US Education System Structure

Overview of US education system structure

The US education system structure follows the pattern of primary education (primary schools), middle and secondary education ( high schools) followed by postsecondary ( non-degree programs) and various levels of graduate programs. Unlike in many other countries where the education system is centralized, the US education system structure is totally different and every state has its own department of education. Most of the students get their education in public schools, colleges and universities funded by the state and local authorities, as the private educational institutions are much more expensive because they mainly rely on the sources outside of the government for their funding.

K – 12 education:

Generally education from primary to secondary is referred as K-12 in which schooling from kindergarten to fifth (K-5) is referred as primary, sixth to eighth as middle and ninth to twelfth as high school.

  • Students get the option to select from various academic classes and electives and have the choice to select their own subject of interest. In order to successfully complete the course and graduate the high school diploma it is necessary to earn the specified number of credits.
  • As per the government data only one tenth of the students attend the private schools and approximately 85% of students get their education in public or government funded schools.
  • The US education system structure is completely diversified as each school district follows different concepts and learning standards.

Basic curriculum and electives:

Normally high school students are required to take some broad variety of mandatory courses in mathematics, science social and languages along with general subjects like physical education and other foreign languages.

  • Unlike the other educational curriculums, the US education system structure also emphasizes on extracurricular activities and encourage students to choose the electives in music, art and theatre courses.
  •  Courses are basically one or two semester in length and grades are given for each course at the end of each semester. Grades are allotted from A to D and a student with F (failed) is supposed to repeat the course again.

College & University education:

Higher education in US works differently when compared to other countries and has highly decentralized programs that give students with wide range of educational options. The US education system structure offers wide resource which help students to enrich their college and allow them to realize full potential.

  • From large reputed universities to community colleges, students find unique programs in US education system structure with supportive learning environments for better professional excellence in their future.
  • With wide range of programs and hundreds of majors to choose from which includes business management, engineering, computer science, medicine and others, most of the big universities, community colleges and other institutions are all accredited by the agencies for better maintenance of standard educational quality.
  • Most of the colleges and universities of US education system structure vary in their rules and regulations, but the common criteria required for college admission includes the students overall GPA, grades earned in the high school courses and the scores obtained in the standard tests like SAT or ACT etc.

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