Public and private schools

Public school

P ublic schools get their financing from local, state, and federal government funds. In
most cases, they must admit all students who live within the borders of their district.
Charter schools and magnet schools are two relatively new kinds of public schools.

Charter schools began appearing in the early 1990s. They are independently operated
public schools started by parents, teachers, community organizations, and for-profit
companies. These schools receive tax dollars, but the sponsoring group may also come up
with private funding. Charter schools do not charge tuition. These schools must adhere to
the basic curricular requirements of the state but are free from many of the regulations
that apply to conventional schools. They are not subject to the scrutiny of school boards
or government authorities.

Considered cutting edge, charter schools usually challenge standard education practices
and sometimes specialize in a particular area, such as technology or the arts, or adopt a
basic core-subjects approach. Some charter schools specifically target gifted or high-risk
kids. They usually have smaller classes and offer more individual attention than
conventional public schools.

There are about 3,000 charter schools in the United States. To learn more about charter
schools and find them in your area, visit the National Charter School Resource Center.

Magnet schools are free public schools that can be highly competitive and highly
selective. They're renowned for their special programs and high academic standards. They
may specialize in a particular area, such as science or the arts. Students who apply to
these schools may go through a rigorous testing and application process. Some magnet
schools have boarding facilities to allow students from other communities to attend.

Magnet schools were first launched in the 1970s to help desegregate public school
systems by encouraging children to attend schools outside their neighborhoods. Student
diversity is still an explicit goal of most magnet schools.

Private schools
Private schools rely on tuition payments and funds from nonpublic sources such as
religious organizations, endowments, grants, and charitable donations.

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These schools select from a pool of students who apply for admission. They may be coed
or single sex. About a third of the elementary and secondary schools in the United States
are private.

Independent schools are private, nonprofit schools governed by boards of trustees. This
category includes such famous private schools as Andover and Exeter.

Independent schools draw their funds from tuition payments, charitable contributions, and
endowments rather than from taxes or church funds. They may be affiliated with a
religious institution but cannot receive funds or governance from them.

Of the 34,000 private schools in the United States, only about 2,000 are independent.
Nearly three-fourths of those are members of the National Association of Independent
Schools, which means they have been accredited by a recognized state or regional body
and have agreed to practice nondiscriminatory policies. Many accept boarding students as
well as day students. The median tuition for day schools is $17,880, meaning half are less
expensive and half cost more. For boarding schools, the median tuition is $34,900.

Parochial schools are church-related schools, most commonly owned and operated by
Catholic parishes or dioceses but also by Protestant denominations. Hebrew schools may
also be termed parochial.

The majority of private schools in the United States are parochial schools. The academic
curriculum at these schools is supplemented with required daily religious instruction and
prayer. Teachers may be clergy or laypersons who may or may not be trained educators.

Your child doesn't have to be Catholic or Protestant to attend a parochial school, but she
will still be required to attend religious education classes and prayer services.

Parochial schools cost, on average, $6,733 per year for an elementary school student and
$10,549 for a high school student.

Proprietary schools are private schools run for profit. This is a relatively new category of
school. They do not answer to any board of trustees or elected officials, so they claim to
be able to respond quickly to the demands of the market. Many belong to an organization
called the National Independent Private Schools Association. Tuition is comparable to
that of private, nonprofit schools.

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Educational stages

A cademic Year: The school year in the US is generally shorter than that in the UK.
Most schools organise their school year by semesters. There are two semesters in
the school year. The fall semester is from mid-August / early September - December /
January. The spring semester is from January - end of May / mid-June.

In the U.S., ordinal numbers (e.g., first grade) are used for identifying grades. Typical
ages and grade groupings in contemporary, public and private schools may be found
through the U.S. Department of Education. Generally there are elementary school (K-
5th/6th grade), middle school (6th/7th-8th grades) and high school (9th–12th grades).
Some schools differ in the grades they contain. Students completing high school may
choose to attend a college or university, which offer undergraduate degrees such as
Associate's degrees or Bachelor's degrees

Community college or junior college typically offer two-year associate degrees, although
some community colleges offer a limited number of bachelor's degrees. Some community
college students choose to transfer to a four-year institution to pursue a bachelor's degree.
Community colleges are generally publicly funded (usually by local cities or counties)
and offer career certifications and part-time programs. Four-year institutions may be
public or private colleges or universities.

Private institutions are privately funded and there is a wide variety in size, focus, and
operation. Some private institutions are large research universities, while others are small
liberal arts colleges that concentrate on undergraduate education. Some private
universities are nonsectarian and secular, while others are religiously-affiliated. While
most private institutions are non-profit, a growing number in the past decade have been
established as for-profit.

Some students, typically those with a bachelor's degree, may choose to continue on to
graduate or professional school, sometimes attached to a university. Graduate degrees
may be either master's degrees (e.g., M.A., M.S., M.B.A., M.S.W.) or a doctorates (e.g.,
Ph.D., J.D., ("Doctor of Law"), M.D., D.O.). Programs range from full-time, evening and
executive which allows for flexibility with students' schedules.[39] Academia-focused
graduate school typically includes some combination of coursework and research (often
requiring a thesis or dissertation to be written), while professional graduate-level schools
grants a first professional degree. These include medical, law, business, education,
divinity, art, journalism, social work, architecture, and engineering schools.

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Compulsory Education
Most parents send their children to either a public or private institution. According to
government data, one-tenth of students are enrolled in private schools. Approximately
85% of students enter the public schools, largely because they are tax-subsidized (tax
burdens by school districts vary from area to area). School districts are usually separate
from other local jurisdictions, with independent officials and budgets.

There are more than 14,000 school districts in the country, and more than $500 billion is
spent each year on public primary and secondary education. Most states require that their
school districts within the state teach for 180 days a year. In 2010, there were 3,823,142

4
teachers in public, charter, private, and Catholic elementary and secondary schools. They
taught a total of 55,203,000 students, who attended one of 132,656 schools

Teachers worked from about 35 to 46 hours a week, in a survey taken in 1993. In 2011,
American teachers worked 1,097 hours in the classroom, the most for any industrialized
nation measured by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. They
spend 1,913 hours a year on their work, just below the national average of 1,932 hours for
all workers. In 2011, the average annual salary of a preK–12 teacher was $55,040

Pre-Kindergarten

Pre-Kindergarten is a federally funded program that serves children and families with the
greatest educational needs as determined by screening. This program is designed to
provide quality educational experiences for 4-year old children that will help them
prepare for successful kindergarten and other educational settings.

A Pre-Kindergarten classroom

Primary or Elementary Education in the US

In primary or elementary school education, a student will be completing five grades of

education. These five grades of education focus on introducing children to the broad
range of knowledge, basic academic learning, reading and socialization skills they will
need to perform well in their future. This also includes learning basics of mathematics,
English proficiency, science, social studies, physical development and fine arts.

5
 A common
classroom in
elementary
school

Secondary Education in the US

Junior high school (or middle school) and Senior high school together provides secondary
education to the children. Junior high school refers to grade six through eight and high
school begins with ninth grade and progresses to twelfth grade. The mandatory subjects
which are taught in US high schools include : Science - biology, chemistry and physics,
Mathematics - statistics, algebra, geometry and calculus, English - oral languages,
humanities, literature and composition, Social Sciences - history, geography and
economics. Most of the states have made health courses mandatory so that the students
learn about first-aid, nutrition, sexuality and drug awareness. Art, foreign language and
physical education is also made compulsory by some schools in the curriculum.

Assessment

M arks can be given as letters (A+, A, B+, B, etc), or as numbers out of 100%. These
grades are averaged over the student’s high school career, resulting in a Grade
Point Average (GPA). Students may also receive a class rank, ranking his/her GPA
amongst other members of his/her grade (year in school).

6
Generally the student's parents are sent a "report card" indicating the grades earned in
each subject at the end of a quarter, semester or year. The student's overall academic
history is recorded in a transcript which is later requested by universities seeking to
evaluate the student. A "transcript" is an official document produced by the school listing
the classes completed by the student, his/her marks (grades), GPA (grade point average),
class rank and/or academic honours.

Standardized tests

A s part of the application process, most undergraduate programs require one or more
U.S. standardized test scores. Your test scores, academic record, and other factors
are used to predict how well you will do as a university student. The test scores are one
way to compare students from the United States and international students from different
educational systems.

In the United States, there is no national college entrance examination administered by the
government that students must pass to gain admission to higher education. Rather,
different universities or schools establish their own admission requirements, including
which third-party standardized test they accept.

Standardized tests should be taken a year to 18 months before you plan on studying.
Many students take the exams more then once to achieve higher scores. There are many
websites, books, and tutors available to help you prepare.

 English Language Ability Tests

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Being able to communicate in English is a basic requirement for successful undergraduate
study in the United States. If English is not your native language, U.S. colleges and
universities will ask you to take an English Language proficiency test before admission.

The most common tests for English language ability are the Test of English as a Foreign
Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), the
Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB), and the Pearson Test of
English (PTE).

 Admissions Tests

Most colleges and universities in the United States require the SAT or ACT for
undergraduate admissions. Admissions requirements vary, so be sure to confirm which
test(s) you need with the institutions that interest you.

SAT: a test that measures critical reading, writing, and mathematical abilities. The SAT
Subject Tests measure knowledge in specific subject areas.

ACT: a curriculum-based multiple-choice test that measures knowledge on subjects

Home schooling
any parents in America are discovering that when it comes to education, there’s no
M place like home. As concerns over public education increase, more parents are
leaning toward homeschooling to control the things to which their kids are exposed.

According to a report released by Education News last year, the number of children being
homeschooled in all states (yes, even the liberal ones) increased by 75% since 1999. And
while homeschool children only account for 4% of school children across America, the
same report states that, “the number of primary school kids whose parents choose to forgo
traditional education is growing seven times faster than the number of kids enrolling in K-
12 every year.”

So what’s the big deal with public schools? What has so many families abandoning the
system? The report states that over one-third of homeschool parents, a whopping 38%,
choose to homeschool because of their concerns over the environment of public schools.
“The environment includes safety, drugs, bullying, and the culture of public schools. As
long as safety in public schools is an issue, homeschooling will continue to grow,” says
Jeremiah Lorrig, spokesman for the Homeschool Legal Defense Association.

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Simply creating an environment that’s accepting of everything except toy guns and
anything deemed as “bullying” isn’t enough to keep our kids safe. But many parents
realize this and aren’t willing to sacrifice their kids all in the name of tolerance. And,
according to Lorrig, there are nearly two million homeschooled children in the United
States, with the number increasing by 10-12% each year.

What About the Academics?

Safety isn’t the main concern for all parents. For some, the decision to homeschool is
made primarily for the academic advantages. According to the report, homeschoolers
achieve “significantly higher ACT-Composite scores as high schoolers and higher grade
point averages as college students.” The report also notes that, “those who are
independently educated generally score between the 65th and 89th percentile on these
measures, while those in traditional academic settings average at around the 50th
percentile.” And the notable difference in academic accomplishments and work ethics is
widely recognized by colleges across the nation, such as Duke and Stanford, who pursue
and recruit homeschoolers. So is it acceptable to graduate hordes of second-rate students
or should more attention be given to producing citizens who can succeed at more than
standardized tests?

The American Curriculum

(Although a Better Name Would Be "50 States, 50 Curricula")

A ll fifty states and most major cities/school districts (often county-wide, not just one
city) set their own curriculum frameworks, priorities, funding, standards, tests and
scheduling. The US Department of Education guides, recommends, and sets national
standards, but has no statutory control or power over state or local authority. Therefore,
quality and standards vary between states and districts, with some being outstanding,
some ghastly, and most working most of the time to build a better mousetrap. At any
given time, there are interesting educational experiments going on throughout the country,
and sometimes some of them get it right.

However, even in this giant national educational laboratory, there are a good many things
about which one can generalize (as in the above description about neighborhoods and
school districts). Generally speaking, schools calling themselves American, or that say
they use an American curriculum, offer a wide range of courses from kindergarten to
twelth grade, with the guiding principal that children will eventually know their own
9
minds better, and make better choices about their own fields of study, if they have a good
sampling and basis in a number of areas extending through their high school years.

Problems
A Different Starting Line

Educational expectations are lower for black children, according to Child Trends, a non-
profit and non-partisan research center that tracks data about children. Black parents, most
of whom are less educated than their white counterparts, don’t expect their children to
attain as much education as white parents expect. Lower expectations become self-
fulfilling prophecies, contributing to lower expectations from the student, less-positive
attitudes toward school, fewer out-of-school learning opportunities and less parent-child
communication about school.

By age 2, disparities already show between black and white children. Fewer black
children demonstrate proficiency in development skills such as receptive vocabulary,
expressive vocabulary, matching, early counting, math, color knowledge, numbers and
shapes. While 91 percent of white children aged 3 to 5 who weren’t enrolled in
kindergarten were read to by family members three or more times per week, 78 percent of
black children were read to with the same frequency.

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Black parents may have less access to materials, have less time because of job and family
obligations or be less comfortable reading. While the average number of
words read correctly per minute for white adults with basic reading skills was 102, for
blacks it was 85. Children’s books also may not be as interesting to black children (or
their parents) because of the lack of diversity in them: While about half of children under
5 are non-white, characters in children’s books are overwhelmingly white.

Formal schooling starts at about the same time for black and white students. Black
children who are about 4 years of age are just as likely to be involved in center-based
care, thanks in large part to Head Start programs. But black children are much more likely
than white children to be enrolled in low-quality day care. High-quality care
environments have been shown to provide a lasting impact on the child’s education,
which prompted government attention in President Obama's recent State of the Union
address when he mentioned plans to bring high quality childcare to more American
families.

11
Prevalence of Corporal Punishment in the US
According to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the US Department of Education,

223,190 students nationwide received corporal punishment at least once in the 2006-2007
school year. While corporal punishment is legal in 21 states, Table 1 shows that it is used
more heavily in some states than in others. In Texas alone, OCR data show that 49,197
students were subjected to corporal punishment during the 2006-2007 school year, more
than in any other state. In Mississippi, 7.5 percent of schoolchildren were paddled at least
once during that same school year, the highest percentage in the nation.

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State Number of State Percentage of
students paddles Students
during the 2006- Paddled During
2007 school year the
2006-2007 School
Year
Texas 49,197 Mississippi 7.5%
Mississippi 38,131 Arkansas 4.7%
Alabama 33,716 Alabama 4.5%
Arkansas 22,314 Oklahoma 2.3%
Georgia 18,249 Louisiana 1.7%
Tennessee 14,868 Tennessee 1.5%
Oklahoma 14,828 Georgia 1.1%
Louisiana 11,080 Texas 1.1%
Florida 7,185 Missouri 0.6%
Missouri 5,129 Florida 0.3%

While these figures and rates may already appear quite high, they do not reflect the full
extent of the problem. First, the federal data discussed above record the number of
students who have been hit at least once each school year; the data do not record the
number of times each individual student receives corporal punishment. Our research
demonstrated that many students receive corporal punishment repeatedly—as often as
weekly—during the school year. Second, Human Rights Watch/ACLU interviewees
reported that many instances of corporal punishment are not recorded because beatings
often are administered in a chaotic environment. Corporal punishment is often seen as a
quick form of discipline; a former high school teacher recalled that “paddling was just a
fast way to deal with it and not write it down.”

The dropout rates of high school student

The status dropout rate represents the percentage of 16- through 24-year-olds who are not
enrolled in school and have not earned a high school credential (either a diploma or an
equivalency credential such as a General Educational Development [GED] certificate).

Status dropouts are no longer attending school (public or private) and do not have a high
school level of educational attainment. Based on data from the Current Population
Survey, the status dropout rate decreased from 12 percent in 1990 to 7 percent in 2013,
13
with most of the decline occurring after 2000 (when it was 11 percent). However, there
was no measurable difference between the 2012 rate and the 2013 rate.

Between 1990 and 2013, the male status dropout rate declined from 12 to 7 percent, with
nearly the entire decline occurring after 2000 (when it was still 12 percent). For females,
the rate declined from 12 percent in 1990 to 10 percent in 2000, and then decreased
further to 6 percent in 2013. From 1997 through 2012, the status dropout rate was higher
for males than for females, but in 2013 the rate for males was not measurably different
from the rate for females.

In each year from 1990 to 2013, the status dropout rate was lower for Whites than for
Blacks, and the rates for both Whites and Blacks were lower than the rate for Hispanics.
During this period, the rate for Whites declined from 9 to 5 percent; the rate for Blacks
declined from 13 to 7 percent; and the rate for Hispanics declined from 32 to 12 percent.
As a result, the gap between Whites and Hispanics narrowed from 23 percentage points in
1990 to 7 percentage points in 2013. Most of the gap was narrowed between 2000 and
2013, during which the White-Hispanic gap declined from 21 percent to 7 percent. The
rates for both Whites and Blacks declined from 1990 to 2013, but the gap between the
rates in 1990 did not measurably differ from the gap between the rates in 2013. However,
the White-Black gap of 2 percentage points in 2013 (when rates were 5 and 7 percent,
respectively) was smaller than the White-Black gap of 6 percentage points in 2000 (when
rates were 7 and 13 percent, respectively).

Every year, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States alone.
That’s a student every 26 seconds – or 7,000 a day.

14
Racial Discrimination in the Classroom
Certain minority groups—particularly African-American students—receive corporal
punishment at disproportionate rates. African Americans constitute 17.1 percent of the
nationwide student population, but 35.6 percent of those paddled. Even while overall
corporal punishment rates have declined during the last 30 years, disparate rates of
physical punishment of African-American students have persisted. Some might suggest
that these discrepancies exist because there is a higher percentage of African-American
students in states that paddle heavily, and so they are overrepresented in national statistics
on corporal punishment. Yet among the 13 states that paddle more than 1,000 students per
year, African-American students are 1.4 times more likely to get paddled than would be
expected given their proportion of the student body. While girls are paddled less than
boys, African-American girls are more than twice as likely to be subjected to paddling as
their white counterparts. In the 13 states that paddle more than 1,000 students per year,
African-American girls are 2.07 times as likely as white girls to be beaten.

These disproportionalities violate students’ right to non-discrimination in access to

education. In addition, they teach violence, undermine the social fabric of schools, and
create a hostile environment in which students of color may struggle to succeed, and may
drop out of school at higher rates. Students, teachers, and administrators are conscious of

15
these discriminatory patterns in their day-to-day lives. A 17-year-old girl spoke of the
atmosphere produced by the racially disparate use of corporal punishment at her former
high school in rural Mississippi: “It feels to me like we’re back in slavery.”

The Nature of the Teacher Shortage

Researchers agree that climbing student enrollment, new laws requiring smaller class size,
and impending retirements mean that the United States will need to attract more teachers
over the next decade; however, many now disagree with initial projections, made during
the 1980s and 1990s, that the country will need as many as two million new teachers.
There will continue to be a shortage, these researchers say, but recent data, which allow a
more accurate assessment of trends, indicate that this shortage may not be as dramatic as
earlier reports predicted (Baker & Smith, 1997; Wayne, 2000).

Researchers also dispute the conventional wisdom that the shortage exists because there
are simply not enough qualified teachers to fill the number of vacant positions. If we
consider only the number of qualified candidates and the number of job openings, there is
an overall surplus of trained people (Darling-Hammond, 2001; NASBE, 1998).

The shortage lies in the distribution of teachers. There are not enough teachers who are
both qualified and willing to teach in urban and rural schools, particularly in those serving
low-income students or students of color. There is also a shortage in certain geographic
regions of the country, and there are not enough qualified individuals in particular
specialties, such as special education, bilingual education, and the sciences (Bradley,
1999; NASBE, 1998). Some also argue that it is not an insufficient production of
qualified teacher candidates that causes staff shortage, as conventional analyses maintain,
but rather the high rates of teacher turnover (Ingersoll, 2000).

Variations
School bus
School bus is used for student transport: carrying students to and from school, home, and
school events. School buses provide an estimated 10 billion student trips every year. Each
school day in 2013, nearly 468,000 school buses transported 28.8 million children to and
from school and school-related activities; over half of the United States K–12 student
population is transported by school bus.
16
Transporting students to and from school is a major concern for most school districts.
School buses provide the largest mass transit program in the country, 8.8 billion trips per
year. Non-school transit buses give 5.2 billion trips annually. 440,000 yellow school
buses carry over 24 million students to and from schools. In 1971, the Supreme Court
ruled unanimously that forced busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial
desegregation. This ruling resulted in a white flight from the inner cities which largely
diluted the intent of the order. This flight had other, non-educational ramifications as well.
Integration took place in most schools though de facto segregation often determined the
composition of the student body. By the 1990s, most areas of the country have been
released from mandatory busing.

School buses in North America are distinguished from other bus types by design
characteristics mandated by federal and state regulations. Federal safety standards in the
United States and Canada require school buses to be painted school bus yellow and to be
equipped with specific warning and safety devices

School start times are computed with busing in mind. There are often three start times: for
elementary, for middle/junior high school, and for high school. One school district
computed its cost per bus (without the driver) at $20,575 annually. It assumed a model
where the average driver drove 80 miles per day. A driver was presumed to cost $.62 per
mile (1.6 km). Elementary schools started at 7:30, middle schools/junior high school
started at 8:30, and high schools at 8:15. While elementary school started earlier, they
also finish earlier, at 2:30, middle schools at 3:30 and high schools at 3:20. All school
districts establish their own times and means of transportation within guidelines set by

17
their own state.

Campus life
A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related
institutional buildings are situated. A modern campus is a collection of buildings that
belong to a given institution, either academic or non-academic. Usually a campus includes
libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-like
settings.

Living in a dormitory, competing in a sport or academic contest, socializing through

organized clubs and volunteering in the community are often parts of a U.S. college
experience. Many graduates look back on their college days as the best days of their lives.

Florida State’s Ivey

Slaughter guards
Boston College’s
Karima Gabriel in a
basketball game.
Some international
student-athletes
can receive
financial aid.

A major characteristic of American schools is the high priority given to sports, clubs and
activities by the community, the parents, the schools and the students themselves.
Extracurricular activities are educational activities not falling within the scope of the
regular curriculum but under the supervision of the school. These activities can extend to
large amounts of time outside the normal school day; home-schooled students, however,
are not normally allowed to participate. Student participation in sports programs, drill
teams, bands, and spirit groups can amount to hours of practices and performances. Most
states have organizations that develop rules for competition between groups. These
organizations are usually forced to implement time limits on hours practiced as a
prerequisite for participation. Many schools also have non-varsity sports teams; however,
these are usually afforded fewer resources and less attention.
18
Sports programs and their related games, especially football and/or basketball, are major
events for American students and for larger schools can be a major source of funds for
school districts.

High school athletic competitions often generate intense interest in the community.

In addition to sports, numerous non-athletic extracurricular activities are available in

American schools, both public and private. Activities include Quizbowl, musical groups,
marching bands, student government, school newspapers, science fairs, debate teams, and
clubs focused on an academic area (such as the Spanish Club) or community service
interests (such as Key Club)

Sex education
Almost all students in the U.S. receive some form of sex education at least once between
grades 7 and 12; many schools begin addressing some topics as early as grades 4 or 5.
However, what students learn varies widely, because curriculum decisions are so
decentralized. Many states have laws governing what is taught in sex education classes or
allowing parents to opt out. Some state laws leave curriculum decisions to individual
school districts.

For example, a 1999 study by the Guttmacher Institute found that most U.S. sex education
courses in grades 7 through 12 cover puberty, HIV, STDs, abstinence, implications of
teenage pregnancy, and how to resist peer pressure. Other studied topics, such as methods
of birth control and infection prevention, sexual orientation, sexual abuse, and factual and
ethical information about abortion, varied more widely.

19
However, according to a 2004 survey, a majority of the 1001 parent groups polled wants
complete sex education in the schools. The American people are heavily divided over the
issue. Over 80% of polled parents agreed with the statement "Sex education in school
makes it easier for me to talk to my child about sexual issues," while under 17% agreed
with the statement that their children were being exposed to "subjects I don't think my
child should be discussing." 10 percent believed that their children's sexual education
class forced them to discuss sexual issues "too early." On the other hand, 49 percent of the
respondents (the largest group) were "somewhat confident" that the values taught in their
children's sex ed classes were similar to those taught at home, and 23 percent were less
confident still. (The margin of error was plus or minus 4.7 percent.)

Tuition
The United States has one of the most expensive higher education systems in the world.
Public colleges have no control over one major revenue source — the state. In 2012-13,
the average cost of annual tuition in the United States ranged from $3,131 for public two-
year institutions (community colleges) to $29,056 for private four-year institutions.
Private colleges increased their tuition by an average of 3.9 percent in 2012-13, the
smallest rise in four decades, according to the National Association of Independent
Colleges and Universities.

20
  Recent trends

 This chart compares average undergraduate tuition and fees charged by about 600
U.S. public and 1,350 U.S. private, non-profit 4-year colleges during years from
1993 through 2004. both unadjusted and adjusted to the year 2004 by using the
U.S. Consumer Price Index series. Data were not available for years 1994, 1995
and 1999.

During the 11-year period charted, both public and private, nonprofit colleges regularly
posted tuition increases well above inflation rates. Peak increases for private colleges
were in 1997, after the U.S. economy began booming growth. Peak increases for public
colleges were in 2003, after state budgets supporting most of them were crimped by a
sharp economic recession. Over this period, annual, inflation-adjusted tuition increases at
public colleges averaged 4.0 percent, while those at private, non-profit colleges averaged
3.5 percent. Cumulative results over this period are average public tuitions growing 53
percent above inflation, and average private, nonprofit tuitions growing 47 percent above
inflation. As of 2004, private, nonprofit colleges cost on average 3.3 times as much as
public colleges attended by residents of their states.

Recent data from 2010 to 2011 have shown that tuition and fees rose by 4.5% at private
colleges and more than 8% at public institutions. Not only do these numbers mean that the
21
sticker price of higher education is far outpacing inflation rate and affordability, but it
also means that tuition has grown almost 500% since 1986. According to the College
Board, the average tuition price for a 4-year public college in 2008-2009 was $6,585
compared to 2004 when the price was slightly above $5,000. The average price of in-state
tuition vs out-of-state tuition for 2008-2009 was $6,585 for a in-state 4-year college to
$17,452 for out-of-state 4 year college . The mean increase in college tuition is 4.2%
annually.

1. Our nation’s education assessment is largely based on graduation rate. In

2012, Black students had only a 69% graduation rate and Hispanic students
had a 73% rate, while Asian students had a 88% graduation rate and
Caucasian students had an 86% rate. Demand high-speed Internet at your
school with a badass photo. Sign up for School Standstill!

2. 30 years ago, America was the leader in quantity and quality of high school
diplomas. Today, our nation is ranked 36th in the world.

3. 1.3 million high school students don't graduate on time yearly. States with
highest rates (80-89%) are Wisconsin, Iowa, Vermont, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey. States with lowest (less than 60%) are Nevada, New Mexico,
Louisiana, Georgia and S. Carolina.

4. 97% of low-income students rely on school for Internet access, but 40

million students do not have high-speed Internet in school.

5. If the 1.3 million dropouts from the Class of 2010 had graduated, the nation
would have seen $337 billion more in earnings over the course of the
students’ life A 3rd grade student who reads at the appropriate reading level
compared to a 3rd grade student who does not is 4 times more likely to
graduate by age 19. Furthermore, a student living in poverty is 13 times less
likely to graduate on time.

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6. Teacher quality is one of the most significant factors related to student
achievement. In the U.S., 14% of new teachers resign by the end of their first
year, 33% leave within their first 3 years, and almost 50% leave by their 5th
year.

7. In the workplace, 85% of current jobs and 90% of new jobs require some or
more college or post-secondary education.

8. Roughly half of the students who enter a 4-year school will receive a
bachelor’s degree within 6 years.

9. In schools made up of 75% or more low-income students, there are 3 times

the number of out-of-field teachers than in wealthier school districts.

10.High schools are not preparing students with the skills and knowledge
necessary to excel after graduation. Only 1 in 4 high school students
graduate college-ready in the 4 core subjects of English, Reading, Math and
Science.

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