Elementary School (United States)
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An elementary school is a
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
which is the main point of delivery of
primary education in the United States Primary education in the United States (also called elementary education) refers to the first seven to nine years of formal education in most jurisdictions, often in elementary schools, including middle schools. Preschool programs, which are less ...
, for children between the ages of 5–11 and coming between
pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...
and
secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final pha ...
. In 2017, there were 106,147 elementary schools (73,686 public, 32,461 private) in the United States, a figure which includes all schools that teach students from
First Grade First grade (also called Grade One, called ''Year 2'' in England or Primary 2 in Scotland) is the first grade in elementary school and the first school year after kindergarten. Children are usually 6–7 years old in this grade. Examples by ...
through Eighth Grade. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the fall of 2020 almost 32.8 million students attended public primary schools. It is usually from
kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...
through
fifth grade Fifth grade (called Grade 5 in some regions) is a year of education in many nations, and some other regions call it Year 5. In the United States, the fifth grade is the fifth and last year of elementary school in most schools. In other schools, it ...
, although the NCES displays this data as kindergarten through eighth grade.


Curriculum

Primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...
tends to focus on basic academic learning, vocational skills and
socialization In sociology, socialization or socialisation (see spelling differences) is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies of society. Socialization encompasses both learning and teaching and is thus "the means by which social and cultur ...
skills, introducing children to the broad range of knowledge, skill and behavioral adjustment they need to succeed in life – and, particularly, in
secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
. In general, a student learns basic arithmetic and sometimes rudimentary algebra in
mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
, English proficiency (such as basic
grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
,
spelling Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...
, and
vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...
), and fundamentals of other subjects. Learning standards are identified for all areas of a curriculum by individual states, including those for mathematics, social studies, science, physical development, the fine arts, and reading. While the concept of state learning standards has been around for some time, the No Child Left Behind Act has mandated that standards exist at the state level. Basic subjects are taught in
elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
, and students often remain in one classroom throughout the school day (until starting different blocks), except for
physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...
,
library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
,
music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
, and
art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
classes. However, in the majority of schools, especially primary,
physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...
, art and music are not taught. Typically, the curriculum in public elementary education is determined by individual
school districts A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, whic ...
. The school district selects curriculum guides and textbooks that reflect a state's learning standards and benchmarks for a given grade level. The broad topic of social studies may include key events, documents, understandings, and concepts in
American history The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...
and
geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
, and in some programs, state or local history and geography. Topics included under the broader term "science" vary from the physical sciences such as physics and chemistry, through the biological sciences such as biology, ecology, and physiology. There is much discussion within educational circles about the justification and impact of curricula that place greater emphasis on those topics (reading, writing and math) that are specifically tested for improvement. Since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, the teaching of social studies and
science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
has been underdeveloped in elementary school programs. Some attribute this to the fact that elementary school teachers are trained as generalists; however, teachers attribute this to the priority placed on developing reading, writing and math proficiency in the elementary grades and to the large amount of time needed to do so. Reading, writing and math proficiency greatly affect performance in social studies, science and other content areas.


Standardized testing

Since the No Child Left Behind Act and the
Every Student Succeeds Act The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is a US law passed in December 2015 that governs the United States K–12 public education policy. The law replaced its predecessor, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and modified but did not eliminate pr ...
was passed, students now take more standardized tests. The annual tests can take away time from genuine learning. Practice tests are given followed by the actual tests. The standardized tests that are required to be given can't be made or modified by the educator. This results in students having to learn more, if not all, of the required subjects and topics that will be inputted in the tests. Although standardized tests cause issues and setbacks in the classroom, they do have their benefits just like everything else in the education curriculum. By giving students standardized tests it provides the state with how each individual child is doing academically. Using these tests is not only the most effective, but the least biased way to measure every student's academic achievement in the same way. When students and educators take the preparation period of standardized testing seriously, it is also a great way for the state to measure how well each school functions. The use of standardized testing in the classrooms gives the policymakers and educators a fair opportunity to see how much the students are learning, and what educators should keep and fix in their current curriculum.


Teaching

Elementary School teachers are trained with emphasis on human cognitive and psychological development and the principles of curriculum development and instruction. Teachers typically earn either a Bachelor's or master's degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. Certification standards for teachers are determined by individual states, with individual colleges and universities determining the rigor of the college education provided for future teachers. Some states require content area tests, as well as instructional skills tests for teacher certification in that state. Public Elementary School teachers typically instruct between twenty and thirty students of diverse learning needs. A typical classroom will include children with a range of learning needs or abilities, from those identified as having special needs of the kinds listed in the '' Individuals with Disabilities Act'' to those that are cognitively, athletically or artistically gifted. Teachers use a variety of ways to teach, with a focus on getting pupils attention. Humor is sometimes used. Cartoons, for example, can capture ideas in one image. A study of seven industrialized nations found that in 2006, the average starting salary of American public primary school teachers with minimum qualifications was $34,900. In this regard the United States was second only to
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
(non-U.S. salaries were converted to
U.S. dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...
s at
purchasing power parity Purchasing power parity (PPP) is the measurement of prices in different countries that uses the prices of specific goods to compare the absolute purchasing power of the countries' currency, currencies. PPP is effectively the ratio of the price of ...
). The 2007 a survey conducted by the
American Federation of Teachers The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the second largest teacher's labor union in America (the largest being the National Education Association). The union was founded in Chicago. John Dewey and Margaret Haley were founders. About 60 per ...
(AFT) reported that the average salary for an American teacher was $51,009; this is also recorded as the first time in history the average pay for teachers has exceeded the $50,000 mark. The National Center for Education Statistics found that as of the 2019-2020 school year, the average American teacher makes $63,645. Mississippi has the lowest average teacher's salary at $45,192, and New York has the highest average teacher's salary at $87,543. According to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of t ...
, there are roughly 1.4 million primary school teachers employed in the United States as of 2012, with average earnings of $55,270, and median earnings of $52,840.


COVID-19 impact on learning

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States forced many schools to quickly change to remote learning. By the end of the month, every public school within the United States had closed. Only schools in Montana and Wyoming opened towards the end of the school year. By the start of the 2021-22 school year the following states required in-person instruction for all or some grades: Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, and Texas. 


Impact on educators and parents

Covid-19 caused educators to have to learn how to aid their students through a screen and take on a greater workload, while parents had to stay home, if possible, to assist their children in learning remotely. Since schools shut-down and went fully remote, educators had to adjust fast. Normally, the workload they have is tolerable but, while under lockdown, more was piled on and they had to be more on top of everything. The pandemic without a doubt has reduced learning time. The attention spans of the students online isn’t the same as in the classroom. This results in poorer student performance. A lot of students didn't have the technology for remote learning, they were unable to get it themselves as well. All of this resulted in parents needing to slow down. A lot within their lives have changed, especially with being a teacher-like figure in their child’s lives. Parents have to be an active part in their children's education, now more than ever. The majority of Elementary students don’t have the attention span to sit in front of a computer all day, educators need to be able to engage their students properly. Simplicity is better when it comes to remote learning. All curriculum being given should be as easy for the students to access as it is for the teachers. Finding technological tasks that are simple yet have lots of depth in the topic in which is being taught is important to find. Future elementary educators have some curriculum changes in their classes in order to better prepare them for the pandemic side of teaching. One of the main and most common changes throughout the United States is technology. Using and knowing how to properly use technology is a very important factor in K-6 learning and teaching. When the pandemic caused remote learning to be in place caused issues for the instruction of the young learners. Future educators in the making have to contain a certain amount of skills in technology so they can properly teach their students in any circumstance that may occur.


Impact on students

Remote learning set-back students in learning their fine motor skills and it took a toll on their emotional and social health. Many elementary students are still learning or perfecting their fine motor skills. WIthout the help of the teachers in the class, the struggle of teaching them how to properly type or use materials became greater. Not only did it affect their fine motor skills, it took a great impact on their social and emotional health. Having emotional and social health problems could possibly hurt the way the students are able to take in information. The gap between high- and low-achieving students will become greater, this can be difficult for the lower achieving students to keep up in the classroom or the higher achieving students to keep their attention span. Learning loss during the pandemic was a very common occurrence when students returned back to face-to-face learning. It set-back their education due to educators having to re-teach what was already taught.


Governance

Authority to regulate education resides constitutionally with the individual states, with direct authority of the U.S. Congress and the federal U.S. Department of Education being limited to regulation and enforcement of federal constitutional rights. Great indirect authority is, however, exercised through federal funding of national programs and block grants although there is no obligation upon any state to accept these funds. The U.S. government may also propose, but cannot enforce national goals, objectives and standards, which generally lie beyond its jurisdiction. Most states have predetermined the number of minutes that will be taught within a given content area. Because the No Child Left Behind Act focuses on reading and math as primary targets for improvement, other instructional areas have received less attention. Learning Standards are the goals by which states and school districts must meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) as mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This description of school governance is simplistic at best, however, and school systems vary widely not only in the way curricular decisions are made but also in how teaching and learning take place. Some states and/or school districts impose more top-down mandates than others. In others, teachers play a significant role in curriculum design and there are few top-down mandates. Curricular decisions within private schools are made differently from those made in public schools, and in most cases without consideration of NCLB directives. At times, an individual school district identifies areas of need within the curriculum. Teachers and advisory administrators form committees to develop supplemental materials to support learning for diverse learners and to identify enrichment for textbooks. Many school districts post information about the curriculum and supplemental materials on websites for public access. Under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, public schools receiving government funding are required to test and assess student progress each year. Individual states and not the federal government are required to develop their own set of standards by which they measure student progress. Although standardized testing is seen as a valid way for measuring content knowledge and progress in areas such as math and reading at the primary level there is much dispute within the scientific community on how to measure the progress of scientific knowledge. In 1996 the
National Research Council National Research Council may refer to: * National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development * National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome * National Research Council (United States), part of ...
(NRC) and the
National Science Teachers Association The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), founded in 1944 (as the National Science Teachers Association) and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is an association of science teachers in the United States and is the largest organization ...
(NSTA) got together with other science organizations to develop the "National Science Education Standards". In the past simply the study of and presentation of core content knowledge for areas such as: physical, life, earth, and space sciences; was seen as sufficient. After the development of the new "Science Standards" concern shifted from teaching content alone to learning science “disciplines in the context of inquiry, technology, personal ndsocial perspectives”.


History

Originally, elementary school was synonymous with primary education, taking children from kindergarten through grade 8; and secondary school was entirely coextensive with the high school grades 9–12. This system was the norm in the United States until the years following
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, because most children in most parts of what was then the mostly rural United States could go no further than Grade 8. Even when the high schools were available, they were often not accessible. As the population grew and became increasingly urban and suburban instead of rural, the
one-room schoolhouse One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...
gave way to the multi-room schoolhouse, which became multiple schools. This produced the third genre of school – the junior high school – which was designed to provide transitional preparation from primary school to
secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
, thus serving as a bridge between the elementary school and the high school. Elementary schools typically operated grades Kindergarten through 6; the junior high school, often housed in the same building as the senior high school, then covered grades 7 through 9; and the senior high school operated grades 10 through 12. At the same time, grade 9 marked the beginning of high school for the purpose of GPA calculation. It was typical during this period for state departments of education to certify (in California, "credential") teachers to work in either primary or secondary education. A Primary School Certificate qualified the holder to teach any subject in grades K through 8, and his/her major and minor subjects in grade 9. A Secondary School Certificate qualified the holder to teach any subject in grades 7 and 8, and his/her major and minor subjects in grades 9 through 12. Certain subjects, such as music, art, physical, and special education were or could be conferred as K through 12 Teaching Certificates. By the late 1960s, the lines of transition between primary and secondary education began to blur, and the junior high school started to get replaced by the
middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...
. This change typically saw reassignment of grade 9 to the (senior) high school, with grade 6 sometimes included in middle school with grades 7 and 8. Subsequent decades in many states have also seen the realignment of teacher certification, with grade 6 frequently now included on the secondary teaching certificate. Thus, whereas 20th-century American education began with the elementary school finishing at grade 8, the 21st century begins with the American elementary school finishing at grade 5 in many jurisdictions. Nevertheless, the older systems do persist in many jurisdictions. While they are in the minority today, there are still school districts which, instead of adopting the "middle school", still distinguish between junior and senior high schools. Thus, high schools can be either 9–12, which is most common, or 10–12. Over the past few decades, schools in the USA have been testing various arrangements which break from the one-teacher, one-class model. Multi-age programs, where children in different grades (e.g., Kindergarten through to
second grade Second grade (also called grade two, corresponding to Year 3 in the United Kingdom) is a year of primary education in Canada and the United States. Second grade is the second year of primary school. Children are usually aged 7–8 at this grade l ...
) share the same classroom and teachers, is one increasingly popular alternative to traditional elementary instruction. Another alternative is that children might have a main class and go to another teacher's room for one subject, such as science, while the science teacher's main class will go to the other teacher's room for another subject, such as social studies. This could be called a two-teacher, or a rotation. It is similar to the concept of teams in junior high school. Another method is to have the children have one set of classroom teachers in the first half of the year, and a different set of classroom teachers in the second half of the year.


See also

*
Blab school A vocal school, blab school or ABC school or old-time school was a type of children's primary school at some remote rural places in North America, outdated and obsolete as the 19th century progressed. The school children recited ''(blabbed)'' ...
*
Environmental groups and resources serving K–12 schools This article includes information about environmental groups and resources (such as those provided by government, its agencies, and existing or proposed legislation) that serve K–12 schools in the United States and internationally. The entries ...
* K–12 (education) *
Primary education in the United States Primary education in the United States (also called elementary education) refers to the first seven to nine years of formal education in most jurisdictions, often in elementary schools, including middle schools. Preschool programs, which are less ...


References

{{schools School types Education in the United States Primary education