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Secondary education in the United States

Last six years of statutory formal education before higher level education

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Secondary education in the United States occurs in two phases. The first, as classified by the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), is the lower secondary phase, either called a middle school or junior high school. A middle school is for students sixth grade, seventh grade and eighth grade and a junior high school is only for students in seventh and eighth grade.

The second is the ISCED upper secondary phase, a high school or senior high school for students ninth grade through twelfth grade. There is some debate over the optimum age of transfer, and variation in some states; also, middle school often includes grades that are almost always considered primary school.

History

Academies

Today "academy" is a general term referring to post-secondary education, especially the most elite or liberal arts part of it. However, in the 18th and 19th century, an "academy" was what later became known as a high school. In most towns there were no public schools above the primary level. The typical college at first included a preparatory unit, which it dropped by 1900.

In the nineteenth century an academy was what later became known as a high school; in most places in the U.S. there were no public schools above the primary level. Some older high schools, such as Corning Free Academy, retained the term in their names (Corning Free Academy, demoted to a middle school, closed in 2014). In 1753, Benjamin Franklin established the academy and Charitable School of the Province of Pennsylvania. In 1755, it was renamed the college and Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia. Today, it is known as the University of Pennsylvania. The United States Military Academy was formed in 1802 as a college. It never included a preparatory unit.

The religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening stimulated Protestant denominations to open academies and colleges. In the small town of Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1812, funds were raised for a secondary school, Amherst Academy; it opened December 1814. The academy incorporated in 1816, and eventually counted among its students Emily Dickinson, Sylvester Graham, and Mary Lyon (founder of Mount Holyoke College). By 1821 it added a higher education with Amherst College. Besides religion, the academy movement arose from a public sense that education in the classic disciplines needed to be extended into the western states.

Thousands of academies were started using local funds and tuition; most closed after a few years and others were established. In 1860 there were 6,415 academies in operation. When the Civil War erupted in 1861 they generally closed down temporarily; most in the South never reopened.

Like Amherst, a number of colleges began as (high school) academies, then became a college by adding post-secondary unit, and then finally dropped the pre-collegiate academy. Several colleges were indirectly influenced by the academy model, including Brown University in Rhode Island and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. In 1753, Benjamin Franklin established the academy and Charitable School of the Province of Pennsylvania. In 1755, it was renamed the college and Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia. It evolved into the University of Pennsylvania.

By 1840 3,204 academies and similar secondary schools were in operation. Most lasted only a few years but others were created and by 1860 6,415 were in operation nationwide. The first public secondary schools started around the 1830s and 40s within the wealthier areas of similar income levels and greatly expanded after 1865 into the 1890s.

Public high schools

Many high schools in the 19th century contained a "normal school" which trained students as teachers in common schools. Most of those enrolled were young women planning to teach a few years before marriage.

High school enrollment increased when schools at this level became free tuition, and when compulsory education laws required teenagers to attend until a certain age. It was believed that every American student had the opportunity to participate regardless of their ability.

In 1892, in response to many competing academic philosophies being promoted at the time, a working group of educators, known as the "Committee of Ten" was established by the National Education Association. It recommended twelve years of instruction, consisting of eight years of elementary education followed by four years of high school. Rejecting suggestions that high schools should divide students into college-bound and working-trades groups from the start, and in some cases also by race or ethnic background, they unanimously recommended that "every subject which is taught at all in a secondary school should be taught in the same way and to the same extent to every pupil so long as he pursues it, no matter what the probable destination of the pupil may be, or at what point his education is to cease."

20th century

Between 1910 and 1940, the high school movement resulted in rapidly increasing founding of public high schools in many cities and towns and later with further expansions in each locality with the establishment of neighborhood, district, or community high schools in the larger cities which may have had one or two schools since the 19th century. High school enrollment and graduation numbers and rates increased markedly, mainly due to the building of new schools, and a practical curriculum based on gaining skills "for life" rather than "for college". There was a shift towards local decision making by 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. 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.

In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, made desegregation of elementary and high schools mandatory, although private Christian schools expanded rapidly following this ruling to accommodate white families attempting to avoid desegregation.

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 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.

In 1965, the far-reaching Elementary and Secondary Education Act ('ESEA'), passed as a part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty, provided funds for primary and secondary education known as Title I funding while explicitly forbidding the establishment of a national curriculum. It emphasized equal access to education and established high standards and accountability. The bill also aimed to shorten the achievement gaps between students by providing every child with fair and equal opportunities to achieve an exceptional education.

After 1980, the growth in educational attainment decreased, which caused the growth of the educated workforce to slow down.

Under the education reform movement started in the early 1990s by many state legislatures and the federal government, about two-thirds of the nation's public high school students are required to pass a graduation exam, usually at the 10th and higher grade levels, though no new states had adopted a new requirement in 2006. This requirement has been an object of controversy when states have started to withhold diplomas, and the right to attend commencement exercises, if a student does not meet the standards set by the state.

Pressure to allow people and organizations to create new Charter schools developed during the 1980s and were embraced by the American Federation of Teachers in 1988. These would be legally and financially autonomous public school free from many state laws and district regulations, and accountable more for student outcomes rather than for processes or inputs. Minnesota was the first state to pass a charter school law in 1991.

In 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act required all public schools receiving federal funding to administer a statewide standardized test annually to all students. Schools that receive Title I funding must make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in test scores; for instance, each year, fifth graders must do better on standardized tests than the previous year's fifth graders. Schools that miss AYP for a second consecutive year are publicly labeled as in need of improvement, and students have the option to transfer to a better school within the school district, if such options exist.

Standards-based education has been embraced in most states which 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.

By 2009, charter schools were operating in 41 of the 50 states and the national capital of Washington, D.C., and 59% of these had waiting lists.

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