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In the US - The American Education System High School & College

Alright, so your setting takes place in America. The problem is, you've never been there, and your only point of reference is Hollywood movies. Or... your characters are in college, problem is, you've never been. How about adulthood? Being a Parent? Being in Graduate school? Being a teacher? Healthcare?  

Well, I'm an American, a parent, I've worked in healthcare, currently in graduate school, and have experience with teaching both at a high school and college level. So, here is the inside scoop, and hopefully it will help you learn how to write in my shoes.  

I started writing this intending it to all be one chapter, but after writing 10 pages of stuff on schools alone, I am going to break it up into pieces and release chapters 1 at a time. So this is just the first installment of the "in America" series.

US Schools -  

The education system in America is basically built around a 12 grade system. You start in Kindergarten, although if you are in the right district or have sufficient money, there is also preschool. This time prepares them for school, acclimating students to classes. I entered my kid into a 2 year kindergarten class at the age of 5 (young 5). They usually start 1st grade around the age of 6-7 and then proceed through 6 grades known as elementary school. These can be broken up into a lot of different ways. When I went to school, 6th grade was in elementary school, but switch to be considered a middle school class. My son's school serves K-2, forcing you to enter a different elementary school at 3rd grade.  

However, typically K-5 is elementary, 6-8 is considered middle school, and 9-12 is high school. 9 is freshman, 10 is sophomore, 11 is junior, and 12 is senior. If you are forced to take another year for failure to complete, you are sometimes called a super-senior. You then have the choice to go out into the work place, start a technical school, or go to college. Technical schools are very specific educations, and differ a lot from school to school, so I don't have much I can say about them. College in the USA is incredibly expensive, and is becoming more greatly demanded than ever before. While certain colleges are hard to get into and demanding, if you manage okay grades, chances are you shouldn't have problems getting into a state school. You will need to take one of two exams to qualify for college, either the SATs, or the ACTs. Which is more important depends on the region. I've taken both and I couldn't really tell you the difference between one or the other.  

Private schools and out-of-state schools cost a lot of money, like $30,000 a year. Public in state schools are about $8,000 a year. Some states have agreements with each other to consider neighbors in state, but that's another matter entirely. Once you get into college, you select a major where you finally specialize in something. While you can select and focus a little in high school, there is limited ability to do that. College is the first real chance to specialize in a skill.  

You can go to college for an associate's degree, a bachelor's degree, or a license or certificate. Associate's degrees (which take 2 years to earn) and certificates are often provided by community colleges. They are often more utilitarian than universities. They teach you the skill sets necessary to do a job, like nursing or engineering. They don't offer a broad perspective or try to teach you to critically think like bachelor's degrees strive for.  

Bachelor's, on the other hand, take the full 4 years to earn. They take place at universities (although you can earn some bachelor's at community colleges, but they usually require some kind of agreement with a local university). Like high school, there is freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior, ending with a degree that you are handed.  

You can then choose to enter the work force of move towards you masters. A masters is not required for a doctorate. It's a substitute for workplace experience. It allows you to get some critical thinking skills, some work experience, and some development behind the relative safety of a school. In truth, most jobs will substitute a masters with the equivalent amount of time (3 years) of work experience. You don't technically need a masters or work experience to get into a pHD program, but it wouldn't be easy to get accepted without. You'd have needed to work through college to show how you are genuinely interested in the area.