Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
K–12
K–12, (from kindergarten to 12th grade) is an English language expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States and Canada, which is similar to publicly supported school grades before tertiary education in several other countries, such as Armenia, Australia, China, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Iran, the Philippines, South Korea, and Turkey. K–12 refers to the American system which affords authority to local intersectional "districts" which may be specific to a municipality, county, or several regions, depending on population and proximity.
U.S. public education was conceived of in the late 18th century. In 1790, Pennsylvania became the first state to require some form of free education for everyone regardless of whether they could afford it. New York passed similar legislation in 1805. In 1820, Massachusetts became the first state to create a tuition-free high school, Boston English.
The first K–12 public school systems appeared in the early 19th century. In the 1830s and 1840s, Ohioans were taking a significant interest in the idea of public education. At that point in time, schools were commonly operated independently of each other, with little attempt at uniformity. The Akron School Law of 1847 changed this. The city of Akron unified the operations, curriculum and funding of local schools into a single public school district:
Under the Akron School Law, there was to be one school district encompassing the entire city. Within that district would be a number of elementary schools, with students divided into separate "grades" based on achievement. When enough demand existed, the school board would establish a high school as well. Property taxes would pay for the new school system. A school board, elected by the community, would make decisions about the system's management and hire the necessary professionals to run each school. Illustrating the racism that existed in Ohio during this era, the Akron School Law excluded African-American children from the public school system.
In 1849, the state of Ohio enacted a law modeled after the Akron law which extended the idea of school districts to cover the rest of the state.
By 1930, all 48 states had passed laws making education compulsory, and in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which committed the federal government to significant ongoing expenditures to each state for the purpose of sustaining local K–12 school systems. The ESEA essentially made K–12 education the law of the land.
Since its inception, public K–12 has been debated and subject to several waves of reform throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. In the 1980s, Reagan's 'A Nation at Risk' initiative included provisions requiring public education to be evaluated based on standards, and teacher pay to be based on evaluations. In the 1990s, the Goals 2000 Act and the "Improving America's Schools" act provided additional federal funding to states to bolster local K–12 systems. This was followed in the 2000s by a rigorous uptick in standards-based evaluations with the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and the Race to the Top in 2009. In 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which returned some power to state governments with respect to evaluations and standards.
In Australia, P–12 is sometimes used in place of K–12, particularly in Queensland, where it is used as an official term in the curriculum framework. P–12 schools serve children for the thirteen years from prep until Year 12, without including the separate kindergarten component.
Hub AI
K–12 AI simulator
(@K–12_simulator)
K–12
K–12, (from kindergarten to 12th grade) is an English language expression that indicates the range of years of publicly supported primary and secondary education found in the United States and Canada, which is similar to publicly supported school grades before tertiary education in several other countries, such as Armenia, Australia, China, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Iran, the Philippines, South Korea, and Turkey. K–12 refers to the American system which affords authority to local intersectional "districts" which may be specific to a municipality, county, or several regions, depending on population and proximity.
U.S. public education was conceived of in the late 18th century. In 1790, Pennsylvania became the first state to require some form of free education for everyone regardless of whether they could afford it. New York passed similar legislation in 1805. In 1820, Massachusetts became the first state to create a tuition-free high school, Boston English.
The first K–12 public school systems appeared in the early 19th century. In the 1830s and 1840s, Ohioans were taking a significant interest in the idea of public education. At that point in time, schools were commonly operated independently of each other, with little attempt at uniformity. The Akron School Law of 1847 changed this. The city of Akron unified the operations, curriculum and funding of local schools into a single public school district:
Under the Akron School Law, there was to be one school district encompassing the entire city. Within that district would be a number of elementary schools, with students divided into separate "grades" based on achievement. When enough demand existed, the school board would establish a high school as well. Property taxes would pay for the new school system. A school board, elected by the community, would make decisions about the system's management and hire the necessary professionals to run each school. Illustrating the racism that existed in Ohio during this era, the Akron School Law excluded African-American children from the public school system.
In 1849, the state of Ohio enacted a law modeled after the Akron law which extended the idea of school districts to cover the rest of the state.
By 1930, all 48 states had passed laws making education compulsory, and in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which committed the federal government to significant ongoing expenditures to each state for the purpose of sustaining local K–12 school systems. The ESEA essentially made K–12 education the law of the land.
Since its inception, public K–12 has been debated and subject to several waves of reform throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. In the 1980s, Reagan's 'A Nation at Risk' initiative included provisions requiring public education to be evaluated based on standards, and teacher pay to be based on evaluations. In the 1990s, the Goals 2000 Act and the "Improving America's Schools" act provided additional federal funding to states to bolster local K–12 systems. This was followed in the 2000s by a rigorous uptick in standards-based evaluations with the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001 and the Race to the Top in 2009. In 2015, President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which returned some power to state governments with respect to evaluations and standards.
In Australia, P–12 is sometimes used in place of K–12, particularly in Queensland, where it is used as an official term in the curriculum framework. P–12 schools serve children for the thirteen years from prep until Year 12, without including the separate kindergarten component.