School Levels

2.1 Describe two ways in which teaching in an elementary school differs from teaching in a middle school, junior high, or high school.

• Elementary teachers are responsible for teaching all the content areas, whereas middle school, junior high, and high school teachers all teach specific content areas. Elementary classes also have more flexibility on the amount of time spent on specific content areas, whereas the other three all have classroom schedules that are set ahead of time (e.g. 55 minute class periods).

The Evolution of the American High School

4.1 Describe the historical roots of contemporary secondary (high) schools.

• Latin Grammar Schools - First American high schools. Taught Latin and Greek to help prepare boys for the ministry or a career in law. High cost made it available only to the rich.
• Academies - Benjamin Franklin founded academies in reaction to the Latin Grammar schools. Free of religious orientation, open to boys and girls, and tuition-charging, they taught math, navigation, astronomy, bookkeeping, logic, and rhetoric. Students selected from these options, setting the precedent for electives and alternative programs that exist at the secondary level today. Three important contributions that remain today:
• Practical
• Secular - Removed religion from the curriculum.
• Public - Partially supported by public funds, which established a trend that flourished during the common school movement.
• English Classical Schools (later called English High Schools) - Free secondary schools designed to meet the needs of boys not planning to attend college. Spread slowly due to competition from academies and public opposition to tax-supported schools. Unable to decide between practical or college preparatory, responded by offering both.