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Junior and senior high school
Basic curricular structure
Generally, at the high school level, students take a broad variety of classes
without special emphasis in any particular subject. Curricula vary widely in
quality and rigidity; for example, some states consider 70 (on a 100-point
scale) to be a passing grade, while others consider it to be as low as 60 or as
high as 75.
The following are the typical minimum course sequences that one must take in
order to obtain a high school diploma; they are not indicative of the necessary
minimum courses or course rigor required for attending college in the United
States:
Science (usually three years minimum, including biology, chemistry, physics)
Mathematics (usually three years minimum, including algebra, geometry, algebra
II, and/or precalculus/trigonometry)
English (four years)
Social Science (various history, government, and economics courses, always
including American history)
Physical education (at least one year)
Many states require a "health" course in which students learn about anatomy,
nutrition, first aid, sexuality, and birth control. Anti-drug use programs are
also usually part of health courses. Foreign language and some form of art
education are also a mandatory part of the curriculum in some schools.
Electives
Many high schools offer a wide variety of elective courses, although the
availability of such courses depends upon each particular school's financial
resources and desired curriculum emphases.
Common types of electives include:
Visual arts (drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, film)
Performing arts (drama, band, chorus, orchestra, dance)
Technology education ("Shop"; woodworking, metalworking, automobile repair,
robotics)
Computers (word processing, programming, graphic design)
Athletics (cross country, football, baseball, basketball, track and field,
swimming, gymnastics, water polo, soccer, wrestling, cheerleading, tennis)
Publishing (journalism/student newspaper, yearbook, literary magazine)
Foreign languages (French, German, and Spanish are common; Chinese, Latin, Greek
and Japanese are less common)
Advanced courses
Many high schools provide Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate
(IB) courses. These are special forms of honors classes where the curriculum is
more challenging and lessons more aggressively paced than standard courses. AP
or IB courses are usually taken during the 11th or 12th grade of high school,
either as a replacement for a typical required course (e.g., taking AP U.S.
History as a replacement for standard U.S. History), a continuation of a subject
(e.g., taking AP Biology in the 12th grade even though one already took Biology
in the 9th grade), or a completely new field of study (e.g., AP Economics or AP
Computer Science).
Most post-secondary institutions take AP or IB exam results into consideration
in the admissions process. Because AP and IB courses are intended to be the
equivalent of the first year of college courses, post-secondary institutions may
grant unit credit which enables students to graduate early. Other institutions
use examinations for placement purposes only: students are exempted from
introductory course work but may not receive credit towards a concentration,
degree, or core requirement. Institutions vary in the selection of examinations
they accept and the scores they require to grant credit or placement, with more
elite institutions tending to accept fewer examinations and requiring higher
scoring. The lack of AP, IB, and other advanced courses in impoverished
inner-city high schools is often seen as a major cause of the greatly differing
levels of post-secondary education these graduates go on to receive, compared
with both public and private schools in wealthier neighborhoods.
Also, in states with well-developed community college systems, there are often
mechanisms by which gifted students may seek permission from their school
district to attend community college courses full time during the summer, and
during weekends and evenings during the school year. The units earned this way
can often be transferred to one's university, and can facilitate early
graduation. Early college entrance programs are a step further, with students
enrolling as freshmen at a younger-than-traditional age.
Grading scale
In schools in the United States children are continuously assessed throughout
the school year by their teachers, and report cards are issued to parents at
varying intervals. Generally the scores for individual assignments and tests are
recorded for each student in a grade book, along with the maximum number of
points for each assignment. At any time, the total number of points for a
student when divided by the total number of possible points produces a
percentile ranking which can be translated to a letter grade. Letter grades are
often used on report cards at the end of a marking period, although the current
grade may be available at other times (particularly when an electronic grade
book connected to an online service is in use). Although grading scales usually
differ from school to school, the grade scale which seems to be most common is
as follows. The grading is based on a scale of 0-100 or a percentile.
Grade scale A B C D E U or F
+ - + - + - + -
100-97 96-93 92-90 89-87 86-83 82-80 79-77 76-73 72-70 69-67 66-63 62-60 Below
60 Percent
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