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Student:Florea Mirela Coordinating

Form:XII-a Teacher:Iacob Mihaela
Intensive English





May 2013



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Table of Contents:
introductionpage 1
Chaper I:
history..page 2-3
Chapter II:
elementary school...page 4
Chapter Iii:
secondary school.page 5
Chapter IV:
high school.page 6-7
Chapter V:
educational attainment.page 8
conclusion.page 9
BiBliographypage 10

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Introduction














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Chaper I:History of Education in U.S.A
The history of education in the United States, or foundations of education, covers
the trends in educational philosophy, policy, institutions, as well as formal and informal
learning in America from the 17th century to today.
Formal education in the United States dates from 1635, when the Boston Latin School
was founded incolonial New England.Grammar schools were established in the larger
cities of each colony throughout the restof the 18
th
century,as well as several religious
colleges. Formal education for women started with the American Revolution, and for
black children with the American Civil War. However ,Homeschooling remained
predominant, especially in the south, until the mid-19th century.
Government supported, free public schools for all started being established after the
revolution, and expanded in the 19th century, as the results of efforts of men like
Horace Mann and Booker T. Washington.
By 1910,72 percent of children attended school. During the rest of the 20th
century, educational efforts centered on reducing the inequality of the schooling system.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 made standardized testing a
requirement, and in 1983, a commission was established to evaluate their results and
propose a course of action. The resulting No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was
controversial and its goals proved to be unrealistic. A commission established in 2006
evaluated higher education, but its recommendations have yet to be fully implemented.

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Teaching young students was not perceived as an end goal for educated people. Adults
became teachers without any particular skill except sometimes in the topic they were
teaching. The checking of credentials was left to the local school board, who were
mainly interested in the efficient use of limited taxes. This started to change with the
introduction of two-year normal schoolsstarting in 1823. By the end of the 19th century,
most teachers of elementary schools were trained in this fashion.
In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education release a report title A
Nation at Risk. Soon afterward, conservatives were calling for an increase in academic
rigor including an increase in the number of school days per year, longer school days
and higher testing standards. In the latter half of the decade, E.D. Hirsch put forth an
influential attack on one or more versions of progressive education, advocating an
emphasis on "cultural literacy"the facts, phrases, and texts that Hirsch asserted every
American had once known and that now only some knew, but was still essential for
decoding basic texts and maintaining communication. Hirsch's ideas remain significant
through the 1990s and into the 21st century, and are incorporated into classroom
practice through textbooks and curricula published under his own imprint.












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Chapter II:Elementary School

Elementary school includes kindergarten through fifth grade (or sometimes, to fourth
grade, sixth grade or eighth grade). Basic subjects are taught in elementary school, and
students often remain in one classroom throughout the school day, except for physical
education, library,music, and art classes. There are (as of 2001) about 3.6 million
children in each grade in the United States.
Public Elementary School teachers typically instruct between twenty and thirty students
of diverse learning needs. A typical classroom will include children with a range of
learning needs or abilities, from those identified as having special needs of the kinds
listed in the Individuals with Disabilities Act IDEA to those that are cognitively,
athletically or artistically gifted. At times, an individual school district identifies areas of
need within the curriculum. Teachers and advisory administrators form committees to
develop supplemental materials to support learning for diverse learners and to identify
enrichment for textbooks. Many school districts post information about the curriculum
and supplemental materials on websites for public access.
Elementary School teachers are trained with emphases on human cognitive and
psychological development and the principles of curriculum development and
instruction. Teachers typically earn either a Bachelors or Masters Degree in Early
Childhood and Elementary Education. The teaching of social studies and science are
often underdeveloped in elementary school programs. Some attribute this to the fact
that elementary school teachers are trained as generalists; however, teachers attribute
this to the priority placed on developing reading, writing and math proficiency in the
elementary grades and to the large amount of time needed to do so. Reading, writing
and math proficiency greatly affect performance in social studies, science and other
content areas. Certification standards for teachers are determined by individual states,
with individual colleges and universities determining the rigor of the college education
provided for future teachers. Some states require content area tests, as well as
instructional skills tests for teacher certification in that state.

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Chapter III:Secondary School

In most jurisdictions, secondary education in the United States refers to the last six
or seven years of statutory formal education. Secondary education is generally split
between junior high school or middle school, usually beginning with sixth or seventh
grade (at or around age 11 or 12), and high school, beginning with ninth grade (at or
around age 14) and progressing to 12th grade (ending at or around age 18)Junior high
school refers to grades seven through nine.
Teachers are certified in one of two areas for secondary education: middle school or
high school (and in some states, certification can be to teach grades 6-12). These
certifications can overlap. In Missouri, for example, middle school certification covers
grades 68, elementary school certification covers up to grade 5, and high school
certification covers grades 912. This reflects the wide range of grade combinations of
middle schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools. Alternatively, some states
certify teachers in various curricular areas (such as math or history) to teach secondary
education.
Middle schools (still commonly called by the older names "junior high school" and
"intermediate school") are schools that span grades 6 through 8 or 9. Schools that
overlap the 9th grade typically are referred to as "junior high schools". Both are
between primary education/elementary education and high school. More rural districts
offer an all-inclusive elementary school covering kindergarten to the 6th grade. Some
very small rural districts only have one school building in the district serving
kindergarten to the 12th grade. The divisions vary widely by state and district. Some
districts mix all inclusive elementary schools teaching kindergarten to the 6th grade, but
split other schools in the district into elementary and middle schools. There is no
general rule in the US as states and even districts within a state have a lot of control
over the divisions.



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Chaper IV:High School

High school usually runs either from grades 9 to 12 or from grades 10 to 12.
The USA historically had a demand for general skills rather than specific
training/apprenticeships. The US increased their high school enrollment when schools
at this level became free, laws required children to attend until a certain age, and it was
believed that every American student had the opportunity to participate regardless of
ability.
At the turn of the 20th century, it was common for high schools to have entrance
examinations which restricted entrance to fewer than 5 percent of the population in
preparation for college. Most were expected to be ready for a job or family after junior
high school. The first public secondary schools started to be offered around 1910 within
wealthier areas of more equal income distribution.
In the early 20th century, America experienced a "high school movement" as high
school enrollment and graduation rates increased steadily. The high school movement
was borne out of a shift to more practical curriculum, decentralized decision making of
the school districts, and a policy of easy and open enrollment. The shift from theoretical
to a more practical approach in curriculum also resulted in an increase of skilled blue-
collar workers. The open enrollment nature and relatively relaxed standards, such as
ease of repeating a grade, also contributed to the boom in secondary schooling. There
was an increase in educational attainment, primarily from the grass-roots movement of
building and staffing public high schools. However, after 1980, the growth in educational
attainment decreased, which caused the growth of the educated workforce to slow
down.
By mid-century, comprehensive high schools became common, which were designed to
give a free education to any student who chose to stay in school for 12 years to get a
diploma with a minimal grade point average. By 1955, the enrollment rates of secondary
schools in the United States were around 80%, higher than enrollment rates in most or
all European countries. The goal became to minimize the number who exited at the

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mandatory attendance age, which varies by state between 14 and 18 years of age, and
become considered to be dropouts, at risk of economic failure. By the 2000s, standards-
based education was embraced in most states and federal education policy with the
goal of raising standards. It changed the measurement of success to academic
achievement, rather than the completion of 12 years of education. By 2006, two-thirds
of students lived in states with effective standards requiring passing tests to ensure that
all graduates had achieved these standards.




















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Chaper V: The educational attainment

The educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other
industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed
secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high
school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the United States is spending more
years in formal educational programs. Post-secondary education is valued very highly
by American society and is one of the main determinants ofclass and status. As
with income, levels differ by race, age, household configuration and geography.
Overall the households and demographics featuring the highest educational attainment
in the United States are also among those with the highest household
income and wealth. Thus, while the population as a whole is proceeding further in
formal educational programs, income and educational attainment remain highly
correlated. The educational attainment varied significantly among the different types of
occupations. The highest occupational attainment was among those in
the Professional and related fields followed by those Business, Management and
financial related occupations. The professional/managerial fields were the only two
occupational fields where college graduates with a Bachelor's degree or
higher represented the majority. Among professional occupations, 99.1% of the
population graduated from high school, 90.2% had some college education or
an Associates degree and over two thirds, 68.2% had a Bachelor's degree or higher.
Business and managerial occupations were second with 97.8% having graduated from
high school, 79.5% having some college or an associates degree and just over half,
53.4% having a Bachelor's degree or higher. While nearly all employment fields feature
a population where over 80% had graduated from high school with over a third having
some college education or an Associates degree, the fields relating to agriculture,
construction, manufacturing, and transportation did not. These, often described as blue
collar, fields featured a labor force where less than a tenth of the population had
a Bachelor's degree or higher, less than half had some college or an Associates, and
less than 80% had graduated from high school.

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Conclusion





















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Bibliography
1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education_in_the_United_States
2. ^ "History of Boston Latin Schoololdest public school in America". BLS Web Site. Archived from the original on
2007-05-02. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_United_States
4. ^ A First Look at the Literacy of America's Adults in the 21st Century, U.S. Department of Education, 2003.
Accessed May 13, 2006. Two percent of the population do not have minimal literacy and 14% have Below Basic
prose literacy.
5. ^ A First Look at the Literacy of America's Adults in the 21st Century, U.S. Department of Education, 2003.
Accessed May 13, 2006. Two percent of the population do not have minimal literacy and 14% have Below Basic
prose literacy.

















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