Education in the United States of America
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 |
30%[3] |
1 Includes
kindergarten
2 Includes
graduate school |
Education in the
United States is mainly provided by the
public sector, with control and funding coming from three levels:
local,
state, and
federal, in that order. Child education is
compulsory, and there are also a large number and wide variety of
higher education institutions throughout the country that one can
choose to attend, both publicly and privately administered.
Public education is universally available. School curricula,
funding, teaching, employment, and other policies are set through
locally elected
school boards with jurisdiction over
school districts with many directives from state legislatures.
School districts are usually separate from other local jurisdictions,
with independent officials and budgets. Educational standards and
standardized testing decisions are usually made by state
governments.
The ages for compulsory education vary by state. It begins from ages
five to eight and ends from ages fourteen to eighteen.[4]
Compulsory education requirements can generally be satisfied by
educating children in
public schools, state-certified
private schools, or an approved
home school program. In most public and private schools, education
is divided into three levels:
elementary school,
middle school (sometimes called junior high school), and
high school (sometimes referred to as secondary education).
In almost all schools at these levels, children are divided by age
groups into
grades, ranging from
kindergarten (followed by
first grade) for the youngest children in elementary school, up to
twelfth grade, the final year of
high school. The exact age range of students in these grade levels
varies slightly from area to area.
Post-secondary education, better known as "college"
in the United States, is generally governed separately from the
elementary and high school system, and is described in a separate
section below.
History
Formal education in the United States dates from 1635, when the
Boston Latin School was founded in
colonial New England.
Grammar schools were established in the larger cities of each colony
throughout the rest of the 18th century, as well as several religious
colleges.
Formal education for women started with the
American Revolution, and for black children with the
American Civil War. However,
Homeschooling remained predominant, especially in the
south, until the mid-19th century (the 1840 census revealed that
about 55 percent of children attended some form of
primary school[5]).
Government supported, free public schools for all started being
established after the revolution, and expanded in the 19th century, as
the results of efforts of men like
Horace Mann and
Booker T. Washington. By 1870, all states had free elementary
schools,[6]
albeit only in urban centers. As the 20th century drew nearer, states
started passing laws to make schooling compulsory, and by 1910, 72
percent of children attended school. Private schools continued to spread
during this time, as well as colleges and—in the rural centers—land
grant colleges. The year of 1910 also saw the first true high
schools.
During the rest of the 20th century, educational efforts centered on
reducing the inequality of the schooling system. The landmark Supreme
Court case
Brown v. Board of Education made the desegregation of elementary
and high schools a national priority, while the
Pell Grant program helped poor minorities gain access to college.
Special education was
made into federal law in 1975.
The
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 made
standardized testing a requirement, and in 1983,
a commission was established to evaluate their results and propose a
course of action. The resulting
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was controversial and its goals
proved to be unrealistic.
A commission established in 2006 evaluated
higher education, but its recommendations have yet to be fully
implemented.
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.[7]
The 2010
unemployment rate for high school graduates was 10.8%; the rate for
college graduates was 4.9%.[8]
The country has a reading
literacy rate at 99% of the population over age 15,[9]
while ranking below average in science and mathematics understanding
compared to other developed countries.[10]
In 2008, there was a 77% graduation rate from high school, below that of
most developed countries.[11]
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%)[12]
and rate of participation of the labor force in
continuing education is high.[13]
A 2000s (decade) 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".[14]
School grades
Most children enter the public education system around ages five or
six. The American school year traditionally begins at the end of August
or the day after Labor Day in 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 late May or early June.
The American educational system comprises 12 grades of study over 12
calendar years of primary and secondary education before graduating, and
often becoming eligible for admission to
higher education.[15]
After pre-kindergarten and
kindergarten, there are five years in 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.[15]
The U.S. uses
ordinal numbers (e.g.,
first grade) for identifying grades. Typical ages and grade
groupings in public and private schools may be found through the U.S.
Department of Education. Generally, elementary school (k-5), middle
school (6-8), and high school (9-12). However there are a rising number
of variations the most popular being elementary (k-6), middle (7-8), and
high school (9-12).[16][dead
link] Many different variations exist across the
country.
Education in the United States
Students completing high school may choose to attend a college or
university.
Undergraduate degrees may be either
associate's degrees or
bachelor's degrees (baccalaureate)
Community college typically offer two-year associate's degrees,
although some community colleges offer a limited number of bachelor's
degrees. Some community college students choose to
transfer to a four-year institution to pursue a bachelor's degree.
Community colleges are generally publicly funded and offer career
certifications and part-time programs.
Four-year institutions may be
public or
private colleges or universities.
Most public institutions are
state universities, which are sponsored by
state governments and typically receive funding through some
combination of taxpayer funds, tuition, private donations,
federal grants, and proceeds from endowments. State universities are
organized in a wide variety of ways, and many are part of a
state university system. However, not all public institutions are
state universities. The five
service academies, one for each branch of the
armed forces, are completely funded by the
federal government; the academies train students (cadets or
midshipmen) to be
commissioned officers in exchange for a mandatory term of military
service. Additionally, some
local governments (counties and cities) have four-year institutions
of their own - one example is the
City University of New York.
Private institutions are privately funded and there is wide variety
in size, focus, and operation. Some private institutions are large
research universities, while others are small
liberal arts colleges that concentrate on undergraduate education.
Some private universities are
nonsectarian while others are religiously affiliated. While most
private institutions are non-profit, a number are
for profit.
Curriculum varies widely depending on the institution. Typically, an
undergraduate student will be able to select an
academic major or concentration, which comprises the main or special
subjects, and students may change their major one or more times.
Some students, typically those with a bachelor's degree, may chose to
continue on to
graduate or
professional school. Graduate degrees may be either
master's degrees (e.g.,
M.S.,
M.B.A.,
M.S.W.) or
doctorates (e.g.,
Ph.D.,
J.D.,
M.D.).
Academia-focused graduate school typically includes some combination
of coursework and research (often requiring a
thesis
or
dissertation), while professional school (e.g.,
medical,
law,
business) grants a
first professional degree and aims to prepare students to enter a
learned profession.
Preschool
In large cities, sometimes there are private preschools catering to
the children of the wealthy. Because some wealthy families see these
schools as the first step toward an elite college education, there are
even counselors who specialize in assisting parents and their toddlers
through the preschool admissions process.[17]
Increasingly, a growing body of preschools are adopting international
standards such as the
International Preschool Curriculum[18]
Student health
According to the
National Association of School Nurses, 17% of students are
considered obese and 32% are overweight.[19]
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[20]
Educational attainment in the United States, Age 25 and
Over (2009)[21]
Education |
Percentage |
High school graduate |
86.68% |
Some college |
55.60% |
Associates and/or Bachelor's degree |
38.54% |
Bachelor's degree |
29.0% |
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,[22]
largely because they are
tax-subsidized (tax burdens by
school districts vary from area to area).
There are more than 14,000 school districts in the country.[23]
More than $500 billion is spent each year on public primary and
secondary education.[23]
Most states require that their school districts within the state
teach for 180 days a year.[24]
Parents may also choose to educate their own children
at home; 1.7% of children are educated in this manner.[22]
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.[25]
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.[26]
In 1971, the
Supreme Court ruled unanimously that
forced busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial
desegregation.[27]
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.[28]
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 provide 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.[29][30]
In 2010, American students rank 17th in the world. The
Organisation for Economic Co-operation 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.[31]
About half of the states encourage schools to recite the
Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.[32]
Teachers worked from about 35 to 46 hours a week, in a survey taken
in 1993.[33]
In 2011, American teachers worked 1,097 hours in the classroom, the most
for any industrialized nation measured by the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. They spend
1,913 hours a year on their work, just below the national average of
1,932 hours for all workers.[34]
In 2011, the average annual salary of a preK-12 teacher was $55,040.[35]
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 schools.[36]
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 finish earlier, at 2:25, middle
schools at 3:10 and senior high schools at 3:55.[37]
All school districts establish their own times and means of
transportation within guidelines set by their own state.
Elementary school
A teacher and her students in an elementary school classroom
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). Basic subjects are taught in elementary school, and
students often remain in one classroom throughout the school day, except
for
physical education,
library,
music,
and art
classes. There are (as of 2001) about 3.6 million children in each grade
in the United States.[38]
Typically, the curriculum in public elementary education is
determined by individual
school districts. The school district selects curriculum guides and
textbooks that reflect a state's learning standards and benchmarks for a
given grade level.[39]
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.[40]
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.[39]
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.[41]
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.[42]
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.[43]
Secondary
education
As part of education in the United States, secondary education
usually covers grades 6 through 9 or 10 through 12.
Junior
and senior high school
Middle school and Junior high school include the grade levels
intermediate between elementary school and senior high school. "Middle
school" usually includes sixth, seventh and eighth grade; "Junior high"
typically includes seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. The range defined
by either is often based on demographic factors, such as an increase or
decrease in the relative numbers of younger or older students, with the
aim of maintaining stable school populations.[44]
At this time, students are given more independence, moving to different
classrooms for different subjects, and being allowed to choose some of
their class subjects (electives). Usually, starting in ninth grade,
grades become part of a student’s official transcript.
Senior high school is a school attended after junior high school.
High school is often used instead of senior high school and
distinguished from junior high school. High school usually runs either
from 9th through 12th, or 10th through 12th grade. The students in these
grades are commonly referred to as freshmen (grade 9), sophomores (grade
10), juniors (grade 11) and seniors (grade 12).
Basic
curricular structure
Generally, at the
high school level, students take a broad variety of classes without
special emphasis in any particular subject. Students are required to
take a certain minimum number of mandatory subjects, but may choose
additional subjects ("electives") to fill out their required hours of
learning.
The following minimum courses of study in mandatory subjects are
required in nearly all U.S. high schools:
- Science (usually three years minimum, normally biology,
chemistry and physics)
- Mathematics (usually four years minimum, normally including
algebra, geometry, pre-calculus, statistics, and even calculus)
- English (usually four years minimum, including literature,
humanities, composition, oral languages, etc.)
- Social sciences (usually three years minimum, including various
history, government/economics courses)[45]
- Physical education (at least two years)
Many states require a "health" course in which students learn about
anatomy,
nutrition,
first
aid,
sexuality,
drug awareness and
birth control. Anti-drug use programs are also usually part of
health courses. In many cases, however, options are provided for
students to "test out" of this requirement or complete independent study
to meet it. Foreign language and some form of art education are also a
mandatory part of the curriculum in some schools.
Electives
Common types of electives include:
-
Computers (word
processing,
programming,
graphic design)
-
Athletics (cross
country,
football,
baseball,
basketball,
track and field,
swimming,
tennis,
gymnastics,
water polo,
soccer,
softball,
wrestling,
cheerleading,
volleyball,
lacrosse,
ice hockey,
field hockey,
crew,
boxing,
skiing/snowboarding,
golf,
mountain biking,
marching band)
- Career and Technical Education (Agriculture/Agriscience,
Business/Marketing, Family and Consumer Science, Health Occupations,
and Technology Education, including
Publishing (journalism/student
newspaper,
yearbook/annual,
literary magazine))
-
Performing Arts/Visual
Arts, (choir,
band,
orchestra,
drama,
art,
ceramics,
photography, and
dance)
-
Foreign languages (Spanish and French are common;
Chinese,
Latin,
Ancient Greek,
German,
Italian,
Arabic, and
Japanese are less common)[46]
-
Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps
Advanced courses
Many high schools provide
Advanced Placement (AP) or
International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. These are special forms of
honors classes where the
curriculum is more challenging and lessons more aggressively paced
than standard courses. AP or IB courses are usually taken during the
11th or 12th grade of high school, but may be taken as early as 9th
grade.
Most post-secondary institutions take AP or IB exam results into
consideration in the admissions process. Because AP and IB courses are
intended to be the equivalent of the first year of college courses,
post-secondary institutions may grant unit credit, which enables
students to graduate earlier. Other institutions use examinations for
placement purposes only: students are exempted from introductory course
work but may not receive credit towards a concentration, degree, or core
requirement. Institutions vary in the selection of examinations they
accept and the scores they require to grant credit or placement, with
more elite institutions tending to accept fewer examinations and
requiring higher scoring. The lack of AP, IB, and other advanced courses
in impoverished inner-city high schools is often seen as a major cause
of the greatly differing levels of post-secondary education these
graduates go on to receive, compared with both public and private
schools in wealthier neighborhoods.
Also, in states with well-developed
community college systems, there are often mechanisms by which
gifted students may seek permission from their school district to attend
community college courses full-time during the summer, and part-time
during the school year. The units earned this way can often be
transferred to one's university, and can facilitate early graduation.
Early college entrance programs are a step further, with students
enrolling as freshmen at a younger-than-traditional age.
Home schooling
In 2007, approximately 1.5 million children were homeschooled, up 74%
from 1999 when the U.S. Department of Education first started keeping
statistics. This was 2.9% of all children.[47]
Many select moral or religious reasons for homeschooling their
children. The second main category is "unschooling," those who prefer a
non-standard approach to education.[47]
Most homeschooling advocates are wary of the established educational
institutions for various reasons. Some are religious conservatives who
see nonreligious education as contrary to their moral or religious
systems, or who wish to add religious instruction to the educational
curriculum (and who may be unable to afford a church-operated private
school or where the only available school may teach views contrary to
those of the parents). Others feel that they can more effectively tailor
a curriculum to suit an individual student’s academic strengths and
weaknesses, especially those with singular needs or disabilities. Still
others feel that the negative social pressures of schools (such as
bullying, drugs, crime, sex, and other school-related problems) are
detrimental to a child’s proper development. Parents often form groups
to help each other in the homeschooling process, and may even assign
classes to different parents, similar to public and private schools.
Opposition to homeschooling comes from varied sources, including
teachers' organizations and school districts. The
National Education Association, the largest
labor union in the United States, has been particularly vocal in the
past.[48]
Opponents' stated concerns fall into several broad categories, including
fears of poor academic quality, and lack of socialization with others.
At this time, over half of states have oversight into monitoring or
measuring the academic progress of home schooled students, with all but
ten requiring some form of notification to the state.[49]
Grading scale
In schools in the United States children are constantly assessed
throughout the school year by their teachers, and
report cards are issued to parents at varying intervals. Generally
the scores for individual assignments and tests are recorded for each
student in a grade book, along with the maximum number of points for
each assignment. At any time, the total number of points for a student
when divided by the total number of possible points produces a percent
grade, which can be translated to a letter grade.
Letter grades are often but not always used on report cards at the
end of a marking period, although the current grade may be available at
other times (particularly when an electronic grade book connected to an
online service is in use). Although grading scales usually differ from
school to school, the most common grade scale is letter grades—"A"
through "F"—derived from a scale of 0–100 or a percentile. In some
areas, Texas or Virginia for example, the "D" grade (or that between
70–60) is considered a failing grade. In other jurisdictions, such as
Hawaii,
a "D" grade is considered passing in certain classes, and failing in
others.[citation
needed]
Example Grading Scale
A |
B |
C |
D |
F, E, I, N, or U |
+ |
|
– |
+ |
|
– |
+ |
|
– |
+ |
|
– |
|
100–97 |
96–93 |
92–90 |
89–87 |
86–83 |
82–80 |
79–77 |
76–73 |
72–70 |
69–67 |
66–63 |
62–60 |
Below 60 Percent |
Standardized
testing
Under the
No Child Left Behind Act, all American states must
test students in public schools statewide to ensure that they are
achieving the desired level of minimum education,[50]
such as on the
Regents Examinations in
New
York, or the
Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), and the
Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment 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.[51]
In addition, on the 2005 National Assessment of Education Progress, 4th
and 8th grade students scored as well or better in reading, science, and
mathematics.[52]
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 and
ACT 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 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]
A major characteristic of American schools is the high priority given
to sports, clubs and activities by the community, the parents, the
schools and the students themselves. Extracurricular activities are
educational activities not falling within the scope of the regular
curriculum but under the supervision of the school. These activities can
extend to large amounts of time outside the normal school day;
home-schooled students, however, are not normally allowed to
participate. Student participation in
sports
programs,
drill teams,
bands, and spirit groups can amount to hours of practices and
performances. Most
states have organizations that develop rules for competition between
groups. These organizations are usually forced to implement time limits
on hours practiced as a prerequisite for participation. Many schools
also have non-varsity sports teams; however, these are usually afforded
less resources and attention.
Sports programs and their related games, especially
football and/or
basketball, are major events for American students and for larger
schools can be a major source of funds for
school districts.
High school athletic competitions often generate intense interest in
the community.
In addition to sports, numerous non-athletic extracurricular
activities are available in American schools, both public and private.
Activities include
Quizbowl, musical groups, marching bands, student government, school
newspapers, science fairs, debate teams, and clubs focused on an
academic area (such as the Spanish Club) or community service interests
(such as Key Club).[citation
needed]
Education of students with special needs
Commonly known as special classes, are taught by teachers with
training in adapting curricula to meet the needs of students with
special needs.
According to the
National Association of School Nurses, 5% of students in 2009 have a
seizure disorder, another 5% have
ADHD and 10% have mental or emotional problems.[19]
On January 25, 2013, the Office for Civil Rights of the US Department
of Education issued guidance, clarifying school districts' existing
legal obligations to give disabled students an equal chance to compete
in extracurricular sports alongside their able-bodied classmates.[53]
Educating children with disabilities
The federal law,
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires states
to ensure that all government-run schools provide services to meet the
individual needs of
students with special needs, as defined by the law.[54]
All students with special needs are entitled to a
free and appropriate public education (FAPE).
Schools meet with the parents or guardians to develop an
Individualized Education Program that determines best placement for
the child. Students must be placed in the
least restrictive environment (LRE) that is appropriate for the
student's needs. Public schools that fail to provide an appropriate
placement for students with special needs can be taken to due process
wherein parents may formally submit their grievances and demand
appropriate services for the child.[citation
needed]
Criticism
At-risk students (those with educational needs that aren't associated
with a disability) are often placed in classes with students with minor
emotional and social disabilities.[55]
Critics assert that placing at-risk students in the same classes as
these disabled students may impede the educational progress of both the
at-risk and the disabled students.[citation
needed] Some research has refuted this claim, and
has suggested this approach increases the academic and behavioral skills
of the entire student population.[56]
Public and
private schools
In the United States, state and local government have primary
responsibility for education. The Federal Department of Education plays
a role in standards setting and education finance, and some primary and
secondary schools, for the children of military employees, are run by
the Department of Defense.[57]
K-12 students in most areas have a choice between free tax-funded
public schools, or privately funded
private schools.[citation
needed]
Public school systems are supported by a combination of local, state,
and federal government funding. Because a large portion of school
revenues come from local property taxes, public schools vary widely in
the resources they have available per student. Class size also varies
from one district to another. Curriculum decisions in public schools are
made largely at the local and state levels; the federal government has
limited influence. In most districts, a locally elected school board
runs schools. The school board appoints an official called the
superintendent of schools to manage the schools in the district.
The largest public school system in the United States is in
New York City, where more than one million students are taught in
1,200 separate public schools. Because of its immense size – there are
more students in the system than residents in the eight smallest US
states – the New York City public school system is nationally
influential in determining standards and materials, such as textbooks.[citation
needed]
Admission to individual public schools is usually based on residency.
To compensate for differences in school quality based on geography,
school systems serving large cities and portions of large cities often
have "magnet
schools" that provide enrollment to a specified number of
non-resident students in addition to serving all resident students. This
special enrollment is usually decided by lottery with equal numbers of
males and females chosen. Some magnet schools cater to gifted students
or to students with special interests, such as the sciences or
performing arts.[58]
Private schools in the United States include parochial schools
(affiliated with religious denominations), non-profit independent
schools, and for-profit private schools. Private schools charge varying
rates depending on geographic location, the school's expenses, and the
availability of funding from sources, other than tuition. For example,
some churches partially subsidize private schools for their members.
Some people have argued that when their child attends a private school,
they should be able to take the funds that the public school no longer
needs and apply that money towards private school tuition in the form of
vouchers. This is the basis of the
school choice movement.[citation
needed]
5,072,451 students attended 33,740 private elementary and secondary
schools in 2007. 74.5% of these were Caucasian, non-Hispanic, 9.8% were
African American, 9.6% were Hispanic. 5.4% were Asian or Pacific
Islander, and .6% were American Indian. Average school size was 150.3
students. There were 456,266 teachers. The number of students per
teacher was about 11. 65% of seniors in private schools in 2006-7 went
on to attend a 4-year college.[59]
Private schools have various missions: some cater to college-bound
students seeking a competitive edge in the college admissions process;
others are for gifted students, students with learning disabilities or
other special needs, or students with specific religious affiliations.
Some cater to families seeking a small school, with a nurturing,
supportive environment. Unlike public school systems, private schools
have no legal obligation to accept any interested student. Admission to
some private schools is often highly selective. Private schools also
have the ability to permanently expel persistently unruly students, a
disciplinary option not legally available to public school systems.
Private schools offer the advantages of smaller classes, under twenty
students in a typical elementary classroom, for example; a higher
teacher/student ratio across the school day, greater individualized
attention and in the more competitive schools,
expert
college placement services. Unless specifically designed to do so,
private schools usually cannot offer the services required by students
with serious or multiple learning, emotional, or behavioral issues.
Although reputed to pay lower salaries than public school systems,
private schools often attract teachers by offering high-quality
professional development opportunities, including tuition grants for
advanced degrees. According to elite private schools themselves, this
investment in faculty development helps maintain the high quality
program that they offer.[citation
needed]
An August 17, 2000 article by the
Chicago Sun-Times refers to the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago Office of Catholic Schools as
the largest private school system in the United States.[60]
College and
university
Post-secondary education in the United States is known as
college
or
university and commonly consists of four years of study at an
institution of higher learning. There are 4,495 colleges, universities,
and junior colleges in the country.[61]
In 2008, 36% of enrolled students graduated from college in four years.
57% completed their undergraduate requirements in six years, at the same
college they first enrolled in.[62]
The U.S. ranks 10th among industrial countries for percentage of adults
with college degrees.[8]
Like high school, the four undergraduate grades are commonly called
freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior years (alternatively called
first year, second year, etc.). Students traditionally apply for
admission into colleges. Schools differ in their competitiveness and
reputation; generally, the most prestigious schools are private, rather
than public. Admissions criteria involve the rigor and grades earned in
high school courses taken, the students'
GPA, class ranking, and standardized
test scores (Such as the SAT or the ACT tests). Most colleges also
consider more subjective factors such as a commitment to extracurricular
activities, a personal essay, and an interview. While colleges will
rarely list that they require a certain standardized test score, class
ranking, or GPA for admission, each college usually has a rough
threshold below which admission is unlikely.[citation
needed]
Once admitted, students engage in undergraduate study, which
consists of satisfying university and class requirements to achieve a
bachelor's degree in a field of concentration known as a
major. (Some students enroll in
double majors or "minor" in another field of study.) The most common
method consists of four years of study leading to a
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), a
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), or sometimes another bachelor's degree
such as
Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.),
Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.),
Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.,) or
Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.) Five-Year Professional Architecture
programs offer the
Bachelor of Architecture Degree (B.Arch.)
Professional degrees such as law, medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry,
are offered as graduate study after earning at least three years of
undergraduate schooling or after earning a bachelor's degree depending
on the program. These professional fields do not require a specific
undergraduate major, though medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry have set
prerequisite courses that must be taken before enrollment.[citation
needed]
Some students choose to attend a community college for two years
prior to further study at another college or university. In most states,
community colleges are operated either by a division of the state
university or by local special districts subject to guidance from a
state agency. Community colleges may award Associate of Arts (AA) or
Associate of Science (AS) degree after two years. Those seeking to
continue their education may transfer to a four-year college or
university (after applying through a similar admissions process as those
applying directly to the four-year institution, see
articulation). Some community colleges have automatic enrollment
agreements with a local four-year college, where the community college
provides the first two years of study and the university provides the
remaining years of study, sometimes all on one campus. The community
college awards the associate's degree, and the university awards the
bachelor's and master's degrees.[citation
needed]
Graduate study, conducted after obtaining an initial degree
and sometimes after several years of professional work, leads to a more
advanced degree such as a
master's degree, which could be a
Master of Arts (MA),
Master of Science (MS),
Master of Business Administration (MBA), or other less common
master's degrees such as
Master of Education (MEd), and
Master of Fine Arts (MFA). Some students pursue a graduate degree
that is in between a master's degree and a doctoral degree called a
Specialist in Education (Ed.S.).
After additional years of study and sometimes in conjunction with the
completion of a master's degree and/or Ed.S. degree, students may earn a
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
or other doctoral degree, such as
Doctor of Arts,
Doctor of Education,
Doctor of Theology,
Doctor of Medicine,
Doctor of Pharmacy,
Doctor of Physical Therapy,
Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine,
Doctor of Podiatry Medicine,
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine,
Doctor of Psychology, or
Juris Doctor. Some programs, such as medicine and psychology, have
formal apprenticeship procedures post-graduation, such as residencies
and internships, which must be completed after graduation and before one
is considered fully trained. Other professional programs like law and
business have no formal apprenticeship requirements after graduation
(although law school graduates must take the
bar exam to legally practice law in nearly all states).
Entrance into graduate programs usually depends upon a student's
undergraduate academic performance or professional experience as well as
their score on a standardized entrance exam like the
Graduate Record Examination (GRE-graduate schools in general), the
Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), or the
Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Many graduate and law schools do
not require experience after earning a bachelor's degree to enter their
programs; however, business school candidates are usually required to
gain a few years of professional work experience before applying. 8.9
percent of students receive postgraduate degrees. Most, after obtaining
their bachelor's degree, proceed directly into the workforce.[63]
Cost
Study comparing college revenue per student by tuition and
state funding in 2008 dollars.
[64]
A few charity institutions cover all of the students' tuition,
although scholarships (both merit-based and need-based) are widely
available. Generally, private universities charge much higher tuition
than their public counterparts, which rely on state funds to make up the
difference. Because each state supports its own university system with
state taxes, most public universities charge much higher rates for
out-of-state students.[citation
needed]
Annual undergraduate tuition varies widely from state to state, and
many additional fees apply. In 2009, average annual tuition at a public
university (for residents of the state) was $7,020.[62]
Tuition for public school students from outside the state is generally
comparable to private school prices, although students can often qualify
for state residency after their first year. Private schools are
typically much higher, although prices vary widely from "no-frills"
private schools to highly specialized technical institutes. Depending
upon the type of school and program, annual graduate program tuition can
vary from $15,000 to as high as $50,000. Note that these prices do not
include living expenses (rent, room/board, etc.) or additional fees that
schools add on such as "activities fees" or
health insurance. These fees, especially room and board, can range
from $6,000 to $12,000 per academic year (assuming a single student
without children).[65]
The mean annual Total Cost (including all costs associated with a
full-time post-secondary schooling, such as tuition and fees, books and
supplies, room and board), as reported by collegeboard.com for 2010:[65]
- Public University (4 years): $27,967 (per year)
- Private University (4 years): $40,476 (per year)
Total, four-year schooling:
- Public University: $111,868
- Private University: $161,904
College costs are rising at the same time that state appropriations
for aid are shrinking. This has led to debate over funding at both the
state and local levels. From 2002 to 2004 alone, tuition rates at public
schools increased over 14 percent, largely due to dwindling state
funding. An increase of 6 percent occurred over the same period for
private schools.[65]
Between 1982 and 2007, college tuition and fees rose three times as fast
as median family income, in constant dollars.[66]
From the US Census Bureau, the median salary of an individual who has
only a high school diploma is $27,967; The median salary of an
individual who has a bachelor's degree is $47,345.[67]
Certain degrees, such as in engineering, typically result in salaries
far exceeding high school graduates, whereas degrees in teaching and
social work fall below.[citation
needed]
The debt of the average college graduate for student loans in 2010
was $23,200.[68]
A 2010 study indicates that the "return
on investment" for graduating from the top 1000 colleges exceeds 4%
over a high school degree.[69]
According to
Uni in the USA, "One of the reasons American universities have
thrived is due to their remarkable management of financial resources."[70]
To combat costs colleges have hired adjunct professors to teach. In 2008
these teachers cost about $1,800 per 3-credit class as opposed to $8,000
per class for a tenured professor. Two-thirds of college instructors
were adjuncts. There are differences of opinion whether these adjuncts
teach better or worse than regular professors. There is a suspicion that
student evaluation of adjuncts, along with their subsequent continued
employment, can lead to
grade inflation.[71]
The status ladder
American college and university faculty, staff, alumni, students, and
applicants monitor
rankings produced by magazines such as
U.S. News and World Report,
Academic Ranking of World Universities, test preparation services
such as
The Princeton Review or another university itself such as the Top
American Research Universities by the University of Florida's The
Center.[72]
These rankings are based on factors like
brand recognition, selectivity in admissions, generosity of alumni
donors, and volume of faculty research. In global university rankings,
the US dominates more than half the top 50 places (27) and has a total
of 72 institutions in the top 200 table under the
Times Higher Education World University Rankings.[73]
It has more than twice as many universities represented in the top
200 as its nearest rival, the United Kingdom, which has 29. A small
percentage of students who apply to these schools gain admission.[74]
Included among the top 20 institutions identified by
ARWU in 2009 are six of the eight schools in the
Ivy
League; 4 of the 10 schools in the
University of California system; the private Universities of
Stanford,
Chicago, and
Johns Hopkins; the public Universities of
Washington and
Wisconsin; and the
Massachusetts and
California Institutes of Technology.[75]
Also renowned within the United States are the so-called "Little
Ivies" and a number of prestigious
liberal arts colleges. Certain public universities (sometimes
referred to as "Public
Ivies") are also recognized for their outstanding record in
scholarship. Some of these institutions currently place among the elite
in certain measurements of graduate education and research, especially
among engineering and medical schools.[76][77]
Each state in the United States maintains its own
public university system, which is always non-profit. The
State University of New York and the
California State University are the largest public higher education
systems in the United States; SUNY is the largest system that includes
community colleges, while CSU is the largest without. Most areas also
have
private institutions, which may be for-profit or non-profit. Unlike
many other nations, there are no public universities at the national
level outside of the
military
service academies.
Prospective students applying to attend four of the five
military academies require, with limited exceptions, nomination by a
member of
Congress. Like acceptance to "top tier" universities, competition
for these limited nominations is intense and must be accompanied by
superior scholastic achievement and evidence of "leadership potential."
Aside from these aforementioned schools, academic reputations vary
widely among the 'middle-tier' of American schools, (and even among
academic departments within each of these schools.) Most public and
private institutions fall into this 'middle' range. Some institutions
feature honors colleges or other rigorous programs that challenge
academically exceptional students, who might otherwise attend a
'top-tier' college.[78][79]
Aware of the status attached to the perception of the college that they
attend, students often apply to a range of schools. Some apply to a
relatively prestigious school with a low acceptance rate, gambling on
the chance of acceptance, and also apply to a "safety
school",[80]
to which they will (almost) certainly gain admission.
Lower status institutions include
community colleges. These are primarily two-year public
institutions, which individual states usually require to accept all
local residents who seek admission, and offer
associate's degrees or vocational certificate programs. Many
community colleges have relationships with four-year state universities
and colleges or even private universities that enable their students to
transfer to these universities for a four-year degree after completing a
two-year program at the community college.[citation
needed]
Regardless of perceived prestige, many institutions feature at least
one distinguished academic department, and most post-secondary American
students attend one of the 2,400 four-year colleges and universities or
1,700 two-year colleges not included among the twenty-five or so
'top-tier' institutions.[81]
Criticism
A college economics professor has blamed "credential
inflation" for the admission of so many unqualified students into
college. He reports that the number of new jobs requiring college
degrees is less than the number of college graduates.[8]
The same professor reports that the more money that a state spends on
higher education, the slower the economy grows, the opposite of long
held notions.[8]
Funding
Funding for K–12 schools
According to a 2005 report from the
OECD, the United States is tied for first place with Switzerland
when it comes to annual spending per student on its public schools, with
each of those two countries spending more than $11,000.[82]
However, the United States is ranked 37th in the world in education
spending as a percentage of gross domestic product. All but seven of the
leading countries are in the third world; ranked high because of a low
GDP.[83]
U.S. public schools lag behind the schools of other developed countries
in the areas of reading, math, and science.[84]
According to a 2007 article in
The Washington Post, the Washington D.C. public school district
spends $12,979 per student per year. This is the third highest level of
funding per student out of the 100 biggest school districts in the U.S.
According to the article, however, these schools are ranked last in the
amount of funding spent on teachers and instruction, and first on the
amount spent on administration. The school district has produced
outcomes that are lower than the national average. In reading and math,
the district's students score the lowest among 11 major school districts
– even when poor children are compared with other poor children. 33% of
poor fourth graders in the U.S. lack basic skills in math, but in
Washington D.C., it's 62%.[85]
In 2004, the U.S. Congress set up a voucher program for low income
minority students in Washington D.C. to attend private schools. The
vouchers were $7,500 per student per year. The parents said their
children were receiving a much better education from the private
schools. In 2007, Washington D.C. non-voting delegate
Eleanor Holmes Norton said she wanted the voucher program to be
eliminated, and that the public schools needed more money.[86]
Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan supports retaining vouchers for the district only, as do
some DC parent groups.[87][88]
According to a 2006 study by the conservative
Goldwater Institute, Arizona's public schools spend 50% more per
student than Arizona's private schools. The study also says that while
teachers constitute 72% of the employees at private schools, they make
up less than half of the staff at public schools. According to the
study, if Arizona's public schools wanted to be like private schools,
they would have to hire approximately 25,000 more teachers, and
eliminate 21,210 administration employees.[89]
During the 2006–2007 school year, a private school in Chicago founded
by
Marva Collins to teach low income minority students charged $5,500
for tuition, and parents said that the school did a much better job than
the Chicago public school system.[90]
However, Collins' school was forced to close in 2008 due to lack of
sufficient enrollment and funding.[91]
Meanwhile, during the 2007–2008 year, Chicago public school officials
claimed that their budget of $11,300 per student was not enough.[92]
In 1985 in Kansas City, Missouri, a judge ordered the school district
to raise taxes and spend more money on public education. Spending was
increased so much, that the school district was spending more money per
student than any of the country's other 280 largest school districts
with a charge to "dream" of the possibilities and to make them happen.
Although this very high level of spending continued for more than a
decade, there was no improvement in the school district's academic
performance.[93][94]
Public school defenders answer that both of these examples are
misleading, as the task of educating students is easier in private
schools, which can expel or refuse to accept students who lag behind
their peers in academic achievement or behavior, while public schools
have no such recourse and must continue to attempt to educate these
students. For this reason, comparisons of the cost of education in
public schools to that of private schools is misleading; private school
education can be accomplished with less funding because in most cases
they educate those students who are easiest to teach.[95]
But not in all cases. For example,
Marva Collins created her low cost private school specifically for
the purpose of teaching low income African American children whom the
public school system had labeled as being "learning
disabled".[96]
One article about Marva Collins' school stated, "Working with students
having the worst of backgrounds, those who were working far below grade
level, and even those who had been labeled as 'unteachable,' Marva was
able to overcome the obstacles. News of third grade students reading at
ninth grade level, four-year-olds learning to read in a few months,
outstanding test scores, disappearance of behavioral problems,
second-graders studying Shakespeare, and other incredible reports,
astounded the public."
[97]
According to a 1999 article by
William J. Bennett, former U.S. Secretary of Education, increased
levels of spending on public education have not made the schools better.
Among many other things, the article cites the following statistics:[98]
- Between 1960 and 1995, U.S. public school spending per student,
adjusted for inflation, increased by 212%.
- In 1994, less than half of all U.S. public school employees were
teachers.
- Out of 21 industrialized countries, U.S. 12th graders ranked
19th in math, 16th in science, and last in advanced physics.
In 2011, the
Center for American Progress, described as a "left-leaning think
tank" stated that for half the states studied, it found no correlation
between spending and achievement after allowing for
cost of living, and students living in poverty.[99]
A 2008 report[100]
by
The Heritage Foundation described as a "right-leaning think tank"
provides the following chart based on data[101][102]
from the
US Department of Education indicating no real improvement in reading
scores, while per student expenditure more than doubles from $4,060 in
1970 to $9,266 in 2005 ($20,436.03 adjusted for inflation since 1970).[103][104]
Other commentators have suggested that the public school system has
exhibited signs of success.
SAT scores
have risen consistently over the past decades, despite the fact that the
pool of students taking the test has increased from an academic elite to
a much more representative sampling of the population. Commentators have
suggested that this increase in scores, coming as it does at a time when
more students have started to take the test and the public schooling
system has faced ever-increasing challenge, suggests that the US
educational system is much more effective than is commonly believed, and
that the negative cast common in public perception is due to negative
propaganda disseminated by elements with a personal interest in
discrediting or weakening public education.[105]
Funding for schools in the United States is complex. One current
controversy stems much from the
No Child Left Behind Act. The Act gives the
Department of Education the right to withhold funding if it believes
a school, district, or even a state is not complying and is making no
effort to comply. However, federal funding accounts for little of the
overall funding schools receive. The vast majority comes from the state
government and in some cases from local property taxes. Various groups,
many of whom are teachers, constantly push for more funding. They point
to many different situations, such as the fact that in many schools
funding for classroom supplies is so inadequate that teachers,
especially those at the elementary level, must supplement their supplies
with purchases of their own.[106]
Property taxes as a primary source of funding for public education
have become highly controversial, for a number of reasons. First, if a
state's population and land values escalate rapidly, many longtime
residents may find themselves paying property taxes much higher than
anticipated. In response to this phenomenon, California's citizens
passed
Proposition 13 in 1978, which severely restricted the ability of the
Legislature to expand the state's educational system to keep up with
growth. Some states, such as Michigan, have investigated or implemented
alternate schemes for funding education that may sidestep the problems
of funding based mainly on property taxes by providing funding based on
sales or income tax. These schemes also have failings, negatively
impacting funding in a slow economy.[107]
One of the biggest debates in funding public schools is funding by
local taxes or state taxes. The federal government supplies around 8.5%
of the public school system funds, according to a 2005 report by the
National Center for Education Statistics. The remaining split
between state and local governments averages 48.7 percent from states
and 42.8 percent from local sources. However, the division varies
widely. In
Hawaii local funds make up 1.7 percent, while state sources account
for nearly 90.1 percent.[108]
Several issues challenge rural schools. Rural schools struggle with
funding concerns. State funding sources often favor wealthier districts.
The state establishes a minimum flat amount deemed “adequate” to educate
a child based on equalized assessed value of property taxes. This favors
wealthier districts with a much larger tax base. This, combined with the
history of slow payment in the state, leaves rural districts searching
for funds. Lack of funding leads to limited resources for teachers.
Resources that directly relate to funding include access to high-speed
internet, online learning programs and advanced course offerings.[52]
These resources can enhance a student’s learning opportunities, but may
not be available to everyone if a district cannot afford to offer
specific programs.
The most expensive school in the United States was constructed by the
Los Angeles Unified School District in 2010. It cost $578 million;
served 4,200 K–12 students.[109]
Judicial
intervention
The reliance on local funding sources has led to a long history of
court challenges about how states fund their schools. These challenges
have relied on interpretations of state constitutions after a U.S.
Supreme Court ruling that school funding was not a matter of the U.S.
Constitution (San
Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1
(1973)). The state court cases, beginning with the California case of
Serrano v. Priest, 5 Cal.3d 584 (1971), were initially concerned
with equity in funding, which was defined in terms of variations in
spending across local school districts. More recently, state court cases
have begun to consider what has been called 'adequacy.' These cases have
questioned whether the total amount of spending was sufficient to meet
state constitutional requirements. Perhaps the most famous adequacy case
is
Abbott v. Burke, 100 N.J. 269, 495 A.2d 376 (1985), which has
involved state court supervision over several decades and has led to
some of the highest spending of any U.S. districts in the so-called
Abbott districts. The background and results of these cases are
analyzed in a book by
Eric Hanushek and Alfred Lindseth.[110]
That analysis concludes that funding differences are not closely related
to student outcomes and thus that the outcomes of the court cases have
not led to improved policies.
Funding for
college
At the college and university level student loan funding is split in
half; half is managed by the Department of Education directly, called
the
Federal Direct Student Loan Program (FDSLP). The other half is
managed by commercial entities such as banks, credit unions, and
financial services firms such as
Sallie Mae, under the
Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). Some schools accept
only FFELP loans; others accept only FDSLP. Still others accept both,
and a few schools will not accept either, in which case students must
seek out private alternatives for student loans.[111]
Grant funding is provided by the federal
Pell Grant program.
Reading
and writing habits
Libraries have been considered important to educational goals.[112]
Library books are more readily available to Americans than to people in
Germany, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Austria and all the
Mediterranean nations. The average American borrowed more library books
in 2001 than his or her peers in Germany, Austria, Norway, Ireland,
Luxembourg, France and throughout the Mediterranean.[113]
Americans buy more books than people in Europe.[113]
There are more newspapers per capita in the US than anywhere in
Europe outside Scandinavia, Switzerland and Luxembourg.[113]
Americans write relatively high number of books per capita.[113]
Contemporary education issues
Major educational issues in the United States center on curriculum
and control. Of critical importance, because of its enormous
implications on education and funding, is the
No Child Left Behind Act.[50]
Tracking
Tracking is the practice of dividing students at the primary or
secondary school level into separate classes, depending if the student
is high, average, or low achievers. It also offers different curriculum
paths for students headed for college and for those who are bound
directly for the workplace or technical schools.[citation
needed]
Curriculum issues
Curricula in the United States vary widely from district to district.
Not only do schools offer a range of topics and quality, but private
schools may include religious classes as mandatory for attendance. This
raises the question of government funding vouchers in states with
anti-Catholic
Blaine Amendments in their constitution. This has produced camps of
argument over the standardization of curricula and to what degree. These
same groups often are advocates of standardized testing, which is
mandated by the
No Child Left Behind Act.
There is debate over which subjects should receive the most focus,
with astronomy and geography among those cited as not being taught
enough in schools.[114][115][116]
English in
the classroom
An issue facing curricula today is the use of the English language in
teaching. English is spoken by over 95% of the nation, and there is a
strong national tradition of upholding English as the
de
facto official language.[citation
needed] Some 9.7 million children aged 5 to 17
primarily speak a language other than English at home. Of those, about
1.3 million children do not speak English well or at all.[117]
Attainment
Forty-four percent of college faculty believe that incoming students
aren't ready for writing at the college level. Ninety percent of high
school teachers believe exiting students are well-prepared.[118][119][120][121]
Boys have underperformed girls for a number of years. On average,
girls stand higher in their classes and perform well in all subjects.
This is a turnaround from the early 20th century when boys usually
outperformed girls. Parents and educators are concerned about how to
motivate boys to become better students.[122]
Drop out rates are a concern in American four-year colleges. In New
York, 54 percent of students entering four-year colleges in 1997 had a
degree six years later — and even fewer Hispanics and blacks did.[123]
33 percent of the freshmen who enter the
University of Massachusetts Boston graduate within six years. Less
than 41 percent graduate from the
University of Montana, and 44 percent from the
University of New Mexico.[124]
Since the 1980s the number of educated Americans has continued to
grow, but at a slower rate. Some have attributed this to an increase in
the foreign born portion of the workforce. However, the decreasing
growth of the educational workforce has instead been primarily due to
slowing down in educational attainment of people schooled in the United
States.[125]
Racial
achievement gap
The
Racial achievement gap in the United States refers to the
educational disparities between minority students and Asian and
Caucasian students.[126]
This disparity manifests itself in a variety of ways: African-American
and Hispanic students are more likely to receive lower grades, score
lower on standardized tests, drop out of high school, and are less
likely to enter and complete college.[127]
The racial achievement gap remains because not all groups of students
are advancing at the same rates.[citation
needed]
Controversial professor
Lino Graglia has suggested that blacks and Hispanics are falling
behind in education because they are increasingly raised in
single-parent families.[128][129]
On the other hand, the late UC Berkeley professor
Arthur Jensen, in a controversial paper published in 1969, argued
that the achievement gap was the result of IQ differences between blacks
and whites.
Evolution in
Kansas
In 1999 the School Board of the
state of
Kansas
caused controversy when it decided to eliminate teaching of
evolution in its state assessment tests.[130]
Scientists from around the country demurred.[131]
Many religious and
family values groups, on the other hand, claimed that evolution is
simply a theory in the colloquial sense,[132]
and as such creationist ideas should therefore be taught alongside it as
an alternative viewpoint.[133]
A majority supported teaching
intelligent design and/or
creationism in public schools.[134]
Violence and
drug use
Violence is a problem in high schools, depending on the size and
level of the school. Between 1996 and September 2003, at least 46
students and teachers were killed in 27 incidents involving the use of
firearms. Information from the National Center for Education Statistics
shows that, in 2001, students between the ages of 12 and 18 were the
victims of 2 million crimes in US schools. 62% of the crimes were
thefts. Between July 1999 and June 2000, 24 murders and 8 suicides took
place in American schools.
Also in 2001, 47% of American high school students drank alcohol at
least once; 5% drank right on school territory. 24% of high school
students smoked marijuana, 5% smoking right at school. 29% of students
who smoke marijuana obtain the drug at school.[135]
Sex education
Almost all students in the U.S. receive some form of sex education at
least once between grades 7 and 12; many schools begin addressing some
topics as early as grades 4 or 5.[136]
However, what students learn varies widely, because curriculum decisions
are so decentralized. Many states have laws governing what is taught in
sex education classes or allowing parents to opt out. Some state laws
leave curriculum decisions to individual school districts.[137]
For example, a 1999 study by the
Guttmacher Institute found that most U.S. sex education courses in
grades 7 through 12 cover puberty,
HIV,
STDs,
abstinence, implications of teenage
pregnancy, and how to resist peer pressure. Other studied topics,
such as methods of
birth control and infection prevention,
sexual orientation,
sexual abuse, and factual and ethical information about
abortion, varied more widely.[138]
However, according to a 2004 survey, a majority of the 1001 parent
groups polled wants complete sex education in the schools. The American
people are heavily divided over the issue. Over 80% of polled parents
agreed with the statement "Sex education in school makes it easier for
me to talk to my child about sexual issues," while under 17% agreed with
the statement that their children were being exposed to "subjects I
don't think my child should be discussing." 10 percent believed that
their children's sexual education class forced them to discuss sexual
issues "too early." On the other hand, 49 percent of the respondents
(the largest group) were "somewhat confident" that the values taught in
their children's sex ed classes were similar to those taught at home,
and 23 percent were less confident still. (The
margin of error was plus or minus 4.7 percent.)[139]
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 are selected 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.[140]
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.[141]
As of January 2009, the four largest college textbook publishers in
the United States were:
Other US textbook publishers include:
Cheating
From 50% to 95% of American students admit to have cheated in high
school or college at one time or another. These poll results cast some
doubt on measured academic attainment tests.[142]
Charter schools
Main article:
Charter school
The charter-school movement was born in 1990.
Charter schools have spread rapidly in the United States, members,
parents, teachers, and students" to allow for the "expression of diverse
teaching philosophies and cultural and social life styles."
[143]
Affirmative action
In 2003 a Supreme Court decision concerning
affirmative action in universities allowed educational institutions
to consider race as a factor in admitting students, but ruled that
strict point systems are unconstitutional.[144]
Opponents of racial affirmative action argue that the program actually
benefits middle- and upper-class
people of color at the expense of lower class
European Americans and
Asian Americans.[145]
Prominent African American academics
Henry Louis Gates and
Lani Guinier, while favoring affirmative action, have argued that in
practice, it has led to recent black immigrants and their children being
greatly overrepresented at elite institutions, at the expense of the
historic African American community made up of descendants of slaves.[146]
In 2006,
Jian Li, a Chinese undergraduate at
Yale University, filed a civil rights complaint with the
Office for Civil Rights against
Princeton University, claiming that his race played a role in their
decision to reject his application for admission.[147]
Control
There is some debate about where control for education actually lies.
Education is not mentioned in the
constitution of the United States. In the current situation, the
state and
national governments have a power-sharing arrangement, with the
states exercising most of the control. Like other arrangements between
the two, the federal government uses the threat of decreased funding to
enforce laws pertaining to education.[57]
Furthermore, within each state there are different types of control.
Some states have a statewide school system, while others delegate power
to
county,
city or
township-level
school boards. However, under the Bush administration, initiatives
such as the No Child Left Behind Act have attempted to assert
more central control in a heavily decentralized system.
Many cities have their own school boards everywhere in the United
States. With the exception of cities, outside the northeast U.S. school
boards are generally constituted at the county level.
The
U.S. federal government exercises its control through the
U.S. Department of Education.
Educational accreditation decisions are made by
voluntary regional associations. Schools in the 50 states, the
District of Columbia, the
U.S. Virgin Islands,
Guam, and
the
Northern Mariana Islands, teach in English, while schools in the
commonwealth of
Puerto Rico teach in Spanish.
Nonprofit private schools are widespread, are largely independent of
the government, and include secular as well as
parochial schools.
International comparison
In the
OECD's
Programme for International Student Assessment 2003, which
emphasizes problem solving, American 15 year olds ranked 24th of 38 in
mathematics, 19th of 38 in science, 12th of 38 in reading, and 26th of
38 in problem solving.[148]
In the 2006 assessment, the U.S. ranked 35th out of 57 in mathematics
and 29th out of 57 in science. Reading scores could not be reported due
to printing errors in the instructions of the U.S. test booklets. U.S.
scores were behind those of most other developed nations.[149]
However, the picture changes when low achievers, Blacks and
Hispanics, in the U.S. are broken out by race. White and Asian students
in the United States are generally among the best-performing pupils in
the world; black and Hispanic students in the U.S. have very high rates
of low achievement. Black and Hispanic students in the US do out perform
their counterparts in all African and Hispanic countries.[150][151]
US fourth and eighth graders tested above average on the
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study tests, which
emphasizes traditional learning.[152]
Educational
attainment
This graph shows the educational attainment since 1940.
[153]
The rise of the high school movement in the beginning of the 20th
century was unique in the United States, such that, high schools were
implemented with property-tax funded tuition, openness, non-exclusivity,
and were decentralized.
The academic curriculum was designed to provide the students with a
terminal degree. The students obtained general knowledge (such as
mathematics, chemistry, English composition, etc.) applicable to the
high geographic and social mobility in the United States. The provision
of the high schools accelerated with the rise of the second industrial
revolution. The increase in white collar and skilled blue-collar work in
manufacturing was reflected in the demand for high school education.
In the 21st century, the educational attainment of the US
population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries
with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary
education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high
school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the United States is
becoming increasingly more educated.[153]
Post-secondary education is valued very highly by American society and
is one of the main determinants of
class and
status.[citation
needed] As with
income, however, there are significant discrepancies in terms of
race, age, household configuration and geography.[154]
Overall the households and demographics featuring the highest
educational attainment in the United States are also among those with
the highest
household income and
wealth. Thus, while the population of the US is becoming
increasingly educated on all levels, a direct link between income and
educational attainment remains.[154]
In 2007, Americans stood second only to Canada in the percentage of
35 to 64 year olds holding at least two-year degrees. Among 25 to 34
year olds, the country stands tenth. The nation stands 15 out of 29
rated nations for college completion rates, slightly above Mexico and
Turkey.[66]
The U.S. Department of Education’s 2003 statistics suggest that 14%
of the population – or 32 million adults – have very low literacy
skills.[155]
A five-year, $14 million study of U.S. adult literacy involving
lengthy interviews of U.S. adults, the most comprehensive study of
literacy ever commissioned by the U.S. government,[156]
was released in September 1993. It involved lengthy interviews of over
26,700 adults statistically balanced for age, gender, ethnicity,
education level, and location (urban, suburban, or rural) in 12 states
across the U.S. and was designed to represent the U.S. population as a
whole. This government study showed that 21% to 23% of adult Americans
were not "able to locate information in text", could not "make low-level
inferences using printed materials", and were unable to "integrate
easily identifiable pieces of information."[156]
According to a 2003 study by the US government, around 23% of
Americans in California lack basic prose literacy skills.[157]
Health and safety
Many schools have nurses either full-time or part-time to administer
to students and to ensure that medication is taken as directed by their
physician.[158]
For some high school grades and many elementary schools as well, a
police officer, titled a "resource officer", or SRO (Security
Resource Officer), is on site to screen students for firearms
and to help avoid disruptions.[159][160][citation
needed]
See also