American School System Essay

Schooling is compulsory for all children in the get together States, but the age range for which aim attending 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 18 years old). In some cases, pupils may be promoted beyond the next regular grade. Some states allow students to leave school day between 1417 with parental permission, before finishing high school other states require students to stay in school until age 18.19 Educational attainment in the United States, Age 25 and Over (2009)20 EducationPercentage High school graduate86. 68% Some college55. 60% Associates and/or Bachelors degree38. 54% Bachelors degree29. 0% Masters degree7. 62% Docto locate or professional degree2. 94% Most parents send their children to either a public or private institution. accord to government data, one-tenth of students are enrolled in private schools. App roximately 85% of students enter the public schools,21 largely because they are tax-subsidized (tax burdens by school districts vary from eye socket to area).School districts are usually separate from other local jurisdictions, with independent officials and budgets. There are more than 14,000 school districts in the country. 22 More than $500 gazillion is spent each year on public primary and secondary education. 22 Most states require that their school districts within the state teach for 180 age a year. 23 Parents may also choose to educate their own children at home 1. 7% of children are educated in this manner. 21 Nearly 6.2 jillion students between the ages of 16 and 24 in 2007 dropped out of high school, including nearly three of 10 Hispanics. 24 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) propagation the national average. 25 In 1971, the Supreme Court r uled unanimously that forced busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation. 26 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 roughly 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 mandatary 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. 27 States do not require motifing from their school districts to allow analysis of efficiency of return on investment.The Center for American Progress 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 a t the local level. This allows for comparison of school districts within a state. 2829 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. 30 slightly half of the states encourage schools to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. 31 Teachers worked from about 35 to 46 hours a week, in a survey taken in 1993. 32 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, salutary below the national average of 1,932 hours for all workers.33 In 2 011, the average annual salary of a preK-12 teacher was $55,040. 34 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. 35 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 730, middle schools/junior high school started at 815 and senior high schools at 900. While elementary school started earlier, they also finish earlier, at 225, middle schools at 310 and senior high schools at 3 55. 36 All school districts establish their own times and means of transportation within guidelines educate by their own state.