双语新闻：在新冠肺炎大流行期间美国各地部分学生数学落后，其农村学校系统如何在数学方面取得进展
在新冠肺炎大流行期间，美国各地的许多学生数学落后。许多教育工作者正在寻求让学生恢复到正常数学水平的方法。
Such efforts paid off for a rural school system in the southern state of Alabama. It has shown major improvement.
这些努力为南部阿拉巴马州的农村学校系统带来了回报。它显示出了重大的改进。
A study called the Nation's Report Card shows that Alabama students led the nation in maintaining math learning during the pandemic. And the state's Piedmont City school system landed at the top in a comparison of scores from before and during the pandemic. Nationwide, students on average fell half a year behind in math, researchers say.
一项名为“全国成绩单”的研究显示，阿拉巴马州的学生在疫情期间保持数学学习方面处于全国领先地位。在疫情前和疫情期间的分数比较中，该州的皮埃蒙特市学校系统位居榜首。研究人员称，在全国范围内，学生的数学平均落后半年。
The Piedmont school system has about 1,100 students. Seven out of 10 children receive reduced-cost or free meals in the schools.
皮埃蒙特学校系统约有1100名学生。每10个孩子中就有7个在学校获得了低成本或免费的膳食。
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 teaching to each child.
学校系统坚持其在疫情前制定的政策：教师使用考试成绩来了解学生在哪里挣扎，然后针对每个孩子进行教学。
"We made a total transformation about five years ago," said Mike Hayes, the school system's chief. "We decided that we were going to let data make every decision."
学校系统负责人Mike Hayes说：“大约五年前，我们进行了彻底的变革。”“我们决定让数据来做每一个决定。”
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.
教育非营利组织TNTP的Rebecca Dreyfus表示，针对少数学生群体的定向教学有多年的研究和证据支持。
"The short answer is that using data effectively and efficiently to plan and monitor instruction is always going to make instruction better for kids," Dreyfus said.
德雷福斯说：“简单的答案是，有效、高效地使用数据来计划和监控教学总是会让孩子们的教学变得更好。”
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.
2017年，当海斯成为学校系统的领导者时，皮埃蒙特的学生在数学技能方面排名该州第35位。到2022年春季，皮埃蒙特大学的学生已升至第12位。
"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.
海斯说：“一旦我们做出了这个决定，坚持下去，做出了改变，让我们的老师有时间查看数据，深入研究数据，这就得到了回报。”
Teachers go deep into data
教师深入研究数据
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.
作为努力的一部分，皮埃蒙特学校系统延长了上课时间。这允许每四周有一次“数据日”，教育工作者聚在一起研究这些数字。
Cassie Holbrooks teaches fourth-grade math. She said the "data days" help teachers see where the weaknesses are and target instruction.
卡西·霍尔布鲁克教四年级的数学。她说，“数据日”有助于教师了解弱点所在，并有针对性地进行教学。
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.
六年级教师Lisa Hayes五年前加入学校系统。她说，看到老师们在数据时代如此努力，她感到很惊讶。
"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."
“当我来到这里，我们有一个工作日，”她说，“你不会坐在你的房间里。你一天大部分时间都在这里（媒体中心），研究考试成绩。”
Teachers then use the information to decide how to divide the students into small groups for targeted instruction.
然后，教师利用这些信息决定如何将学生分成小组进行有针对性的教学。
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."
长期以来，将两到六名学生分组学习一项特定技能一直被用于阅读教学和低年级学生。关于在数学中使用有针对性的小组教学的研究较少。但像德雷福斯这样的研究人员表示，这涉及到识别需要额外帮助的学生的相同想法，而不是简单地把“落后”的孩子拉出来。
Small groups and independent work
小组和独立工作
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.
当皮埃蒙特学校的数学老师与小组合作时，其他学生则在数学书中写作、玩学习游戏或制定个人学习计划。
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.
海斯说，起初，当皮埃蒙特扩大数学小组教学时，老师们说他们没有足够的时间做好这项工作。因此，学校将数学和英语学习时间扩大到每天80到120分钟。
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 consistently do (small groups) and work on getting through the standards that you have to cover."
Landon Pruitt老师说，数学课的时间越长，影响就越大。“在52或53分钟的课堂上，”他说，“你不可能始终如一地（小组）完成你必须达到的标准。”
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.
学校还必须帮助教师调整课堂管理技巧，因为小组和独立工作将同时进行。海斯说，一个解决方案是给老师一个监控每个学生屏幕的程序。他补充道，学区希望确保教师有足够的支持和资源来做好这项工作。
"I'm not sure we have a secret sauce or anything..." Hayes said. But, he noted that the teachers believe in learning data, and letting that data direct instruction.
海耶斯说：“我不确定我们是否有什么秘制酱汁……”。但是，他指出，老师们相信学习数据，并让这些数据指导教学。
