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Conventional wisdom suggests that students perform better when they are enrolled in smaller classes. But new research and advoca

admin2015-03-25  56
问题     Conventional wisdom suggests that students perform better when they are enrolled in smaller classes. But new research and advocacy groups suggest that targeted resizing of classes—including increasing class sizes in certain subjects—can save districts money while minimally impacting student achievement.
    Education Resource Strategies(ERS)estimates that up to $6 billion could be saved nationally by increasing class sizes by just one student. A report released in May by the Brookings Institution states that the same move would reduce the number of teachers necessary by approximately 7 percent.
    Class-size legislation has remained an important political issue in many states. At least 24 states have enacted class-size laws that limit enrollment. Karen Miles, executive director of ERS, says these laws can hurt students in the long term. Important programs like teacher development classes and extracurricular activities have been cut in order to employ enough teachers to keep class sizes low, she says.
    Others, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, have come around to her way of thinking. In a letter to governors weighing state budget cuts, he wrote that states should use federal money in a way that would have the "greatest positive impact on students. " Among his suggestions were "targeted adjustments in class size, and compensation models that reward the best, most effective work. "
    Research shows that drastic class size reduction can improve student performance. The most widely cited research, the Student Teacher Achievement Ratio study conducted in the late 1980s, showed that when class sizes were reduced from 22 students to 15 students, student a-chievement increased by about three months of additional schooling. Subsequent studies have shown that slight increases or decreases in class size enrollment have negligible effects on student achievement.
    The May Brookings report says, " It appears that very large class-size reductions, on the order of magnitude of 7-10 fewer students per class, can have significant long-term effects on student achievement. These effects seem to be largest when introduced in the earliest grades, and for students from less advantaged family backgrounds. "
    Miles stresses that schools and districts need a strategy when it comes to changing class enrollment. If class sizes are increased, the money saved should be spent training effective teachers. She says schools should experiment with hiring part-time experts to teach reading in small groups. If there are three third-grade classes in a school, for instance, those classes could be combined for part of the day in classes such as art.
    Enrollment reductions should be focused on underprivileged students and young students, she adds. Better teacher evaluation systems need to be developed and implemented so that ineffective teachers can be held accountable for student performance, and effective teachers can be rewarded.
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
选项 A、Class-Size Legislation—a Shortcut for Better Performance
B、Targeted Resizing of Class—a Strategy for Class Enrollment
C、Class-Size Limitation—the Only Way for Schools
D、Class-Size Increase—a Substitute for Limit Enrollment
答案B
解析 主旨大意题。本文开篇对传统的“小班级对学生更有利”的说法进行否定，并指出新的研究建议有针对性地重新规划班级大小，接着对增加和减少班级人数的利弊进行了分析和引证，发现只有采用适当调整战略才能达到更好的效果，可见文章并不是一味地支持限制班级人数，也不是一味地建议增加班级人数，而是要有目标地调整班级人数，故[B]符合文意，同理排除[C]和[D]；文章也提到了class-size legislation，但这仅仅是作者引用的例子，并不是本文主旨，故排除[A]。
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