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United States
美國版塊
Back to school
重返校園
Learning and covid
學習與新冠肺炎疫情
Disrupted schooling spells worse results and deeper inequality
中斷的學校教育會引發更糟的結果，且不平等加劇
The first meeting between teachers in Montpelier, Vermont, before the start of the autumn term is usually festive—hugging over breakfast and coffee. This year they had to make do with an online videoconference. After a scramble in the spring (to set up online learning, pack lunches for poor pupils who relied on them and ship computers to those without them), the district plans to let younger pupils return for in-person learning on September 8th. High school will remain partly online because the building is too small to allow social distancing. The young pupils who can return will need to wear masks, keep their distance and have temperature checks before entering school buses or buildings.
佛蒙特州蒙彼利埃市的教師們通常會在享用早餐和咖啡時，歡悅地擁抱，以此來慶祝秋季學期開始前的第一次會面。但是今年，他們只能通過在線視頻會議勉強應付一下。今年的春季十分艱難（校方要安排網課，為貧困學生提供他們依賴的午餐，并為沒有電腦的學生提供電腦），此后，蒙彼利埃地區計劃讓低年級學生在9月8日返校進行面授學習。高中將依舊安排部分線上授課，因為教學樓太小了，學生們無法保持社交距離。那些能夠返校的低年級學生需要戴上口罩，保持距離，并在進入校車或教學樓之前進行體溫檢查。
Setting up these protocols took many 60-hour weeks over the summer holidays, says Libby Bonesteel, the superintendent. Her husband, a microbrewer, recently dedicated a new beer, “Our Impossible Ask”, to teachers. “Pairs well with late staff meetings, upended expertise, existential crisis and seemingly unending complications,” suggest the tasting notes.
教育局局長利比·博內斯泰爾表示，我們在暑假期間用了好幾周的時間，且每周要工作60個小時，才制定了這些方案。她的丈夫是一位微釀酒師，他最近將一款新調制的啤酒“我們不可能的要求”獻給了老師們。品酒記錄上寫著：“老師們遲來的會面、顛覆性的專業知識、人類的生存危機與似乎永無止境的難題完美搭配”。
Of the 50 largest school districts in America, 35 plan to start the coming term entirely remotely. The opportunity to squelch the virus over the summer has been lost, upending plans for “hybrid” education (part-time in-person instruction). This means more than just child-care headaches for parents. The continued disruption to schooling will probably spell permanent learning loss, disproportionately hurting poorer pupils.
在美國最大的50個學區中，有35個學區計劃在下學期完全線上授課。在夏季壓制病毒傳播的機會已經喪失，這顛覆了“混合式”教育計劃的推行（部分時間面授）。這不僅會給父母帶來兒童保育方面的麻煩。學校教育的持續中斷很可能會引發永久性的學習損失，對貧困學生造成不成比例的傷害。
“Achievement gaps will become achievement chasms,” warns Robin Lake, director of the Centre on Reinventing Public Education, a research group. Analysts at McKinsey, a consultancy, reckon that the typical American pupil would suffer 6.8 months of learning loss if in-person instruction does not resume until January 2021 (which looks plausible). This would fall heaviest on black pupils, who would regress by over ten months’-worth of instruction, and poor ones, who would fall behind by more than a year. There could also be 648,000 more high-school dropouts.
研究組織“公共教育革新中心”的主任羅賓·萊克發出警告，“成績差距會變成成績鴻溝”。咨詢公司麥肯錫的分析師估計，如果到2021年1月仍舊沒有恢復面授課，那么美國學生一般會蒙受6.8個月的學習損失。（該評估似乎很合理）。這次教育中斷也給黑人學生帶來了最嚴重的負擔，他們的教學將倒退超過10個月，而貧困生將會落后一年多。高中輟學的人數可能會增加64.8萬人。
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