首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Margaret Spellings, the secretary of education, announced a pilot reform to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), George Bush’s e
Margaret Spellings, the secretary of education, announced a pilot reform to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), George Bush’s e
admin
2011-02-11
47
问题
Margaret Spellings, the secretary of education, announced a pilot reform to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), George Bush’s education law, which was passed in 2002 Up to ten states, she said, would be allowed to target their resources at the most severely struggling schools, rather than at the vast number needing improvement. The change drew a predictable mix of praise and censure. Above all, though, it was a reminder of utter inaction elsewhere.
Congress, which was supposed to re-authorize the law last year, has made little progress. On the campaign trail, concerns over Iraq and the economy have made education a minor issue. Contrary to appearances, the law’s main tenets are unlikely to be abandoned completely. But for the Democratic candidates in particular, a proper debate on NCLB is to be avoided like political quicksand.
Most politicians agree that the law has the right goals—to raise educational standards and hold schools accountable for meeting them. NCLB requires states to test pupils on math and reading from third to eighth grade (that is, from the ages of eight to 13), and once in high school. Some science testing is being added. Schools that do not make "adequate yearly progress" towards meeting state standards face sanctions. Pupils in failing schools can supposedly transfer to a better one or get tutoring.
Most also agree that NCLB has big flaws that must be fixed. Few pupils in bad schools actually transfer—less than 1% of those eligible did so in the 2003—04 school year. Teachers’ unions say the tests are focused too narrowly on math and reading, fail to measure progress over time and encourage "teaching to the test". They also complain that the law lacks proper funding. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a conservative policy group, has exposed wide gaps in state standards. Test-data reflect this. In Mississippi 90% of fourth-graders were labeled "proficient" or better in the state reading test in 2006-07. Only 19% reached that level in a national test.
John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, offers NCLB tepid support but fails to elaborate. At Democratic rallies, NCLB is little more than a whipping-boy. Hillary Clinton proclaims that she will "end the unfunded mandate known as No Child Left Behind". But though she and Barack Obama deride NCLB publicly, each endorses the idea of accountability. They favor using more sophisticated "assessments" in place of tests, want to value a broader range of skills, punish schools less and support them more. How these ideas would be implemented remains unclear.
Not surprisingly, more controversial proposals can be found among those not running for president. Chester Finn of Fordham thinks the federal government needs greater power to set standards, while states should have more leeway in meeting them. A bipartisan commission on NCLB has issued a slew of proposals. Particularly contentious is a plan to use pupils’ test scores to help identify ineffective teachers as in need of retraining.
Of course, standards alone do not improve education. Both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama propose a host of new programs for schools, described on their websites if rarely on campaign. But accountability is likely to remain a big part of school reform. Last April a group of philanthropists announced a $60m effort to make education the top domestic issue of 2008. So far, it looks like money spent.
From the descripton in the passage, we learn that
选项
A、controversial proposals can be found only among the presidential nominees.
B、using pupils’ test scores to identify ineffective teachers has been widely accepted.
C、both Democratic presidential nominees support the idea of accountability.
D、neither the Republican nor the Democratic presidential nominees favor NCLB
答案
C
解析
第5段第4句表明希拉里和奥巴马都认可责任制(each endorses the idea of accountability),而选项 C的Both Democratic presidential nominees指的就是这二人,support与原文的endorse同义,故C正确。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ahYO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
WhichofthefollowingisNOTtrueoftheHundredYearsWar?
ExpositionExpositioniswritingthatexplains.Mostofthebooksinuniversityli-brariesareexamplesofexposition.Alth
A、thereislittlesupplyB、thereisstillenoughsupplyC、thereisseveraldays’supplyD、thereisonlytwodays’supplyC听力原文中的
Why,youmaywonder,shouldspidersbeourfriends?Becausetheyprotectsomanyinsects,andinsectsinclude【M1】______someof
A、violatingthecongressbyembazzlementB、violatingtheconstitutionbyhiringthechiefwithoutconsultingcongressC、violatin
HumanitiesDisciplinesInmanypeople’seyes,thehumanitiesdisciplinesseemtobedyingout.However,actually,students
A、Peopleoftenhavedifferentlearningstyles.B、Settingreachablegoalsshouldbeparamountinlearning.C、Pronunciationpracti
Weallknowthatprogramminglanguageisthesystemofsyntax,grammar,andsymbolsorwordsusedtogiveinstructionstoacomp
Contrasttoresearchers’expectations,dysfunctionalfamilyrelationshipsandpoor
A、MissChartwasoncedismissedbytheemployer.B、MissChartwasnotongoodtermswithherco-workers.C、MissChanoncequitte
随机试题
直流源、()、()、指数激励源,单频调频源、线性受控制、非线性受控制及压控振荡(VCO)仿真源等。
妊娠病是指
九味羌活汤的组成药物中含有()
甲与某农机公司签订了1份购买1台标号为999号东方红牌拖拉机的合同。甲即与某农机公司发生了债的关系,从性质上看,该债属于:()
六西格玛管理工作程序DMAIC,其中D表示()。
系统流程图用于可行性分析中的()的描述。
任意两个命题,如果它们不能同时为假,但可以同时为真,则称为“下反对关系”。根据上述定义,下列属于“下反对关系”的是:
下列哪一项关于行政立法的说法是正确的?()
组成计算机指令的两部分是_______。
Theentertainmentprofession,or"showbusiness",attractsmanyyoungpeople.Unfortunately,onlyveryfewcanhopetobecomefa
最新回复
(
0
)