學生數學表現的城鄉差異   全文下載

Rural-Nonrural Differences in Student Mathematics Performance

有關學生學習表現的城鄉差異，一般普遍性的看法是：城鄉差異很大，只要能消除城鄉差異，就可以大幅減少學習成就差異；大都市裡的學生表現相差懸殊，而鄉村地區的學生則是表現普遍低落；由大都市到城鎮，到一般鄉村，再到偏遠鄉村，學生的學習表現遞減；學習表現的城鄉差異會隨著年級提升而加劇，而且學生學習表現的城鄉差異有愈來愈嚴重的趨勢。
本研究分析結果與上述數項世俗認知不符：一、城與鄉在平均表現上雖有差異，但學習表現差異大多是發生在城或鄉之內，而不是在城與鄉之間。二、鄉村地區的學習表現在懸殊程度上，與都市或城鎮沒有明顯區別。三、約只有四分之一到三分之一的數學表現落後學生是來自鄉村或偏遠地區，其他落後學生都是來自都市或城鎮。最後，小學階段的城鄉學習差異，從2003到2011年，並沒有逐年擴大的趨勢。

In Taiwan, the public opinion on rural-nonrural differences in student achievement is shown in five observations. First, there is a large gap in student performance between rural and nonrural areas, therefore, eliminating differences between rural and nonrural areas would largely reduce variation in student performance. Second, students in urban areas vary greatly in performance, but those in rural areas are generally poor performers. Third, from cities to towns to rural areas, there is a gradual decline in average student performance. Fourth, rural-nonrural differences in student performance expand as students progress through school grades. Finally, rural-nonrural gaps in student performance widen over time.
The findings of this study challenge some of the observations on which the public opinion rests. First, variation in student performance predominantly occurs within rural and nonrural areas, not between them. Second, students in rural areas vary in performance to about the same degree as students in nonrural areas. Third, most low-performing students are located in cities and towns, and only about one-quarter of the low-performing students are located in rural areas. Finally, among fourth-graders, a widening gap in student performance between rural and nonrural areas was not observed over the period from 2003 to 2011.