Secondary Education in The United States - High Schools

High Schools

High school usually runs either from grades 9 to 12 or from grades 10 to 12.

Virtually all public schools, including high schools, are provided by local school districts and not by the central government. The few exceptions tend to fall into one of the following categories:

• A majority of states operate special residential schools for the blind and deaf, although a substantial number of such students are mainstreamed into standard schools.
• Several states operate residential high schools for highly gifted students in specialized areas such as science, mathematics, or the arts.
• An even smaller number of high schools are operated by the Department of Defense on military bases for children of military personnel.

Thousands of private high schools also exist. The Catholic Church operates 1,220 of such institutions, as of 2007, with other religious groups operating their own high schools. Other private high schools are nonsectarian. 2.9% of all students, including elementary students, in 2007 were homeschooled.

In high school, students obtain much more control of their education, and may choose even their core classes. The control given to students varies from state to state and school to school.

In 2001 there were 26,407 public high schools and 10,693 private schools in the US, although this figure may be inflated somewhat by the US Department of Education's definition of high schools as "schools with secondary grades", which could include junior high schools with 9th and 10th grades.