Question

But what is teacher quality? How can one measure it reliably?

An analysis is issued on a sample of data from a Texas school district. Experts argue convincingly that teacher effectiveness should be measured by students’ gains on standardized tests: Mr. Smith is probably a better teacher than Ms. Brown if his students consistently improve their test scores more than hers do.

Though this approach is appealing, there are tricky issues. For example, what if Ms. Brown teaches in a school where students score so high there is little room for improvement?

The authors try to correct for this problem, as well as other sorts of measurement issues, to generate a measurement of teacher effectiveness. The paper is primarily concerned with how this measure is related to other observable characteristics.

The first finding is that there is a large variation in teacher effectiveness: some teachers consistently have a larger impact on their students’ achievement than others.

Second, easily observable characteristics like having a master’s degree or a passing score on the teacher certification exam are not correlated關聯 with teacher effectiveness.

Then what does matter? The most important single influence is experience: first-year teachers are much less effective than others. The second year is significantly better, and by the fourth year, most teachers hit their stride.

It is not entirely clear whether this experience effect is learning by doing (the more you teach, the more effective you become) or survival of the fittest (those who are not good at teaching tend to drop out early.)

From my reading of the paper, both effects appear important and there is no simple answer. The data do suggest, however, that teacher effectiveness is pretty clear by the end of the second year, so the information to make an informed decision is available at that time.

The authors also investigate the contentious 有爭議的issue of racial matching of students and teachers. Here they find strong evidence that minority teachers tend to be more effective with minority students. Again, it is unclear whether this is because of a role model effect (students respond better to a teacher of their own race) or an empathy effect 移情效應(teachers empathize better with students of their own race) or something else entirely.

The authors also look at teacher mobility. There is some evidence that teachers who quit teaching or switch schools tend to be below average in effectiveness. This is consistent with the survival-of-the-fittest model.

1.The schoolmaster could decide wisely whether to further employ the teacher by the end of the ______.

A. the first year          B. the second year             C. the third year        D. the fourth year

2.The phrase “hit their stride” most probably means “______”.

A. reach their normal level                                    B. become confident

C. walk with long steps                                            D. get bored

3.The author of this passage holds the view that ______.

A. teachers will perform better with time passing

B. ineffective teachers should leave earlier rather than later

C. teacher’s effectiveness is apparent after a couple of years

D. a master’s degree will improve teacher’s effectiveness

4.Why do black teachers tend to be more effective with black students?

A. Students fell secure, so they respond better.

B. Teachers sympathize with students of their own race.

C. There are entirely some other identified reasons.

D. The reasons are far from clear and definite.

5.Which of the following may serve as the best title?

A. The Quality of Teaching

B. Impact of Teacher Quality on Student Learning

C. Different Sorts of Measurement Issues

D. Survival-of-the-fittest Model vs. Learning-by-doing Model

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.D

2.B

3.A

4.D

5.C

【解析】

試題分析：本文是一份關于教師教學效果的衡量和影響因素的分析報告。在報告中，專家們認為學生在考試中的得分應該作為教師教學效果的衡量標準。而且還提到了教學經驗在教學中的影響以及教學中的移情效應等。

1.D推理判斷題。根據文中first-year teachers are much less effective than others. The second year is significantly better, and by the fourth year, most teachers hit their stride.可知教師的教學經驗是逐年增長的，到了畢業后第四年的時候大多數都有了足夠的經驗，由此推斷得知D選項正確。明智的校長在第四年底再決定是否繼續聘用該教師。

2.B推理判斷題。根據文中first-year teachers are much less effective than others. The second year is significantly better,可知隨著教齡的增長，教學經驗也在增長，經驗多了，老師的自信也更強了，由此推斷B為正確選項。

3.A 推理判斷題。根據文中From my reading of 。。。The data do suggest, that teacher effectiveness is pretty clear by the end of the second year,可知教師的表現和教學效果會隨著時間的過去而變得更好。

4.D細節理解題。由文中。。。 it is unclear whether this is because of a role model effect  or an empathy effect可知D選項正確、

5.C主旨大意題。文章開頭提出教學效果的衡量標準，然后圍繞此話題展開敘述，由此可知文章中心是教學效果的衡量標準和影響因素，所以正確選項為C。

考點：考查教育類短文閱讀。