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Is Network Virtual Schools Really Well?
网络虚拟学校到底好不好？
Forty-two of the fifty American states offered some kind of public online learning this past school year. One state, Michigan, now requires all students to have an online learning experience before they finish high school.
过去的一个学年，美国50个州中有42个州提供了某种形式的公共网上学习。现在，密歇根州要求所有学生在高中毕业之前都有网络学习经历。
Even the idea of a school has changed since the rise of the Internet in the nineteen nineties.
自90年代互联网兴起以来，学校的理念甚至都已经发生了变化。
A new report from the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy at Indiana University says eighteen states have full-time virtual schools. There are no buildings. All classes are online.
印第安纳大学评估和教育政策中心一份新的报告称，18个州拥有全日制虚拟学校，没有校舍，所有的课程都是在网络上学习。
Online learners might work at different times. But there might be set times for class discussions — by text, voice or video — and virtual office hours for teachers.
网络学院可以在不同的时间学习，但是课堂讨论必须在既定的时间进行——通过短信、音频或视频——对于教师来说也有固定的虚拟工作时间。
Flofida started the first statewide public virtual school in the United States in nineteen ninety-seven.
1997年，佛罗里达开设了美国首个全州范围的公里虚拟学校。
Today, the Florida Virtual School offers more than ninety courses. Fifty-six thousand students were enrolled as of December. Almost sixty percent were female. The school's Web site says each student was enrolled in an average of two classes.
今天，佛罗里达虚拟学校提供了90多门课程。截止到12月份，已有5.6万名学生入学，其中接近60%的学生是女性。该学校网站称，每个学生都参加平均两个班级。
Two-thirds were also enrolled in public or charter schools. Charter schools are privately operated with public money. Other students are home-schooled or in private school.
三分之二的学生同时还在公立学校或政府特许学校就读。政府特许学校由私人运营，但是由公众提供资金。其他学生则在家接受教育或在私立学校就读。
Florida Virtual School has now opened the Florida Virtual Global School. Students in other countries pay for classes. Janet Heiking teaches an English class. She lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her students live as far away as Africa and Japan.
佛罗里达虚拟学校现在开设了佛罗里达虚拟全球学校。其他国家的学生缴纳费用来学习。珍妮特·海靖是一个英语班的教师。她住在印第安纳州的印第安纳波利斯。她的学生则远在非洲甚至日本。
So how good are virtual schools? Students have shown mixed results, as that new report from Indiana University notes.
那么，虚拟学校到底怎么样呢？印第安纳大学这份报告指出，研究表明，表明学校水平参差不齐。
For example, students at Florida Virtual School earned higher grades than those taking the same courses the traditional way. And they scored higher on a statewide test.
例如，佛罗里达虚拟学校的学生比按照传统方法学习同样课程的学生取得的分数更高。在全州的考试中，他们的分数也更高。
But virtual school students in Kansas and Colorado had lower test scores or performed at a lower level than traditional learners.
但是，堪萨斯和科罗拉多虚拟学校的学生则比传统的学生得分更低，表现更差。
Educaiton experts say the mixed results suggest the need for more research to find the best ways to teach in virtual schools. Also, they say schools of education need to train more teachers to work in both physical and virtual classrooms.
教育专家表示，这些表现不一的结果表明，需要进行更多的研究来发现最佳的虚拟学校教学方法。同时，他们说，教育类学校需要培养更多教师，能够同时在实体和虚拟教室授课。
