Education For Success
Education Article
Compulsory Schooling In The United States
Kyle BesserEducation in the United States is controlled and funded on three levels, federal, state and local governments. School attendance is mandatory. School curricula, local funding, teaching and other policies are set through locally elected school boards. School districts are usually separate from other local jurisdictions, having independent officials and budgets. Educational standards and standardized testing decisions are usually made by state governments.
Schooling is compulsory for all children in the United States. The ages for compulsory education vary by state, beginning at ages five to eight and ending at the ages of fourteen to eighteen. The number of states requiring school attendance until the age of 18 is growing. 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 without finishing high school. Other states require students to stay in school until age 18.
Students have the options of public schools, private schools or home schools. In most public and private schools, education is divided into three levels: elementary school, junior high school (also called middle school or intermediate school) and senior high school. In almost all schools at these levels children are divided by age groups into grades, ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade. The exact age range of students in grade levels varies slightly from area to area.
Most parents send their children to either a public or private school. According to government data, 10% of students are enrolled in private schools. Approximately 85% of students attend public schools, mainly because they are "free." Most students attend school for around six hours per day, usually from 175 to 185 days per year. Most schools have a summer break for about 2 1/2 months from June through August.
Parents may choose to educate their own children at home; 1.7% of children are home schooled. Parents often form groups to help each other in the homeschooling process and may even assign classes to different parents, which is similar to public and private schools. At this time, over half of the states have oversight into monitoring or measuring the academic progress of home schooling. All but ten states require some form of notification to the state.
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