To Get Good Teachers and Doctors, Measure Them Better

Jingyi 评注，本文刊登于 Christian Science Monitor, 2010年3月。作者 Becky 是一名自由撰稿人，其风格与之前阅读的较为严谨的文章不同，比较意识流。全篇通篇写教育和医疗两大领域的绩效评价问题，以及如何利用好相应的评价，促进两大行业更好的表现。写作手法上，教育和医疗两大领域穿插描写，和谐过度，是一种比较独特的写作方法。比较有意思的是，文章主旨和目的较为明确；缺陷是，佐证的数据和证据有待提升。

段落1：教育医疗几乎是两大支柱产业，如何衡量他们？如果在评价方面长期存在盲点是很危险的，好在现在有许多人在改善这一状况。

段落2：提到奥巴马的医疗法案（Healthcare Reform Bill），在经济下行期间，缩减预算带来的好处会变得越来越大。

段落3：教育行业，与此同时，一直存在着评价不客观的现象。通常都是由学校的校长或者助理校长通过观察来评价老师的能力。

段落4：讨论标准评价形式，有人认为不客观。梅琳达盖茨基金会投入一大笔钱，研发一系列先进的评估方法，包括录像、学术问卷等。

段落5：在医疗行业评价绩效是很经常的事情，但是评价不如降低死亡率这个关键指标来的重要（启下的句子）。

Where measures matter most: lives of patients

段落6：IHI CEO Berwick 观点，评价得太频繁会带给医务人员压力。因此，Berwick 经常鼓励或者表扬某些因丑闻而不断提升自己的医疗机构。例如，Palmetto Health。

段落7：Palmetto Health VP Stinson 认为，Palmetto 全体上下都很震惊，因为无论领导层还是员工，都认为自己高于平均，当关键数据发现低于平均的时候，都震惊了（Shook us up）。于是，该医疗机构设置了大胆的目标，3 年内要降低 20% 的死亡率。而事实上，他们 18 个月就做到了。

段落8：Stinson 又说，对于医生来说，反馈作用很小。医生不喜欢关心其他医生的 死亡率、住院时长、成本多少 —— 这些关键评价指标。

段落9：但是同样的 “数据比较” 评价方式，却使得教育行业重返活力。CalPASS 是一家数据机构，拥有3.55亿人的数据，这些数据做商业智能，使得教育者获得惊人的结论。

See the light in preparing students

段落10：一项研究证明，在美国10年级辍学英语课的人，到了社区大学，需要从12年级开始重修英语。CalPASS 总监 Phillips 称，许多老师看到这项规定就傻眼（Freak out），他们不知道自己的标准，不知道评估标准，不知道学校预期， 不知道高中教学和社区大学的教学预期的差异在哪。而显然的是，肯定是有区别的。

段落11：Phillips 说，高中英语注重词汇，社区大学注重写作和语法，4年制大学注重分析和论点。因此，官方将高中的英语教学改编得更加联系（其他因素）。研究表明，美国只有24个州将学生测试结果作为老师教学能力评估。教育者很担忧，认为测试可能成为他们教学能力评估的主导因素，而教学能力决定了任期、升职和加薪。

段落12：Berwick 天真地以为，只要将关于医疗行业的评价体系放置于机构，就能使得它起作用。于是，卡耐基和盖茨基金纷纷邀请 Berwick 将其评价理论分享到教育行业。

段落13：教育和医疗行业都由于这些行业内的佼佼者的分享和支持，而变得大有收获。Phillips 很愿意相关领域人士使用数据库，并让加州取消禁止将学生测试成绩和老师教学能力挂钩的规定，并且保证数据的匿名性。Phillips 认为，当人们想要去改善一些事情的时候，数据永远是敲开神秘区域的锤子。

段落14：我们都需要更好的教育和医疗，但如果不愿意去面对问题，是无法解决问题的。就像一个工匠说的，三思而后行总是明智的 —— 经过仔细评价之后改善。

WORD NOTES

• accoldae = praise, approval
• adage = proverb, saying
• fraught with = be filled with
• repeal = withdraw, revoke, cancel
• House and Senate
• on hold = suspend for a while
• fall short = deficient
• freak out = go mad, go crazy
• measure twice and cut once = take a move after enough consideration

口译全篇

In education and healthcare, job performance data are lacking – but that’s changing. -- Becky Fleischauer

1.There are few things more important to society than educating children and providing healthcare to families. If either fails, the economic and social impact is devastating. Yet do we know whether our doctors and teachers are doing a good job? Persistent blind spots in these critical fields hurt all of us. Thankfully, efforts are under way across America to change this.

2.Healthcare reform bills passed by both the House and Senate! (and now on hold ) include nearly $100 million to develop healthcare performance measures. The Obama administration’s Race to the Top education grants require that teacher evaluations be based on “multiple measures.” Performance measurement is not the stuff of campaign commercials. Yet in a down economy, there is growing interest in getting the most out of shrinking budgets, so a “measurement movement” may be in the making.

3.In teaching, there has been a remarkable absence of measurement. Evaluation are typically done by a principal or assistant principal who may not use defined measures. Instead, they often make judgments based on observations of teachers at work -- a highly subjective process fraught with charges of unfairness.

4.Many experts agree that standardized tests fall short in evaluating teaching and learning, it’s like looking through a keyhole to identify the totality of what students learn from their teachers, Recognizing these limitation. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested $45 millions to develop “fair” and “liable” measures of teacher effectiveness, Its two -year national enterprise is evaluating 3,700 teachers using an array of measures, including videos of teachers interacting with students, students surveys, examples of students’ work, more tests given more often, and an assessment of a teacher’s ability to know when a student just isn’t getting it.”

5.Performance measures in healthcare are increasingly common. More than 500 are used daily by health professionals to assess everything from hand washing ro morality and readmission rates. But the number and deemed “fairness” of measures are ultimately much less important than whether they lead to improved patient care and student learning.

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