Stories & Lifestyle

As we have announced in the Editorial, we will now inform you about the American education system. This will surely be a good preparation for a later integration into a foreign culture. Of course, for a family to really arrive in a foreign country, their children's education is a vital factor.

Kindergarten and nurseries The US education system is divided into age groups and specific skills of the children. As soon as they are three years old, they may attend the so-called nurseries. The only admission requirement is for the children to be potty trained. The only disadvantage of the nurseries is that they can be very expensive. If your children are already four years of age, you may send them to a so-called pre-kindergarten, from where they will move on to kindergarten with five years. Kindergarten is the basis for later school enrolment. After one year, your child will take a test that will decide about their admission to elementary school. They have to pass this test successfully in order to move up to the next level.

Elementary school Grades 1 through 5 are called elementary school in the US education system. During the first three years, the children will be slowly introduced to the usual stressful every-day school routine. Most work will be done at school, they will not have a lot of homework. This only changes in fourth grade, when the homework load will start increasing. Furthermore, the usual grading system will not be used in the first three grades, they will use terms such as "excellent," "good," "satisfactory," and "needs improvement." Your child has to perform very badly in order to be forced to repeat a year during the first five grades of school.

In general, your child's performance will be evaluated by weekly, un-graded tests. In addition, they will take so-called IOWA or CAT tests to evaluate their progress.

A special characteristic is the fact that the children will spend all day in the same class. Even the teachers will be the same for all subjects. The only exceptions may be subjects such as art, music and sports, which may be taught by other teachers. Children will also have their own desks. They will be assigned to them just like the lockers in middle school and high school. In addition, US schools offer another convenient service for you - if you live more than two miles from the school, your kids will usually be picked up by a special school bus so that you won't have to drive. You only have to drive yourself if you live within a two-mile radius of the school.

Middle School After your child has successfully completed elementary school, the next level will be middle school, including grades 6 through 8. In some exceptional cases, middle school will start with grade five and end with grade nine. In some very rare cases, middle school will only be grades seven and eight. Irrespective of all that, it will depend on the children's performance and some tests they have to take whether they will move on to middle school.

Middle school is a completely different form of school. There will be significantly more homework and regular tests every three to six months. In addition, there will be a test at the end of every school year. There may be additional regular tests in some subjects. All of those will be graded according to the regular grading system. The kids will no longer be with the same group of people in every class. Students will move on to a different class every 45 minutes. In addition, they will get their own lockers, since they will have their different classes in so many different rooms. They will have a 30 to 60-minute lunch break to relax a little.

Only the transportation services remain the same. In case you live more than two miles away, your kids will be picked up by a school bus.

High school The last years in the US education system will be spent in high school, usually from grades nine to twelve. Again, the previous performance and test results will determine admissibility. These four years are traditionally divided into freshman, sophomore, junior and senior year.

The requirements are comparable to middle school, but - of course - a little more challenging. Just as in middle school, the children's performances will be evaluated by regular tests every three to six months and at the end of a school year. In high school as well, there may be some subjects that require more frequent tests.

In addition, transportation will be more difficult, because only if you live more than three or four miles from the school, a bus service will be offered. Most important for your kids' further academic career is the successful passing of the college test, the last two years of high school will be used to study for this. Please note that your children will need good SAT or ACT scores in order to be accepted at a US college.

Private - public You should be aware of the fact that there are different school forms in the US. Apart from the public schools without tuition, which also provide free learning materials, there are also private schools that require tuition. The only costs that will arise at public schools are for additional activities such as picnics or in the form of time you will have to invest for fundraising activities. It is expected that students participate in those. By the way, the school term starts a few days before Labor Day in September.
Also, the word "grade" in America is used for both the year and the performance evaluation.

In the first case, the number is mentioned before "grade," e.g. fourth grade. In the second case it only refers to the grading system. By the way, the US grading system only knows five grades - A, B, C, D and F. The best possible grade is A for anything between 100 and 90 percent. This continues in ten percent intervals down to 60 percent, anything below 60 is and F, which means "failed."

We hope you could provide you with some insight into the US grading system and help you prepare the realization of your own American Dream.