新
的数据显示，2010年参加美国大学入学考试(ACT)的高中毕业生中，掌握了完成基本课程所必需的学术知识的学生比例不足25%，尽管过去几年在美国高中生间这一比例微幅上升。这一结果对美国高中为培养学生上大学所作的准备情况提出了疑问，也显示出奥巴马政府在提高教育标准的过程中所面临的挑战。奥巴马政府先前的教育政策获得了两党支持，但《不让一个孩子掉队》(No Child Left Behind)法案的修改和重新获批将在这个秋天面临坎坷。
尽管小学在全国性水平考试中表现出了进步，但高中的成绩却还停留在相当低的水平。有些专家说，高中课程不够严格是造成这一结果的原因之一。
华盛顿的无党派研究机构教育政策中心(Center on Education Policy)总裁詹宁斯(Jack Jennings)说，高中是美国教育改革的下坡路，我们还不知道如何从整体上对其加以改善，而如果我们的孩子还没有真正退学，他们已经从精神上退学了。
近日的这份结果显示，2010年参加美国大学入学考试的毕业班中，只有24%在数学、阅读、英语和科学的考试中取得了能够完成大学基本课程的分数。这一比例与去年的23%和2008年的22%相比，仅仅略有上升。
除此而外，28%的学生甚至没有一科能达到大学入学所要求的分数。
每个州的学生都能参加美国大学入学考试，而它在中西部地区最被认可。约有47%的2010届毕业班、160万学生参加了这一被多数美国大学接受的考试。这是一个水平测试，检验学生对高中课程的掌握情况以及完成大学第一年课程所需具备的知识。
Stephanie Banchero
New data show that fewer than 25% of 2010 graduates who took the ACT college-entrance exam possessed the academic skills necessary to pass entry-level courses, despite modest gains in college-readiness among U.S high-school students in the last few years.
The results raise questions about how well the nation's high schools are preparing students for college, and show the challenge facing the Obama administration in its effort to raise educational standards. The administration won bipartisan support for its education policies early on, but faces a tough fight in the fall over the rewrite and reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind program.
While elementary schools have shown progress on national achievement exams, high-school results have stayed perniciously low. Some experts say the lack of rigor in high-school courses is partly to blame.
'High schools are the downfall of American school reform,' said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington. 'We haven't figured out how to improve them on a broad scope and if our kids aren't dropping out physically, they are dropping out mentally.'
In the recent results, only 24% of the graduating class of 2010 scored high enough on the ACT in math, reading, English and science to ensure they would pass entry-level college courses. This is a slight uptick from last year, when 23% were ready for college, and from 2008, when 22% were ready.
Still, 28% of students didn't score high enough on even one subject-matter exam to ensure college readiness.
The ACT is taken by students in every state but is most popular in the Midwest. About 47% of the 2010 graduating class, 1.6 million students, sat for the exam, which is accepted at most U.S. colleges. The ACT is an achievement test that measures students' mastery of high-school curriculum and the skills they will need to pass first-year college courses.
Stephanie Banchero
The results raise questions about how well the nation's high schools are preparing students for college, and show the challenge facing the Obama administration in its effort to raise educational standards. The administration won bipartisan support for its education policies early on, but faces a tough fight in the fall over the rewrite and reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind program.
While elementary schools have shown progress on national achievement exams, high-school results have stayed perniciously low. Some experts say the lack of rigor in high-school courses is partly to blame.
'High schools are the downfall of American school reform,' said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington. 'We haven't figured out how to improve them on a broad scope and if our kids aren't dropping out physically, they are dropping out mentally.'
In the recent results, only 24% of the graduating class of 2010 scored high enough on the ACT in math, reading, English and science to ensure they would pass entry-level college courses. This is a slight uptick from last year, when 23% were ready for college, and from 2008, when 22% were ready.
Still, 28% of students didn't score high enough on even one subject-matter exam to ensure college readiness.
The ACT is taken by students in every state but is most popular in the Midwest. About 47% of the 2010 graduating class, 1.6 million students, sat for the exam, which is accepted at most U.S. colleges. The ACT is an achievement test that measures students' mastery of high-school curriculum and the skills they will need to pass first-year college courses.
Stephanie Banchero
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