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

Depending on the state, schooling is compulsory until the age of 16 or 18. Children younger than five can go to a nursery school or preschool. At the age of five or six, the children attend elementary school (also known as grade school or grammar school), which last six years. The fist year at elementary school is called kindergarten. After elementary school, students attend middle school (also known as junior high school) for three years. Then they continue at high school. In some states, students have to stay in school until they are 18 years old. In other states they may leave school at 16 or 17 with parental permission. Age <5 School nursery school / preschool

5-11 elementary school 11-14 middle school / junior high school 14-18 high school / senior high school When students in the USA say what year they are in, they usually use ordinal numbers, e. g. tenth grade. (In the UK students would use cardinal numbers, e. g. year ten.) Classes At elementary school pupils primarily learn how to read, write and count. There are about 20 to 30 pupils in one class. At junior and senior high school, mandatory subjects are English, maths, biology, chemistry, physics, physical education and history. Schools also offer optional courses from which the students can choose, e. g. art, modern languages, computers. Physical education is a very important subject in the United States many students participate in sports programs. Gifted and talented students can take advanced courses in their schools or attend additional courses at community colleges in the afternoons or during the holidays. Often such courses are later acknowledged by universities, and can facilitate early graduation. Grading Scale In the USA (as in other English speaking countries) letter grades are used in reports.

A > 90 % (excellent) B > 80 % (very good) C > 70 % (improvement needed)

D > 60 % (close fail) E > 50 % (fail) F < 50 % (fail) In general, only grades A to C are a 'pass' a plus (+) or minus (-) might be added (e. g. A-, B+). Different Kinds of Schools Most students in the USA are enrolled in public schools. These are financed through taxes, so parents do not have to pay for their children's education. About 10 % of US students attend private schools, where parents have to pay a yearly fee. Another option is homeschooling: approximately 1-2 % of parents in the USA educate their children at home. Some reasons for homeschooling are religious views, special needs (e. g. handicapped children), or problems in traditional schools (bullying, drugs etc.). However, there is also opposition to homeschooling claiming that the students have difficulties socializing with others, that homeschooling (often carried out by the parents) is of a poor academic quality and that (especially concerning religion) extremist views might be encouraged. School Uniforms It is not common for students in the USA to wear school uniforms, but many schools have dress codes telling students what kind of clothing is or is not allowed in school. Some schools (especially private schools) have started to require their students to wear school uniforms in order to improve school discipline and avoid 'fashion cliques'. Preschool Pre-kindergarten 3 Pre-kindergarten 4 Elementary school Kindergarden 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade Middle school 6th Grade 7th Grade 11-12 12-13 5-6 6-7 7-8 8-9 9-10 10-11 3-4 4-5

8th Grade High school 9th Grade (Freshman) 10th Grade (Sophomore) 11th Grade (Junior) 12th Grade (Senior) Post-secondary education

13-14

14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18

Ages vary, but often 1822 Tertiary (Freshman, education (College or University) Sophomore, Junior and Senior years) Vocational education Graduate education Adult education Ages vary Ages vary Ages vary

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,[49] 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 dropout rate. First, students in small schools performed equal to or better than their larger school counterparts.[50] In addition, on the 2005 National Assessment of Education Progress, 4th and 8th grade students scored as well or better in reading, science, and mathematics.[51] During high school, students (usually in 11th grade) may take one or more standardized tests depending on their post-secondary education preferences and their local graduation requirements. In theory, these tests evaluate the overall level of knowledge and learning aptitude of the students. The SAT 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] 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. [118] In 2010, the Texas Board of Education adopted new Social Studies standards that could potentially impact the content of textbooks purchased in other parts of the country. The deliberations that resulted in the new standards were partisan in nature and are said to reflect a conservative leaning in the view of United States history. [119] As of January 2009, the four largest college textbook publishers in the United States were:

Pearson Education (including such imprints as Addison-Wesley and Prentice Hall) Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson Learning) McGraw-Hill Houghton Mifflin Harcourt