美國(guó)學(xué)生的困擾：數(shù)學(xué)、閱讀呈下降趨勢(shì)！

Bad news for America's schools: Student achievement in math and reading is on the decline, according to National Assessment of Education Progress scores released Wednesday.

美國(guó)學(xué)校的壞消息：據(jù)周三全美教育進(jìn)展評(píng)估成績(jī)的發(fā)布，美國(guó)學(xué)生數(shù)學(xué)和閱讀成績(jī)呈下降趨勢(shì)。

The National Assessment of Education Progress, or NAEP -- called the Nation's Report Card -- is an exam given to fourth-grade and eighth-grade students throughout the country by the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education. While students' scores have increased overall since the 1990s, results released Wednesday show a slight decline between 2013 and 2015.

全美教育進(jìn)展評(píng)估項(xiàng)目——又稱國(guó)家報(bào)告卡——這是由美國(guó)教育部分支——國(guó)家教育統(tǒng)計(jì)中心，給到全國(guó)所有四年級(jí)和八年級(jí)學(xué)生的一項(xiàng)考試。20世紀(jì)90年代的學(xué)生成績(jī)是總體上升的，但是2013-2015年的學(xué)生成績(jī)呈下降趨勢(shì)。

Only 36 percent of fourth-grade students and 34 percent of eighth-grade students in 2015 scored high enough to be considered proficient or above in reading. In math, 40 percent of fourth-grade students and 33 percent of eighth-grade students scored proficient or above.

2015年，閱讀成績(jī)上，只有36%的四年級(jí)學(xué)生和34%的八年級(jí)學(xué)生取得的成績(jī)達(dá)到了精通或以上;數(shù)學(xué)成績(jī)上，有40%的四年級(jí)學(xué)生和33%的八年級(jí)學(xué)生所取得的成績(jī)達(dá)到了精通或以上。

While the 2015 results are disappointing, experts caution that they should not yet be interpreted as a downward trend. Peggy Carr, acting commissioner of NCES said the drop in scores was "an unexpected one. ... This isn’t a pattern that we saw coming."

盡管2015年成績(jī)不理想，但專家還是提醒大家，這并不意味著是一個(gè)下滑趨勢(shì)。國(guó)家教育統(tǒng)計(jì)中心的代理總干事，佩吉·卡爾說(shuō)成績(jī)下降這一趨勢(shì)是“沒(méi)有預(yù)料到的...這不是我們所看到的模式。”

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan pushed for caution in interpreting the latest scores on a call with reporters. He also noted that even though scores dropped in 2015, high school graduation rates have been on the rise.

美國(guó)教育部長(zhǎng)阿恩·鄧肯接受記者電話采訪時(shí)表示，在分析這一成績(jī)趨勢(shì)時(shí)要保持慎重。他也指出，盡管2015年的分?jǐn)?shù)下降了，但是高中畢業(yè)率卻呈上升趨勢(shì)。

The Common Core State Standards were in their beginning phases of implementation in many places in 2015, which could have impacted the latest NAEP scores. The Common Core State Standards are a set of new education benchmarks that have been adopted in most states and have overhauled the wayliteracy and math are taught. Duncan alluded to this on the call.

2015年，核心國(guó)家課程標(biāo)準(zhǔn)已經(jīng)在美國(guó)很多地區(qū)推行，正處于初步階段，這在一定程度上會(huì)影響到最近的全美教育進(jìn)展評(píng)估成績(jī)。核心國(guó)家課程標(biāo)準(zhǔn)是一套已經(jīng)被大多數(shù)州采用，并全面改革讀寫和數(shù)學(xué)教育方式的全新教育基準(zhǔn)。鄧肯在電話中說(shuō)道。

Schools are also educating a more diverse group of students than they have in the past, including more low-income kids and English language learners. But it is unclear how this might be impacting scores.

相比過(guò)去，如今學(xué)校學(xué)生構(gòu)成愈加多元化，有低收入家庭小孩，也有英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)者。但這些是如何影響評(píng)估成績(jī)的還不是很明確。