第1772期:Many Students Need Extra Help, But Few Seem to Be Getting It

A federal government report from December found that half of all U.S. students started this school year behind their grade level in at least one subject. Many American education experts say tutoring is the best way to help students make up for learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic. But, although many schools have received a lot of federal aid, only a small number of students have been getting tutored. That finding comes from research by the nonprofit news organization Chalkbeat and the Associated Press. The two organizations surveyed 12 of the nation’s school systems. Eight systems provided information. The schools reported that fewer than 10 percent of students received any kind of tutoring in the fall of last year.

去年 12 月的一份联邦政府报告发现，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他们的年级水平。许多美国教育专家表示，补习是帮助学生弥补 COVID-19 大流行期间学习损失的最佳方式。但是，尽管许多学校获得了大量联邦援助，但只有少数学生接受了辅导。这一发现来自非营利性新闻机构 Chalkbeat 和美联社的研究。这两个组织调查了全国 12 个学校系统。八个系统提供了信息。这些学校报告说，去年秋天只有不到 10% 的学生接受过任何形式的辅导。

A new tutoring group in Chicago served about three percent of students, officials said. But less than one percent of students in three big school systems received tutoring. They were Georgia’s Gwinnett County, Florida’s Miami-Dade County, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia reported that 800 students had been tutored. In those three systems, there are more than 600,000 students who spent no time in a tutoring program last fall. The low tutoring numbers suggest several problems. Some parents said they did not know tutoring was available or did not think their child needed it. Some school systems have struggled to hire tutors. Other school systems said their small tutoring programs were part of their efforts to meet students’ greatest needs. Whatever the reason, the result is clear: at an important time for students’ recovery, millions of children have not received the extra help.

官员们说，芝加哥一个新的辅导小组为大约 3% 的学生提供服务。但在三大学校系统中，只有不到百分之一的学生接受了辅导。它们是佐治亚州的格威内特县、佛罗里达州的迈阿密-戴德县和宾夕法尼亚州的费城。费城报告说有 800 名学生接受了辅导。在这三个系统中，去年秋天有超过 600,000 名学生没有参加辅导课程。辅导人数少表明存在几个问题。一些家长表示他们不知道有补习班，或者认为他们的孩子不需要补习班。一些学校系统一直在努力聘请导师。其他学校系统表示，他们的小型辅导计划是他们努力满足学生最大需求的一部分。不管是什么原因，结果很明显：在学生康复的重要时刻，数以百万计的孩子没有得到额外的帮助。

“It works, it’s effective, it gets students to improve in their learning and catch up,” said Amie Rapaport. She is a researcher with the University of Southern California (USC) who is studying why so many students are not getting intensive tutoring. The Indianapolis school district last year began two tutoring programs that connect students with teachers by video link. One is available to all students after school. The other is offered during the day for some low-performing schools.District officials said the tutoring test program improved student test scores. Parents also liked the program. The two programs served 3,200 students last fall. That is about 17 percent of students in district schools. Two other tutoring programs operate at a small number of schools.

Amie Rapaport 说：“它行之有效，它可以让学生提高学习水平并赶上进度。”她是南加州大学 (USC) 的一名研究员，正在研究为什么这么多学生没有接受强化辅导。印第安纳波利斯学区去年开始了两个辅导项目，通过视频链接将学生与教师联系起来。放学后所有学生都可以使用一个。另一种是在白天为一些表现不佳的学校提供的。地区官员说，辅导测试计划提高了学生的考试成绩。家长们也很喜欢这个节目。去年秋天，这两个项目为 3,200 名学生提供了服务。这大约占地区学校学生的 17%。另外两个辅导项目在少数学校开展。

The school district also said that only 35 percent of the students who registered for after-school tutoring last fall attended more than one session. Marc Ransford is the Indianapolis Public Schools spokesperson. He said the district wants to improve attendance and hopes to sign up more students for tutoring next school year. A federal survey from December found schools reported that about 10 percent of students received intensive tutoring several days a week. The real number could be lower. Only two percent of U.S. households said their children are getting intensive tutoring, a study from USC found. Schools trying to increase tutoring face problems, including hiring and planning. Experts say tutoring is most effective when provided three times a week for at least 30 minutes during school hours. Offering after-school or weekend tutoring is simpler, but attendance is often low.

学区还表示，去年秋天注册课后辅导的学生中，只有 35% 参加了不止一节课。马克·兰斯福德 (Marc Ransford) 是印第安纳波利斯公立学校的发言人。他说学区希望提高出勤率，并希望在下一学年招收更多学生参加辅导。去年 12 月的一项联邦调查发现，学校报告说，大约 10% 的学生每周有几天接受强化辅导。实际数字可能更低。南加州大学的一项研究发现，只有 2% 的美国家庭表示他们的孩子正在接受强化辅导。试图增加辅导的学校面临着招聘和规划等问题。专家表示，在上课时间每周提供 3 次每次至少 30 分钟的辅导是最有效的。提供课后或周末辅导更简单，但出勤率通常很低。

Low family interest has been another problem. Although test scores sharply dropped during the pandemic, many parents do not believe their children experienced learning loss. In Wake County, North Carolina, the school district began planning a reading tutoring program in November. District officials last month said volunteers are tutoring fewer than 140 students. That is far fewer than the 1,000 students the program was designed to help. Many worry that not enough students are getting the help they need even as programs continue to grow.

家庭兴趣低下是另一个问题。尽管大流行期间考试成绩急剧下降，但许多家长并不认为他们的孩子有学习障碍。在北卡罗来纳州的维克县，学区于 11 月开始计划一项阅读辅导计划。地区官员上个月表示，志愿者辅导的学生不到 140 人。这远远少于该计划旨在帮助的 1,000 名学生。许多人担心，即使项目继续增长，也没有足够的学生得到他们需要的帮助。