Children are vanishing from public schools. New York City has lost 30,000 pupils this school year compared with the previous one, a 3% decline. Los Angeles Unified’s roster decreased by 19,233 (4%), and Boston’s by 5% (2,368 pupils). For a variety of reasons, children from pre-kindergarten to high school are disappearing from the rolls.
孩子們正在從公立學校消失。紐約市本學年比上一學年減少了3萬名學生，降幅為3%。洛杉磯聯合學校的學生人數減少了19233人(4%)，波士頓減少了5%(2368名學生)。由於種種原因，從學前班到高中的孩子正在從學前班名單上消失。
How worrying is this? Analyses are limited, but a deep dive into preliminary data from Massachusetts』 public schools by Thomas Dee of Stanford University and Mark Murphy of the University of Hawaii at Manoa shows that most traditional public districts in the state—274 out of 289—had enrolment declines this year in comparison with last year. Massachusetts experienced a 4% statewide loss in this academic year (37,363 pupils) compared with the year before. Not all districts lost pupils, however; charter, vocational and virtual (completely online) districts saw increases. Two virtual districts gained 611 pupils, a 21% increase over the past year, and charter districts gained 1,277 pupils, a 3% increase over 78 districts.
這有多令人擔憂?分析是有限的,但深入了解初步數據來自麻薩諸塞州的公立學校,史丹福大學的託馬斯·迪和馬克墨菲夏威夷馬諾表明,大多數大學的傳統公共區國家- 274 289 -報名今年與去年相比下降。與前年相比，麻薩諸塞州本學年全州範圍內的學生減少了4%(37363名學生)。然而，並非所有學區都失去了學生;憲章，職業和虛擬(完全在線)地區看到了增長。兩個虛擬學區增加了611名學生，比去年增加了21%，特許學區增加了1277名學生，比78個學區增加了3%。
Some of the decline is no cause for concern. A portion of Massachusetts public-school pupils are probably attending classes out of state, while others are leaving for charter schools, private schools or homeschooling. Some families may also leave districts to move to second homes, explains Mr Dee. He found that some holiday spots like Martha’s Vineyard and Provincetown grew by 2-3%.
有些下降是沒有理由擔心的。一部分麻薩諸塞州公立學校的學生可能在州外上課，而其他人則去特許學校、私立學校或在家上學。迪先生解釋說，一些家庭可能也會離開選區，搬到第二套房子裡。他發現，像瑪莎葡萄園島和普羅文斯敦這樣的度假勝地增長了2-3%。
Other pupils are simply missing school, however. Mr Dee and Mr Murphy found that enrolment decreases were associated with smaller, whiter and poorer school districts, mostly in rural areas, where parents are unlikely to have moved to the wealthy beaches of Cape Cod. Although the analysis is preliminary, Mr Dee thinks that disengagement from schools may be more concentrated in these communities.
然而，其他一些學生只是逃學而已。迪先生和墨菲先生發現入學率的下降與較小、白人和貧窮的學區有關，這些學區大多位於農村地區，那裡的家長不太可能搬到富裕的科德角海灘。儘管這只是初步的分析，但迪先生認為，從學校脫離的人可能更多地集中在這些社區。
That echoes a concern heard beyond Massachusetts. David Monaco, head of Parish Episcopal School, a private school in Dallas, saw some pupils leave for more personalised small-group or individual schooling, though his overall enrolment remains steady. By contrast, Michael Hinojosa, the superintendent of Dallas Independent School District, where 85% of all pupils are classified as low-income, explained that while some of his pupils could be sitting at home playing video games, others are taking care of younger siblings while their parents work. 「A lot of [pupils] are out there working...to support their families,」 says David Vroonland, superintendent of Mesquite Independent School District, a small city near Dallas where 75% of pupils are classified as poor.
這也引起了麻薩諸塞州以外的擔憂。達拉斯一家私立學校——教區聖公會學校(Parish Episcopal School)的校長大衛•莫納科(David Monaco)看到一些學生離開學校去上更個性化的小團體或個人學校，儘管他的總體入學人數保持穩定。相比之下，達拉斯獨立學區(Dallas Independent School District)的校長麥可•伊諾約薩(Michael Hinojosa)解釋說，他的一些學生可以坐在家裡玩電子遊戲，而另一些學生則在父母工作時照顧年幼的兄弟姐妹。該學區85%的學生被歸類為低收入家庭。「很多(學生)在外面工作……David Vroonland說，他是麥斯相當獨立學區的負責人，這是一個靠近達拉斯的小城市，那裡75%的學生被列為貧困學生。
Pupils missing school are not just a worry for their families (and for the country’s future). Since America’s schools are funded on a per-person basis, the decline in enrolments also creates financial problems. Whereas some states, like Texas, are allocating school funding based on last year’s intake, schools in New York City may need to return money this year because enrolment has declined. And all schools risk losing funding next year if enrolment continues to fall.
學生失學不僅讓他們的家庭(和國家的未來)擔心。由於美國的學校經費是按人均計算的，入學人數的下降也造成了財政問題。儘管有些州，比如德克薩斯州，正在根據去年的入學人數分配學校資金，但紐約市的學校今年可能需要返還資金，因為入學人數下降了。如果入學率繼續下降，明年所有的學校都有失去資金的風險。
Getting missing pupils back to school takes an extraordinary effort. Sara Bonser, superintendent of the Plano Independent School District north of Dallas, lost 6.5% of her pupils (3,883) at the beginning of the year. To find these children, her staff called thousands of families and conducted 115 home visits to get 1,279 pupils back on the books. To encourage attendance, Ms Bonser and her staff have provided support beyond the typical bounds of schooling.
讓失蹤的學生重返校園需要付出非凡的努力。達拉斯北部普萊諾獨立學區(Plano Independent School District)的負責人薩拉·邦瑟(Sara Bonser)今年年初失去了6.5%的學生(3,883名)。為了找到這些孩子，她的工作人員給數千個家庭打了電話，並進行了115次家訪，使1279名學生恢復了正常學習。為了鼓勵出勤率，邦瑟女士和她的員工提供了超出常規教育範圍的支持。
One parent had a job that required leaving home at 6am, and her four children were not waking up for remote classes. Ms Bonser’s team found the mother employment closer to home so she could leave later and wake her children for school. Ms Bonser described other types of support, including allowing deadline flexibility to accommodate pupils』 work schedules and providing struggling families with food, furniture, clothing and toys. Existing district funds were reallocated so no additional money was needed for the programme. But the district’s work with one family hints at what a daunting job finding all those missing pupils will be.
一位家長的工作要求她每天早上6點就要出門，她的四個孩子也不能去上遠程課。邦瑟的研究小組發現，母親的工作地點離家較近，這樣她可以晚一點下班，叫醒孩子上學。邦瑟女士還介紹了其他形式的支持，包括允許學生在截止日期前靈活安排工作時間，為困難家庭提供食物、家具、衣服和玩具。現有的地區資金被重新分配，因此該計劃不需要額外的資金。但學區對一個家庭的調查表明，尋找所有失蹤學生將是一項艱巨的工作。