英语四级长篇阅读段落信息匹配题练习9

英语四级长篇阅读段落信息匹配题练习(9)

Deborah Kenny's "Born to Rise" Tells Story of Harlem Village Academies

A) Deborah Kenny, CEO of the Harlem Village Academies, is frustrated with the nat ion's current education system. Unlike most, though, she decided to do something about it. Part declaration part record, her book Born to Rise writes down her journey toward creat ing and running her own system of progressive charter schools in Harlem in New York C ity.

What is your educational philosophy?

B) We want our students to receive the same high-quality education as students who are privileged to attend the best private schools in the country. Personally, I believe a pro gressive education is superior as long as it's delivered by really smart, talented teachers w ho know how to execute well. It's a sophisticated approach that really only works well in the hands of a really sophisticated educator. We're dealing with a little bit of a challe nge because students enter this school from the regular public system. And when they ent er in fifth grade, they're not yet well-trained in the basics reading, writing, and math--whi ch means that we have to catch them up on basic math skills, on the 'basics of writing. And many of them come in at a kindergarten, first, second-grade level in reading. So we have to accelerate their mastery of the basics, but we reject the idea that if you do that you can't teach that at a high level. We push ourselves constantly to think about how w e can make sure that our students will catch up while we teach at the highest possible le vel. It means asking difficult, delicate questions, not accepting an answer that is not backe d up by evidence, the kinds of things that you would expect to see in the best private sc hools. We aim for a high level in rich discussions where the students are asked to analyz e a challenging text and where the teacher does not accept just any answer simply becaus e the student is behaving. What makes the Harlem Village Academies different?

C) First of all, I have to say what we have in common with other charter schools b ecause we have learned so much from them: creating an expectation that all students will attend college, naming classrooms after colleges, the longer school day, the longer school year. I feel it's important to give credit where credit is due because I learned from them. In those early years when I opened the school, most of these other schools bad been aro und for seven years, ten years, some of them even longer.

D ) As far as what makes us different, I'll tell you what the teachers say: teachers t ell us that the level of professionalism and passion for teaching at a high level and teac hing above the test, not to the test, and working in an environment, where everybody is t rusted to do their job and continually learning--there's this incredible culture of learning. T here's this incredible workplace culture where the adults are continually becoming better a nd learning more about how to become a better lead her. The teachers get to make all of the decisions 'about their own professional development rather than being enforced to at t end the training. They are treated like professional-grade' doctors and lawyers at the. High est level. They actually make the decisions not only about what books to use and what te aehing methed, but even about what their own professional development Ioukslike.There's a very clear set of standards far what the students need to know and be "able to do at t he end of each year and quarter, and we hold people accountable for that end goal. But we give them complete freedom to decide how they're going to achieve it, which is how all professionals are treated. Unfortunately, it's not how most teachers are treated inthis co untry. Most teachers are treated like factory workers, where there's a hig set ofrules on h ow they have to do everything.

What does the curriculum look like at Harlem Village Academy schools?

E) It looks like a classic liberal-arts curriculum, where math, reading, and writing are not the only subjects taught. Even if the state focuses its testing on those things, we do not let the state dictate our curriculum. We are interested in a rich curriculum that includ es art and music and seience and social studies and a wide variety of electives, and chara cter education is integrated throughout.

How do you address the criticisms people have regarding charter schools?

F) I'd say that the .main criticisms are stemming from the fact that in a charter syste m the teachers are not unionized, and they're treated as professionals instead of as manual laborers. The charter movement is challenging the current situation, it's eoming along and saying we used to completely change the underlying premiere ( 前提) of how we go ab out public education. Parents should be able to choose the scherzi. We should give power to all parents, regardless of socioeonomie level, to choose where they send their child, a nd that creates market competition: if you have an amazing school with caring teachers an d great results, parents are going to ~ant to choose that school. The charter movement is putting the needs of children first anti is holding teachers accountable. It ehalleuges the n otion of tenure (终身教职), where there's no accountability at all.

What's next for you and the Harlem Village Academies?