Kids at Risk -- Can Educators Help?
孩子身處危險---教育人員可以幫忙嗎？
A new government report assessing the status of the 70.2 million children in the United States is mostly good news. A collaborative effort by 20 federal agencies, the report was released last week by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.
在新的政府報告書中，評估7020萬兒童在美國的現況，大部分都是好消息。這是一個由20個聯邦機構合作的成果，該報告書在上週由美國聯邦機構論壇的兒童與家庭統計中公布。
America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2000 is the fourth annual summary of children's well-being. The finding are based on 23 key indicators, such as children's economic security, health, behavior and social environment, and education. National surveys and vital records were the basis of the report's data.
美國的孩子們：是國家指標性的關鍵福祉，2000年是第四年度總結孩子們的福祉。這項發現是建立在23個關鍵指標，像是兒童經濟安全、健康、行為及社會環境、教育。
The findings are expected to be helpful to educators. The report provides insight about the number of children who may be in danger of failing in school, based on commonly established factors that affect student achievement, such as poverty levels and household environment.
這項發現預期將有助於教育工作者。這份報告提供了相關的洞見，包括孩子們可能處在學校外的危險中，這些共同的因素都會影響學生的學習成就，包括貧困程度及家庭環境。
BEST INDICATORS IN YEARS 在過去幾年的最佳指標
"The most remarkable aspect of the report is that more of these indicators are the best we've had regarding the status of children in years," according to Duane Alexander, director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The lowest teen birth rates; the lowest infant, child and adolescent mortality rates; the highest immunization rates ever; and the lowest percentage of children living in poverty are all really "good news," he said.
“這份報告最顯著的部份是很多的指標都是最好的，我們有考慮到兒童的這幾年的狀態” 根據國立兒童健康與人類發展機構（NICHD）之主任Duane Alexander說道。青少年未婚懷孕率最低；嬰兒、兒童與青少年死亡率最低；疾病免疫率最高；兒童生活在貧困中的比例最低，這些都是真正的“好消息”他說道。
The rate of violent teen crime was the lowest since 1973, which was somewhat surprising given the number of media headlines about incidents of teen violence, Alexander said.
自1973年以年青少年的犯罪率最低，這是令人驚訝的！因為報紙頭條有關青少年犯罪事件的數量仍多，Alexander 說道。
Although the percentage of children living in poverty is the lowest in 20 years, it is still the highest among industrialized nations. "I think it is unacceptable in our society," Alexander told Education World.
雖然這是近二十年來兒童生活在貧困中的比例最低，但美國仍是最高度工業化的國家，“我認為這是我們社會所無法接受的”，Alexander告訴世界教育。
U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley was pleased with the overall findings of the report. "This is a good-news day for America's children," he said two weeks ago in a speech at the Knowledgeworks Foundation, in Ohio. The prosperity of the last eight years is making a real difference in the lives of our children, Riley noted.
美國的教育部長Richard W. Riley對這份報告感到高興“對於美國兒童而言是個好消息”他在兩個禮拜前的Ohio州一場演講中談到。在過去繁榮的八年中真正做出區別的是我們孩子的生活，Riley說道。
"Although [most] of this is positive, we still have our work cut out for us," Riley said. "We still have millions of young people living in poverty, and poverty makes it so hard for a child to get a quality education."
雖然報告書中大部分是樂觀的，但我們仍然有我們的工作要做，Riley說道。我們仍然有百萬的青少年生活在困苦中，貧窮使得他們很難去獲得高品質的教育。
心得：
此篇中所說的孩子身處危險談到的不只校園中的安全，還包括兒童經濟安全（貧困與否）及社會環境，學生在家庭、社會中的是不是衣食無缺或是能夠得到充分的學習發展，亦是關鍵的因素，這是需要家長和政府共同來努力的。
心得：
此篇中所說的孩子身處危險談到的不只校園中的安全，還包括兒童經濟安全（貧困與否）及社會環境，學生在家庭、社會中的是不是衣食無缺或是能夠得到充分的學習發展，亦是關鍵的因素，這是需要家長和政府共同來努力的。
資料來源：http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/issues109.shtml
