educatia usa.doc

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In the USA, children start school when they are five or six years old. Depending on the

state, schooling is compulsory until the age of 16 or 18. Children younger than five can

go to a nursery school or preschool.

At the age of five or six, the children attend elementary school (also known as grade

school or grammar school), which last six years. The fist year at elementary school iscalled kindergarten.

After elementary school, students attend middle school (also known as junior high

school) for three years. Then they continue at high school. In some states, students

have to stay in school until they are 18 years old. In other states they may leave school

at 16 or 17 with parental permission.

Age School

< 5 nursery school / preschool

5-11 elementary school

11-14 middle school / junior high school

14-18 high school / senior high school

When students in the USA say what year they are in, they usually use ordinal numbers,

e. g. tenth grade. (In the UK students would use cardinal numbers, e. g. year ten.)

Classes

At elementary school pupils primarily learn how to read, write and count. There are

about 20 to 30 pupils in one class.

At junior and senior high school, mandatory subjects are English, maths, biology,

chemistry, physics, physical education and history. Schools also offer optional courses

from which the students can choose, e. g. art, modern languages, computers. Physical

education is a very important subject in the United States many students participate

in sports programs.

Gifted and talented students can take advanced courses in their schools or attend

additional courses at community colleges in the afternoons or during the holidays.

Often such courses are later acknowledged by universities, and can facilitate early

graduation.

Grading Scale

In the USA (as in other English speaking countries) letter grades are used in reports.

A > 90 % (excellent) B > 80 % (very good)

C > 70 % (improvement needed)


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D > 60 % (close fail)

E > 50 % (fail)

F < 50 % (fail)

In general, only grades A to C are a 'pass' a plus (+) or minus (-) might be added

(e. g. A-, B+).

Different Kinds of Schools

Most students in the USA are enrolled in public schools. These are financed through

taxes, so parents do not have to pay for their children's education. About 10 % of US

students attend private schools, where parents have to pay a yearly fee.

Another option is homeschooling: approximately 1-2 % of parents in the USA educate

their children at home. Some reasons for homeschooling are religious views, special

needs (e. g. handicapped children), or problems in traditional schools (bullying, drugs

etc.). However, there is also opposition to homeschooling claiming that the studentshave difficulties socializing with others, that homeschooling (often carried out by the

parents) is of a poor academic quality and that (especially concerning religion)

extremist views might be encouraged.

School Uniforms

It is not common for students in the USA to wear school uniforms, but many schools

have dress codes telling students what kind of clothing is or is not allowed in school.

Some schools (especially private schools) have started to require their students to

wear school uniforms in order to improve school discipline and avoid 'fashion cliques'.

Preschool

Pre-kindergarten 3 3-4

Pre-kindergarten 4 4-5

Elementary school

Kindergarden 5-6

1st Grade 6-7

2nd Grade 7-8

3rd Grade 8-9

4th Grade 9-10

5th Grade 10-11

Middle school

6th Grade 11-127th Grade 12-13
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8th Grade 13-14

High school

9th Grade (Freshman) 14-15

10th Grade (Sophomore) 15-16

11th Grade (Junior) 16-17

12th Grade (Senior) 17-18

Post-secondary education

Tertiary

education (College orUniversity)

Ages vary, but

often 1822

(Freshman,

Sophomore,

Junior andSenior years)

Vocational education Ages vary

Graduate education Ages vary

Adult education Ages vary

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, all American states musttest students in public

schools statewide to ensure that they are achieving the desired level of minimum

education,[49] such as on the Regents Examinations in New York, or the Florida

Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), and the Massachusetts ComprehensiveAssessment System (MCAS); students being educated at home or in private schools

are not included. The act also requires that students and schools show "adequate

yearly progress." This means they must show some improvement each year. When a

student fails to make adequate yearly progress, No Child Left Behind mandates that

remediation through summer school and/or tutoring be made available to a student in

need of extra help.

Academic performance impacts the perception of a school's educational program. Rural

schools fare better than their urban counterparts in two key areas: test scores and drop-

out rate. First, students in small schools performed equal to or better than their larger

school counterparts.[50] In addition, on the 2005 National Assessment of EducationProgress, 4th and 8th grade students scored as well or better in reading, science, and

mathematics.[51]

During high school, students (usually in 11th grade) may take one or more

standardized tests depending on their post-secondary education preferences and their

local graduation requirements. In theory, these tests evaluate the overall level of

knowledge and learning aptitude of the students. The SAT andACT are the most

common standardized tests that students take when applying to college. A student may

take the SAT, ACT, or both depending upon the post-secondary institutions the student

plans to apply to for admission. Most competitive schools also require two or three SAT

Subject Tests (formerly known as SAT IIs), which are shorter exams that focus strictly

on a particular subject matter. However, all these tests serve little to no purpose for
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students who do not move on to post-secondary education, so they can usually be

skipped without affecting one's ability to graduate. [citation needed]

Textbook review and adoption

In many localities in the United States, the curriculum taught in public schools is

influenced by the textbooks used by the teachers. In some states, textbooks areselected for all students at the state level. Since states such as California and Texas

represent a considerable market for textbook publishers, these states can exert

influence over the content of the books.[118]

In 2010, the Texas Board of Education adopted new Social Studies standards that could

potentially impact the content of textbooks purchased in other parts of the country. The

deliberations that resulted in the new standards were partisan in nature and are said to

reflect a conservative leaning in the view of United States history. [119]

As of January 2009, the four largest college textbook publishers in the United States

were:

Pearson Education (including such imprints asAddison-Wesley and Prentice

Hall)

Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson Learning)

McGraw-Hill

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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