The movement for what is sometimes termed “excellence in education” has taken many forms. One set of changes emphasizes a back-to-basics, or core, curriculum focused on math, science, history, and the language arts (reading, writing, and literature). Most elementary and secondary schools also provide so-called gifted and talented programs for high achieving students.
 
AP and IB
For American high school students looking to excel academically, the two most common approaches today are known by their initials: AP for Advanced Placement and IB form International Baccalaureate. AP and IB are different in some respects, but both require demanding coursework that can propel students to greater academic achievement in college.

Advanced Placement, founded in 1955, is run by the College Board, which comprises 5,200 schools, colleges, and other educational organizations. Through AP, the College Board has developed strenuous, college-level courses in more than 30 subjects that students can take in high school. AP students earn academic credits for college in the United States and 40 other countries — provided they score high enough on AP tests given in their junior and senior years (grades 11 and 12).

More than 60 percent of American high schools offer APcourses, according to the Department of Education. The most frequently taken tests are calculus, English literature, and history. In 2006 more than 24 percent of all U.S. high school students took AP exams, up from 16 percent in 2000.

The IB diploma program is administered by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) in Switzerland and grew out of efforts to establish a common curriculum and system of academic credits that would be recognized by colleges and universities in other countries.

IBO works with more than 2,000 schools in 125 countries, including nearly 800 in the United States. Students follow a rigorous curriculum in six academic areas: English, foreign language, science, mathematics, social science, and the arts. They must also perform 200 hours of community service and write a 4,000-word essay based on independent research.
 

In Los Angeles, learning to use acomputer in an adult educationclass.
 

Assessing Teachers
The numbers and qualifications of teachers are subjects of perennial debate, although some experts have pointed to the turnover of teachers as often a greater problem than an overall teacher shortage.

One indicator of the push for higher standards in recent years is student-teacher ratios, with lower ratios indicating that teachers can spend more time with individual students. From 1980 to 2001, the student-teacher ratio in elementary and secondary schools declined from 18.6 to 15.8 students per teacher, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. This ratio reflects, in part, the increase in special education teachers for the disabled or for teaching English as a second language, and typical public classroom sizes are often in the 20s.

Recent figures also indicate that more than 90 percent of all public school teachers are rated as “highly qualified,” meaning that they are experienced and certified to teach in their subject area. These same figures reveal a familiar social and economic divide, however, with more highly qualified teachers in wealthier schools and fewer in minority and poorer schools.

“Even if you have high numbers [of certified instructors] in the aggregate,” said one official of the Education Department to the newspaper USA Today, “there are pockets where students are being taught by teachers that are not highly qualified.”

Although local school districts have considerable flexibility in how they organize their instructional programs, teacher training tends to function as a countervailing force. States may have different requirements for certification, for instance, but all states recognize the same college degrees and coursework, regardless of the location of the school. As a result, most teachers, similarly trained and accredited, teach the basic core subjects in roughly the same manner and sequence throughout the country.

Textbooks typically represent a substantial investment by book publishers who want to ensure that their products are approved and purchased by as many state and local boards of education as possible. As a result, two of the country’s largest school systems — Texas and California — wield enormous influence over textbook content and publication.
 

Students listening to a lecture at Merritt College in Oakland, California.

Computers and Education
Computers and the Internet have now become ubiquitous in American schools from the elementary grades onward. Recent figures indicate that 100 percent of public schools have Internet access and that elementary and secondary schools possess more than 14 million personal computers, roughly one for every four students.
 
If the digital divide has been spanned at school, it still remains a factor at home, according to the Department of Education, which found that minority and poor students often lack computer and Internet access at home. School-oriented Web sites like Blackboard.com have become a routine means for posting assignments, homework, and class schedules. Along with e-mail, these Web sites have become a favorite way for parents and teachers to stay in direct communication.
 
As Internet capacity has increased, so has distance or online learning. Almost 3.5 million, or 20 percent of all college students, took one or more online courses during the 2006-2007 academic year — an increase of almost 10 percent over the previous year, according to Sloan Consortium, an organization working to improve online education.
 
Roughly half of all online students are enrolled at the nation’s community colleges, where the most popular courses are in such professional fields as business management, computer science, engineering, and health sciences-related programs.