Education in the usa.

Educ. in the US is provided mainly by the government, with control and funding coming from three levels: federal, state, and local. Each state in America is divided into School Districts governed by an elected School Board. School Boards have a relatively high degree of freedom, and set educational policy within their district. Typically educ. is compulsory from first grade (usually age 6) to tenth grade (age 16), although in many states children must remain in educ until twelfth grade (age 18). Preschool There are no mandatory preschool education programs in the U S, and state funded preschool institutions are few.Elementary School For most American children, the first five or six years of educ. is spent in Elementary School. The first year of ES (optional in most states) is spent in Kindergarten, which is designed to prepare young children for First Grade. In ES children are given basic grounding in English, Mathematics, History, Science, Art and Music. Middle School The age at which children move on to MS, or “Junior High”, varies greatly among states, but is usually around grades 4 or 5 (ages 10 or 11). Here students can usually choose which subjects they study, and their school day is structured around moving from room to room for different lessons. High School The vast majority of students move on to HS after 8^th grade (age 13). The curriculum for Am HS students remains extremely diverse, and students have only a very limited ability to specialise in particular subjects. In the final year of HS most students will sit SAT exams (Scholastic Assessment Tests), which are made up of two main elements: an SAT Reasoning Test, which tests general skills in critical reading and maths & SAT Subject Tests, which are one hour multiple choice exams given in different subjects varying from languages, sciences and history. College/Higher Education Many students go on to higher education, with Colleges usually admitting students on the basis of their SAT scores and their extra-circular activities. After four years of study, students can expect to receive a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS) degree. Undergraduate study is the first opportunity for many students to specialize in particular subject areas. Students can then, if they wish, move on to post-graduate study, and be awarded a range of Masters degrees. Both state and private universities are very common in the USA. The Private Universities tend to be the more prestigious, and most of the “Ivy League” schools (Harvard, Princeton and Yale among others) are private. Private schools: Although 85% of students in America attend free state-funded public schools, private schools do exist at every educational level (including preschool) in the United States.