Can someone explain the US school system to me?

[Sian]

Despite watching HUGE amounts of American tv and films I still cannot grasp how the school system works as it seems very different to the plan here in the UK. We have school 'years' which seem to roughly correspond to your 'grades'. Children start full time school the year in which they are 5 and this is called Reception. The year in which they are 6 is Year 1 etc.
Graduation has me confused. This normally happens when a kid is 18, right? But you don't need to wait for exam results to know that someone has graduated? Do you have a modular system whereby students accumulate credit as they go along so they pretty much know where they are up to at all times?
Our children take a big set of exams at 16 which pretty much determines whether they stay at school and do another set of exams at 18 which will allow them to progress to college. There is a lot of waiting involved. My 18 yr old DD finds out on 18 August whether she has high enough grades to start college in September. If she drops a grade in one paper she won't be able to go but can try again next year.

 

[megan4777]

It varies by state, but, in NY, a student doesn't graduate at 18 unless they pass whatever they're required to pass and have enough credits. A student can accumulate enough credits to graduate when they're younger than 16, but this usually isn't a "regular" student.
There are numerous high schools that also allow students to take college credits while still in school, also. I actually graduated H.S. with a full semester (12) of credits before actually attending college (and that was a few years ago) Funny that I STILL haven't graduated from college with such a head start!!
someone correct me if I'm wrong...It's been a while since I was in school

 

[N.Bailey]

Okay, I'll do my best here.

If you are 5 by the time school starts in your area (that's a generalization really, because there is technically a cut off date, but basically it's 5) you start kindergarten. In some areas, kindergarten is half a day, but more and more schools are changing to a full day for kindergarten students.

Elementary school is kindergarten thru 5th grade (some schools consider 6th grade elementary though).

Middle school is 6th thru 8th

High school is 9th thru 12th.

I've even seen 9th and 10th as high school and 11th and 12th as senior high. It depends on the district really.

After 13 years (counting kindergarten) you receive a diploma assuming you've passed all your classes. You can be held back any year of your schooling too if you don't pass. Mostly, kids won't fail all classes, so sometimes summer school is offered so you can catch by up on the classes you failed without having to repeat the entire year. I think in most districts a parent must pay for this though.

Each year is broken down into 4 marking periods. 45 days of school per marking period. Half way thru a marking period, the teachers send a paper home stating where your child stands. 98% math, 85 social studies etc... Different schools have different methods but in our district it breaks down as follows.

90 - 100 = A
80 - 89 = B
70 - 79 = C
60 - 69 = D
below this, you fail

Some it's like 94-100 = A and so forth. Just higher standards really

Okay, each marking period (after each 45 days) report cards are sent home. This too tells you exactly where your child stands. Parents must sign these are return them to the school.

Halfway thru the year, they take mid terms. Mid terms cover everything they'd learned to that point.

At the end of the year, they take finals. Sometimes, that's everything covered in the 2nd half of the year, and other times it's the entire years material.

At the end of the year, all grades are averaged and mid terms and finals count as much as an individual marking period (at least they do in our district).

Do this for 12 years (well 13 counting kindergarten) and receive a diploma.

A lot of kids go to pre- school prior to entering kindergarten too. Unless your very low income, you pay for this out of your own pocket.

 

[froglady]

It varies by state, and also can vary if the student attends private school. DD didn't have to take any of the FL standardized testing, but DID take national standardized testing all through school.

High School students start preparing for applying to colleges in their junior (11th grade) year. They take standardized, national testing...either SAT or ACT, although there are a few (very few) colleges that don't require them.

Students then start touring colleges, getting info, etc. Many retake the tests at the beginning of their senior year. Most colleges require applications to be in by January, and students are notified around February-March as to whether they have been accepted or denied. Most students apply to more than one (sometimes a dozen) schools, and decide which one they will attend after being accepted. The students are accepted with the condition that they really do graduate! There have been some students who get "senioritis" (Hey, I've been accepted into X school so I don't have to worry anymore.) and have not been able to attend the schools of their choice, but it's rare.

ANY student can apply to ANY college, but his/her grades, test scores, finances, etc. will determine which one, if any, he/she attends.

There are other variables- early admission, advanced placement courses, dual enrollment(taking some courses out of school at a nearby college), early graduation, etc. but this is the most common scenario.

edited to add that we will start touring schools, etc. earlier with DS. The summer between 11th and 12th grade, plus breaks really didn't give us enough time, and touring too many schools at once was counter-productive...it all became a blur.

 

[golfgal]

I would say that the main difference is that students most often stay in school until they are 18 or turning 18 that year for summer birthdays. Our college placement exams, taken in their junior year, 11th grade, will determine what kind of school they can attend. If you score really high on the SAT (the main college placement test) chances are good you will get into one of the best schools in the nation, Ivy Leauge-Harvard, Yale, etc. Your ability to get into college/university isn't based only on your test scores, however, they take into consideration your grades from high school, your involvement in community, social, athletic groups, etc.

 

[magicmouse2]

I dont understand the homeschooing system how does that work ?

 

[golfgal]

I dont understand the homeschooing system how does that work ?

Some people can choose to educate their children at home instead of sending them to a school.

 

[poohandwendy]

Despite watching HUGE amounts of American tv and films I still cannot grasp how the school system works as it seems very different to the plan here in the UK.

You can learn all you need to know if you watch The Breakfast Club. (LOL, just joking with you, please do not rely on the entertainment industry to be a guide to what the US is really like )

I think everyone has covered the basics. The US is a big country and while our schools may be state regulated, there is one common thing for sure...our students pretty much know whether or not they will be graduating based on their performance. They do have final exams, but they should have no problem passing if they have done well throughout the year.

 

[magicmouse2]

I get hat you educate the kids at home with homeschooling but how does it work re costs, learning materials, grading etc ?

 

[powellrj]

I get hat you educate the kids at home with homeschooling but how does it work re costs, learning materials, grading etc ?

There are lots of different reasons people homeschool. For many its religious rights. They want a more bible based education that you can't get at most schools. They sell plans that parents buy and pay for themselves to educate their children.

There are parents who don't like the quilality of schools in their areas. Once again, you can buy and pay for the materials yourself and educate your children at home.

In Indiana you really don't have to have any special education to homeschool your kids. You can be a highschool drop-out or a college professor. You do test at several points to make sure you are on track with kids in public schools and I know many home schooler in my area work together for classes like PE, science, lanuage arts and pool their talents for other families.

We also have many priviate schools that parents pay for themselves. Many times these are also for religious reasons. These can be very expensive and have wonderful programs or they can be very bare boned and basic.

Most states use property taxes to pay for education. This is why there can be a great difference in the quality of education. Some states place a high importance or have a larger tax base, so they can offer a higher quilaty education than other states.

In Indiana while public education is free, we also pay bookfees which can run several hundred dollars pre child to send them to school each year. Most states don't do this so your basic education is free. The only things you pay for are the extras like musical supplies, sports supplies, trips and lunch.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Although school sytems vary from state to state the basic framework remains the same. Students need to complete 12 grades to graduate. Grades go for Sept to June in some states and in others they are on a rotating calendar which has nine weeks off and nine weeks on. I am sure there are some variations on this.

 

[bicker]

The key thing to keep in mind is what several folks have said: This varies by state. Furthermore, it varies within states. For example, the break-down of grades into schools vary: The earlier poster mentioned K-5, 6-8, 9-12, but many school systems are K-6, 7-9, 10-12, and I suspect there are a few places with other configurations.

Furthermore, graduation requirements vary, even within the same school! When I was in school (ahem, some time ago) in New York, there are New York State requirements for graduation (which involve successfully completing a certain number of credits, and passing a certain set of statewide exams), but each school district was allowed to establish its own alternative, less rigorous requirements. So some students graduated with a diploma with the New York State Regents seal, and some students graduated with a diploma with a local school district seal. As long as the school district itself was accredited, that was satisfactory.

In essence, graduating from high school in the United States is therefore not a standardized distinction. That's why several means of testing graduating students in a standardized manner popped up, including the SATs and the ACTs. However, only college-bound students tend to take those exams, and then only if their intended universities care about those exams. Some of the most prestigious universities in the country don't care about standardized exams, and most of the least competitive post-high school graduation educational institutions ignore them as well. Most of the most prestigious universities, specifically, maintain profiles on each high school they've accepted students from in the past, and gain a long-term understanding how that high school's grading maps to the expectations of the university. An A student from one high school may be readily passed-over for a B student from another high school, based solely on the established history with that high school.

Powellrj mentioned that the quality of education will vary based on property taxes. It's actually much more complex than that. First, funding comes from federal, state as well as local sources, with a whole bunch of things that could increase funding beyond what is proportional. However, there isn't a direct correlation between funding and quality. Many districts have deliberately higher or lower expectations, based on the sensibilities of the school boards, that will result in higher or lower quality education, with funding only affecting the extent to which those expectations can be readily met. However, with lower expectations, no amount of funding will cause an education better than those expectations to be delivered.

The OP raised another interesting point in the OP: What if students switch from one high school to another? What's really remarkable is that there is no means to compare experiences or credentials for students transferring before high school graduation. It's treated on a case-by-case basis, based on the discretion of the local school officials. However, without any basis for questioning the credentials reported by the previous school (since high schools don't keep the kind of records that universities do, with respect to how well other high school's expectations maps to their own), past accomplishment is usually accepted at face-value.

 

[Disney Debbie]

There's been several huge threads about homeschooling - I suggest you go read them or PM some of the people on those threads that home school.

As far as public school - I know they vary from state to state but in GA you have to take a graduation test - but you start taking it your Junior(11th grade - next to last year) of school. If you are any kind of halfway decent student you won't- have any problem passing the first time - but even though you may have passed it - if you don't have enough credits you still don't graduate! If you leave school after 16 here - you're considered a high school drop out. You can take a GED - which I'm not sure if it stands for "General Equivalency Diploma - or Graduate E. D. " - but it's considered to replace actually going and finishing high school. It is usually only for kids who absolutely HATE school and don't intend to go to college - or for kids dropped out and +10 years later who've come to their senses and realize it is important to have at least a GED! I'm not sure how colleges view a GED - but I imagine they accept them assuming you've made well enough on your SAT's.

 

[aprilgail2]

Our children take a big set of exams at 16 which pretty much determines whether they stay at school and do another set of exams at 18 which will allow them to progress to college. There is a lot of waiting involved. My 18 yr old DD finds out on 18 August whether she has high enough grades to start college in September. If she drops a grade in one paper she won't be able to go but can try again next year.

We don't have to stay in school until 18 here...in fact not many kids at 18 are still in high school. I graduated when I was 16 and started college at that age and my daughter will graduate at 17 and be 17 when she starts college. You have to accumulate credits and have enough to graduate and in 9th grade I decided I wanted to graduate early so I took 8 classes for 3 years instead of study hall and lunch periods in order to earn enough credit to get out early. You have to turn 5 by Dec 1st to start school here so all the kinds who were born in July-Dec will be 17 when they graduate and start college.
You have to take regents here to graduate and you take them the last 2 weeks of school and by the time school ends you know if you will graduate or not. I am not sure if all states have Regents testing but NY does.

 

[treesinger]

I get hat you educate the kids at home with homeschooling but how does it work re costs, learning materials, grading etc ?

Homeschoolers typically do so because of religious reasons and sometimes because of less than adequate public. Or downright fear of how public school can change your children and expose them to WAY more than children should be exposed to .

Homeschoolers pay for their own books, etc. Sometimes, homeschoolers in the same area will get together and share the teaching responsibility. This is also very helpful in making sure the kids socialize with other kids. Generally speaking, homeschoolers are Christian Conservatives. But the demographics run the gamut. But far left Liberals tend to be much less numerous in the homeschool field.

 

[Disney Debbie]

Aprilgail2 and I posted pretty much at the same time - so added to say that she, of course, is NOT considered a high school drop out!! If you leave at 16 WITHOUT taking the extra credits to have enough to graduate - then you're a drop out!

 

[treesinger]

The property tax issue is a chicken and egg type of issue. IMO, money doesn't make the education. It helps smooth the edges though. In a wealthy area, if you have lousy unintelligent parents with lackluster teachers and undisciplined children, you will have poorly performing students. In a poor area, if you have engaging teachers, parents who really care and participate (intelligent or not), and children who are taught and have learned values and responsibility from their parents, those students will perform well no matter how much property taxes are collected.

But, again generally speaking, families that live in poor areas are more likely to have to work more hours or jobs to make ends meet and therefore cannot participate as much and are spending less time parenting their kids because they are working. Poor families are likely lesser educated because most (not all by a long shot) better educated families are able to make more money and move to better neighborhoods.

But all that being said, there are some real genius' living in the slums busting their butts and destined to be great no matter what, and there are some really wealthy idiot children being passed through the schools just to get them out of the way.

It can't hurt to have that extra property tax money, but it is hardly the deciding factor.

 

[treesinger]

And passing grades sometimes vary by class. I remember in 9th grade having 3 sets grading criteria. Most were the traditional...
93-100 A
86-92 B
79-85 C
70-79 D
A couple were the ten percenters
90-100
80-89
70-79
60-69
And one class...you won't believe this
88-100 A
75-87 B
60-75 C
50-60 D
That's right. Get half of the answers wrong AND STILL PASS!

Talk about mixed standards.

 

[bicker]

Then you've got all the variability with regard to Pluses and Minuses.
93-100 A
90-92 A-
87-89 B+
83-86 B
80-82 B-
(and so on, and also some perturbations within that arrangement)

However, some places have an A+. Some places allow the A+ to translated into a 101, 102, or 103!

The on the bottom of the scale, C- usually goes down to 70, with 65-69 being a D, but some places will have a D+ in there somewhere. I suspect, but have never seen, a D- grade! (I cannot believe that there is an F+ anywhere. )

 

[Val]

There is also an adaptation of middle school. Sometimes grades K-6 are grouped together, then 7-9 (junior high), then 10-12 (senior high). The more typical is the K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 system.

Graduation is "funny". OFFICIAL graduation from high school (you receive a high school diploma) is generally during your 18th birth year. Some kids can take extra classes, summer school, etc., and can graduate early; others fail a class or take fewer classes and graduate at 19. Kids with special needs can stay until 21. You can also get a high school equivalency- general education degree or GED- by passing a standardized test, but this is typically used for people who dropped out and then go back as adults.

Sometimes a little ceremony is held for kindergarten graduation (point being that kindergarten was more playtime and first grade starts "real" academics, although this isn't really true anymore), at the end of middle school (8th grade graduation), and many variations. Often, these events celebrate the moving from one school site to another. For example, in our case at our Catholic school my kids attend, Prekindergarten (4 year olds!) and kindergarten are housed in one building, K-5 in the main building, and 6-8 in a third. There are little ceremonies at the end of kindergarten and 5th grade (just held in the classroom). Graduation from 8th grade is a big deal- you've been at the school for possibly 10 years and now you are moving on to the big high school where all the Catholic grade schools are combined. This is held in the church and is quite formal. It mostly celebrates the transition and their impending "adulthood". High school graduation is even bigger. And then on to college and graduate school. Some us even become professors and teachers and NEVER graduate from school!

Does any of this make sense? And I thought the British system was confusing until I started to type out ours!!!!