Education in the USA: the K-12 system

How does it work?
How expensive is it?
How successful? What about the achievement gap?
What is the teaching philosophy?

Although the American system of primary and secondary education or K-12 sector for (Kindergarten to 12th grade). is not centralized as it is in France and in spite of vast differences from one State to the other, it is altogether a huge machine with revenues (585 billion dollars per year) that are second only to healthcare revenues. The system can boast some incredible achievements. From 5th graders who managed to get the press, television channels and politicians to their schools because they wanted to denounce the appalling conditions of their school buildings (Schultz 2008 ) to the stellar achievements of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) chain of public schools, the United States is full of models that the French system could get inspiration from. Nevertheless it is also plagued with problems: inner city schools are often cash-strapped , the percentage of drop-outs is increasing, gang violence doesn’t stop at the school’s door and neither do other wider social problems such as unemployment, teenage pregnancy etc…

But K-12 education is also the arena for fierce political debates and opposition. When the future of the nation is at stake, a lot of people claim that they hold the best solution for school reform and that leads to very virulent debates.

1. Historical overview
The United States was the first country in the world that created a free system of primary and secondary education (K-12). In the middle of the 19th century, under the impulse of Horace Mann in Massachusetts, the first public schools were built. The trend then expanded to the rest of the North-East until it eventually reached the whole country. The rationale for the promotion of a free education system was twofold: first the country, as Thomas Jefferson had insisted needed an educated citizenry if democracy was to