Question

This year’s Newsweek list of the top 100 high schools shows that today those with fewer students are rising.

Ten years ago, when the first Newsweek Top School List based on college-level test participation was published, only three of the top 100 schools had graduating classes smaller than 100 students. This year there are 22.

Fifty years ago, they were the latest thing in educational reform: big, modern high schools outside the cities with thousands of students. Big schools meant economic efficiency, a greater choice of courses, and better football teams. But only years later did we understand that it involved the difficulty of strengthening personal connections between teachers and students. SAT scores began dropping; on average, 30% of students did not complete high school in four years, a figure that rose to 50% in poor city neighborhoods. High schools for a variety of reasons seemed to have made little progress.

Size isn’t everything, but it does matter, and the past decade has seen a noticeable trend toward smaller schools. This has been partly due to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has invested $1.8 billion in American high schools, helping to open about 1,000 small schools — most of them with about 400 kids, each with an average enrollment of only 150 students per grade. About 500 more are on the drawing board. Districts all over the country are taking notice, along with mayors in cities like New York, Chicago and San Diego. And most noticeable of all, there is the phenomenon of large urban and suburban high schools that have split up into smaller units of a few hundred.

Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, California, is one of those ranking No.423 — among the top 2% in the country. In 2003, Hillsdale remade itself into three “houses”. 300 students arriving ninth graders are randomly assigned to one of the houses, where they will keep the same four core subject teachers for two years before moving on to another for 11th and 12th grades. Teachers meet with students in groups of 25, five mornings a week, for open-ended discussions of everything from homework problems to bad Saturday-night dates. The advisers also meet with students privately and stay in touch with parents. Along with the new structure came the percentage of freshmen taking biology jumped from 17 to 95.”It was rough for some. But by senior year, two-thirds have moved up to physics,” says Jeff Gilbert. “Our kids are coming to school in part because they know there are adults here who know them and care for them.”

But not all schools show advances after downsizing, and it remains to be seen whether smaller schools will be a cure-all solution.

Ranking schools is always controversial. Over the years this system has been criticized for its simplicity — list of top U.S. high schools was made merely according to the proportion of students taking college-level exams. This year a group of 38 superintendents (地區教育主管) from five states wrote to ask that their schools should be excluded from the calculation. “It is impossible to know which high schools are ‘the best’ in the nation,” their letter read. “Determining whether different schools do or don’t offer a high quality of education requires a look at many different measures, including students’ overall academic accomplishments, their later performance in college, and taking into consideration the unique needs of their communities.”

1.What can we learn about the schools sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?

A. They are often located in poor neighborhoods.

B. They are popular with high-achieving students.

C. They are mostly small in size.

D. Another 150 schools invested by the Foundation are planned to be set up.

2.According to Jeff Gilbert, the classes at Hillsdale were set up so that students could ______.

A. tell their teachers what they did on weekends

B. experience a great deal of pleasure in learning

C. maintain closer relationships with their teachers

D. deal with the demanding biology and physics courses

3.Newsweek ranks high schools according to ______.

A. their students’ academic achievement

B. the number of their students admitted to college

C. the size and number of their graduating classes

D. their college-level test participation

4.What attitude does the author have towards the present trend in high school education?

A. Subjective.                      B. Objective.                                 C. Indifferent.                      D. Disapproving.

5.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A. Providing Good Education for Baby Boomers

B. Top School List Winning National Support

C. Small Schools Rising in popularity

D. Students Meeting Higher Academic Standards

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.C

2.A

3.D

4.B

5.C

【解析】

試題分析：本文講述了美國教育方面的話題：小規模學校在崛起以及學校規模小型化后的教學質量的評估給美國教育主管部門所帶來的新的課題。

1.C 推理判斷題。根據第四段中“This has been partly due to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has invested $1.8 billion in American high schools, helping to open about 1,000 small schools — most of them with about 400 kids, each with an average enrollment of only 150 students per grade.”說明由the Bill and Melinda Gates 基金會贊助所建的學校規模都比較小。

2.A 細節理解題。根據第五段中“Teachers meet with students in groups of 25, five mornings a week, for open-ended discussions of everything from homework problems to bad Saturday-night dates.”可以知道目的是讓學生跟老師交流他們所做的一切。

3.D推理判斷題。根據第一段和第二段，我們可以推出“新聞周刊給高中學校排名”的依據是“college-level test participation高等學校水平測試的參與度”。

4.B 推理判斷題。縱觀全文，作者對“小規模學校在崛起”這種趨勢的作者只是敘述，沒有發表自己的見解。所以既沒有表示“主觀的Subjective”也沒有表示“漠不關心的Indifferent”的態度，更沒有表示“不同意Disapproving”，而是表明了客觀的態度。

5.C主旨大意題。本文講述了美國教育方面的話題：小規模學校在崛起。

考點：社會生活類教育話題閱讀理解