch up, thanks to federal COVID aid. But it will take better communication with parents to help students get the support they need, experts say.
多亏了联邦 COVID 援助，有很多机会赶上来。但专家表示，需要与家长进行更好的沟通，以帮助学生获得所需的支持。
 
"Parents can't solve a problem that they don't know they have," said Cindi Williams. She is co-founder of Learning Heroes, a nonprofit working to improve communication between public schools and parents about student progress.
“父母无法解决他们不知道的问题，”辛迪·威廉姆斯说。她是 Learning Heroes 的联合创始人，这是一家致力于改善公立学校与家长之间关于学生进步的沟通的非营利组织。
 
In 2022, Learning Heroes questioned 1,400 public school parents around the country. The group found that 92 percent believed their children were performing at grade level. But in a federal survey, school officials said half of all U.S. students started this school year behind grade level in at least one subject.
2022 年，Learning Heroes 对全国 1,400 名公立学校家长进行了调查。该小组发现，92% 的人认为他们的孩子的表现达到了年级水平。但在一项联邦调查中，学校官员表示，本学年开始的所有美国学生中，有一半至少在一门学科上落后于年级水平。
 
The struggles that brought J. Ryan to the hospital for mental health treatment began in third grade. That was when he returned to in-person school after nearly a year of learning online. J. Ryan was getting angry in class, disrupting lessons and leaving the classroom.
将 J. Ryan 带到医院接受心理健康治疗的挣扎始于三年级。那是他在网上学习了将近一年后回到面授学校的时候。J. Ryan 在课堂上生气，扰乱课堂并离开教室。
 
J. Ryan showed these behaviors during English and other classes, including Mandarin and gym. He did better in math class, one of his stronger subjects. But Joseph said teachers never told her about her son's problems with reading.
J. Ryan 在英语和其他课程中表现出这些行为，包括普通话和体育课。他在数学课上表现更好，这是他的强项之一。但约瑟夫说，老师们从未告诉过她儿子在阅读方面的问题。
 
Last spring, she sought treatment for her son's depression. She was helped at the hospital with the parent advocate who speaks English and Haitian Creole.
去年春天，她为儿子的抑郁症寻求治疗。她在医院得到了会说英语和海地克里奥尔语的家长支持者的帮助。
 
The advocate pushed to get J. Ryan's scores from the tests given each fall to measure student learning. She explained to Joseph what it meant for J. Ryan to be in the 30th percentile in reading.
倡导者推动从每年秋季进行的测试中获得 J. Ryan 的分数，以衡量学生的学习情况。她向 Joseph 解释了 J. Ryan 在阅读方面处于 30% 的位置意味着什么。
 
Before this year, schools in the Boston system could decide whether to share test scores with parents. But it is not clear how many were doing it. In the fall, Boston schools started a communications program to help teachers explain testing results to parents as many as three times a year.
今年之前，波士顿系统的学校可以决定是否与家长分享考试成绩。但尚不清楚有多少人在这样做。秋天，波士顿的学校启动了一项沟通计划，以帮助教师每年向家长解释测试结果多达 3 次。
 
Research shows there are many reasons teachers might not talk to parents about a student's academic progress, especially when the news is bad.
研究表明，教师可能不与家长谈论学生学业进步的原因有很多，尤其是在消息不好的时候。
 
"Historically, teachers did not get a lot of training to talk to parents," said Tyler Smith. He is a school psychology professor at the University of Missouri. School leadership and support for teachers also make a difference, he added.
“从历史上看，教师没有接受过很多与父母交谈的培训，”泰勒史密斯说。他是密苏里大学的学校心理学教授。他补充说，学校的领导和对教师的支持也很重要。
 
Teachers might also think that poorer parents do not care about their child's progress, said Williams, the co-founder of Learning Heroes.
Learning Heroes 的联合创始人威廉姆斯说，老师们也可能认为较贫穷的父母不关心孩子的进步。
 
Without these discussions, parents only look at report cards. But report cards are considered to be subjective. They may not be the best signs of overall student success.
没有这些讨论，父母只会看成绩单。但成绩单被认为是主观的。它们可能不是学生整体成功的最佳标志。
 
Many school systems have used their federal pandemic recovery money for summer school, tutoring programs and other actions to help students recover from the pandemic. But students have not used the extra help as much as educators had hoped. If more parents knew their children were behind academically, they might seek help.
许多学校系统已将联邦大流行病恢复资金用于暑期学校、辅导计划和其他行动，以帮助学生从大流行病中恢复过来。但学生并没有像教育工作者所希望的那样使用额外的帮助。如果更多的父母知道他们的孩子在学业上落后，他们可能会寻求帮助。
 
After J. Ryan moved to a new school, Joseph stopped getting phone calls from the teacher complaining about his behavior. Joseph said her son is getting good treatment for his depression. But Joseph said she has not received a report card this year or the test scores that the district claims it is now sending to families.
J. Ryan 搬到一所新学校后，Joseph 不再接到老师抱怨他行为的电话。约瑟夫说她儿子的抑郁症正在得到很好的治疗。但约瑟夫说，她今年没有收到成绩单，也没有收到学区声称现在发给家庭的考试成绩。