• US Education System
• General Terminology
• Grading System
• Questions to be asked, prior to the admission
• Day Care
• State Department of Education Websites

The complete USA education system can be listed as follows:

• Nursery
• Pre K.G.
• Kindergarten (K.G.)/Pre School
• Elementary School
• Middle School or Junior High School
• High School
• Under Graduate College
• Graduate College

Nursery: 3 years old child can be admitted in a Nursery. Child has to be toilet/potty trained.

** Normally nursery education is very expensive.

Pre Kindergarten(Pre KG) Child can be admitted in a pre K.G., when he/she is 4 yrs old.

Kindergarten : In order to be eligible for the admission, the child has to complete his/her 5 years, by a specific date/month, which is decided by the school.

At the end of this one year period, the child has to go through an assessment test to get admission in 1st grade. The child will not be promoted if he/she is found unfit for the 1st grade.

1st to 5th grade education is known as "Elementary School".

• Admission criteria for 1st grade is based on the assessment test in Kindergarten .
• Normally there is a school bus service available. However, parents residing within 2 miles zone, need to pick-up and drop their children on their own.
• Unlike India here children are not given much home work. Most of it will be completed in the school itself, and very little will be given for home. However a proper homework practice does starts from 4th grade onwards.
• Examination system is also very relaxed. Tests and weekly quiz are conducted on regular basis, but no grades are given. Kids performance in the exam is categorized as "Excellent", "Good", "Satisfactory", and "Need Improvement". In some places alphabetic grades viz. A, B, C, D might start in 4th grade.
  ** Unless a very chronic case, a child is not failed in elementary school.
• In order to analyze kid's performance, he/she will have to appear for the either IOWA or CAT test, depending on the state. A 3rd grade kid can appear for such tests.
• Elementary school kids are normally not provided with lockers, although they get a private desk to keep their stuff.
• Normally, elementary students stay with one group of classmates, and one main teacher during the day. However different teachers might take classes in art, music and physical education.

6th to 8th grade education is known as "Middle school".

In few schools 5th grade or 9th grade may also be included in the Middle School. On the other hand in some places only 7th and 8th grade constitute the Middle School. These rules vary from school to school.

• Admission criteria is based on the prior grade records.
  In some places there may be some assessment test for the admissions.
• Normally there is a school bus service available. However, students residing within 2 miles zone, need to come to school on their own.
• Children do get a lot of homework in middle school.
• Tests are conducted in every 3 months, or 6 months basis. Final exams are conducted at the end of the year. There may be some regular quiz conducted for each subject. Grades are given according to the performance.
• Students are provided with private lockers in the school to keep their stuff, as they have to change classes through out the day.
• A middle school student, usually has to change classes in every 45 minutes.
• Lunch duration varies from 30 min to 1 hour.

9th to 12th grade education is known as High School.

These 4 years are more commonly called by names such as:

• 9th Grade is known as Freshman Year.
• 10th Grade is known as Sophomore Year.
• 11th Grade is known as Junior Year.
• 12th Grade is known as Senior Year.High School:

• Admission criteria is based on the prior grade record and performances.
• Generally bus will only pick up kids outside the 3 or 4 miles area zone, rest will have to come on their own.
• High school students get a lot of homework.
• Tests are conducted in every 3 months, or 6 months basis. Final exams are conducted at the end of the year. There may be some regular quiz conducted for each subject. Grades are given according to the performance.
• Students are provided with private lockers in the school to keep their stuff.
• Lunch duration varies from 30 min to 1 hour.
• In order to get admission in any college after high school, one has to qualify either ACT or SAT assessment test. It is advised to start studying for these tests just after the Sophomore Year. This way the student gets sufficient margin of time to improve their results.

For Under Graduate and Graduate College refer Higher education page.

1. Public Schools: There are public schools all over USA. They offer completely free education, and books. However, fee is charged for activities such as picnics etc. Lunch is also provided by the school at very low rates. Middle and high school students are allowed to take their books home. In some places elementary school kids have to leave their books in the school itself, but are given some printed material to help with the home work.
   ** Students have to participate in the regular school fund raising programs.
2. Private Schools: Private school education is comparatively expensive. They charge quite a lot on tuition and other fee.
3. Re-opening Day: Normally school re-opening day varies from state to state, but usually it is few days before the labor day holiday.
4. Grade: Here class or standard is known as Grade. E.g. 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade etc.
5. Grading System: Depending upon the performance, a student is graded as A, B, C, D, and F, for each subject.

Grade Percentage/Marks Slab A 90 to 100 B 80 to 90 C 70 to 80 D 60 to 70 F Below 60.

Important Note: Actually the word "grade" conveys two meanings, viz. A year of education e.g. the first year of school is "first grade", and grade also means marks/rank, e.g. "grade A". A student might say, "In 8th grade, my grades were average."

Discipline and Security:

• What are the discipline rules of the school?
• What are the school's security measures?
• What is the expected student behavior?
• Are drugs a campus problem?

• How much homework is given?
• When and how do students get feedback on their work?
• When and how is student's performance measured?
• How are parents kept informed about their child's performance?
• What is the school's overall performance over the last few years?

• Are computers used for instructions in different subjects?
• What about physical education, sports and other curricular activity facilities?
• Is parents involvement welcomed and encouraged by school staff?
• What are parents expected/required to do?

Day Care: These are the places where you can leave your toddlers, while going to work. Day care centers accept children above 3 months old. Fee and timings of the day vary depending on the area.

Extended Day Care: For late hours and working parents, there is extended day care, which is longer in duration than the normal day care. Again the fee and the timings vary from area to area. They also take children 3 months and older.

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Note: The information provided on this page is very general in nature and may not be accurate. Rules and system may differ from school to school, and place to place. Before making any decision, confirm it and find out the terms, condition and facilities provided in your area's schools. Please read our Legal Disclaimer.