美國學生的困擾：數(shù)學、閱讀呈下降趨勢！

Bad news for America's schools: Student achievement in math and reading is on the decline, according to National Assessment of Education Progress scores released Wednesday.

美國學校的壞消息：據(jù)周三全美教育進展評估成績的發(fā)布，美國學生數(shù)學和閱讀成績呈下降趨勢。

The National Assessment of Education Progress, or NAEP -- called the Nation's Report Card -- is an exam given to fourth-grade and eighth-grade students throughout the country by the National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education. While students' scores have increased overall since the 1990s, results released Wednesday show a slight decline between 2013 and 2015.

全美教育進展評估項目——又稱國家報告卡——這是由美國教育部分支——國家教育統(tǒng)計中心，給到全國所有四年級和八年級學生的一項考試。20世紀90年代的學生成績是總體上升的，但是2013-2015年的學生成績呈下降趨勢。

Only 36 percent of fourth-grade students and 34 percent of eighth-grade students in 2015 scored high enough to be considered proficient or above in reading. In math, 40 percent of fourth-grade students and 33 percent of eighth-grade students scored proficient or above.

2015年，閱讀成績上，只有36%的四年級學生和34%的八年級學生取得的成績達到了精通或以上;數(shù)學成績上，有40%的四年級學生和33%的八年級學生所取得的成績達到了精通或以上。

While the 2015 results are disappointing, experts caution that they should not yet be interpreted as a downward trend. Peggy Carr, acting commissioner of NCES said the drop in scores was "an unexpected one. ... This isn’t a pattern that we saw coming."

盡管2015年成績不理想，但專家還是提醒大家，這并不意味著是一個下滑趨勢。國家教育統(tǒng)計中心的代理總干事，佩吉·卡爾說成績下降這一趨勢是“沒有預料到的...這不是我們所看到的模式。”

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan pushed for caution in interpreting the latest scores on a call with reporters. He also noted that even though scores dropped in 2015, high school graduation rates have been on the rise.

美國教育部長阿恩·鄧肯接受記者電話采訪時表示，在分析這一成績趨勢時要保持慎重。他也指出，盡管2015年的分數(shù)下降了，但是高中畢業(yè)率卻呈上升趨勢。

The Common Core State Standards were in their beginning phases of implementation in many places in 2015, which could have impacted the latest NAEP scores. The Common Core State Standards are a set of new education benchmarks that have been adopted in most states and have overhauled the wayliteracy and math are taught. Duncan alluded to this on the call.

2015年，核心國家課程標準已經(jīng)在美國很多地區(qū)推行，正處于初步階段，這在一定程度上會影響到最近的全美教育進展評估成績。核心國家課程標準是一套已經(jīng)被大多數(shù)州采用，并全面改革讀寫和數(shù)學教育方式的全新教育基準。鄧肯在電話中說道。

Schools are also educating a more diverse group of students than they have in the past, including more low-income kids and English language learners. But it is unclear how this might be impacting scores.

相比過去，如今學校學生構成愈加多元化，有低收入家庭小孩，也有英語學習者。但這些是如何影響評估成績的還不是很明確。