Education Futures Corp. (EFC)

Advanced Placement
Each state sets minimum requirements for how many years of various mandatory subjects are required; these requirements vary widely, but generally include 2-4 years of each of: Science, Mathematics, English, Social sciences, Physical education; some years of a foreign language and some form of art education are often also required, as is a health curriculum in which students learn about anatomy, nutrition, first aid, sexuality, drug awareness, and birth control. In many cases, however, options are provided for students to "test out" of this requirement or complete independent study to meet it.

Many high schools provide Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. These are special forms of honors classes where the curriculum is more challenging and lessons more aggressively paced than standard courses. AP or IB courses are usually taken during the 11th or 12th grade of high school, but may be taken as early as 9th grade. Some international schools offer international school leaving qualifications, to be studied for and awarded instead of or alongside of the high school diploma, Advanced Placement, or International Baccalaureate.Education Futures Corp - Karlton Roberts

Funding for college

At the college and university level student loan funding is split in half; half is managed by the Department of Education directly, called the Federal Direct Student Loan Program (FDSLP). The other half is managed by commercial entities such as banks, credit unions, and financial services firms such as Sallie Mae, under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). Some schools accept only FFELP loans; others accept only FDSLP. Still others accept both, and a few schools will not accept either, in which case students must seek out private alternatives for student loans.

Grant funding is provided by the federal Pell Grant program.

Education Futures Corp SC

Racial achievement gap in the United States, Race and intelligence and African-American family structure
NAEP reading long-term trends for ages 9 (light gray), 13 (dark gray), and 17 (black).

The racial achievement gap in the US refers to the educational disparities between minority students and Asian and Caucasian students. This disparity manifests itself in a variety of ways: African-American and Hispanic students are more likely to receive lower grades, score lower on standardized tests, drop out of high school, and are less likely to enter and complete college.

Professor Lino Graglia has suggested that Blacks and Hispanics are falling behind in education because they are increasingly raised in single-parent families. On the other hand, the late UC Berkeley professor Arthur Jensen, in a controversial paper published in 1969, argued that the achievement gap was the result of IQ differences between blacks and whites.