Education in the United States 1

Education in The United States of America

U.S. Department of Education

Secretary

 Deputy Secretary      Arne Duncan

Anthony Miller

National education budget (2007)

Budget            $972 billion (public and private, all levels)[1]

General Details

Primary Languages     English

System Type   Federal, state, private

Literacy

Male    99%[2]

Female            99%[2]

Enrollment

Total    81.5 million

Primary           37.9 million1

Secondary       26.1 million (2006–2007)

Post Secondary          17.5 million 2

Attainment

Secondary diploma    85%

Post-secondary diploma         27%

1 Includes kindergarten

2 Includes graduate school

1. History of education in the United States

Statistics

In the year 2000, there were 76.6 million students enrolled in schools from kindergarten through graduate schools. Of these, 72 percent aged 12 to 17 were judged academically "on track" for their age (enrolled in school at or above grade level). Of those enrolled in compulsory education, 5.2 million (10.4 percent) were attending private schools.

Among the country's adult population, over 85 percent have completed high school and 27 percent have received a bachelor's degree or higher. The average salary for college or university graduates is greater than $51,000, exceeding the national average of those without a high school diploma by more than $23,000, according to a 2005 study by the U.S. Census Bureau.[4] The 2010 unemployment rate for high school graduates was 10.8%; the rate for college graduates was 4.9%.[5]

The country has a reading literacy rate at 99% of the population over age 15,[6] while ranking below average in science and mathematics understanding compared to other developed countries.[7] In 2008, there was a 77% graduation rate from high school, below that of most developed countries.[8]

The poor performance has pushed public and private efforts such as the No Child Left Behind Act. In addition, the ratio of college-educated adults entering the workforce to general population (33%) is slightly below the mean of other developed countries (35%)[9] and rate of participation of the labor force in continuing education is high.[10] A 2000s study by Jon Miller of Michigan State University concluded that "A slightly higher proportion of American adults qualify as scientifically literate than European or Japanese adults".[11]

School grades

Most children enter the public education system around ages five or six. The American school year traditionally begins in August or September, after the traditional summer recess. Children are assigned into year groups known as grades, beginning with preschool, followed by kindergarten and culminating in twelfth grade. Children customarily advance together from one grade to the next as a single cohort or "class" upon reaching the end of each school year in May or June, although developmentally disabled children may be held back a grade and gifted children may skip ahead early to the next grade.[citation needed]

The American educational system comprises 12 grades of study over 12 calendar years of primary and secondary education before graduating and becoming eligible for college admission.[12] After pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, there are five years in [12] primary school (normally known as elementary school). After completing five grades, the student will enter junior high or middle school and then high school to get the high school diploma.[12]

The U.S. uses ordinal numbers for naming grades, unlike Canada and Australia where cardinal numbers are preferred. Thus, Americans are more likely to say "First Grade" rather than "Grade One". Typical ages and grade groupings in public and private schools may be found through the U.S. Department of Education.[13] Many different variations exist across the country.

Students completing high school may apply to attend an undergraduate school. This may be a community college (one that offers two-year degrees, usually to prepare students to transfer to state universities), liberal arts college (one that concentrates on undergraduate education), or part of a larger research university.

The course of study is called the "major", which comprises the main or special subjects. However, students are not locked into a major upon admission—usually, a major is chosen by the second year of college, and changing majors is frequently possible depending on how the credits work out, unlike British tertiary education. Universities are either public (state-sponsored, such as Ohio State University or University of Georgia) or private such as Harvard or Swarthmore.

Students may choose to continue onto graduate school for a master's or Ph.D, or to a first professional degree program. A master's degree requires an additional two years of specialized study; a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) usually takes some years, although exactly how long depends on the time required to prepare the doctoral dissertation. First professional degrees have a more structured program than the typical Ph.D. program. The standard time required for a first professional degree is three or four years; for example, law school is a three-year program, while medical, dental, and veterinary schools are four-year programs.[citation needed]

II. Preschool

There are no mandatory public prekindergarten or crèche programs in the United States. The federal government funds the Head Start preschool program for children of low-income families, but most families are responsible for finding preschool or childcare.[citation needed]

In the large cities, there are sometimes preschools catering to the children of the wealthy. Because some wealthy families see these schools as the first step toward the Ivy League, there are even counselors who specialize in assisting parents and their toddlers through the preschool admissions process.[14] Increasingly, a growing body of preschools are adopting international standards such as the International Preschool Curriculum[15]

Student health

According to the National Association of School Nurses, 17% of students are considered obese and 32% are overweight.[16]

IV. Elementary and secondary education

Schooling is compulsory for all children in the United States, but the age range for which school attendance is required varies from state to state. Most children begin elementary education with kindergarten (usually five to six years old) and finish secondary education with twelfth grade (usually eighteen years old). In some cases, pupils may be promoted beyond the next regular grade. Some states allow students to leave school between 14–17 with parental permission, before finishing high school; other states require students to stay in school until age 18[17]

Educational attainment in the United States, Age 25 and Over (2009)[18]

Education       Percentage

High school graduate 86.68%

Some college  55.60%

Associates and/or Bachelor's degree 38.54%

Master's degree          7.62%

Doctorate or professional degree       2.94%

Most parents send their children to either a public or private institution. According to government data, one-tenth of students are enrolled in private schools. Approximately 85% of students enter the public schools,[19] largely because they are free (tax burdens by school districts vary from area to area).

There are more than 14,000 school districts in the country.[20]

More than $500 billion is spent each year on primary and secondary education.[20]

Most states require that their school districts within the state teach for 180 days a year.[21]

Parents may also choose to educate their own children at home; 1.7% of children are educated in this manner.[19]

Nearly 6.2 million students between the ages of 16 and 24 in 2007 dropped out of high school, including nearly three of 10 Hispanics.[22]

The issue of high-school drop-outs is considered important to address as the incarceration rate for African-American male high school dropouts is about 50 (fifty) times the national average.[23]

In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that forced busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation.[24] This ruling resulted in a white flight from the inner cities which largely diluted the intent of the order. This flight had other, non-educational ramifications as well. Integration took place in most schools though de facto segregation often determined the composition of the student body. By the 1990s, most areas of the country have been released from mandatory busing.

In 2010, there were 3,823,142 teachers in public, charter, private, and Catholic elementary and secondary schools. They taught a total of 55,203,000 students, who attended one of 132,656 schools.[25]

States do not require proper reporting from their school districts to allow analysis of efficiency of return on investment. The Center for American Progress, called a "left-leaning think tank", commends Florida and Texas as the only two states that provides annual school-level productivity evaluations which report to the public how well school funds are being spent at the local level. This allows for comparison of school districts within a state.[26][27]

In 2010, American students rank 17th in the world. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says that this is due to focusing on the low end of performers. All of the recent gains have been made, deliberately, at the low end of the socioeconomic scale and among the lowest achievers. The country has been outrun, the study says, by other nations because the US has not done enough to encourage the highest achievers.[28]

About half the states encourage schools to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.[29]

Teachers worked from about 35 to 46 hours a week in a survey taken in 1993.[30]

Transporting students to and from school is a major concern for most school districts. School buses provide the largest mass transit program in the country; 8.8 billion trips per year. Non-school transit buses give 5.2 billion trips annually. 440,000 yellow school buses carry over 24 million students to and from school.[31]

School start times are computed with busing in mind. There are often three start times; for elementary, for middle/junior high, and for high school. One school district computed its cost per bus (without the driver) at $20,575 annually. It assumed a model where the average driver drove 80 miles per day. A driver was presumed to cost $.62 per mile (1.6 km). Elementary schools started at 7:30, middle schools/junior high school started at 8:15 and senior high schools at 9:00. While elementary school started earlier, they also get out earlier, at 2:25; middle schools at 3:10 and senior high schools at 3:55.[32] All school districts establish their own times and means of transportation within guidelines set forth by their own state.

Elementary school     

Historically, in the United States, local public control (and private alternatives) have allowed for some variation in the organization of schools. Elementary school includes kindergarten through fifth grade (or sometimes, to fourth grade, sixth grade or eighth grade). In elementary school, basic subjects are taught, and students often remain in one or two classrooms throughout the school day, with the exceptions of physical education ("P.E." or "gym"), library, music, and art classes. There are (as of 2001) about 3.6 million children in each grade in the United States.[33]

Typically, the curriculum in public elementary education is determined by individual school districts. The school district selects curriculum guides and textbooks that are reflective of a state's learning standards and benchmarks for a given grade level.[34] Learning Standards are the goals by which states and school districts must meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) as mandated by No Child Left Behind (NCLB). This description of school governance is simplistic at best, however, and school systems vary widely not only in the way curricular decisions are made but also in how teaching and learning take place. Some states and/or school districts impose more top-down mandates than others. In others, teachers play a significant role in curriculum design and there are few top-down mandates. Curricular decisions within private schools are made differently than they are in public schools, and in most cases without consideration of NCLB.

Public Elementary School teachers typically instruct between twenty and thirty students of diverse learning needs. A typical classroom will include children with a range of learning needs or abilities, from those identified as having special needs of the kinds listed in the Individuals with Disabilities Act IDEA to those that are cognitively, athletically or artistically gifted. At times, an individual school district identifies areas of need within the curriculum. Teachers and advisory administrators form committees to develop supplemental materials to support learning for diverse learners and to identify enrichment for textbooks. Many school districts post information about the curriculum and supplemental materials on websites for public access.[35]

Each local school district gives each teacher a book to give to the students for each subject, and brief overviews of what the teacher are expected to teach.[citation needed] In general, a student learns basic arithmetic and sometimes rudimentary algebra in mathematics, English proficiency (such as basic grammar, spelling, and vocabulary), and fundamentals of other subjects. Learning standards are identified for all areas of a curriculum by individual States, including those for mathematics, social studies, science, physical development, the fine arts, and reading.[34] While the concept of State Learning standards has been around for some time, No Child Left Behind has mandated that standards exist at the State level.

Elementary School teachers are trained with emphases on human cognitive and psychological development and the principles of curriculum development and instruction. Teachers typically earn either a Bachelors or Masters Degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. The teaching of social studies and science are often underdeveloped in elementary school programs. Some attribute this to the fact that elementary school teachers are trained as generalists; however, teachers attribute this to the priority placed on developing reading, writing and math proficiency in the elementary grades and to the large amount of time needed to do so. Reading, writing and math proficiency greatly affect performance in social studies, science and other content areas. Certification standards for teachers are determined by individual states, with individual colleges and universities determining the rigor of the college education provided for future teachers. Some states require content area tests, as well as instructional skills tests for teacher certification in that state.[36]

The broad topic of Social Studies may include key events, documents, understandings, and concepts in American history, and geography, and in some programs, state or local history and geography. Topics included under the broader term "science" vary from the physical sciences such as physics and chemistry, through the biological sciences such as biology, ecology, and physiology. Most States have predetermined the number of minutes that will be taught within a given content area. Because No Child Left Behind focuses on reading and math as primary targets for improvement, other instructional areas have received less attention.[37] There is much discussion within educational circles about the justification and impact of having curricula that place greater emphasis on those topics (reading, writing and math) that are specifically tested for improvement.[38]