You should ignore all replies that claim to tell you exactly which years of American school systems are primary school, elementary school, middle school, junior high school, or high school. There is no consistency in the U.S. about precisely which years are called by which terms. The real consistency is that there are 13 years of school coming before college in the U.S. These years are called kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade, 9th grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, and 12th grade. There are many ways in which these grades are broken up into groups. In some places, kindergarten through 8th grades are elementary school and 9th through 12th grades are high school. At other places, kindergarten through 4th grades are elementary (or primary) school, 5th through 8th grades are middle school, and 9th through 12th grades are high school. At other places, 1st through 6th grades are elementary school, 7th through 9th grades are junior high school, and 10th through 12th grades are high school. At other places, there are other slightly different sets of terminology. These terms are not even determined on a state level. They are determined by the local school district. Often how the years of schooling are divided up into these terms merely because of the size of the school buildings in a paticular school district determine how many grades are put into each building.
One other consistency in the terminology, though, is that 9th graders are called freshmen, 10th graders are called sophomores, 11th graders are called juniors, and 12th graders are called seniors. Confusingly though, these terms are also used for college students. Students in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years of college are called freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors, respectively.
One enters kindergarten in year X if one has turned five years old before a given date late in year X. Unfortunately, this date also varies from state to state. In some states, it’s as early as October 1st. In other states, it’s as late as January 1st of the next year. In some states, kindergarten is optional. If a child’s parents decide not to enroll him/her in kindergarten, they still have to enroll him/her in first grade the next year. There is also inconsistency about whether kindergarten is a full-time program or only a half-time program. I don’t know the statistics about how many states have compulsary kindergarten, what proportion of children go to kindergarten, and what proportion of kindergarten classes are full-time and what proportion are half-time. Does anyone have statistics (and not just personal anecdotes) about this?
School years in the U.S. start anywhere between late August and late September and end somewhere between early May and early June. The precise starting and ending dates are determined by local school boards. Each state has a required number of days which a school year must last. This varies somewhat from state to state, but it’s about 180 days. Meeting this requirement can get tricky in some places because in some places in the U.S. the weather is bad enough in the winter that the schools will have to close for snow several days (or even, in very bad years, several weeks) over the school year. (School closings for weather are determined locally.) Because of this, the school year in that local school district has to be extended into the summer to make up for the lost days (or, in some cases, Saturdays have to become school days).
One can quit school after a certain age with one’s parents’ permission. This age varies somewhat. It’s generally about 16, but it does vary according to the state. It’s my impression that quitting school before graduating from high school (which is referred to as “dropping out” or becoming a “drop-out”) in the U.S. is a bigger deal than doing the same thing in the U.K. (which is referred to as becoming a “school leaver”). A much smaller proportion of students drop out in the U.S. than leave school in the U.K. Further, dropping out in the U.S. restricts your job possibilities much more than leaving school in the U.K.
As should be clear, there are many elements of how schools work that are determined on the national level in the U.K. but which are determined on the local or state level in the U.S.
