Do American kids usually go to four different schools?
Posted by snailquestions@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 1554 comments
I've heard of elementary school, middle school, junior high and high school. That's just within the 5-18 year old, or thereabouts, compulsory education stage, which is all that most Australasians would refer to as school.
OhNoBricks@reddit
Middle school and junior high are both the same thing. Yes it’s normal to go to 3 different schools unless you go to a private school that goes up to 8th grade or if you live in a very small area and your school is all grades.
mnpc@reddit
kindergarten, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-12 were all different schools for me within the same school district
Sad-Tough-513@reddit
I go to a private school that’s kindergarten through 12th grade, but I’m the exception.
bradmajors69@reddit
I went to five, but only because we moved once and one school was shuttered and replaced with a newer one nearby.
The norm is three: elementary, middle (sometimes called junior high), and high school.
But there's lots of local variations. My hometown now has a separate high school campus just for high school freshmen. Another town has kindergarten separate from everything else. I lived in a really small town for a while where every public school student of any age went to the same school. (There were fewer than 100 students total.)
RioTheLeoo@reddit
Just 3 for a lot of us: elementary, middle and high
Aspen9999@reddit
I went to one school, it was K-12
RioTheLeoo@reddit
It probably depends heavily on your area’s population size
My high school alone had 4,500 people and was only one of many high schools around.
Adding in K-8 would just be impractical without creating essentially university sized primary ed campuses
dildozer10@reddit
4,500 in one high school is mind blowing to me. That’s over 4 times the population of the town I grew up in. I went to school in a different town, and only 300 students total attended that high school at the time I graduated.
RioTheLeoo@reddit
There’s pros and cons to it. Like starting the new year and walking into classes just being like…I have never seen any of these people before in my life lol
shiningonthesea@reddit
Our school had over 4000 people in it . In my 20s I started working with a woman who went to the same high school as me. We had some of the same friends , went to some of the same “epic” parties , but had never met eachother .
No_One113812@reddit
That sounds glorious
CaptSkinny@reddit
Really? I enjoyed my small school as we had an opportunity to get to know just about everyone quite well.
Mostly the same group of less than 100 for the entire 13 years (with Kindergarten), plus the same numbers of kids in adjacent grades.
We knew their parents, their siblings, even their pets! And that time allows for a much more developed relationship with many more people than if you're shuffled around among so many.
Sad-Macaroon9067@reddit
Same. My graduating class had 54, and 13 of us went from 5K through 12th together. I still have friends from 5K that I speak to every week, even though we're spread across the world now.
ColorlessGreen91@reddit
One thing with the small town school i spent most of my school years at, is that the majority of the students didnt live in-town, their families had farms out in the country or lived in even smaller towns miles away and so you couldnt just ride your bike to their house. I had some neighborhood friends in my early elementary years but they all moved away, and from late elementary on, all of my friends lived miles away so I'd have to ride the bus home with them or have a parent take us to/from their homes.
No_One113812@reddit
I found it to be suffocating and borderline traumatic as I never truly fit in.
Aspen9999@reddit
One thing about my experience was. Everyone knew everyone. There weren’t bullies because that kid you were bullying either had an older sibling or neighbor that stopped that shit. Plus if you wanted to join an activity/team you were in. No tryouts for band or choir, no team tryouts. No real cliques, since the stoners were also the athletes or the nerds.
ColorlessGreen91@reddit
It's funny, I spent most of my school years in a small town school with about 200 students total k-12. Then at 16 we moved to "the city" (a large satellite city of the nearest big city). At the small town there were definitely bullies and highly ingrained cliques. These kids knew each other for years, many of them grew up together, many cousins, many of them had large, locally important families, their cliques were basically generational. There was basically one mega-clique made up of a handful of smaller cliques, and everyone else was a loser, a freak, or a geek. At the "city" school, there were groups, the band kids, the jocks, the rebels, etc, but everyone seemed to have friends in many if not most of the other groups, nobody was really in any kind of exclusive clique, even the most popular kids were nice to the nerds, I never heard of any bullying. It was night and day.
No_One113812@reddit
My small town high school was very different.
Aspen9999@reddit
It was the 70s, everyone was pretty cool.
davidm2232@reddit
We were all weird back then and there really weren't that many choices for friends. So even those that really didn't fit in ended up being good friends by necessity.
No_One113812@reddit
We had very different experiences, but I’m glad yours was positive.
ElKirbyDiablo@reddit
I graduated with 17 people at a small, dying private school. I was so sick of most those people and I'm sure they felt the same about me lol. I haven't talked to most since I graduated and none in a decade.
TheSkiGeek@reddit
It’s good if the people are nice and you fit in. If you’re more of an outsider in a small town you can maybe imagine it’s not so great.
CaptSkinny@reddit
I had much better luck as an outsider among people I knew, than I would have among strangers who only knew me by reputation or rumor.
No_One113812@reddit
This. Even a teacher bullied me. The principal was know to hire her own grads, so the insularity never went away. Which is weird to imagine in a town less than 2 hours from NYC, but.
Lcdmt3@reddit
You also get known for things that may have happened in elementary school that weren't great. You just can't evolve into a different person. And people are always going to see you as that younger person.
CaptSkinny@reddit
That wasn't my experience. I had far better luck as an outsider among people I knew, than I would have among people who only knew me by reputation or rumor.
cryptoengineer@reddit
I recently attended my 50th high school reunion. One person tried to embarrass me with shit that happened when we were 12 years old.
Ok_Classic_1968@reddit
This was always the problem I had. I was pretty dorky through middle school and had a ‘glow up’ the summer before high school- people still remembered and treated me largely the same. Ended up begging to be switched to alternative school my senior year because I couldn’t take it anymore
dildozer10@reddit
I had a different experience at my small school. I was a metalhead who hung out with a very small group of alt kids at a rural school in Alabama. We were picked on and known as “social outcasts”. Most of my friends went to different schools in higher populated areas for this reason.
That being said, most of the people I went to school with treat me completely different when I moved back to my small town. Like everyone was suddenly nice to me and no one remembers the kind of person I was in school.
fierce_turtle_duck@reddit
Honestly I found it miserable. I'd finally learn everyone's names and group dynamics just in time for the semester to end and get stuck in a class with 30 new strangers to learn the names of. It was much nicer at a small school were it was the same 15ish kids I'd known for years...at most we'd get 1 or 2 new kids a year...but typically we'd lose one 😂
No_One113812@reddit
My class was around 200 people. Small enough that everyone knew everyone’s name and rep, and you could feel them judging you and reacting to your presence on the first day of class.
The idea of walking into a blank fresh slate full of potential friends who hadn’t encountered That Bitch Who (tried to) Ruin/ed My Life was heaven omg.
joshg8@reddit
I remember at my high school graduation (which was at a local college's arena because our own would not hold the attendees), they had us lined up in two lines before walking in. I stood there scanning the other line just thinking "never seen you, know you, seen you, never seen you, never seen you, we've had classes, seen you in the halls, never seen you, never seen you, I think we had a class together a few years ago, never seen you..."
LeaneGenova@reddit
Yeah, my graduating class was 600+ students for my school. I knew maybe 30-40 of them total.
davidm2232@reddit
That sounds like a nightmare. I went to school with the same kids from K-5 and it was so scary getting another 75 kids per grade at middle school. My graduating class was around 180 and that was huge to me. I think my dad graduated in a class of 25 or so.
Tight_Steak_232@reddit
My husband graduated in one of those classes where they ran graduates like cattle through a chute with two second cues. They had to eliminate middle names to keep it under 2 hours long.
Frosty_Employment171@reddit
NUHS, BK NY Class of 1964. 11,000 school population. We went in shifts.
Dramatic-Read166@reddit
I'm in NYC, and our total K-12 student population is just shy of 1M students. My JHS was just 7th and 8th grade, and there were 2K of us. I could also walk or take a single bus to the two other JHSs that served my particular district. They were just about as big.
My HS was roughly the same with just shy of 4K students across 4 grades and it was NOT the largest HS in the city (neither then - nearly 30 years ago, nor now). I loved it. Here, you get to apply to any high school in the city, not just attend at the nearest school, where unless people moved a lot it'd be a lot of the same kids you already know. We commute by bus and subway just like working people all across the city, from borough to borough.
Presently, the biggest is Brooklyn Tech HS, with 5800 students across 4 grades. That school has 8 floors. My HS currently has about 3600.
kinkybiguynj4tv@reddit
My high school had 5,000 students.
armadilloantics@reddit
I graduated with a class of 1300. It was only juniors and seniors for this reason. HS graduation was longer than my college graduation
NicolleL@reddit
I graduated with a class of like 800 in college. (And it was a public 4-year school)
jorwyn@reddit
I started out in a hometown of a thousand people, and between the town kids and the rural kids around it, we had about 180 students in k-6. Then we moved, and we moved again, and I ended up in a high school with 6,000 students. It was quite overwhelming.
Phyrnosoma@reddit
I had a graduating class of (IIRC, 01 here) of 80. For the whole county
I thought that was tiny till I had a coworker that had a graduating class of something like 6 or 7 (Sunray, TX, not sure when but they weren't much older than me).
DannyBones00@reddit
That’s 15 times the town I grew up in. 😂
svckafvck@reddit
Oh wow! My graduating class (highschool) had 600+ people in it. My boyfriend’s had even more, their school was so large they had 2 campuses.
Aspen9999@reddit
Oh that was more students than we had in our whole school lol.
svckafvck@reddit
That’s crazy! Like looking at our yearbooks at the end of the year was fun - pointing at people and saying “I’ve never seen this person in my life” and someone else would say “oh I think they were in my chemistry class”. I worked with a coworker for over a year before finding out we graduated high school together. It was nice, there was some form of anonymity but also LARGE groups of friends - I still talk to or see like .. 30-50 people from my school with some degree of regularity. The weddings that came over the last 5 years were intense.
Aspen9999@reddit
We had large groups of friends also, they just spanned over multiple grades.
svckafvck@reddit
Interesting! I knew quite a few people from the class above me, but significantly less from the younger groups - really only those I grew up with, did sports with, or was a “leader” for in gym or advisor programs we had
Aspen9999@reddit
Everyone hung out together at the ice rinks, local hang out places, beach. Lots a sibling and their friends crossover when it was a time of large families. An example of what happened at school, I was really good at math, so took jr high classes in grade school, hs classes in Jr high. As far as activities, I ran track. I was fast so I was on the varsity track team in 7th grade so those teammates were my friends. There was not a lot of separation that would normally happen in a larger school. I waitressed at 14 ( Friday/saturday) in the hang out spot that had food adding another way to know other age groups. The 70s were a pretty good time to grow up in.
SoCalDama@reddit
Ehen I went to school it was K-6, 7-9, and 10-12. There were over 3,700 in my school and over 800 im my senior class
Communal-Lipstick@reddit
My husband had 22 in his graduating class from a school that had to merge 2 town districts, which was one of the larger classes the school had. While my graduating class had thousands. Neither of us can imagine what life was like going to the other school. The US has such a range of different life experiences that it feels foreign to the citizens .
Darryl_Lict@reddit
Yeah, my high school in the San Fernando Valley had 4500 as did the competing school. By the time I got there, they built another high school and ours was down to about 3500.
turnitwayup@reddit
Yep I was in the SGV & my high school was 3600. 6 elementary, 3 middle, 1 high & 1 alternative schools
GutterRider@reddit
I was in private religious school for 8th grade, 100 students. Moved and went to public school for 9th grade in the state capital, and it had 2700 students. Twenty-seven times the size!
Then moved again and went to a much smaller school, about 500 students.
Until--Dawn33@reddit
4500 was your graduating class or 9-12th grade?
Bottdavid@reddit
I think my high school had a total of 600ish students, graduating class may of been 150 people. 4,500 is insane to me.
molehunterz@reddit
Kind of also depends on spacing between schools. My high school had 1300 people. Out in a suburb of Seattle. But after I moved to North Seattle and got a job, there was a k through 12 public School right down the street from my house. Literally in the city limits of Seattle.
Missmunkeypants95@reddit
Yes. Near Boston and our high school averages 3500 to 4000 students.
FormidableMistress@reddit
When I was in middle school (6-8), it was a big deal that we hit 1,000 students because it meant there needed to be some redistricting. Several new schools were built in our district in the following years, including a 4th high school for our county. My high school didn't have that many but was somewhere close to 3,000.
I had elementary (K-5), middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12). The elementary and middle schools were next to each other and took up a city block. The high school also took up a city block and was two blocks down. The schools and grade groupings are often changed to fit the population. We're a military base town so the population fluctuates depending on our war time status. 🫤
Drew707@reddit
I graduated in '07 with a class of 600, school of \~2000. There were five high schools in our district. Even back then we had a bunch of portables. Recently the district had some kind of budget crisis and decided to close a few of the middle schools and merge them with the high schools. Not sure where all those kids are going to fit.
Squirrel_Doc@reddit
Yeah it definitely varies depending on population. My husband grew up in a town of only 2000 people. His K - 12 was all in one building, that’s still smaller than my elementary school. He graduated with I think 40 people in his high school class.
Meanwhile, I went to elementary (k - 4), middle (5 & 6), junior high (7 & 8), and high school (9 - 12). I graduated with 400 people in my class.
Aspen9999@reddit
Yeah, I grew up in a town 1/2 that size.
rulanmooge@reddit
I went to two different high schools because the area that I was living in was growing exponentially. (Bay Area 1960's)
So many new houses and people that the first school couldn't handle all the students. We were actually on a double session for the first year (freshman) where the students were not all able to change from classrooms during the day at one time. So some of us came at 8am and others at 9am. Went to class in shifts. We never saw each other.
The new high school (sophomore to senior years) also became crowded. There were 3000 graduating. They had to use the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds to handle all the students and guests (4 per student)
crazycatlady331@reddit
My HS had roughly 100 kids per class. 80% of who were there since K.
I would have given my left arm to go to a large high school.
Enough-Secretary-996@reddit
Holy balls your high school had twice as many people than my entire town has people
zenfish@reddit
Allen HS has 5200 enrollment. And an 18,000 seat stadium...
RioTheLeoo@reddit
LA is just super overcrowded 😭
Enough-Secretary-996@reddit
Especially compared to some little town in Kansas
Fuzzy_Flan_3947@reddit
How many kids did you have, on average, in a class? I have a friend who was raised in a small town in North Dakota who had a graduation class of about 12 students or something small like that.
Aspen9999@reddit
17-20 was the average class size until I was in Jr High. Then there was a construction boom and it went up to 25 on average to my best recollection
No-Agent-1611@reddit
Same, sort of. All were in two connected buildings; K thru 6 in one, 7-8 in on the second floor and 9-12 on the first floor of the second, with shared spaces (gym, locker rooms, home ec, typing, library, etc) in the basement.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
Some of the private schools in my area start at age two and go through 12th grade.
freecain@reddit
That's not the norm in public school systems. Usually when you see that it's also in a very low population area. So, not only is uncommon among schools, the schools that do this tend to be much much smaller than average.
marksman81991@reddit
My graduating class was like 400. We had to have a 6th grade building, 7-8th, and high school. We have too many students.
Ok_Cheetah_6251@reddit
same!
Phyrnosoma@reddit
we had two: elementary to a combined middle/high school (one for the entire county)
sneezhousing@reddit
That's not typical experience. Generally only small probate schools or rural towns have k--12. Vast majority of Americans in public school ihave to go to at least two schools usually three
Divine_Entity_@reddit
Its all about logistics, in a dense area its easier to have numerous campuses to distribute the commuting/transportation burden. By definition most of us live in cities and are likely familiar with this structure.
I live in the middle of nowhere^tm and had a k-12 town-name central school where the elementary, middle, and highschools were 3 conjoined buildings that shared infrastructure like the bus droppoff, pool, athletics fields, ect but had separated libraries, cafaterias, gyms, ect. Some towns were small enough and close enough to instead share 1 larger combined school so you would get TownA-TownB central school.
Rightintheend@reddit
I live in a large metro area, and we have a few K-8 schools, but they are special program magnet schools that you have to be accepted into, so there's still smaller schools.
sneezhousing@reddit
1 that's not k-12 which is what I was responding to
2 I know there are expectations which is why I said vast majority not a 100% definitive
Rightintheend@reddit
Thank you there Captain obvious.
You must be fun at parties.
rextex34@reddit
Wow 12 years on one campus!
Aspen9999@reddit
Campus 🤣🤣🤣, one extra long building. Just a very small town.
-thegay-@reddit
We have a lot of this in West Virginia, too.
gtrocks555@reddit
Same but we still had the elementary, middle and high distinctions and they were in different building.
Megalocerus@reddit
Elementary, jr high (7,8) and high (4 years) for me. But we moved a lot, so I attended 6 different schools.
aachensjoker@reddit
Yeah, but usually in the same school system or area.
I graduated with people that I knew from kindergarten.
Though I had some friends transfer in at middle school from another school. I think that school only had K-6.
We all graduated together. This was in 89.
uhohohnohelp@reddit
Same. K-6, 7-8, 9-freedom.
BrainFartTheFirst@reddit
I had 4 if you include preschool.
mfigroid@reddit
4 is college.
GoCardinal07@reddit
Same here, but I'm from your metropolitan area.
shiningonthesea@reddit
I went to 7 different schools . We moved twice and each school district had a different way of breaking up the grades. I went to one school for kindergarten , one for grades 1-3, one for grade 4, one for grade 5, one for 6 and 7, one for 8, and the last for 9-12.
I will save the five colleges I went to for another post …..
FillPsychological284@reddit
Some districts near me have 9th grade centers. So its k-5 grade Elementary, 6-8 Middle School, 9th grade center, then 10-12 High School.
Watashiwadaredemonai@reddit
Understand that scene though they are calling them different schools, public elementary, middle, junior and or senior high schools will all be part of the same local school district. So while you may go to Smith Elementaryyy School and Sevens Middle School and Small Town High School, it’s essentially the same students and has the one school superintendent who oversees all the schools in that school district.
No_Towel_2198@reddit
I work at a school district that does 4 schools. Pre-k to 2nd, 3rd to 5th, 6th-8th and 9th to 12th. Each grade has about 6-7 classes with 18 to 22 students in each. I never asked why they do it that way, just assumed it's a small school that covers a decent amount of area so it's easier to break things up. Some kids also go to pre school before they get to primary school. There can be a 3 and 4 year old program which helps them get ready so that would be more than 4 schools.
FireHammer09@reddit
Middle and Junior high are the same thing. It depends on the district with what theyll call it but a junior high will also have 9th grade
Ravenna178@reddit
It's usually 3 schools. Junior high is only 2 years, so it's included in either your middle school or high school.
Lonely-Occasion5286@reddit
where I'm from (McFarland Wisconsin) we had elementary (1st-3rd), intermediate (4th-6th), middle (7th-9th), and the high school (everything above). or at least that's how I remember it
ash__tray@reddit
When I was in school we had an early childhood center for K, elementary was 1-6, junior high 7-8, high school 9-12
Now I have my son in the same district and they’ve changed the schools to separate elementary schools for K-2 and 3-5, middle school 6-8, high school 9-12
cheekmo_52@reddit
there are three schools in a typical school district. Elementary or primary school. Middle school or junior high. And high school. middle school and junior high are interchangeable terms. Some school districts call it one, some call it the other.
luxtabula@reddit
It was two for me, elementary from 1-6th grade and jr Sr high School from 7-12th grade. Most places do elementary, middle and high school.
Vanilla_thundr@reddit
Three schools are the norm. Junior high and middle school are (usually) the same thing encompassing something like 6th through 9th grade depending on the school district.
Valysian@reddit
I would say that 6-8 is most common by far. But, 5-8 or 7-9 are alternatives. I'd call those middle school or junior high. Sometimes middle school and junior high are separated into 6-7 & 8-9 or similar.
oceansapart333@reddit
My town had a weird “intermediate” thing going on that I’ve not heard of anywhere else. Elementary was k-4, intermediate was 5-6, middle school 7-8, high school 9-12.
They tried for a short while to also have a separate 9th grade campus, so for a few years some kids would have had 5 schools to go through.
AppropriateLuck5879@reddit
We had a similar but it was k-5; 6-7; 8-9; 10-12 but grade 9 could participate in 10-12 grade sports and extra curriculars or advanced classes.
checkerlily@reddit
They changed it on us when I was a kid. It used to be that we had middle school for 5-6 grade and junior high for 7,8,9 th grades. But then they put 5th grade in elementary and made middle school 6,7 and 8th grade. When my husband was in 7th grade he went to junior high, then they got rid of jr high the next year and he was demoted back to middle school.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
I never knew there were places that had both middle s hill and junior high.
UnitedChain4566@reddit
It wasn't until I was on the internet a lot more that I learned that not every school did it the way I saw growing up. For me, elementary was K-6, Middle was 7 & 8, high was 9-12. Which I always thought was really weird as well because "why are you only in the building for two years???"
Character_Drive@reddit
My district currently has 5 schools that are k-6. Then all those kids come together and do 7-8th in one middle school (it should probably be called a jr high). And all the 9-12 goes to the high school. It was different when I was in school, but this is much easier to explain.
But the town next to us has k-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12. So all the kids in the town go through the same five schools.
titebussyftm@reddit
I live in a district that has a middle school (5-7) and a junior high school (8-9). Elementary is K-4 and High School is 10-12.
ForeverExplore15@reddit
My elementary school had pre-k through 6th grade. The high school had 7th through 12th grade. I only had two schools.
phathomthis@reddit
It really depends. I've lived in 3 different states. 2 of them were K-5 or K-6 / 6-8th or 7-8th / 9-12. There were also some schools (normally private) that were K-8 and then you just had high school as 9-12.
In Texas though, it's 4 schools like you say, typically with 6th grade being it's own school as middle school.
Coming from an area that's not like that, I have no idea why it's like that.
Extolord111@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same.
wfbhp@reddit
Not for everyone. For me, middle school was 4-6 and jr. high were 7-8. Two very different buildings, for a total of four for K-12.
paradisetossed7@reddit
Wait you separately had both middle school and junior high?! I'm genuinely curious as to where you grew up because I've never heard of it
JohnnyFootballStar@reddit
When I was younger living in Texas, we had an intermediate school (5th and 6th) and a junior high (7th and 8th). For OP’s purposes, that’s definitely not the norm. I’d wager a very solid majority of districts have K-5, 6-8, 9-12 and the rest all have a variety of different systems.
Various_Reply3373@reddit
I grew up in TX and we had elementary (1-5) middle (6-8) high school (9-10) and then senior high (11-12)
weaselblackberry8@reddit
What about kindergarten?
Various_Reply3373@reddit
That was part of elementary for my school - but I moved school districts between K and 1st so it felt separate for me lol
Temporary_Nail_6468@reddit
Plano?
Various_Reply3373@reddit
Yup! You too?
Temporary_Nail_6468@reddit
Nope. Graduated from Mesquite HS in the ‘90s and back then Plano was one of the first to do this. More common now but had to ask. 😂
Various_Reply3373@reddit
I graduated in ‘08 :)
luthien310@reddit
That's most districts in Texas.
jrolette@reddit
Gonna need a citation on that one. I've been in Texas my whole life and definitely not the norm in the places I've lived.
texasrigger@reddit
Where my kids when to school in TX it was Pre-K and K, 1&2, 3&4, 5&6, 7&8, and then 9-12. Where I went in TX Elementary was K-5 then 6,7,8 for junior high, and then a single highschool for 9-12. Where I currently live in TX it's Pre-K to 2, 3-5, 6-8, and then 9-12.
HuckleberryHappy6524@reddit
I believe Orange Grove and George West are split like your last example.
texasrigger@reddit
I can believe that. I'm in Sinton which is in the same general region.
HuckleberryHappy6524@reddit
Haha. I knew it would be a small town the way you described it. I grew up in George west and Alice.
czarfalcon@reddit
Is it? I grew up in central Texas and we only had elementary, middle, and high school.
shammy_dammy@reddit
I graduated high school in Texas and yes, that's what my ISD was as well.
yellowdaisybutter@reddit
Yup, my experience too.
nakedonmygoat@reddit
Not mine. I grew up in suburban Houston and it was elementary K-5, middle 6-8, high school 9-12.
Interesting_Bunch323@reddit
Nope. No, it isn’t. Not where I grew up and not my son’s school or kids that are customers of mine. 9-12 is normally high school
texasrigger@reddit
I don't think that there is a Statewide norm. It depends on the population of the school district. I've lived in several different parts of the state and every single one was different.
96jwill@reddit
Not in southeast Texas. I can think of two districts that have that setup between all the schools I’m aware of between Beaumont and Houston. And they’re both smaller districts
distributingthefutur@reddit
Texas here, too. I did k-3 in an old school. 4-5 at a newer school location. I started middle school for 6-8. They moved 6th grade so I was in the same building, but only for 7-8 and it was named changed to Jr High. I then did high school 9-12 at a campus next to the 4-5 school.
Eventually, they tore down the Jr High and moved those grades next to the 4-6 and High School, but separated by fences with different entrances. The football stadium and gymnasiums were mixed in so it was efficient. It was probably all motivated by football somehow now that I think about it.
Various_Reply3373@reddit
I think most things about TX schools were motivated by football lol
nemc222@reddit
When I went to school in Texas. It was like this as well. But now, in many places in Texas, it is elementary, middle school(5-6), junior high then high. Plus many of the high school schools in the larger area areas have a ninth grade campus separate from 10th-12.
ForestOranges@reddit
I worked at a 6-12 school in Texas. 6-8 was middle school and 9-12 was high school BUT to make it even more complicated we had all of our 8th graders take Algebra 1 and Spanish 1 for high school level credit and it appeared on their transcript when they graduated.
Ijustreadalot@reddit
I've heard of that where it's called "intermediate school" but never both middle school and high school. It's interesting how different school systems can be.
The42ndHitchHiker@reddit
My hometown has a middle school (grades 5-6), a junior high (7-8), and a high school (9-12).
My kids' current school system does grade school (K-5), junior high (6-8), and the high school is split between a freshman campus (9) and a main campus (10-12); the high schools operate as a single unit and have shared extracurricular, but the Freshmen are in their own building.
texienne@reddit
I attended Junior High for eighth grade in a district that had Elementary (K-5), Middle School (6-7), Junior High (8-9) and High School (10,11,12). In retrospect, it made a lot of sense.
Other-Conversation67@reddit
Our school district had the following: Elementary was K-5 Middle School was 6-7 Junior High was 8-9 High School was 10-12
PracticalBreak8637@reddit
My kids went to high school which had 9 and 10 in one town. 11 and 12 was is another town. There were ~1800 kids in each building. Busses ran between both buildings before and after school to cover sports and activities.
cstar4004@reddit
My school had classes at a different school for only a some kids. If you happened to get assigned to the classes held in the other building, they bussed you back and forth in the middle of the school day. It was only a 5-10min ride.
We called them the “Bowerstown Kids” cause they seemed to vanished half way through the day. Bowerstown was the name of the road the other building was on. It was the department of education building.
We also had some classes in trailers in the parking lot, because we had way too many students for our small school.
Ijustreadalot@reddit
There's a school here that has a freshman building but it's just an area at the back of campus. The older kids aren't supposed to be back there, but it's just on the other side of a small staff parking area so it's not like a really separate campus.
cruzweb@reddit
Where I grew up, the "intermediate school district" was run by the county, and that's where all the special needs kids with physical or learning disabilities went, since the local districts didn't have the ability to properly support them.
Ijustreadalot@reddit
Those are all independent schools here. They are funded by school districts who pay per pupil, but the schools themselves aren't run by any district.
ForestOranges@reddit
Where I grew up those were called “intermediate units” but intermediate school was a separate school usually for grades 4-6 or 5-6
oceansapart333@reddit
Same here.
amygeek13@reddit
Also from Texas. Also had intermediate for 5-6 and middle school for 7-8
Valuable-Usual-1357@reddit
It’s common where I live to have two different middle schools, one for 6th and 7th, one for 8th and 9th. But both are still just middle school.
bloobityblu@reddit
Might depend partly on the population density in a school district too.
budgie02@reddit
This is a big player where I live. If we put 5-8th grade together we’d have to build a whole new building. Instead when they had to expand to a new highschool, they just put 5-6 into the old HS building, keeping 7-8 in the same space. Since student numbers like doubled, a space that used to hold 4 grades now only holds 2
JohnnyFootballStar@reddit
Yes, I think a lot of the variations are functions of population, geography, and available facilities.
annahhhnimous@reddit
Ours was:
Pre-School (ages 3-5)
K-4: Elementary School
5-6: Middle School
7-8: Jr High
9-12: High School
College (University)
Just-Brilliant-7815@reddit
Texas here, too. Elementary was K-6, junior high 7-8, high school 9-12
LouisRitter@reddit
Indiana here and that's what had growing up.
EdgeCityRed@reddit
I moved states between eighth and ninth grade and ended up in junior high for an extra year because in my district in CO, high school was sophomore/junior/senior.
Thanked my lucky stars I didn't move in the other direction and end up being a freshman twice.
Spirited_Ingenuity89@reddit
Wait, they called 10 graders freshman? Did they skip “sophomore” or “junior”?
EdgeCityRed@reddit
No, it was sophomore, but it was the youngest grade in the school, you know?
HuckleberryHappy6524@reddit
From Texas also and it was the same for me. Elementary (K-5), middle school (6-7), junior high (8-9) and high school (10-12). They sorted it out my senior year (class of 2000). I believe it was K-4, 5-6, 7-8 and 9-12. My sister was in the first 9th grade class that got moved to the high school.
Amockdfw89@reddit
I grew up in Texas and for me it was
K-5
6-8
9-10
11-12
BreadyStinellis@reddit
My school district has 4 school buildings, but two of them are elementary schools preK-3rd, 4th-6th. 7th and 8th is middle school. It was not always that way, it's because the population grew like crazy
whatiswrongwithme675@reddit
Bigger districts sometimes have whole buildings for one grade. I went to a sixth grade building.
poechris@reddit
I also grew up in Texas and this was our set up too with intermediate school. Maybe it's a Texas thing?
Plz_Discuss_Rampart@reddit
My school district in TX had this same exact setup with the intermediate in 5th and 6th grade. My wife, also educated in TX, had never heard of an intermediate school. I would also agree with the layout you had as standard for districts in TX now.
MechanicalGodzilla@reddit
Our large school system has K-6, 7-8, and 9-12 schools. There are a two "secondary school" pyramids as well, which work like K-6 and then 7-12.
murderthumbs@reddit
Ye. Exactly
Cyber_Punk_87@reddit
In Virginia in the late 90s, we had elementary K-6, middle school was 7-9, and high school was 10-12.
In Vermont in the early 90s, it was elementary K-6, junior high 7-8, high school 9-12. But the school I went to had them all in the same building, just different wings with shared auditorium, music room, library, gym, and cafeteria (and the junior high used some of the high school classrooms for things like computer lab, shop, home ec, art, etc).
This-Professional-39@reddit
Close. But it was k-6, 7-8, 9-12
liketheweathr@reddit
I went to school in both Texas and New Jersey, and in both cases there were four schools between K-12. They broke up the grades differently, but they both had two separate schools between Elementary and High.
ancientRedDog@reddit
Four for me in Bozeman Montana (25k pop at the time).
Relevant-Emu5782@reddit
My ex husband had 4, grew up in Oklahoma. K-5 elementary, 6-7 middle, 8-9 junior high, 10-12 senior high.
The town where I now live has 4 separations for it's public schools but done as K-4 primary, a grade 5 building, 6-8 middle, and 9-12 high school.
Aggressive_Dog3418@reddit
I moved around a lot as a kid, all within Texas. I went to some localities that only had 3, elementary, middle school/jh, and high school. I also went to some localities that had 4.
findingeros@reddit
My parents had a middle school 5th-6th and junior high 7th-8th before high school too. It was a pretty large district in PA
Otherwise_Ad2201@reddit
Places get creative when needed. A district I attended put all the freshman from the entire district at one school. After 9th grade they went to 4 different high schools. It only lasted a few years until a building was renovated.
PieInTheSkyEngineer@reddit
Chicago suburbs: I also had separate middle and jr high. My buildings were Kindergarten, Elementary 1-4, Middle 5-6, Jr High 7-8 and then High School had 2 campuses for 9-10 and 11-12. Really liked the split campus. The Sr campus was much more relaxed than the Jr campus.
My nephews change schools almost every 2-3 years before a 4 year high school. Where my kids are only going to 3 schools. Elementary K-5, Middle 6-8, and High School 9-12.
M_Looka@reddit
My sons had that. They grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey.
Not every town in Bergen County had that... I'd say it was rare... but our town did...
Intelligent_Pop1173@reddit
In upstate NY we had K-6 for elementary school and then junior high was 7-8 and next to the high school. They’ve since made it K-5 and 6-8 and changed the latter’s name to middle school but still uses the same building
Skaari24@reddit
Upstate as well and our district was K-4 elementary, 5-7 middle, 8-9 Jr. high, and 10-12 was high school. I think it is definitely dependent on how many kids in the district. I had almost 700 kids in my graduating class.
macoafi@reddit
I grew up outside of Pittsburgh, and ours was called “intermediate school,” not “junior high,” but our breakdown was K-4, 5-7, 8-9, 10-12. I believe it was simply an artifact of population growth. The buildings couldn’t hold 5-8 and 9-12, so they pulled one grade off of each.
TheSpeedyBee@reddit
Someone was a Tiger.
macoafi@reddit
Nope, Titan.
TheSpeedyBee@reddit
Ah, didn’t know they used Intermediate as well.
macoafi@reddit
They don't have it anymore. Or rather, they put an addition on the high school, and the intermediate school building (which my dad says was the high school when he went there in the 70s) is now the middle school, and the old middle school is now just empty.
thewineyourewith@reddit
These age ranges make a lot of sense to me. I’ve always thought 9th grade (14 year olds) is too young to be in high school (with 18 year olds). Putting 13&14 together seems like a good plan.
CompleteTell6795@reddit
Former Pittsburgher, but went to school a long time ago. There was kindergarten, (pre K or daycare didn't exist yet.). Grade school grades 1 thru 8. High school grades 9 thru 12. There was no middle school & junior high invented yet. I think by the time I was almost done with high school ( Catholic), the public high school near me had a junior high also connected to the main building.
macoafi@reddit
The years I gave were for public school, but I went to Catholic school, which was Pre-8, and we called 7-8 “junior high” within the Catholic school. While 1-6 grades all had 2 home rooms each, junior high was 3 home rooms with both grades mixed together.
Then I switched into the public school system after 8th grade.
Chemical-Mix-6206@reddit
Ours was K-3, 4-6, 7-8, & 9-12. Our class breakout changed over the years as well. Started out with k-6 at the elementary school and 7-12 at the high school but then joined school districts with the next township and redistributed the grades. I assume most school districts have to do this periodically.
tiger_guppy@reddit
This is how my school district was, where 4-6 was “intermediate elementary”. But at some point when I was in high school or college, they reorganized the school district to be k-5 elementary and 6-8 middle.
Ornery-Bit-8169@reddit
Yeah I think the way things are divided largely depends on buildings. I grew up with a breakdown of k-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Then when I was in 11th grade a new high school was built, which freed up the old high school building to become a middle school (the old middle school as 100 years old and not very functional. It became a community center). Since the "new" middle school building was much larger (and the elementary was getting overcrowded) they made middle school 5-8.
cyvaquero@reddit
Bellefonte PA area here. My rural elementary only went to 4th grade so we had to ship to the Bellefonte Elementary for one year only to then change again to Middle School for 6th.
They eventually added on to my old elementary school to include 5th. But it was that way for at a couple decades before me and another decade after. Development is what drove the expansion.
frightful_zoo28@reddit
Our district split things up differently due to growth as well. Even though they built a huge new high school, it houses only 10-12 instead of the traditional 9-12. Elementary is K-5, then there's a building with 6-7 and another with 8-9, both of which are called middle schools. Seems strange to me.
When I was a kid, our elementary was through 6th grade, junior high was 7th & 8th, and high school was freshman through senior.
SingleDadSurviving@reddit
Texas, was k-3 was elementary, 4-6 was middle or intermediate, 7-8 was jr high, 9-12 was high school. All were separate buildings though jr high and high school shared a library and cafeteria.
Major_Barnacle_2212@reddit
It’s true in some CA places too. I just learned it! I only went to 7-8 junior high but kids around me do middle AND junior.
MaleficentVision626@reddit
my kids' school district is like that. Elementary is K-2. Intermediate is 3-5, middle is 6-8 and then the high school is 9-12. With the age gap between my kids, they will never attend the same school.
Content_Ground4251@reddit
This is a common setup. 4 different schools. Every county has their own school system and a setup that works for the population and resources in their particular area.
cupidsavedpsyche@reddit
I am from a suburb kind of outside Cleveland and we had a separate middle school (5-6) and junior high (7-8)
sosuhme@reddit
I had both. 6-7 and 8-9 were in different buildings. That being said, the reason was just that the district saw major population growth around that time. They built a new building for 8-9 as a way to take pressure off both the old middle school and the high school.
If I'm being honest, I think high school was improved by not having 9th graders there.
Kyle81020@reddit
Many public school systems in Louisiana are structured the same. K-3 Elementary, 4-6 Middle, 7-8 JH, and 9-12 HS. Many (all?) of the Catholic high schools are 8-12.
HidingInTrees2245@reddit
Never heard of it either. A whole school for just two grades?
pizzaerry2days@reddit
I think this is all very district dependent. My junior high was only two grades (7&8). It was the original high school built in the 30’s with some additional buildings temporary and more recently built permanent structures. It’s since been rebuilt entirely but districts will allocate grade levels to buildings based upon the schools they already have as they regularly grow and shrink over the decades.
paradisetossed7@reddit
Oh I mean my schools were K-6, 7-8, and 9-12. Probably not very efficient. They called 7-8 for a while then built a new school and called it middle school but with the same grades lol
Hawk13424@reddit
I where I grew up, junior HS was 6-9 so three grades.
Lucky-Remote-5842@reddit
My kids had elementary, intermediate, middle and high school. At one point I think their school system was elementary, middle and high, but outgrew the schools and added intermediate and added onto the high school.
Sensitive-Issue84@reddit
My sisters went to Jr High, but that was the 1970s. I went to middle school, but that was in a different state.
InsertDramaHere@reddit
Some towns in Minnesota are changing to this format as well.
Seems clunky and unnecessary to me, but I'm old🤷♀️
TomBombomb@reddit
Same with where I grew up. Most public schools went K-6, 7-8, then 9-12.
StirlingS@reddit
In my Texas town they had elementary (K-5th), sixth grade, middle school (7th-8th). and high school (9th-12th). I think they didn't have room for 6th grade in either the elementary schools or in the single middle school building so they turned an older school building into just 6th grade.
I think they've since torn the 6th grade down, built additional schools, and moved the 6th graders into middle school.
Ultimately I think individual school districts will split the grades up based on how many kids they have and where they have the room for them. There's no one standard.
Pristine_Cicada_5422@reddit
They have that in sone school districts in Ohio, but it’s not that common. It’s not uncommon, but it’s not the norm.
Bender_2024@reddit
I did in CT. Oddly the buildings were about 500 yards from each other. Soon after the Jr high was taken by the town and is now used as a senior center
flybiscus@reddit
Upstate NY here. We had elementary (k-5), middle school (6-7), junior high (8-9), and high school (10-12). A neighboring district had 9th grade in a completely different building.
I think it really depends on infrastructure and when the schools need to accommodate growing or shrinking populations. Build a new school if there’s too many kids, or add a wing if it’s just a small change.
Last I heard, my district was adjusting it so k-4 was elementary, 5/6 was middle, 7/8 was jr high, and 9-12 in high school.
MotherOf4Jedi1Sith@reddit
My kids, when we lived in Oklahoma, had this set up. It was a smaller town and school were separated by grades. There was pre-k & k. Then 1st and 2nd. Then 3rd and 4th, then 5th and 6th, then JH, then HS. None of my kids went to all 6 campuses because we moved, but it was that way for quite a while before they switched over to pre-k - 4th grade neighborhood schools.
Paul_The_Builder@reddit
My district had a building that only housed 9th grade. 1-6 was elementary school, 7-8 middle school, freshman center 9, and high school 10-12
The district next to us had Junior high school for 9-10 and senior high school for 11-12.
Don't think that is common nationwide, but it definitely exists.
PittsburghCar@reddit
My son's school had elementary (k-3) middle (4-6), jr high (7-8). Pittsburgh area.
Lcdmt3@reddit
Until last year, my city in Sun Prairie had lower middle and upper middle. It was actually 6-7, and 8-9. The high school was getting outgrown, the middle school was getting outgrown, so that was their solution.
It wasn't until last year that they built a second high school, and split up the middle schools one for each and went to a more traditional 6-8
Historical-Kick-9126@reddit
My freshman year of high school in the 80s was separate from the 10-12 grades. It still is in my city. The building for junior high (grade 9) and high school (10-12) are right next to each other, but completely separate buildings. Ninth graders who have honors classes walk next door to the main high school for those. The separation always seemed pretty pointless.
bertmom@reddit
I’m in California. Elementary is k-5, junior high 6-8, high school 9-12
Efficient-Tart456@reddit
Our district just moved to this model. It has to do with the average maturity of the students and groups them this way to allow a smother transition from one level to the next.
NemeanMiniLion@reddit
There's a 2000 person class just for 9th grade in its own building in my town.
wfbhp@reddit
Hahaha, I can't relate to the scale of that at all. My graduating class was about 96. I also went to a small private college where the freshman class size was something like 400 - 450, so that 9th grade class was probably just a little larger than my entire college student body, including the graduate program.
Eubank31@reddit
I had that in Texas but not when I moved to Ohio
The school district in Texas was just Elementary K-5, Middle 6-8, and High 9-12, but when I got to 6th grade they built a new HS and switched to Elementary K-4, Intermediate 5-6, Junior High 7-8, and High 9-12
_haha_oh_wow_@reddit
I had this too: I won't disclose my location but it's definitely a thing in some places.
Hawk13424@reddit
I also had four in South Carolina. I think it was more the time than the where. Seems Texas was also four but where I live now is three.
Moist_Rule9623@reddit
I had both, but only because they rebranded my “junior high” as a “middle school” in the middle of my time there lol
neddiddley@reddit
The school district where I live now has this and it’s driven by population. It’s a pretty large district (population wise, not geography). Elementary includes up to 5th grade. Middle is 6-8, JH is 9-10 and then there’s SH. There are multiple elementary and middle schools, then they all merge into one for junior and senior high.
I’m not sure the reason why, but I assume it’s because it makes more sense to keep the younger kids in a smaller more local schools when they’re all learning pretty much the same stuff (basic math, reading, writing, history, science), but as they get older and education is getting more tailored to career paths and interests, having a single school allows them to offer more options.
makestuff24-7@reddit
A million years ago in my very tiny Oklahoma town, I went to primary (K-4), intermediate (5&6), middle (7-9) and high (10-12) schools. But that's because all four buildings were in the same place and individually only big enough for those groups of students. We shared a gym, auditorium, ag building and football field between all grades.
itsjustme10@reddit
I’m from Illinois and ours was attached to the high school. Middle school was 3-6 then you moved next door to the high school for 7/8 which was jr high.
NarrowAd4973@reddit
The school district my parents and sister moved to after I graduated (sister was 7 at the time) had an intermediate school. They built it because they had a huge increase in population within only a few years, and didn't have room for all the students. Since then, those students graduated and moved away, so the numbers have gone back to what they originally were, and I think one of the buildings was shut down.
remix951@reddit
In Indiana we had Elementary K-4, "Intermediate" 5-6, Jr High 7-8, then high school 9-12
elucify@reddit
Indiana, we had four. I remember hearing of some places that had junior high as 7-9 and high school as 10-12.
cmh_ender@reddit
Iowa checking in. we K - 4 in one building. 5/6 was another buildling ( same campus though), 7/8 was another building. then 9 - 12 last building. pretty sure it's just how the school developed over time.
In Ohio now in a HUGE school district and we have elemetary, middle and highschool.
k - 5, 6 - 8 and 9 - 12
kn1144@reddit
I grew up in Illinois and had separate junior high and middle schools.
A_Fartist@reddit
I’m in Maine, we have a lot of small towns that will have elementary schools in their town and then go to a regional high school. What happens in between can be all over the place. I had kids that I graduated with who never moved but went to 6 different schools, others 3. My sister did: k-2, 3-5, 6, 7-8, 9-12, I had the same but 3-6 were in the same school. That was in the 90’s though and the state has done a lot of consolidation and building since then. Now kids in that school system only go to 3 schools.
zoppaTheDim@reddit
I’ve never heard that called “middle school.”
A lot of districts post integration, divided their elementary schools by grouping all of a grade together, an easy way to stop arguments of favoritism of some local schools over others.
While middle school has been used interchangeably with junior high since they raised the minimal amount of schooling to eight grade.
FivePointsFrootLoop@reddit
That's what jr. High is. It isn't common now to have jr. High though.
AliMcGraw@reddit
Some districts around me do K-2, 3-5, and 6-8.
Not mine, but my nephew goes to a school that does that.
Comedeorologist@reddit
Growing up in the 90s, we had an "intermediate" school just for 6th grade! Then Jumior High for 7 and 8.
The district has since reorganized. The intermediate school is now an elementary school, and the Junior High is now a middle school with grades 6-8.
Full-Associate-2822@reddit
We had similar, only the district I grew up in went from 4 schools to 5. There's the Early Education Center which has Pre-K classrooms as well as the district offices. Then the Primary School, which is Kindergarten to 3rd grade. The Intermediate School is 4th, 5th, and 6th. Junior High is 7th and 8th, and High School is 9-12. All the school buildings are on a centralized campus along with all the athletic facilities, which was nice. This is in Western NY.
Where I live now (SW Ohio) they go elementary, middle, high school. Preschools are largely private, but the district I live in does offer preschool as well. Then K-5 is elementary, 6-8 is middle, and 9-12 is high school. There are MULTIPLE elementary and middle schools in the district (basically neighborhood schools, decided by street locations/distance from homes within district) that all feed into one large high school. We also have a ton of Catholic schools, so the parish affiliated ones are usually K-8, then one of the private Catholic high schools. There are kids who also go to the local neighborhood schools for k-8 and then go to a Catholic high school. The Catholic schools have tuition which varies depending on financial need and whether or not you're a member of the parish.
The Cincinnati Public School District is also near me and has many schools, including high schools. Some are great, some aren't. Some you have to test into, like Walnut Hills, or audition for like the performing arts high school. Those are not dependent on where in the district you live. There used to (maybe still, but I haven't heard about it lately) be a lottery system to get kids into the better funded/higher performing schools. People would line up and camp out overnight to get their kids on the list for the better schools.
And there's also dual enrollment with Oaks trade schools. High schoolers will do regular high school plus trade school so they graduate with a state diploma and a trade to immediately start working in. And then there's the College Credit program, where high schoolers can knock out college classes while in high school to limit how many years of college tuition to pay. The oldest girl I take care of graduated high school and entered college with all of her freshman year college classes and some sophomore credits done.
That program is pretty common around the country though. My cousin lives in a rural mountain town in NC and her oldest daughter graduated high school with her state diploma and two associates degrees from a local affiliated college.
damageddude@reddit
In my NJ town 6th grade is in the old middle school building, 7th & 8th in the new building.
Myname3330@reddit
Virginia does this. Kindergarten, Elementary, Intermediate School, Middle School (Junior High), then High School.
Novel_Willingness721@reddit
When I was in pubic school age in the 70s and 80s my school district originally had 3 levels: elementary, middle, high. However, during that time the district’s population exploded and there wasn’t enough room in the existing schools. So while they built a new high school campus, grades 6-9 shared the middle school building on a split session: 8-9 early (6am start) 6-7 late (11:30am start). Once the new high school campus was completed, 8-9 shifted to the old high school campus and that became the “junior high school” and that district to this day has 4 levels: elementary k-5, middle 6-7, junior 8-9, high 10-12.
RockStar5132@reddit
Where I grew up there was a separate school for kindergarten and first graders, then the elementary school (2nd-3rd grade), intermediate school (4-5th), middle school (6-8th), and finally high school (9-12th), so we had 5 schools
SewGangsta@reddit
My town also has both, but it is really due to money. The town expanded enough that they needed to build larger middle and high schools, but then rapidly expanded again and the new middle school was quickly outgrown and they needed another elementary building.
The old high school had already been turned into a community center/school board building so rather than build more they just converted the old middle school building into an Intermediate school for 5th-6th grades to remove a grade each from elementary and middle and ease overcrowding at both.
This puts our elementary schools for kindergarten-4th grade, intermediate for 5th-6th grades, junior high for 7th-8th grades, and high school for 9th-12th grades.
Koren_nRhys@reddit
My kids went to 4 also. Though here MS and Jr High are used interchangeable for that 6-8 range.
K-3 Elementary 4-5 Intermediate 6-8 Middle 9-12 High
sammysbud@reddit
My town in GA switched to K-4, 5-6, 7-8, and then 9-12 about 15 years ago. Both 5-6 and 7-8 schools were still called “middle school”
Objective_Phrase_513@reddit
I live in Texas. We still have both middle school and jr high.
chaosrulz0310@reddit
TN and we did the same while I was in school. It had changed by the time my oldest started. It was elementary K-4, middle 5-6, Jr high 7-8 and high 9-12.
With my kids it was changed to elementary K-5, middle 6-8 and high 9-12.
Heykurat@reddit
My junior high was like that; grades 7 and 8 only. It was our first introduction to the concept of changing rooms throughout the day, and having discrete subjects. In middle school we stayed in one room all day, with 1 teacher, and the lessons were a combination of subjects.
wfbhp@reddit
See my reply to the other person who asked for the details. You might have to uncollapse it because there's a jerk who seems to be going through all my posts and downvoting or reporting them right now because he's mad over over a disagreement in another sub.
Until looking at other comments in this post, I never knew other people considered middle school and jr. high the same thing. I don't have kids and I guess I've never really talked to anyone else about that specific aspect of their schools after I graduated college and moved away.
Odd-Translator-2792@reddit
Yeah, where I grew up they went from the one to the other. 1-3 together is pretty common. 6,7,8 also together. 5 & 9 are typically problematic- too big for the younger kids, not quite old enough for the next step. Ive seen several 9th grade centers, which I think is a good idea.
MrLizardBusiness@reddit
We had 5th and 6th in one school, and 7 and 8th in another, then high school.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
So elementary school there is or was just K-3?
liketheweathr@reddit
I’ve heard of separate schools for grade 6-7 and 8-9, with high school being 10-12, but I’ve never heard of putting fourth graders in middle school
duke_awapuhi@reddit
My Mo did junior high from 7-9 and then high school was 10-12
AggravatingPrune191@reddit
I went to elementary K-5, middle school 6-7, jr high 8-9, and high school 10-12. 9th grade was really weird because our grades counted towards high school but we weren't able to do most of the activities that the actual high school offered. Jr high was just middle school part 2. I couldn't wait to get out of there in 9th grade. That school district did eventually restructure so high school is now 9-12 and elementary school is a bit shorter.
(I also went to preschool on the college campus I eventually attended as an undergrad.)
cstar4004@reddit
Wait if 4-6 was your middle school, what was your Elementary school?
174wrestler@reddit
Our district was K-2, 3-5, 6-8, then a larger district did 9-12. The first two were called elementary and 6-8 was middle.
Dreamweaver5823@reddit
You had a separate building for grades 4-6 only?
wfbhp@reddit
Yeah. My other replies have more details if you're really interested in the set up when I went through.
dmazzoni@reddit
Fascinating! Where was this?
wfbhp@reddit
Southern Ohio.
Neenknits@reddit
Junior high used to be grades 7-8, and elementary was k-6. Then middle school became common and is either 5 or 6 through 8.
Middle school is a pedagogical distinction between elementary and hs. Junior high, less so, and mostly not used now. Even if a town has building splitting them all up, that are supposed to treat them Like middle schools.
GoodQueenFluffenChop@reddit
Weird because for me middle school was grades 7-8.
Dreamweaver5823@reddit
The standard model for junior high is 7-9, and for middle school is 6-8.
A lot of places use something different for one reason or another, but those are the norms.
wfbhp@reddit
Man, I knew there were going to be differing answers in these comments, but I was not prepared for how many completely different things people have posted already.
wfbhp@reddit
Is that information about specifically Southern Ohio today or is it more generally applicable? Is it something that's been fairly uniformly adopted across the country in the last 20 years? I've had extremely little interaction with anything to do with sub-university level schools since about 2003, so I don't know if maybe things are more uniform across the country now or if it's still a hodgepodge like a lot of things based on area.
Neenknits@reddit
No, it’s how kids learn. There is research about best practices in schools, by age.
wfbhp@reddit
Right, but I mean is that actually put into practice by public schools these days in a coordinated way, or is it just considered a best practice that maybe some follow but a lot don't?
Neenknits@reddit
“Best practice” means research based on what works well. 6-8 has specific needs and techniques that tend to be different than 1-5 and 9-12, with overlap, of course. Different building attributes work best, too, but that is far harder to accommodate, without new buildings!
Alternative-Law4626@reddit
The places I’ve seen using middle school it’s been 6-8 with high school being 9-12.
Junior high, back just before I started (1976), was 7-9. The 9th grade had lots of competitive sports including a full football season, basketball, track & field. All of that was cut so the school district could afford court ordered bussing my first year. (In that city, all 9th grades were eliminated from all jr. highs and all 9th graders had to report to the same school building downtown. That was called the 9th grade center.)
cruzweb@reddit
There's a lot of philosophies about what the "best" breakup is for middle school. 6-8? 5-8? 7-8? It all depends on the state, district, buildings available, number of kids, bus availability, etc.
Alternative-Law4626@reddit
If I were to render an opinion, just based on my experience going to a 7-8 (functionally because 9th was a separate school), and then going to a military school where it was 7-junior college. I’d say, best split is 6-8.
Freshman year won’t be pleasant, but I think it makes high school flow better. I was in a mixed unit in military school high school and Junior college so rougher than normal. I still managed starting as a very undersized for my age freshman. (5’3” and < 95 lbs). Still managed to letter in football, and track.
Anyway, tough ages. I’m sure there’s no universal answer.
cruzweb@reddit
The "sizing" is definitely a challenge that people try to figure out how to mitigate. It's really a question of how to keep kids safe, and how far apart in age and size is appropriate for kids to be comingling in the hallways, lunch, recess, etc. High school seniors either are or are basically adults. How young do you put children in the proximity of "basically adults"? On the other end of the spectrum, how old do you put big kids with little kids?
No right answer. Lots of context and nuance. Lots of opinions.
Playful-Business7457@reddit
My junior high (what I called it) in the Bay Area was called "Parkside Intermediate School" for grades 7-8.
My sister went to a middle school in DFW, grades 6-8, and so did my kids.
When I moved to DFW, I went to a Freshman Center for 9th, which I thought was lame as I'd already started the year at a regular high school in the Bay.
My oldest kid went to a 9-10 high school and a 11-12 high school, nothing distinguishing their different levels.
strawberryselkie@reddit
When I was growing up (rural western Pennsylvania) we had two elementary schools. K-2 was one school, 3-4 was another, and then we went to middle school for 5-8 and high school 9-12. They eventually did expand the K-2 school into one K-5 elementary school, though.
fiestybox246@reddit
This was basically my experience. K-2 primary school, 3-6 elementary, 7-8 junior high, 9-12 high school. I’m in small town NC.
Ijustreadalot@reddit
I wonder if 4 schools are more common in Ohio. My cousins had a 6th grade school where their whole city went to one school for 6th grade and then dispersed for junior high, but by the time they had kids 6th grade school was no longer a thing. I'm not sure what they're doing now though.
Rdbjiy53wsvjo7@reddit
I grew up in middle of Illinois, we had K-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12. So we basically switched schools every 3 years, graduating class was about 410-420.
elementarydeardata@reddit
Having a separate k-3 elementary and 4-6 elementary does happen sometimes. Usually the circumstances that cause this are a town that is too big to only have one elementary school, but are geographically consolidated enough where they want the schools close to each other (not a k-6 school on one end of town and another one on the other end).
I'm a teacher, my district has 5 elementary schools for k-6, but the little town next door have separate k-3 and 4-6 for this particular reason.
Zaidswith@reddit
City system where I grew up had primary school k-2, elementary school 3-5, middle school 6-8, high school 9-12. I always assumed it was a function of the building becoming too small and splitting it was a better use of resources.
County had elementary k-5, middle 6-8, high 9-12.
And back in the day there was k-6, 7-9 as junior high, 10-12 as senior high school, but it all got reassigned with the switch to middle schools.
My mother went to a k-6, intermediate 7-8, high 9-12.
There's so many ways to split up the grades.
wfbhp@reddit
A very good point. In my area, the four schools could definitely have been result of historically shifting demographics and geography. I really don't have any idea about the history of my school system childhood, but the elementary school (k-3) was by far the oldest building of the four, so it may have originally had all of the students in one place. Given the local geography, it might have made sense when they needed to expand to build an entire new building in a somewhat removed but not far off location. That original elementary school is gone now, it was torn down sometime after I graduated high school when they were doing asbestos abatement.
ChuckHale@reddit
Whaaat?
My elementary was K-5, middle was 6-8, high was 9-12. It really seems to vary all over the place.
JacobDCRoss@reddit
I have never heard of a 4-6 school being called a middle school. One district I went to just called the K-3 and the 4-6 schools both elementary (which is correct).
MeVersusGravity@reddit
Were they private schools by any chance? That would be a really odd structure for modern public school.
wfbhp@reddit
No, public. There was one private Catholic school that served a huge area, but in pretty sure it was a single building for the entire school.
Prize_Consequence568@reddit
The exception isn't the rule.
wfbhp@reddit
It's pretty clear from the volume of different responses here that there is absolutely no rule at all.
texasrigger@reddit
The school district my kids went to had a separate building for every 2 grades until highschool so if you were there the entire time you'd have gone through six buildings, each entirely separate with their own administration's. (Pre-K and K, 1&2, 3&4, 5&6, 7&8, then 9-12).
Like you said, the real answer is "it depends on where you are" like it is for basically every Ask an American question.
Quick-Ostrich2020@reddit
No, that's VERY rare
FinanceGuyHere@reddit
Junior high can also include 9th grade, as a lot of schools stop at that grade
Awdayshus@reddit
Well, this is down to the school district level, so it's not even as big as a regional variation.
473713@reddit
Sometimes it depends on the buildings your school district has available. The old high school became the middle school when they built the new high school, the elementary school needed more rooms so they built an upper-elementary, etc. It's not always planned -- enrollment can fluctuate and districts get re-drawn. They do the best they can.
Crochet_Corgi@reddit
Interesting, haven't heard of that. Its generally K-5, 6-8, 9-12 here. Or the K-8, then 9-12. I like this more, keeps the middle school kids a little more grounded it seems like.
tilario@reddit
interesting. for me middle school was just another name for junior high. we went elementary (k-6), middle school (7-8) and high school (9-12).
Cranks_No_Start@reddit
I had 2. 1-8 for grade and 9-12 in HS.
Discount_Plumber@reddit
Our district has an intermediate (5/6) and middle (7/8). When I was in school I had a upper and lower elementary. Lower (K-3) and upper (5-8). Although that changed a couple times while I was there. For 7th I was at the high school building because at the time 7/8 were there. They changed it and went back to the previous building for 8th.
michaelscottuiuc@reddit
fascinating! My schools elementary is Pre-K thru 2nd grade intermediate is 3-5th and middle is 6-8
okeverythingsok@reddit
Yeah we had lower elementary (K-3) and upper elementary (4-6) in different buildings across town. Then junior high (7-8) and high school (9-12) were housed in the same building.
TorturedChaos@reddit
In a similar case if I had gone to school in town. Middle school was 6-7 grade. Jr high was 8-9 grade and highschool was 10-12.
This was mostly because too many students and too small of facilities in a growing town.
They have since added another highschool, and now the old Jr high is a middle school for 6-8. Each highschool is 9-12 now.
Since I went to a rural school I did K-8 at one school, 9th at the Jr high and 10-12 at the highschool.
twaggle@reddit
I have literally never heard of this in the states, specifically west coast.
pittpanthers95@reddit
I moved and started in a new district in 6th grade. Where I had started, 4-6 was “intermediate school” and 7-8 was “junior high,” then I moved. In that district, K-5 was elementary and 6-8 was middle. After I was in 6th grade, they opened a 4-6 “upper elementary” and middle was 7-8
rbroccoli@reddit
I moved between different school districts as a kid that all had different structures.
In my first school, it was Elementary Kindergarten-6th grade, then the high 7th-12th.
I transferred to a new school system in 8th grade that was Elementary K-4th, Middle school was two separate campuses with different names for 5th-6th & 7th-8th, a separate school called a “Freshman center” for 9th grade (although if you had more advanced classes, you may ride a bus to the high school to take those), and “High School” was 10th-12th. They were just starting this new school structure the year I started going there, and it felt just as weird to the students as it sounds.
Then in 11th-12th grade, I went to yet another school district that was closer to OP’s format. Elementary did Pre K-4th grade, “Middle” was 5th and 6th, Junior High was 7th-8th, and High school was 9th-12th.
ChaosTorpedo@reddit
What?? When I went to middle school, it was 7th and 8th grade. Waaaaay later when my little brother went, the school was rebuilt elsewhere due to a significant fire. It was redone to be 5-9, so then the element schools lost grade 5 and the high school last grade 9. This is when it became junior high.
jda404@reddit
For reference I graduated in 2009. Elementary was K-5, middle school 6-8, high school 9-12. Reading a lot of these replies it seems it's very school district dependent.
Extension_Plant7262@reddit
A different building in the same school or a completely different school? Cause its kinda crazy from a budgeting/logistics standpoint to have a completely different school for just two years.
wfbhp@reddit
I'm not certain the distinction you're making, so I'll try to describe it more fully and let you figure out how it fits into your question. It was one local school district, spanning parts of 2 or maybe 3 counties, administered under one local district name. That district was part of the county school system, which had 4 or 5 total districts.
As it happens, the high school for the city school system was only about 5 minutes away from my house as well, but that was a totally different school system with a different name and different admin. I don't actually know how they were set up; I didn't go to any of their facilities and I only ever knew a single person in that school system, a friend from my school who moved a few miles away in high school and was then in city limits so had to switch schools. But this system is not a part of the one I attended, living outside the city corporation limits.
My school district had 4 different buildings. K-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-12. None of them were connected or even co-located, though they were all within about 3 or 4 miles of one another. It was not possible to move between school buildings without leaving school property, and there were other things unrelated to the school system between them.
I don't know how the buildings in the other districts under the county system were set up, other than they each had only one high school building. I know some of the admin was common to all districts under the county system, but I'm unaware of the extent to which each district had its own admin. The area was also serviced by one private Catholic school, so that's another system altogether.
Extension_Plant7262@reddit
I was just curious if it was a completely different school or not. Like in my middle school, grades 7-8 were effectively in separate block of the overall school because that's where all the classes were, but we were still going to the same school.
I was just curious because if its a different school/entity, that requires another set of administrative people, janitorial etc to cover it, which can be a lot of money for what I assume are probably generally underfunded school systems.
wfbhp@reddit
I wasn't sure if you were talking about district, system, or individual school buildings when you said "school", so I just answered all of it. At the district level, admin for ask 4 buildings in the district was all shared in a central office where the superintendent was. Each building, being separate physical non-adjacent buildings had a principal and all the attendant admin needed to run that building on a day to day basis. I'm relatively certain each building has its own custodial staff. I certainly don't remember seeing any of the same janitors when I moved from one building to the next. For scale, my graduating class was just under 100, so that should give you a rough idea how many students were at each building.
Extension_Plant7262@reddit
Gotcha, and thanks for the detail. That's kinda crazy to think about for me, but I guess it makes sense with the class size. I can't imagine a graduating class that small where you probably know everyone there
wfbhp@reddit
Oh yeah, literally every single person. Nearly every single person in the entire high school in fact, though in my experience there was an almost unnaturally low level of social mixing between students in different grades, even just one year apart. No idea why, it only seemed weird to me when I got to college and that class year rigidity just wasn't there.
There was very little change in my class membership my whole school career, so probably 90% of the people I graduated with I'd known since at least 3rd grade. Only a small handful moved away too, though of course it seemed like all of them that did were the ones I was actually friends with, so by graduation there were about 6 of my classmates I really thought of a friends. Very small school.
AnUnexpectedUnicorn@reddit
A family member had something similar. K actually had their own building. Grades 1-4 (elementary, 3 buildings), 5-6 (middle school, 3 buildings), 7-9 (junior high, 3 buildings, although each grade had its own building, they shared a gym and cafeteria), and 10-12 (high school, 1 campus) each had their own buildings. It actually worked really well, no 19-yr-old seniors in with 13-yr-old freshmen. 😬
Fun-Dragonfly-4166@reddit
my county has for the most part K-5=elementary, 6-8=middle, and 9-12=high. but one school does 6-12. so for those students it could be 2 schools. also people transfer schools (particularly military people) so it could be many more. there has to be at least one k-12 school somewhere. if there is it could be as few as 1.
GillianOMalley@reddit
It even varies within the same school district. In my county, most schools are elementary, middle, high. But my son went to elementary and then to a 6-12.
Knitspin@reddit
Yes. Sometimes it becomes the answer to population booms.
wykkedfaery33@reddit
My kids went to an odd school set up.
Two neighborhood elementary schools. One was for kindergarten through 2nd grade, then kids moved to the next school, which was 3rd-6th (now only 5th, changed a few years ago), before going on to middle school starting at 7th grade (which is typically 6th-8th grade). As far as I know these are the only two public elementary schools like that in my city, where you split your elementary school experience between two schools.
Elenakalis@reddit
We had k-5, 6th grade (middle school), 7-8th (Jr high), and 9-12th (Sr high). My kids had a k-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12 when they had to do something with the elementary schools due to declining enrollment. My home district also does something similar now, although the rural areas of the parish got consolidated into a k-12 or k-8 and 9-12.
techster2014@reddit
I went to 5. K-1 in one building, 2-3 in another, 4-5 in intermediate school, 6-8 in middle school, 9-12 in high school.
My class and the few around it were the last to do so, the year I started 4th grade they finished building a new k-2, moved 3 to the intermediate school, moved 6 to the middle school, and 9 to the high school. Now anyone in that district goes to 4 schools.
One_Violinist_8539@reddit
My husband (from Oklahoma like me) also did it this way in his town!
DickWhittingtonsCat@reddit
In the midwest, these are terms of art but cover the same years and use the same building with mostly the same staff.
It applies to public schools usually, private schools often covered 1-8th grade, and I think that is causing a bit of confusion.
Junior High School was old model and is largely defunct in all but name, at least in desirable school districts with up to date curriculums.
It’s basically a miniature High school from of either 6-8 or initially 7th and 8th. It was more rigorous with demarcation between subjects and little interdisciplinary educationZ
The middle school model was embraced in the mid to late 1990s. The adoption of no child and teaching for the test followed so the advantages of the middle school model have never been fully explored- also it was the same teachers and staff in most cases, so effectively just the placcard outside was changed.
madogvelkor@reddit
There's a town near me that ran out of room at their elementary school so they built another one for upper grades. So they have a K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 school. My sister's high school ran out of room and had the 9th graders at a separate school.
However the old district I was in in AZ had 2 schools. K-8 and 9-12.
Substantial_Meal_530@reddit
There was 1 school I've ever heard of in my area that did this, but they closed one of them down a decade ago. Now it's 3 schools like normal.
Ew_fine@reddit
I think this is less common than just attending one or the other.
OwnTurn1146@reddit
I went to elementary in a district where k-6 was elementary and then 7-12 was high school in Alabama. Moved to Oregon between 5th and 6th excited to be at the top of the food chain just to be at the bottom of middle school, which was quite a shock.
anclwar@reddit
We had different buildings for 5-6 and 7-8, but they were both middle school. My country just had so many children that it couldn't support 5-8 in one building, nor could the elementary schools handle holding kids through 5th grade.
Alternative-Law4626@reddit
Never heard of this split in the US. Where did you experience it?
wfbhp@reddit
Ohio. See my other reply to someone below for details.
Alternative-Law4626@reddit
Saw that after. My wife’s from Cincinnati, but did those school years in Omaha then back to go to University of Cincinnati.
Iliketoplan@reddit
My district separate 4-5 “Intermediate elementary”
sharpshooter999@reddit
So, my school was consolidated. K-6 was in one town, 7-12 was in the next one down the road. We had about 6 little towns (biggest had a pop of 350) make up our school. 7-8th was technically Jr high, even though it was in the same building at the high-school. You'd have 7th graders leaving a math class while seniors taking trig were walking in.
A larger town in the same county isn't consolidated. They have K-5 in the elementary, 6-8th in a building labeled Middle School, and 9-12 in their high-school.
Next town down the road has three K-6 elementary schools, and then one big school with 7-12 in it.
It's kinda all over the place
justalittleloopi@reddit
Ours was also split k-3, 4-6, 7+8, 9-12 but the first two were both labeled elementary. One was lower elementary and one was upper elementary. Then the jr high also had 6th grade classes because a different elementary was k-5, but they didn't change classes and were kind of their own thing, just on the same campus.
wfbhp@reddit
I'm not certain if I've read you exactly correctly to know if you changed classrooms in jr. high or not, but the way ours worked was K-6 was one teacher for all subjects except for a few special things like art and music (and gym obviously, but I doubt anyone played dodgeball in the classroom!), where we went to a specific classroom with the teacher for that subject. We started changing classrooms based on subject with 7th grade and of course through the rest of high school. I think that at least is pretty common regardless of where 7-8 land in a particular school's facilities?
justalittleloopi@reddit
Yup, that's right. Just the 6th grade classes that were on the jr high campus didn't change classes, but stayed with one teacher, and didn't really interact with the 7th and 8th grades.
wfbhp@reddit
Got it, that makes sense. I'd guess that in most places, by the time you get to 7th grade the subjects are advanced far enough that the single general all-subject teacher is probably not sufficient.
I actually didn't even remember this until I read your description of your junior high campus, but I guess shortly after I graduated high school my school district had a temporary setup that was kind of like that. They were in the process of either remodeling or expanding the middle school I think, and the stopgap solution was for them to bring in these rental trailer type things and temporarily relocate the 6th graders to classrooms thrown together inside those. They were attached to the high school campus though due to the work being done on the other school and the junior high building being up on a hill with no room for anything else.
So for a year or two, I guess that the 6th graders shared the gym and cafeteria with the high school somehow, but otherwise were kept separate. I'm very fuzzy at this point all the details, I just remember coming home from college to visit my family and having to drive right by that trailer setup and just thinking about how awful and trashy it looked. I also remember hearing stories from people who went through that transition about how hot and uncomfortable the classrooms in there were. I can totally believe it too, because while I was in fourth grade there was some sort of damage that happened to the fourth grade wing of the middle school; for three or four months they had to use one of those trailers to house some of the classes and they rotated which classes had to use it so that it wasn't just one group getting screwed for that entire time. They were indeed hot and uncomfortable.
justalittleloopi@reddit
Our upper elementary and the high school were the same campus and shared the lunch room, theatre, sports fields, and parking. Students from the high school could TA for elementary classes for credit.
These were old schools. The lower elementary was built in the 1860s for the kids of miners after the gold rush, the jr high was 1907, and the high school was 1911. We were the 100th graduating class for both the jr high and high school, though the jr high was originally a high school.
ReticentBee806@reddit
In Los Angeles, middle school was always grades 6-8 and junior high grades 7-9.
Ok-Walk-8040@reddit
Not in my town. We had a middle school for grades 5-6 and junior high for 7-8.
sircastor@reddit
To clarify they’re different sets of grades. Jr High is 7-9th grades. Middle school is 6-8th.
Though this may differ depending on region.
rutherfraud1876@reddit
Our middle school was grades 5-8 in a former junior high school building that had grades 7-9 in it.
Got the opportunity to read some of the blatantly inappropriate classics (should a 11 year old read Catch-22? Probably not but I'm better for it)
mr_humansoup@reddit
For me in Southern Illinois, the Schools name had Junior High in it but it was referred to as Middle School and it was 7th and 8th grade.
Spirited_Ingenuity89@reddit
That’s interesting that it was officially a Junior High but they called it “middle school.” At my last district, we had a middle school (6-8), but 6th graders aren’t eligible to participate in interscholastic sports. So the sports teams were called “junior high.” That’s the only way I’ve seen both names used.
mr_humansoup@reddit
The building was named Lincoln Junior High in the 50's so that's what was in the concrete on the front of the building. In any typed documentation it was Lincoln Middle School.
Spirited_Ingenuity89@reddit
Oh gotcha, so the name officially changed, but they couldn’t update the pediment. I thought you meant people just called it that.
ozone_00@reddit
Not just regional, but it can be super localized, i.e. neighboring school districts can be different, or even the same school district over time. I went to the same school district as my parents. When they were in school, elementary was k-5 (k was optional), 6 was it's own school, junior high was 7-8, high school was 9-12. At some point after they graduated, 6 was absorbed into elementary. The same year I started 7th grade, junior was renamed middle school, but after I graduated, it reverted back to junior high and is currently 6-8. My kids went to a different school district in the same county, and their middle school was 5-8.
Spirited_Ingenuity89@reddit
Yeah, people seem to think it’s a state or regional trend, but it definitely varies district by district. As populations change within a district, they will group students as needed based on numbers and facilities.
bthks@reddit
Varies depending on school district. My school district, middle was 7-8, but the town over it was 5-8. I have a friend that teaches in a 8-12 high school now, just two districts over from where we grew up.
elocin1985@reddit
Yeah it has changed a lot. When I was a kid, it was K-6, 7-8, 9-12. But now different districts split up those middle years differently.
Spirited_Ingenuity89@reddit
Districts have always done it differently. When you were a kid, you were probably only aware of your own district. There’s never been a universal approach.
grapebeyond227@reddit
Junior high for me in California was 6-8.
Effective_Coach7334@reddit
for me in norcal Junior High was only 7-8
hugeyakmen@reddit
My area in the north valley changed at some point and junior high became 6-8 but kept the old name
grapebeyond227@reddit
Interesting! I was in the Bay Area in the mid 80s
Educational_Impact93@reddit
I went to jr high in the Bay Area too. In Alameda it was 6-8th grade, but in San Leandro it was 7-8th. I was only in the San Leandro school district in 4th grade, but it was surprising to me to see 6th graders in elementary school.
silkywhitemarble@reddit
Junior high in California for me was 7-9, but that was back in the 80's.
grapebeyond227@reddit
I went to junior high in 85-88.
silkywhitemarble@reddit
80-83 for me... LAUSD
jda404@reddit
When I was in school and where I went middle school was 6-8th, high school was 9th-12th. My district didn't have a middle school and jr. high. We had elementary, middle and high school.
VegetableSquirrel@reddit
It does differ.
When I was a kid, we had K thru 4, 5 thru 8, and 9 thru 12.
ritchie70@reddit
My local district is k-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12.
elphaba00@reddit
I went to two different elementary schools - one for K-3 and another for 4-5. Then I did 6-8 at the junior high and 9-12 for high school. For K-5, we were all split between four elementary schools. We didn't meet our whole class until 6th grade. And this was a rural district with classes of around 120 kids.
My kids are in the same district, and they did K-1 at one school (with two schools handling the classes), 2-5 at another (with everyone there), 6-8 at the junior high, and 9-12 at the high school.
Hey-Fun1120@reddit
My daughter has been at a K-8 since K then will go to a 9-12
DrMindbendersMonocle@reddit
I went to a junior high that was 7 and 8. High school was 9 -12
makerofshoes@reddit
When I went we had junior high from 7-9, but 9th grade was still considered high school (freshman year). It’s because our high school was overcrowded so they pushed freshmen down to the junior highs. Later, they built another HS in the district and moved all 4 years back to the high schools, and then the junior high got renamed as a middle school and accommodated grades 6-8
Traveller7142@reddit
For me, Jr high was just 7-8
TinyRandomLady@reddit
That was called Intermediate School in Hawaii when I lived there.
rantmb331@reddit
that was called Intermediate School here
AchtungCloud@reddit
Intermediate was 5-6 for me. Junior high was 7-8.
rantmb331@reddit
Reading the comments here, it seems like there’s a lot more variation than I thought.
bananapanqueques@reddit
Intermediate for me was grade 4-5. Middle was 6. Jr high was 7-8.
waynofish@reddit
That was me. Jr. high, 7th, 8th and highschool, 9th - 12th. Class of 86 in Maryland.
wolfmann99@reddit
Was 6-8 here.
SippsMccree@reddit
Same, until the year I graduated to 10th and then it went to 3 grade levels being at it instead of just the two
EtchingsOfTheNight@reddit
I agree this is the most common. Mine had middle as 6-7 and junior high as 8-9. Kind of a great setup honestly, perfect age groupings.
virtualpig@reddit
I wouldn't say that this is common, as someone in the southwest I've never known any school districts that have Middle and Jr High being two seperate things, nor have I ever seen anu media referencing this. I think you guys with seperate middle and Jr highs are in the minority here.
Beruthiel999@reddit
This differs depending on region, what they call them and where the grades are.
For me, elementary school was K-6 (roughly ages 5 though 11), junior high/intermediate* was grades 7-9 (roughly ages 12-14) and high school was grades 10-12 (roughly ages 15-17), though all of this was subjective to when in the year your birthday falls.
*we didn't use the term "middle school"
accidental_Ocelot@reddit
For me elementary school was 1-8th grade and then high-school 9-12th grades we didn't have a middle school. but our elementary school even though it was 1-8th grade the building sort of had two halves and was connected in the middle by the library and auditorium anyway on one side of the auditorium was 1st through 5th grade we had 2 classes per grade so you could kinda choose which teacher you had either a local one or one from the city. My mom always put me in the teachers from the cities class cause they knew what they were doing. Anyway once you got into 6th grade the classes were combined from 2 classes per grade to just one big one. Also I forgot each side of the building had its own public bathroom and on the 1-5 side all the urinals were lowered down for little children and they had smaller toilets as well then once you got to the 6th through 8th side the bathroom was just like a regular big boy bathroom.
Tron_35@reddit
In my area elementary is pre k to 5th, middle school is 6 to 8th, and high school i 9 to 12
akaispirit@reddit
Here it was K-6, 7&8, 9-12.
nmteddy@reddit
That’s how mine was set up as well
LeprosyMan@reddit
This was true for me as well. Graduated early 2000’s
MeowMeow_77@reddit
That’s how it is in my district. If you count preschool, then it could be four different schools.
Zealousideal_Draw_94@reddit
And over time terms change…
my Oldest Sister went to elementary 1-6, JR High, 7,8,9th, high school 10,11,12.
Other sister was went lower Elementary K-5, upper elementary 6, JR high, 7,8, High School 9-12.
I went to lower Elementary K-4, Upper Elementary 5,6, Middle School 7,8, high school 9-12.
While I was still in school it changed again with middle schools being 6,7,8, and back to one elementary school.
manokpsa@reddit
I don't remember any schools in my region being called "junior high." They were all called middle schools, and the ones I went to were 7th and 8th grade, though now that I've looked them up, I see my first middle school is 6th through 8th grade now. It wasn't when I went there. I attended 11 different schools across states in the Northwest (we moved around a lot), and everywhere I went had the K-6, 7-8, and 9-12 system. The only weirdly named one I remember was called a grade school. It was still K-6, but all the others were called elementary schools.
tracygee@reddit
That’s unusual. Normally junior high or middle school are the same thing, although which years it covers varies a lot based on which school district you are in. My middle school was 7-9th grade, which was unusual. High school was just 10th-12th grades.
reapersritehand@reddit
I had 7 and 8th in one school, 9 in its own school then 10 thru 12 in one
TheLizardKing89@reddit
My middle school was 7-8
jIdiosyncratic@reddit
Yeah that was for us. JR High was 7-9. They changed it.Elem became 1-5 and Middle School 6-8. Changed it when I was going to 9th grade. We had to endure the first two years and didn't get to be the top. We got to go to HS as the first "freshmen". Complete let down.
thankyoufriendx3@reddit
For us junior high was 6-8.
rileyoneill@reddit
My parents and I went to the same school. When they were attending it was 7-9 and was Jr. High and when I attended it was just 7-8 and was middle school. But I do know people who did 6-8 for Middle school.
sircastor@reddit
Interestingly, mine changed while I was enrolled there. We started in 7th when the school had 7th, 8th and 9th, and then it transitioned to 6th-8th, so my last year there was 8th grade.
haleynoir_@reddit
Definitely differs. I've always known it to be interchangeable and always refers to grades 6-8
DanteRuneclaw@reddit
But a given school district has one or the other. So there are typically three different schools, not four.
EffectiveCycle@reddit
District I grew up in: in the last decade they introduced a school just for preK through first grade, 2nd through 6th still in elementary school, 7th and 8th middle school (it was junior high in the 90s when I went and they changed it when I was in high school), 9th through 12th high school. I now live a town over...kindergarten through 4th grade is elementary, 5th through 8th is middle school, and 9th through 12th is high school.
tlamy@reddit
I went to a K-5 elementary school and then a 6-8 middle school. But some of my friends went to a K-6 elementary and 7-8 Jr high. It really just depends
theegodmother1999@reddit
i went to middle school in a big city and it was 5th-8th
Rinir@reddit
Where I’m at it’s the same thing
elderly_millenial@reddit
Not necessarily. 7-8, attached to the HS is JHS. Middle school for me was 6-8 (this is more common in SoCal, but not universal). Different states have different conventions.
headbuttpunch@reddit
Those are probably the two muddiest zones across the country. Some places have middle or intermediate that stops at 6th grade and junior high is 7-8. But where I lived as a kid middle was 6-8 and nothing even called junior high. I moved to another state at the end of 8th grade, and there it wasn’t consistent even in the same town. My new school had 4-8 in one campus but it was called a junior high, while the junior high across town that fed into the exact same high school was 7 and 8 only.
User5891USA@reddit
Not at all. My middles school had 3000+ kids in it and it was the only feeder school for a high school that had 4000 kids.
goodhumorman85@reddit
Technically no, but I think your point is right. Mostly Middle school is 6-8 grades and Jr High is 7-8. So a school district has an elementary school that goes from k-5 or k-6. My city is working on moving from middle schools to jr highs and adding 6th grade to our elementary schools.
languagelover17@reddit
What? Almost nowhere I’ve ever seen has middle and high school in the same building. Only in small towns.
Thick-Journalist-168@reddit
No they aren't.
Spirited_Ingenuity89@reddit
There isn’t actually a “typically” in this context. It varies widely.
Grouchy-Stand-4570@reddit
Not for me. Junior high was only 7th and 8th grade, middle school was 6th through 8th
LSBm5@reddit
Not always. Here the kids go k-5, 6-7 middle school, 8-9 junior high, 10-12 high school. All different buildings.
thecardshark555@reddit
Not in our district.
K-2, 3-5, 6-8 middle school, then high school. I don't consider 6th grade Jr high.
Where I grew up: K-6, then 7-8 Jr high and 9-12 high school. 7-12 was all in the same building.
Ok-Energy-9785@reddit
Kind of. It depends on where you live. Suburbs and rural areas separate the two.
streetcar-cin@reddit
In some districts they are separated
Hoobi_Goobi@reddit
For some reason in my area 6th grade is it’s own separate school, and then junior high is 7-8th
The_Ri_Ri@reddit
I had both.
Lcdmt3@reddit
Many places have lower middle and upper middle. The city I live in didn't till last year because they had too many people, but not enough for a whole new middle and high school. So they just built one and made it a lower middle and the current one is an upper middle.
Last year they finally built a second high school, and one lower middle school went to one high school and one to the other. But many places still have lower and middle
DeeDeeW1313@reddit
Not always.
For example, where I grew up you had elementary, intermediate, middle school, jr high and high school.
Elementary Pre K-2nd Intermediate 3-5th Middle school 6-7th Jr High 8-9th High School 10-12th
Most high schools are 9-12th but we had too many issues with 14 year old girls and 18 year old guys so they moved the 13&14 year olds together for two years.
YoshiandAims@reddit
That depends.
I've had seperate and we have some Jr/Sr Highschools (combined)
krebstaz@reddit
Mine were different schools and I went to 4. K-5 elementary, 6-7 middle school, 8-9 Jr. High, 10-12 High School
bertmom@reddit
I’m in California and in my area middle school is 6-8 and high school is 9-12
Tiny_Tabaxi@reddit
I went to 2 different middle schools and neither had high school grade levels.
Crash217@reddit
My school system growing up had k-5 elementary buildings, a 6-7th grade building, the 8th grade building, the intermediate high school for 9-10 grade and finally the high school for grades 11-12.
My daughter’s school system in the next suburb over from where I grew up; has k-5, then the middle schools for 6-7grades. Then the junior highs for 8-9-10. Then 11&12 go to the main high school.
There are 1000-1300 kids per grade in both school districts. So there is basically a big school building every mile or two scattered through the town.
__nullptr_t@reddit
Not always. Very large districts sometimes split them up. The one I live in now does.
Hawk13424@reddit
Not where I went. For me K-3 ES, 4-6 MS, 7-9 JH, 10-12 HS.
neddiddley@reddit
Not everywhere. It varies greatly depending on where you live in the US.
547217@reddit
They weren't when I was in school. Middle school was a separate school just for 7th and 8th and that was probably to keep the bullying down to a minimum.
lezzerlee@reddit
For me they were physically separate schools. But it was additionally weird because first year of high school was at the junior high.
Elementary k-5 Middle 6 & 7 Junior high 8 & 9 High school 10-12.
ProfileFrequent8701@reddit
This is how mine was too.
greenmtnfiddler@reddit
Nope. For decades in all districts in my area, junior high was 7-9.
This shifted in the late 80s, with middle schools being 6-8.
GudsIdiot@reddit
Sometimes you’ll see 9th graders in a middle school also and they may have an intermediate school.
splorp_evilbastard@reddit
I had elementary school: K-5
Middle school: 6-7
Junior high: 8-9
High school: 10-12
The high school had additions built later and now 9-10 are at the high school (they now run 2 separate high schools where I went), 6-8 junior high, and they decommissioned the middle school.
Ok-Office6837@reddit
My middle school was also part of the high school - most of the classes were on the first floor of the building and then high school classes were on the 2nd and 3rd
So only two schools for me technically. Middle school had separated lunch and sports, but marching band and school plays were open for 7-12
Tx2PNW2Tx@reddit
They are absolutely not the same. I went to elementary, intermediate, middle school, and high school.
FivePointsFrootLoop@reddit
Negative.
mulligylan@reddit
theyre not the same thing, but some districts have just a middle school.
Howie_Dictor@reddit
It was called intermediate school in my city and then junior high after that.
Dense_Amphibian_9595@reddit
Naw, middle school is 6-8h grade. Most school systems have transitioned to middle school. In the old model, prior to the mid 1970’s, elementary was K-6, junior high was 7, 8, and 9th grades, and high school was just 10th, 11th, and 12th.
Somewhere along the line, educators realized that 6th graders were better suited to not be in elementary school which then pushed the 9th graders into high school. IDL the reasoning
winter_laurel@reddit
That was my experience too. Went to 4 schools
Elementary- K - 2nd grade 3rd - 4th
Jr High 5th - 8th
High 9th - 12th
Exlanadre@reddit
This is the answer for places that matter
burlingk@reddit
Kind of. It varies by which grade it starts.
bananapanqueques@reddit
Not everywhere.
Euphoric_Library47@reddit
That is incorrect. I attended two school districts that had both middle school and junior high.
neoslith@reddit
My middle school was 5-6, jr. high was 7-8.
It varies between districts.
r2k398@reddit
Not everywhere. Where my wife grew up, middle school was 5-6, jr high was 7-9, and high school was 10-12.
serpentjaguar@reddit
Mostly, yes, but it depends a lot on where you live. In the county where I grew up (Northern California in the early 80s), middle school was 6-8 while jr high was 7-9, and which one you went to was governed by the town you lived in.
SkyPesos@reddit
In most cases, yes. But some school districts do things weirdly. Like mine only had up to 4th grade in elementary, 5-6 were in intermediate, then 7-8 in middle/jr high.
alexjpg@reddit
I went to 4. K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12. A lot of schools are K-5 though so I think most people do 3. There are private schools that do K-12.
Inevitable_Ride_3698@reddit
Depends on the school. K-8 and high school was the norm in my area.
Shannysghost@reddit
I went to two Catholic schools. Grammar and High School. Then College. 3 schools
Pristine-Net91@reddit
I’m in a state without universal pre-k. Some children can get a spot in free pre-k through a lottery.
The public schools are K-5 (elementary) (some kids in pre-k) 6-8 (middle school) 9-12 (high school)
I sent my kids to a private half-day preschool (called nursery school in some places) for socialization and early “school readiness” skills.
oneislandgirl@reddit
Most places it is elementary, middle school or junior high, and high school. Middle school and junior high are probably one thing. Different districts divide the grades up differently often depending on the number of kids and the physical facilities. When I was in school, grades 7,8,9 were called middle school and the high school was grades 10,11,12. When my kids went, elementary was Kindergarten t0 grade 5, middle school was grades 6,7,8 and high school was grades 9-12.
polexa895@reddit
In WV it seems pretty common to go to Elementary School then High School with the exact ages varying a little but most places have just 2 schools and of the places that have 3 I've seen mostly separate buildings on a shared campus. But here it can be anywhere from K-8 to k-5 and then the rest in HS so you get some schools that are 9-12 and some that are 6-12
Footnotegirl1@reddit
So, my kiddo's school is PK-12 but they split it up into four segments. Lower Elementary (pk-2), upper elementary (3-5), middle school (6-8) and high school (9-12). Each of these has their own building, with the high school being on a completely different campus miles away.
When I went to school, it was K-8, with grades 7 and 8 having their own side hallway in the building, and then 9-12.
My husband had K-5, then 6-9, then 10-12.
Fuzzy_Flan_3947@reddit
Generally there is the Elementary school which is Kindergarten to 5th grade. Middle school which is 6th grade to 8th grade High school which is 9th grade to 12th grade.
Some school districts may have a building for just kindergarten to 2nd grade, and a building for 3rd grade to 5th grade.
Some might have 1 building for kindergarten to 8th grade.
Kindergarten students are 5 or 6, and 12th graders are 17 or 18 by graduation.
no1bookgirly@reddit
depends on the district most of the time. my dad went to a k-12 school because his graduating class was around 50 people, but my district has 4 school levels you go to. one of five elementary (whichever is closer to you) for k-4, intermediate for 5 & 6, middle for 7 & 8, and high school for 9-12. most people also go to 4k but i wouldn’t consider that really a school
flugualbinder@reddit
Middle school and junior high are interchangeable terms
DeceitfulDuck@reddit
I had just elementary and high school. 7th and 8th grades were in the same building as high school but we referred to it as "junior high" since it was almost completely separate, there weren't elective courses, and there were separate junior high sports teams.
Mysterious_Kick806@reddit
Some yes, some no. Heck we don't even all start and finish at the same time. Here it's Sept - June, many other places it's Aug - May. My school is k-5 elementary, 6-8 jr high (middle school) and 9-12 high school. There's a school near me that's so small k-12 are all in the same building.
Mysterious_Kick806@reddit
Sigh.
Again, the United States is very very vast. There are over 330 million people here, multiple climates, cultures, and standards.
I live in a small town in the northeast. We start school in September and end in June. Other's start in August and end in May. MY town has only elementary, middle/jr high (same building, same thing) and high school. It's not the same in other places. There's a school not far from me that's so small it's kindergarten through graduation in the same building.
thatladybri@reddit
This depends on states. My home state has 3 schools. Elementary (k-5th) middle (6-8th) and high school (9-12th).
My husbands home state and our current state has 4. Elementary (k-4) Middle (5-6th) junior high (7th-8th) high school (9-12th).
Also our home states touch and we grew up about 1.5 hours away from each other.
ilovemazzystarr@reddit
usually 3 or 4
Queasy-Primary4788@reddit
Middle school and Junior High are the same thing, most kids go to 3, some 4 because of preschool, or less sometimes.
TrueStoriesIpromise@reddit
I went to seven schools, due to a move, a school closing, trying a magnet school for a year, and a new school opening.
Any-Video4464@reddit
I only had two. Went to the same school from pre-k to 8th and then high school. And then college too so I guess technically 3 if you include college. It was a rural, small town. That's pretty common in that type of area.
ZombieMom82@reddit
Middle school and junior high is the same thing
miketugboat@reddit
No Preschool for a year(4-5), expensive but parents thought it was worth it
Elementary from k-5(5-11) (~450 students, 14:1 student to teacher radio)
Middle from 6th-8th (11-14) this one is the anomaly. It's only 3 grades and nearly as big as elementary or high. But everyone knows middleschoolers are awful due to puberty. (~750 students, also roughly a ratio of 14:1 ratio of students to teachers)
Highschool (almost universally 9th-12th grade, 14-18 years old, but exact education varies wildly) (~2,150 students and a 16:1 student to teacher ratio
I believe most americans just go to elementary, middle, and high schools. Anyone that goes to more schools likely transfered from a private school to the public school system. Even areas that technically have junior high usually house junior high at the middle or high school, so it isn't really a separate school but just a different part of another school.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
What’s the anomaly about middle school?
miketugboat@reddit
It's smaller and only 3 grades
No_Mix_7293@reddit
It can vary by district and by state but in mine it is pretty much standard that elementary is K-5; middle/intermediate is 6-8; high school is 9-12.
geordiedog@reddit
I went to 2. My kids went to 3. If we had stayed in the community we were in they would have gone to the same school from K-12. Whe I grew up it was K-8 and 9-13(grade 13 was a prep for University)
Virtual_Job9303@reddit
Depends on location.
In my area, it was elementary school and high school. However, they started building middle schools right when I hit that age; we were separated, but on the elementary school campus. In later years, middle schools in different locations were built.
There has been a surge in the number of charter schools. They’re a wild-card; they might have very limited ages, or run the entire thing K-12. Most focus on middle and high school, though.
solracer@reddit
My school district had (and still has I believe) for students in the town itself grades 1-3 in one elementary school, grades 4-6 in another (the two are just a couple of blocks apart), grades 7-8 in Jr High and 9-12 in high school. However they later built two additional elementary schools that were grades 1-6 so only kids within the city limits have a split elementary school.
Milton_honey_baby@reddit
It depends on the school Some smaller schools all grade levels are in the same building . why we have different schools ? Idk budget I guess and so many kids
Lemondroplet123@reddit
There are K-12 schools, as in kindergarten to high school, so you spend basically 12 years in the same school. I went to separate pre-school, elementary school, middle school and high school.
Dear_Captain_2748@reddit
Depends on region and school district (big or small district) in the united states. I have lived in multiple states and they all had different ways of doing things. At my first city in Oregon, there was elementary k-5th grade then 6-8th, then 9-12. In the second city Massachusetts it was k-4th, 5-8th, 9-12. But in Virginia I've seen pre-k-6th, 7-12th, or prek-3rd,4-6th, 7-12.
I've been to a school in Oregon however that did k-6th, 7-8. 9-12th. It just depends on the size of districts. interestingly enough in that school district there was 3 elementary schools that would then all funnel to the same middle school and high school. where i am currently there are about 4-5 schools that all funnel to the same junior high/high school.
JadesJunkAccount@reddit
Some high-population areas may have a K-12 school, and most private schools offer K-12, but the average American student can go through 3-5 schools. Preschool, Elementary, Middle, High, and College/University.
chrlttwrd@reddit
There is no standard in the US (as you can probably tell by the varied responses).
devilscabinet@reddit
The main divisions are elementary school, middle school / junior high, and high school.
Middle school and junior high are usually the same thing. Different school districts use different terms.
There can be some differences between school districts. For example, some preschools (and sometimes kindergartens, too) are separate from elementary schools. Some high schools are split in two, with freshmen and sophomores going to one, and juniors and seniors to another.
The specific grade levels that go to particular levels of school can vary a bit, too. In some places 6th grade is part of elementary school. In others, it is part of middle school / junior high.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
I’ve never heard of freshmen and sophomores being split from juniors and seniors, though I know one town that has a freshman academy and one school that used to exist that just had sixth graders.
I also know multiple private schools that put fifth graders in middle school. At one school, “early school” is two-year-olds through kindergartners; “lower school” is first through fourth graders; “middle school” is fifth through eighth graders, and “upper school” is high schoolers. So kids who attend school there and at similar schools could attend the same school for 16 years.
devilscabinet@reddit
I haven't seen it often, but there is a town near me that split the high school into a "lower" and "upper" one. It is a bit odd.
EnyaNorrow@reddit
Where I grew up it was like this: Preschool (optional, age 4), Elementary school (K-6 or K-5), middle school (6-8) OR junior high (7-9), high school (9-12).
rkskr@reddit
Middle school and junior high are different names for the same thing.
BlazinAzn38@reddit
Region dependent. I grew up in Arizona and we only had middle school which is 6-8. In Texas Junior high is 8-9 and is a separate campus from the high school. Some schools also have a freshman ‘campus’ that’s a standalone building g for just freshmen to be in where they don’t interact with 10-12 grade
essabessaguessa@reddit
Funny enough, I went to school in TX but our jr high was 7 and 8 while middle was only 5 and 6
It really is a regional thing it seems, East Texas is a weird place
liketheweathr@reddit
Where I lived in Texas the elementary schools had K-4, then there was one school that was just 5th graders, then a middle school for 6-7, then a separate middle school for just 8th graders, then 9-12 was high school.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
That seems like an unnecessarily high number of schools. Were some of the schools really small? Seems better to put fifth graders either with the middle schoolers or in the elementary school. Same for 8th - either in middle school or high school.
liketheweathr@reddit
Believe it or not, I did not design the system. I don’t know why they did it that way. All of the schools were small; it was a small town.
Cinisajoy2@reddit
Our town junior high is 7-9.
solarbaby614@reddit
This is how it used to be here. When I went into 7th grade they shifted a grade up so I was the last year who had 6th in elementary and only had two years of junior high.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
My middle school only had seventh and eighth graders at the time. There was a different school that was just for sixth graders. I don’t know why they did that, and I’m pretty sure this is the only part of that city like that. I think they went back to being typical middle schools later.
rkskr@reddit
It must be different in different parts of Texas cuz where I lived we also had middle school that was 6-8.
AccurateAlps9333@reddit
It’s can even be different with in the district. For example the district im ub the district eliminated the middle school so Elementary is K-8th in one city. However in the other 2 cities the district has schools in elementary is K-6th, Middle is 7-8th and HS is 9-12.
Though to answer OP question normally 3 schools not 4.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
Yeah, I’m in a pretty big city, and most of the public elementary schools end at fifth grade, but some have a middle school as part of that campus. And some have a prekindergarten program too, but others don’t. Private schools have a big range of how they do things.
No-Contact6664@reddit
People have real trouble with thinking what they experienced is normal.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
I know of a ton that has a freshman academy too. Not in Texas, and surrounding areas don’t do that.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
So is middle school 6-7 there?
AardvarkIll6079@reddit
Everywhere else ever has grade 9 being high school. What kind of crazy place do you live?
liketheweathr@reddit
No, not everywhere. Where I lived in New Jersey the high school was grade 10-12. Grades 8-9 were together in one middle school and grades 6-7 were in another. Elementary was K-5.
No-Contact6664@reddit
Not region dependent. School districts use buildings differently.
I'm in Texas right now. Middle is 6-8.
No matter how you slice it and no matter how school districts use buildings 9-12 is High School and 6-8 is Middle School. That's just the way it is no matter what your district is doing.
BlazinAzn38@reddit
I think how the district structures who interacts with who is exactly what determines if there’s a distinction between middle school and junior high school
slowbaja@reddit
I when to HISD then Fort Bend schools and in Houston 5-6 was intermediate and then 7-8 was middle then 9-12 High school but I moved to FBISD starting my 8th grade.
BigDog7779@reddit
Hah what a small world, i just moved to TX and my kids goto fort bend ISD and middle school is considered 6-8...
Draconuus95@reddit
Ya I grew up in first colony and most of them were the tradition k-5, 6-8, 9-12 spread.
I do think I remember there being a couple in the Missouri city area that followed the k-6 7-9 10-12 spread through. Might be mis remembering or could have changed since I graduated and moved away. Especially since that was close to 15 years ago.
slowbaja@reddit
Yep the middle school I went to in FBISD (Quail Valley) was 6-8 but I only went there my 8th grade year.
FB area is so boring ok for a family I guess but in my experience growing up it was boring. However things my have developed further along. Sienna Plantation was there and First Colony but that was the forbidden land and police made sure to let you know you weren't welcome there if they didn't think you were from there.
The high school I went to had students from that area and from the working class Missouri City area and the Sienna parents hated it. They cried so much that FBISD built Ridge Point High School just for them. Apparently it is a huge rivalry now in sports and my former high school hates them lol.
RealOsakadave@reddit
Went to school nearby Houston. We had elementary K-5, intermediate 6-8, and high 9-12.
Merrilys@reddit
My school in West Texas (2004) was 7-8, 9 separate, then 10-12!
As freshman they only put us together for extracurricular things like sports, music.
da_chicken@reddit
It's not even really region dependent. Our local school district had junior high schools when I went through, which change to intermediate schools shortly afterwards, and today they are called middle schools. There has been some discussion about reverting them to junior high schools again.
It's just a name.
Thick-Journalist-168@reddit
Depends on location. Middle school is 6th to 8th. Junior high is like 7th and 8th or 7th through 9th.
Dazzling_Gas9885@reddit
Wherever your region is stupid. Sorry it's just the truth
weaselblackberry8@reddit
They literally said it depends on location. It’s not stupid. Just different.
chitexan22@reddit
This is how it was for me. I was at a middle school (6th to 8th) but relocated. The new school district had a junior high (7th & 8th).
hugeyakmen@reddit
My area calls the public schools "junior high" but they are 6th to 8th. I think they used to be 7th and 8th and just kept the same names when they transitioned to including 6th
Relevant-Emu5782@reddit
That may be your experience, but it is most certainly not a universal experience in the US.
ReturnMetoEarth@reddit
It depends on the school system and how many students there are.
When I was going to school (10+ years ago now) we had: Preschool Kindergarten Elementary - 1st-5th grade Middle school - 6th & 7th Junior High - 8th & 9th (This was actually highschool but they didn't have the space at the time) High School - 10th- 12th
My niece goes to the same school system but it has changed due to increased volume of kids they now go to 2 different elementary schools. This has become a more common set up for growing cities Ive noticed. They are also looking into building a second highschool. Elementary - Pre K- 2nd 2nd Elementary - 3rd - 5th
Some more rural schools or private schools will go K-12 (Kindergarten all the way to Highschool seniors) in one school depending on how many kids there are.
Like most things in America, few things are truly standardized from state to state or even city to city and there are loads of factors that weigh in. Hope that helps!
DontCallMeRooster@reddit
No. It's generally three different schools. Some school districts have an elementary school (1st-6th grade), a junior high (7th-9th grade) and high school (10th-12th) while others have an elementary school (1st-5th), middle school (6th-8th) and high school (9th-12th). Or depends entirely on the school district.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
Where do you live where kindergarten isn’t part of elementary school?
DontCallMeRooster@reddit
Back in 197x in Albuquerque, when I started school, kindergarten was private. Us poors couldn't afford it, so it's not something I even think about.
ididreadittoo@reddit
Not all but many do. Middle school and junior high school are pretty much the same thing (between elementary school and high school).
The schools i went to were K-6, 7-9, and 10- 12 (elementary, middle or junior high, and high school) but not all schools have that same format.
Some places may have K-8 and 9-12 while others can have K in a sixth grade center while elementary is 1-5.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
“K in a sixth grade center”? Do you mean kindergarteners or sixth graders separate?
ididreadittoo@reddit
Different classes, same school. Kindergarteners and sixth graders. I found it very strange but it was one of the schools in the area.
IsopodKey2040@reddit
Typically it's:
Elementary - Ages 5 - 11
Middle School - Ages 12 - 14
High School - Ages 15 - 18
Libertas_@reddit
People who are June birthdays would start high school at 14.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
Why June in particular? I would say most kids are 14 when they start ninth grade.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
And people with summer birthdays might start kindergarten when they’re six.
AccurateAlps9333@reddit
While true, that more of the end of year ages. I was 14 when I started high school (9th grade)
To be even more accurate, however ages very due to different age cutoff dates.
Elementary K: 5-6 1: 6-7 2: 7-8 3: 8-9 4: 9-10 5: 10-11. MS: 6: 11-12 7: 12-13 8: 13-14
HS 9: 14-15 10: 15-16 11: 16-17 12-17-18
ALoungerAtTheClubs@reddit
No, it's usually elementary, middle, and high school. Many children also attend private preschools before elementary.
Afromolukker_98@reddit
In Los Angeles at least, we had Early Education Public PreSchools. So kids under 5.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
I think that public pre-K specifically (not preschool that serves kids younger than four) is free in California, but I don’t know how many kids it serves. There are some public prekindergartens throughout the country too.
AccurateAlps9333@reddit
Preschool isn’t mandatory though in California. Legally even Kindergarten isn’t technically mandatory either.
Afromolukker_98@reddit
True, I think it is just common place. Especially with parents who go in for work
HoldOnHelden@reddit
American kids who attend public school and live in the same place for their entire childhood normally end up attending two different schools: elementary school (grades K-6) and high school (grades 7-12). Some schools may separate grades differently, but that’s the usual.
Preschool would be a 3rd location arranged by individual families, as that’s not part of public school funding (as far as I know?) Not all kids go to preschool, but I think most of them do? At least where I grew up.
This may be different in more rural areas.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
I’ve seen high school serving kids as young as 7th grade on tv but not in real life. I’ve most commonly seen elementary school (K-5), middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12).
PaepsiNW@reddit
Every school district (16 total) I've been in has been 3 schools. K-5, 6-8, & 9-12. These school districts include California, Nevada, Montana, Texas, Illinois, and Ohio in various cities in each state between 1996-2009. I'd say 3 is the norm in a lot of the US.
Shabbadoo1015@reddit
That’s exactly how my wife’s school district in Western Mass was/is. Each town goes to the elementary school in their immediate area (K-6), then 7-12 is in the regional high school.
ranaelar@reddit
I'm American, and I've lived in several different states. I've never heard of anyone who went to a school system that was separated like this, into only two schools.
I'm sure that it probably does exist somewhere, but it's definitely not "the usual."
OriginalCause@reddit
Three, sometimes four. Pre-K, which is more like daycare and getting a kid used to being away from home. Elementary, Middle and High.
Junior High is synonymous with Middle School.
Australia does generally split between Kindy, Primary and Highschool so not all that different.
weaselblackberry8@reddit
A lot of preschools don’t just have pre-k but have a three-year-old preschool class too and often classes for two-year-olds. Daycares typically serve infants and toddlers as well. Many preschools and pre-kindergartens are not like daycare in that they’re only open for 3-5 hours a day rather than the 9-10+ hours that daycares are open. Many preschools are far too academic and have homework, field trips, etc. Others are nature-oriented, Reggio, Montessori, play-based, etc. But preschool is about a lot more than getting used to being away from home.
jtoohey12@reddit
Generally, unless you opt to go for further education via college, it’s just three: Elementary (K-5), Middle (6-8), and High school (9-12). Junior high is another term for middle school.
For me, these were all three completely different buildings which is pretty common. It’s not unusual though to see K-8 schools though which are basically elementary and middle school combined.
I think it’s also fairly common for pre-school and kindergarten to be their own schools as well instead of a part of elementary school but those levels are more like glorified daycare tbh
weaselblackberry8@reddit
Daycare is preschool that operates for a longer day, but the phrase “glorified daycare” is very offensive and ignores all of the learning that happens when kids are young. A whole lot of learning and brain development happens before kids turn three.
jtoohey12@reddit
I mean I get what you’re saying but I don’t really see how it’s “very offensive”. It just wasn’t as relevant to the convo
weaselblackberry8@reddit
Most kids I know attend preschool, but I don’t know if most kids nationwide do. Assuming a child stays in the sane area for their whole childhood, attends preschool at one school, and goes to pretty traditional public schools, then yeah, they’ll go to four schools - preschool, elementary school (K-5), middle school (6-8), and high school(9-12). But some public schools are K-8 or pre-k through 8th or go through 12th. And some people move to a different district or switch schools for whatever reason. I know multiple private schools that can educate kids from early childhood through high school - I can think of at least two that start at age two and go through 12th grade and others that start anywhere from 1.5-4 and go through 12th grade.
I personally attended preschool, a Catholic school from pre-k through sixth grade, middle school for seventh and eighth grades, high school, and college. My best friend attended preschool and then a big private school from age 3 or 4 through 12th grade, then college, then grad school.
I_survived_childhood@reddit
By my 11th year I was at my 13th school.
anthrotulip@reddit
It depends a lot location the most typical/common set up is 3 (Elementary)K-5/6; (Middle School/Junior High 6/7-8/9; 9/10-12(High School). 4 isn’t uncommon in schools in areas with higher population or income some districts will spilt Elementary School eg K-2 and 3-5 or have a different combo of MS/Jr eg 6-7;8-9. Sometimes an area is big or rich enough it has both of those.
Calm_Criticism1958@reddit
They usually go to either middle school or junior high. Not both. And it just depends on the school system they are in as to which they attend.
3catlove@reddit
I’m in a small town and our school is K-12 in one school. Classes are around 30-33 kids per grade. I think we are the exception though.
No_Owl_7380@reddit
I went to a K-6, 7-9, 10-12 district. My oldest child attended a K-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-12 district. My youngest is in a K-6, 7-8, 9-12 district.
Character_Drive@reddit
Usually it's 3 sets of schools.
Early education is elementary. The you go to a middle school or Jr. High. Then high school.
Often it will be Elementary: K-5 Middle: 6-8 High: 9-12.
Or Elementary: K-6 Jr. High: 7-8 High: 9-12.
Some districts will call 7-8 middle school, or 6-8 Jr. High. So the actual name doesn't matter.
Rarely, some districts will do high school as 10-12, and include 9th grade as Jr. High.
But because usually universities looks at grades from 9-12 grade, it makes sense to keep them in the same school. Because a 9th grader can be in 10th grade classes.
In pop culture, a good example is Full House. DJ went to a Jr. high school. But then San Francisco (in real life) changed their system and redistricted. So Stephanie explains that she and her friends all got split up and were going to different Middle schools.
boisenbeani@reddit
Middle school and junior high is the same thing. Only difference is middle school is typically 6-8th grade and junior high is typically 7-9th. Some districts have junior highs, some have middle schools.
Maple-pelican-472@reddit
I think most common is: Elementary K-5 Middle 6-8 High 9-12
But there are a lot of possible combinations like: Primary K-2 Elementary 3-5 Middle 6-8 High 9-12
Elementary K-6 Middle 7-8 High 9-12
Elementary/middle together K-8
Middle/high together 6-12
Small schools may be K-12 all together
Real-Broccoli-9325@reddit
I went to a K-8 inner city school, moved, went to 2nd-4th at a suburban elementary school, went to the local middle and high schools.
Where I lived in the city there were about 5 k-8s, and 4 8-12s. The suburbs were 3 1-4, and only one middle and high.
Junior highs are less common now because moneyyyyy
HairyDadBear@reddit
I went to 5 different ones. My pre-school and kindergarten were in a Christian school.
coldfisherman@reddit
I have 4 kids who are all going to different schools. But we're in the city and kids can choose. They take the city busses, so I told them the could do whatever they wanted as long as they got there on time. :)
Some are big schools with 1500 people and some are small with 300 people. Out in the country, it is much more like Elementary -> Jr High -> High School.
Until--Dawn33@reddit
Elementary school is usually K-5th grade, Middle school and junior high are the same thing. Usually 6-8th grade. Then highschool is usually 9th-12th grade. There is also pre-school where ages vary between 3-5 yrs old. So if you attend all, it's 4 different schools, but some parents opt out of preschool.
No-You5550@reddit
Middle school and junior high school are the same thing which is about 7th to 9th grade. We have 12 years.
Plato198_9@reddit
Pre-school. Elementary, Middle School/Junior High (same thing where I’m from), High School
ScamperPenguin@reddit
Yes, but a different 4 than you described. Most American kids go to preschool, elementary school, middle school, and high school. Additionally, about 62% of high school graduates go to college/university.
DRose23805@reddit
When I started out, it would have been one school from K-12. However, that school closed due to mismanagement at the top so I went to another school and, oddly enough, would have transferred back to that same location for high school as a new high school only was operating there. Instead I went to a different high school, all four years at the same place.
Most people though seem to move through two or three different schools.
12468097531@reddit
Middle school and junior high would be a one or the other thing. It's either k-5, 6-8, 9-12 for the middle school set up. Or k-6, 7-9, 10-12 for the jr high set up. I know in my kids school district, the public schools follow the junior high model, the private schools follow the middle school model
Tricky-Wishbone9080@reddit
Varies by district but most around me are k-4 elementary ,5-8 middle school with 7-8 being junior high, and 9-12 high school. Usually 2-3 separate buildings/campuses but that can vary.
Any-Instruction-3373@reddit
I went 1 school for elementary 1 for 6th grade Another one for 7th grade 8th and 9th at another school and 9th - 12th in high school. So let's see.…5 schools. Yes, back in the 80’s in Florida they bussed us to different areas of town to schools.
Gloomy-Ask-9437@reddit
Most public school systems are elementary, middle/junior high, and high/senior high school. But not only does it vary by state, it also varies by county/county-equivalent (which there are over 3,000 of). Private schools are often k-12, but not always.
Gloomy-Ask-9437@reddit
Oh, also there are sometimes preschools and headstart programs that are basically pre-kindergarten. Some places have Pre-K as an actual grade in elementary school and others do not.
SlightMaintenance899@reddit
My school was elementary (k-3) intermediate (4-5) middle (6-8) and high (9-12).
TwincessAhsokaAarmau@reddit
Nah, I had elementary and then middle and high school combined.
luminousoblique@reddit
It varies a lot by where you live. Where I live, it's typical to attend elementary (kindergarten through 5th grade, roughly age 5 to 10), middle school (6th through 8th, age 11-13) and high school (9th-12th, age 14-18).
Even in my city, though, there are options to attend Kindergarten through 8th grade at one school, and then a separate high school.
There is also one nearby district that has separate schools for primary (kindergarten through 2nd grade, age 5-7) and elementary (3rd through 5th grade, age 8-10), and then middle school and high school.
But 3 schools, elementary, middle school, high school, is by far the most common pattern.
Solid_Coyote_7080@reddit
3 was the norm in most places I lived. I went to 8 because we moved a lot.
Prestigious-Comb4280@reddit
It's 3 schools junior high and middle school are the same and the grades vary on districts.
Writeforwhiskey@reddit
In Chicago 80s and 90s we had K-8 and high school. I thought middle school and Jr high were a TV or suburb thing
Longjumping-Half-909@reddit
3 schools. Elementary is k-5/6 middle and junior high are the same essentially. Middle is 6-8 and JH is 7-9. And high-school is 9/10-12. School districts are what typically determines if u go to middle vs junior high
TheyisFinn@reddit
Middle school used to be called junior high. I’m a late 90’s kid and when my parents were in those grades it was junior high, but it was called middle school by the time I was going into it. Just so you’ve got an idea of where it could have gotten changed. The grades also got changed around. Middle school is currently 6th 7th and 8th grade but used to be 7th 8th and 9th. Elementary and high school grades differed in order to align with that.
DefendTheStar88x@reddit
It really depends on the state, and the how densely populated with kids the area is.
But Elementary. JR high school and High school would be the norm id say.
I myself went to catholic school, so Kindergarten thru 8th grade, then a separate regional high school for 9 thru 12th grades.
Stardewfan24@reddit
Junior high and middle school are the same thing. Different names for the same grades.
mando_ad@reddit
I went to 6, but that involved a highly unusual completely isolated campus for one grade (literally, a full separate school miles away from the others), and a new high school being built while I was attending.
salty_mate@reddit
4 was an older way of doing things. Most Americans do 3 now.
ertyuioknbvfrtyu@reddit
middle school and junior high are the same thing, different cities call them different things. There’s also k-8 which is elementary and middle school combined, and k-12 which is all years in one school
DD-Megadoodoo@reddit
We had elementary (k-2), another elementary (3-5), middle (6-8) and high (9-12)
Fair_Tip4563@reddit
It depends entirely on where. Some places are so small there is one school. Some places combine k-6 or even k-8. Some have 8-9 separate from 6-7. Some places hae 5 schools. Depends on location, population, school district decisions, state decisions. As with everything USA, there is no system, there is just all possible systems at once. It is not one country, it is 50 separate states that barely tolerate each other.
antifayall@reddit
my dad was military, I went to ten
FlyingCupcake68@reddit
Our system does K–5, 6–8, and 9–12
But for reasons, I went to three different elementary schools!
General-Pear-8914@reddit
I had kindergarten-3rd, 4th-6th, and 7th-12th. Our town is smaller, only about 110 students per class in 7th-12th. Kindergarten-6th the kids are split into 2 or 3 separate schools based on where you lived in the district. Through 6th grade, the teacher you were assigned taught everything in one room except for choir, band, and physical education. Once you got to 7th grade all students in the district came to the one school and started taking classes by different teachers throughout the day. Choir and band were 7-8th and 9-12th, and physical education was by grade. Sports were split between junior varsity as 7-9th and varsity as 9th-12th. 9th graders were able to play both if they were good enough.
Dianag519@reddit
I just went to elementary school k-8 then high school. That was normal for all the towns in my area. Now my daughter is going to elementary 1-6 and Junior high 7-9. Then high school. We are the first district in my area to do it. The others are still hot I did school.
Repulsive_Repeat_337@reddit
In Michigan it's called a middle school if it has grades 6, 7, and 8; It's called junior high school if it has 7, 8, and 9. Ninth grade is part of your high school transcript either way.
Casingdacat@reddit
No. Three. Middle school and Junior High School are the same thing.
StormCloudRaineeDay@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same thing.
shirlxyz@reddit
Elementary, jr high (7th& 8th grade), high school grades 9-12, only the high school grades respectively were called freshman, sophomore, junior, senior
AgreeableClub4499@reddit
Our private school had us going to 5 different schools. K-1st, 2nd-3rd, 4th-6th, 7th-8th, and 9th-12th. They just recently condensed them all to one campus.
One_Recover_673@reddit
Add preschool.
Dense_Amphibian_9595@reddit
Two major models (yes, some smaller school districts do things differently)
The pre-1972 model - elementary was K-6, junior high was 7-9, and high school was 10, 11, and 12th grades.
Post 1972, it became a consensus that 6th graders really didn’t need to be in elementary school. So then it became:
Elementary K-5, middle school 6-8, and high school 9-12.
Nowadays, most elementary schools in most large districts at Pk1, Pk2, K, and 1-5. Pk1 and Pk2 are usually half day programs
Relevant-Emu5782@reddit
I wasn't born until 1972, and I attended grade 6 at a public k-6 school. It's extremely variable throughout the entire country. My daughter, born in 2010, attended grade 6 at a pK-grade 8 school.
Dense_Amphibian_9595@reddit
The dominant model in 83% of districts is now the middle school model - k-5 elementary, 6-8 middle school, and 9-12 high school. 10% of districts use the traditional model - k-6 elementary, 7-9 junior high, 10-12 high school. 7% use other models. I was wrong on when the transitioning began - it started in the early 1960’s but didn’t reach our district until the mid 70’s. Source: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09243453.2019.1654526#abstract
mysterycanclub@reddit
I went to 4 as they transferred me partway through elementary to another school with a special program.
But I think 3 is the norm unless you get those fancy parents who also put you through preschool.
Grrrandma@reddit
i went to school starting in 1976 in florida. back then it was kindergarten through 5th grade at elementary school. next was 6th grade at a 6th grade center. then it was 7th grade at a seventh grade center. then it was 8th and 9th grade at junior high school. and finally i went to 10th, 11th and 12th grade at high school.
Jclo9617@reddit
Every school district is different. When I was a kid, my dad was in the military, so we moved a lot. Most districts do some variation of breaking up the grades into 3 schools as others have described: elementary (K - 4/5/6), middle school/jr-high (5/6 - 7/8), highschool (8/9 - 12). However, for a couple of years I did go to school in a district that had 4 schools, but they were lower elementary (K-2), upper elementary (3-5), middle school (6-8), highschool (9-12). There was also a year or two when I went to school in a very rural district that had K-12 all in one school.
Just_Me1973@reddit
In my town we had K-5 in elementary school. 6 and 7 in middle sxhool. 8 and 9 in junior judge. And 10-12 in high school.
cats_and_tats84@reddit
I went to 5: K-4, 5-6, 7th (only), then 8-9, but while I was there, they built a new school, so then it became 9-10, (so I ended up with 3 years total at that school), then “senior campus” was 11-12. My high school was very large (my graduating class was 1000+ students). A few years later, they built a second high school campus, after I had graduated. Sounds crazy, after I write it out. lol
IdontknowhowIfeel13@reddit
It depends on what you mean by “schools.” I went to school in the midwest (middle of the country and generally more sparsely populated). My town had one public school system (government funded and free for everyone) and one private school system (privately funded, not free to attend, and catholic affiliated). Each school system was exactly that: one school.
I went to the same school system k-12. However, each school did have multiple buildings for different grade levels. The different terms used (early elementary, secondary elementary, middle, and High) were used to define what freedoms and responsibilities a student was expected to have. For example, libraries would have different reading material based on what reading level students were expected to have at that school. The early elementary school (k-3 back then but now includes preschool) would have the most basic books but the library at the high school would even have college level stuff. It was also used to categorize sports teams and who you could compete against as far as age was concerned.
So yes I went to four different buildings over my primary school career but I only ever attended one school. Some school systems are small enough that they don’t do this and all school years are in only one or two buildings. These smaller schools may create contracts with larger surrounding schools to offer more classes to their students like advanced math classes. Also, the grades and names of these different levels can vary. In my high school, the grades were 9-12 but for some it could be 8-12 and others only 10-12. Middle school and junior high are generally considered the same thing but not always.
Relevant-Emu5782@reddit
Why do you refer to it as a "school system" when it was a single building? I would typically think of that as a school, and not a system.
IdontknowhowIfeel13@reddit
Simple, the system (generally referred to as a district in the US) always has to work together, regardless of how many buildings it has. Public school systems get a lump of funding from the government and have to decide how to spend it between all the grades. The amount of buildings don’t matter. All the buildings in a district will generally share busses. Teachers are hired by the district, and may move from building to building depending on their contract. A school district with a single building could buy another building. It is still a system regardless of how many buildings it has.
velocitate12@reddit
Where I went we had three schools. Kindergarten to 3rd, 4th-6th, and a junior senior high school that went from 7th - 12th. However the jr sr high school the 7th and 8th grade were in a separate section and only really crossed paths to go to lunch with the traditional high school.
Sclayworth@reddit
What about Kindergarten?
outloud230@reddit
I went to 2: elementary school was k-8, and high school was grades 9-12. But now kids could do prekindergarten and K, elementary 1-5, middle 6-8 and high school 9-12.
Equivalent_Sale_3974@reddit
I had four. K- grade3 was elementary, grades 4-6 was intermediate, grades 7-8 was junior high and grades 9- 12 was high school.
TruCat87@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same thing. But otherwise yes.
EloquentRacer92@reddit
Usually, kids will go to a preschool, K-5 elementary, 6-8 middle school, and 9-12 high school.
WhoWouldCareToAsk@reddit
In our school district it’s three schools: elementary (grades 1-6), middle (grades 7 and 8), and high school (grades 9-12). There was a time when grade 6 was in middle school, but they moved it to elementary for some reason…
Lingo2009@reddit
I went to 12 different schools, but we moved around a lot. If we would have stayed in the same place, my brothers would have gone to four different schools. One for kindergarten through sixth grade, one for seventh and eighth grade, one for ninth and 10th grade, and one for 11th and 12th grade. I mentioned my brothers because by the time I got into the upper grades, some of those schools were consolidated.
reptilianamphibian@reddit
My elementary was preschool-6th but I did kinder through 6th there. They recently went to 8th grade a few years back and im sure my parents would've let me stay if I it went to 8th while I was there. I did 7-8 at a differnt school but the school actually went from 6th to 12th im pretty sure i would've stayed there if i never was accpted to my highschool. And I went to a college highschool that started at 9th and I finsihed there.
Other schools in my area have two buildings for differnt grades and its not uncommon for people to start in their preschool through 5thbgrad building and end in their 6th theough 12th building. Depends on districts and what parents want to do.
billy_pickles@reddit
In my part of America my first school was Kindergarten - 4th grade, then 5th-8th was middle school (this was in another part of town) then high school is grades 9-12.
So basically every 4 grades you switch schools.
OkayButFirst@reddit
My hometown school is K-12 all in one building
sargent73@reddit
We had kindergarten, elementary grades 1-5, junior high grades 6-9, then senior high grades 10-12. We could never have had a k-12 with the amount of students. My graduating class was around 2000 people. So just the senior high had close to 6k students in the building. That's just the grades 10-12
EnvironmentalYam2058@reddit
It depends on where you live but the common split is Elementary is K-5(or6) Middle/Jr high (6)7 and 8th grade and High school is 9-12. My district was Elementary k-2, intermediate 3-5, middle 6-8, freshmen campus 9, and high school 10-12. The freshmen campus was a separate building near the High school but you had to walk to the high school for some of your classes because they were mixed grades like Band, Art, Languages, and some honors classes. It’s also common to have Jr/Sr high school which is only 11-12 grade. And small districts may only have 1 or 2 schools for all grades so they have lower k-6 and upper 7-12 or k-12 all in the same building.
OfficialDeathScythe@reddit
Some cities do it differently within the US. My school, for instance, used to be elementary (k-4) to intermediate (5-6) to middle (7-8) to high school (9-12) but they switched it recently so it’s elementary (k-5) middle (6-8) and high school (9-12).
I also went to preschool but that was more of a classroom at my church that taught some basic things to kids who were too young for kindergarten
TypeOneTypeDone@reddit
Junior high and middle school are often interchangeable terms. Usually it’s elementary, middle school/junior high, then high school. Some schools are kindergarten-8 or k-12, but those are small and usually private/ really small town places.
Spiritual_Bike_708@reddit
depends, you got to 3k (not required), 4k, elementary, middle, then high, so yes, 4 different schools
Glittering_Radish205@reddit
Depends on the place. But three is typical. Some places have K-8 plus high school. Some places have K-12.
SBognerAnderson@reddit
My kids (twins) went to five. Their first elementary school was way too boisterous for them, so we moved them to another elementary school. Then the district closed that school due to budget cuts, so the poor kids went to three elementary schools. Then we had middle school (grades 6-8), junior high (7-8), and high school. They had 600+ in their high school class.
I grew up in a town of 750 people. The above would have killed me. You could do anything you wanted in high school. I was a cheerleader, on dance team, in band/marching band, plays, choir, played volleyball, and was the boys track manager one year. Boys in the football team often played both offense and defense because there weren't enough kids. 😆 It totally worked for me. Understand why it's hard for others.
Astro_Birch_317@reddit
Sometimes, though most commonly, a student will attend three.
Elementary school usually starts with kindergarten and goes through 4th, 5th, or 6th grade, depending on the school district or individual school. High school usually starts at 9th grade, although sometimes 10th grade, and goes through 12th grade. Between elementary and high school, there may be junior high school, middle school, or intermediate school ... occasionally, those grades might even be split between two schools, resulting in a total of four over a student's career. Then again, it's also not uncommon for students to only move through two schools, an elementary (K-6) and a junior/senior high school (7-12) or a primary (K-8) and high school (9-12). In very small communities, there is only one school for all grades.
How schools are structured will vary by community, depending on demographics and local funding and other factors. It can also change as those factors change over time. For instance, several school districts in my state are consolidating schools due to shrinking enrollment and budget deficits. Some are closing one or more elementary schools and "restructuring" from a K-6/7-8/9-12 model to a K-4/5-7/8-12 model.
I suspect that the most common (or at least most traditional) school structure in the US is either 1) elementary (K-6), junior high (7-8), and high (9-12) or 2) elementary (K-5), middle (6-8), and high (9-12).
capsrock02@reddit
No
Turbulent-Sky-2324@reddit
I went to one that was 1-3, then 4-6, then 7-8, then high school 9-12. Now they have it to where it’s 7-8 at the high school.
Either-Youth9618@reddit
In general, children change schools three times in their lifetime. However, middle school and junior high are roughly equivalent. Some areas have junior highs and some have middle schools, it just depends on the local area. This affects the length of the elementary school and high school time as well.
Elementary School = Kindergarten to 5th or 6th grade
Junior High = 7th to 9th grade
Middle School = 6th to 8th grade
High School = 9th to 12th grade or 10th to 12th grade
VirtualMatter2@reddit
Does everyone go to high school?
Relevant-Emu5782@reddit
In my state, school attendance through age 18 is mandatory, so yes, unless the student is homeschooled. After 18 they can drop out if they want to but they're almost finished anyway so there's not much point so almost everyone stays and gets their graduation/completion certificate.
VirtualMatter2@reddit
I see. Here part of the apprenticeship is still some schooling which covers the mandatory part. However they doesn't allow you to study at a university. But on the other hand not every degree has an application process or entrance exam.
beenoc@reddit
It's certainly the norm and expected. It is possible to drop out and not finish high school, but 1) you seriously limit your job prospects (even basic jobs require a high school education or GED - a GED is basically a high school diploma you can get if you dropped out to prove you have the same education level) and 2) there's a big stigma - "didn't finish high school" is associated with being a bit of a failure in life.
VirtualMatter2@reddit
Interesting that schooling is actually longer in the US than in Europe ( at least from the countries I know). Here leaving after middle school ( after year 10 equivalent) is fairly common and you have final exams etc. Not everyone does Abitur/Baccalaureate/Matura/A-Level or what they call them locally.
beenoc@reddit
The high school diploma or GED. We don't have the European two-track education system, where students are sorted into "higher" and "lower" tiers and only the ones in the "higher" tier are able to continue on to higher education (and in fact, almost all Americans would find that idea repugnant and anti-egalitarian.) It's expected that every student will get, at least on paper, the same education, no matter what.
Of course, there are variances - most high schools will offer "honors" (more rigorous) or Advanced Placement (AP, much more rigorous and can give you college credit for the class if you do well) versions of classes (e.g. you can take "regular biology" where you learn the basics of cells and stuff, "honors biology" where you go more in depth and maybe do some experiments like gel electrophoresis, or "AP biology" where you go very in depth, potentially do even more experiments, multiple dissections, and so on.)
College applications are generally competitive, particularly for more prestigious colleges or popular degree programs (e.g. engineering programs are more competitive than philosophy programs, because more people want to be highly paid engineers than poorly paid philosophers.) Taking more honors or AP classes makes you look better on your college application, and more likely to get into a competition program (plus like I said, AP can count as college classes, so if you do well in AP Biology you won't need to take biology in college, if your degree requires it.)
VirtualMatter2@reddit
I see. The US system differs quite a bit grim the ones I know in Europe ( they are quite different from each other so I'm not talking universally). In Germany for example courses like math, physics, engineering, history, languages etc don't have any application process other than you need to have passed your Abitur. Some courses have minimum requirements of your final grade and entry exams though, like medicine or music. England is more like the American system with applications and high costs.
ActualMerCat@reddit
Everyone goes to high school. A few drop out when they get to a certain age. 16-18 years old depending on the state. Most every single American has a high school degree. Many that don’t finish high school eventually get a GED, which is a test that gets you a high school equivalent certificate. Over 90% of adults have a high school degree or GED. Many people that don’t are older and went this school before
VirtualMatter2@reddit
So theoretically Americans are better educated than Europeans who often leave school at around 16 and start an apprenticeship or similar if they don't plan to go to university. I'd say about 50/50 or so?
ActualMerCat@reddit
We’re definitely not better educated in the US. It’s just structured differently. You’re still getting an education with an apprenticeship.
Having apprenticeships and more tech/trade schools options would greatly benefit us.
VirtualMatter2@reddit
It varies by country in Europe as well though. The UK doesn't have apprenticeships either anymore and still more people leave school after GCSEs age 16.
Ok_Writing_7033@reddit
In Phoenix we only changed once. One school was K-8 and then high school for 9-12.
It changes per region and/or school district but this is pretty much standard in my area
audioaddict321@reddit
Same - in Chicago Public Schools, so a major city and the same standard for most private schools in the area, too.
zazor701@reddit
I also went to a K-8 school, but at mine they definitely treated the elementary and middle school portions pretty differently so there would be a distinction between the two. So, it kinda felt like changing schools without actually changing schools.
Beneficial_Arm4874@reddit
That’s how it worked where I grew up as well. I think having middle school is a better system if your region has enough kids though.
Either-Youth9618@reddit
Yup. As I said, in general, children change schools three times in their lifetime.
DharmaCub@reddit
Junior high and middle school are different terms for the same thing
Relevant-Emu5782@reddit
No they are not
DharmaCub@reddit
Yes they are
Relevant-Emu5782@reddit
Many people report here on this very thread that their schooling included some form of elementary that went from k-4 or k-5, middle school that was 5-6 or 5-7, jr high that was 7-8, 7-9, or 8-9, and high school that was 10-12. So how does that make middle school and jr.high the same thing, when they are different grades, different buildings, and different names?
LincredibleOne@reddit
In my experience, you often have Jr. High OR Middle School in a district, not both.
Mind_Melting_Slowly@reddit
For those who attend the public schools, the norm would be three schools prior to university (elementary, middle, and high schools). For children who attend Catholic schools, and possibly other religious-based schools, some attend Kindergarten-8th Grade primary schools (ages 6 to 13/14), followed by high school, although some also have a preschool or run Kindergarten-highschool.
Thin-Telephone2240@reddit
For me it was Elementary School (K thru 6th), Junior High School (7th), a different Junior High School (8th, we moved) and High School (9th thru 12th).
I consider those the Lost Years. Finally, I escaped and sought out an education on my own. I did alright.
OmightyOmo@reddit
Depends on the school district and how many kids are enrolled.
Relevant-Emu5782@reddit
Not all students go to 'district' schools. Some kids attend secular private, religious private (parochial), or charter schools.
DatTomahawk@reddit
My district had 4. Elementary was Kindergarten-4th, 5th and 6th was “intermediate school”, 7th and 8th was middle school, and 9th-12th was high school.
count_strahd_z@reddit
It varies a lot. I went to kindergarten in our local public school, then our parish parochial school for 8 years, and then a four year high school.
ClickAndClackTheTap@reddit
Middle School and Junior High School are about the same thing. Although some communities are moving to a K-8 model.
MortgageOdd2001@reddit
Chicago schools are mostly k-8th. I only knew that kids went to “jr high” or “middle school” from young adult books and movies. The school groups kids together that way, but you are in the same school as the younger kids.
ForestOranges@reddit
So did you still spend all day with the same teacher and kids for the most part or did you changed classes every period like a traditional middle school?
Relevant-Emu5782@reddit
My daughter's k-8 school had 2.5 teachers per classroom for prek-6, 2 classes per level and 5 teachers, one floated between the two rooms. For 7-8 there were 6 teachers and 4 separate areas of the school that were designated for middle school, so both teachers and students would move around as needed depending on what was scheduled for a particular day.
then00bmartian@reddit
I went to a K-8 public school in Chicago. We switched classrooms/teachers for different subjects starting in 6th grade.
ForestOranges@reddit
I worked at a K-12 school and that’s how it worked. It was pretty annoying though because they didn’t use bells because then the elementary schoolers would’ve heard them too.
CinemaSideBySides@reddit
Most of the private schools I know were 1-8.
I'm the same as you, I never knew what junior high or middle school was. It blew my mind when I saw the public school near me had a high school just for freshmen.
realisan@reddit
My son’s private school was preschool - 8. He then moved on to an all boys school for 9-12. That is pretty common in the Northeast Ohio area private schools.
Relevant-Emu5782@reddit
Same
Cerulean_IsFancyBlue@reddit
Same. My K-8 called 7-8 “junior high”, but it was mostly an ego thing for the kids. we were still part of the same school, used the same gymnasium, rode the same buses.
Rare_Vibez@reddit
That’s wild to me. My town has 3 elementary schools, I can’t imagine the size of school they’d need to bundle them together, let alone add in the middle school.
Draconuus95@reddit
lol. My district had almost 50 elementary schools and 25 or so middle schools. And we still struggled with those being overfilled. They would have to completely rebuild dozens of campuses to pull off a K-8 style system. Just crazy to think about to me.
I can see it working better in smaller communities where the shared resources helps lower costs and such. But damm. Can’t imagine how it works in areas like Chicago.
Rare_Vibez@reddit
I feel like I should have specified I’m in a small ish town lol but yeah, the restructuring would be wild, even in a small place like mine.
ClickAndClackTheTap@reddit
We have like 8 TK-8 and 2 middle schools.
bertmom@reddit
I’m in California and the area I’m in has rural areas with k-8, bigger towns with elementary k-5 and junior high 6-8, high school 9-12
redwingsphan19@reddit
This is how my town is we have 4 k-8 schools a couple of charter schools and a high school.
New_Willingness6453@reddit
Long ago when I went to school, it was elementary (grades 1 through 8) and high school (9 through 12).
Relevant-Emu5782@reddit
2 for my daughter, preK-8 elementary and 9-12 high school.
Fiesty_Koalas87@reddit
This is very regional. I grew up in a very rural area and K-12 were all in one building. My kids however will end up going to 4 schools: k-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-12.
botulizard@reddit
As far as I understand in modern times, "middle school" and "junior high" are functionally synonymous, usually comprising grades 5-8, although some places will do 6-8.
The school where I completed grades 5-8, I believe used to be two different schools with two different names, one a "middle school" (grades 5-6), and one a "junior high school" (grades 7-8), but this distinction was phased out decades before I got there and the entire building was just called a "middle school" no matter what grade you were in.
Veritas_Leonis@reddit
I went to 10 different schools from K-12. My Dad moved us around a LOT, and he wasn’t even in the military. 🤷🏼♀️
Weary-Knowledge-7180@reddit
I went to preschool (before pre-k was a thing), primary (K-3), elementary (4-5). middle school (6-8), high school (9-12). When the new middle school is done, they will switch it around a little. Primary will be pre-k-2nd, elementary will be 3-4, middle school will be 5-8, high school will remain 9-12.
Lezlord-69@reddit
Junior high and middle school are two names for the same thing typically. Though I have heard some school districts seperate the ages a little differently.
For me, it was age 5-10 in elementary, 11-13 middle school, 14-18 highschool. Some split it so its 5-11, 12-13, 14-18. Im sure there are other slight variations around the country.
I guess its also kind of weird that we have specific names for the years in highschool (freshman, sophompore, junior, senior), whereas every other grade is just referred to by the number (ie. 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade etc).
dasHeftinn@reddit
I went to 6. Kindergarten, elementary (1-3), 4th grade (its own building), middle school (5-7), junior high (8-9 [don’t ask me why 9th grade was lumped in, dumbest shit I ever heard of] ) and high school (10-12).
My school system was insanely awkward but actually is one of the best in my state. The 9th grade part kinda fucked me over; didn’t realize I was actually in high school and GPA mattered.
Anonymous_22444@reddit
Elementary, Middle, and High School are the typical three.
SirCharlito44@reddit
I had Elem. = K-5 Middle = 6-8 High = 9-12
Defiant_Ingenuity_55@reddit
You go to either Middle School of Junior High School. They actually are the same grades, somewhere between 6th or 7th-8th or 9th grade, with different philosophies. In reality, most schools labeled Junior High are actually run on the Middle School model but didn't change their names back when the change was made.
terpystation@reddit
Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle/Junior, High
positivepeoplehater@reddit
Don’t forget about preschool!
TubaJesus@reddit
Middle school and junior high school are often used as synonyms. There are places where all 4 do exist, but that would be an anomaly.
supitsstephanie@reddit
The district where I currently live operates five schools- a preschool, k-1-2 (elementary), 3-4-5 (intermediate), 6-7-8 (middle), and a regular 9-12 high school
kerisugi@reddit
For me it was 3 schools Elementary: kindergarten-5th grade Middle school: 6th-8th grade High school: 9th-12th grade
CorrectCondition9458@reddit
In my area in Va it was k-4. 5. 6-8. and 9-12. We were overcrowded in my county so 5 grade had its own building. Side note. My sister and I were 1 grade apart and went to two different middle schools. It was hell for my mother on parent night bc they were always on same night. This was in the 70 s.
Dusk_2_Dawn@reddit
I went to elementary (K-5), middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12). Middle and high school were the same building but opposite ends of it. No Jr High. You'd have to be one of those really big schools to even have a separate building for that cause usually its just the in between of middle/high school. My class size was only 40.
After I graduated they consolidated the whole district into one single building with their own wing for elementary/middle/high school.
Thick-News-9415@reddit
It varies on the school district. I went to elementary (k-5) middle school (6-8) and high school (9-12). However, the high school i graduated from was part of a very small school district (3 or 4 different towns were part of the school district) so they changed the schools to lower elementary (k-4) upper elementary (5-6) Jr high (7-8) and high school (9-12). There were multiple lower elementary schools, but everyone went to the same upper elementary, Jr high and high school.
benz58@reddit
Military brats go to many more than that due to moving every two years or so. Ask me how me & my siblings know.
itsjusttimeokay@reddit
I worked in a district that had K-4, 5, 6-8, and 9-12. I’ve never heard of that anywhere else though. Most places I’ve encountered it’s K-5 Elementary, 6-8 middle/jr high, and 9-12 high school.
Accomplished_Will226@reddit
Most kids go to Pre school Kindergarten Elementary or primary grade 1-5 or 1-6 Middle or junior high grade 6-8 or 7-9 High school grade 9-12 or 10-12
skatoulaki@reddit
Different school buildings, same school system - e.g., the town I grew up in had MyTown Central School (Kindergarten through 3rd grade), MyTown Intermediate School (4th/5th grade), MyTown Junior HS (6th-8th), and MyTown High School (9th-12th). They now have just 3 - Central School is k-2, Middle School is 3rd-6th, and Junior/Senior HS is 7th-12th.
Revolutionary-Cup954@reddit
Depends on how urban your community is. Larger populations goto multiple school buildings. More rural may only have one. My district had a building to 2nd grade, another you went to 5th grade middle school from 6 to 8th grade, and building for just 9th grade and a HS through the end. There are other schools 45 min away in where several towns goto 1 building from kindergarten to end of high school
isweatglitter17@reddit
It varies a lot! 3-4 schools between elementary school and high school seems fairly standard.
I am 30. When I went to school, there was a public school just for kindergarten. 1st-6th was elementary school. 7th-9th junior high. 10th-12th high school.
My sisters ~10 years younger had kindergarten through 5th grade elementary school, 6th-8th middle school, and 9th-12th high school.
My children go to school in the same district. Elementary school is now kindergarten to 4th grade. Middle school 5th-6th, and middle school 7th-8th in two separate buildings across town (do not even get me started on how dumb this is), then high school 9-12.
queseraseraphine@reddit
Three is the norm. There’s outliers though.
The town I grew up in had two separate elementary schools, both kindergarten through 5th grade (ages 5-10/11), then one middle school and one high school. Then, it was switched so one was K-2 (ages 5-7/8) and 3-5 (ages 8-10/11). Now, one of the buildings is being expanded and turned into one huge K-5 school while the other is demolished.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, one of my childhood friends grew up in a small town and went to a K-12 school. Her graduating class was 12 people.
Junior-Reflection-43@reddit
Regardless of how you categorize it, the levels are all part of the same school district. Different grades may be broken out across multiple buildings. I went to a private school that had 2 buildings : 1-8, then 9-12. The district we live in now has different buildings for elementary (K-2), intermediate (3-5) middle (6-8) and high 9-12). There are many variations.
Silly_Guard907@reddit
Huh. When did 6th grade become part of middle school?
TitansRPower@reddit
Elementary, middle and high school. Some schools will have elementary and middle in the same building, or even middle and high, very rarely all three. Personally, I had to go to three different elementary schools because my area kept getting reassigned, and then separate middle and high schools.
scandicsiren@reddit
I was homeschooled, so just one. Same teacher. Same classmates. Same bad grades.
kellyforeal@reddit
My district was elementary (K-6) middle (7&8) and high school (9-12). The school I went to was K-8, then high school was 9-12.
AchtungCloud@reddit
Usually 3, sometimes 4. But there’s no set rules, so it doesn’t just change state to state or even county by county, but by school district by school district.
I grew up in a small town that did K-4 as elementary, 5-6 as intermediate, 7-8 as junior high, and 9-12 as high school.
Where I live now does K-6 as elementary, 7-8 as junior high, 9 as freshman high school, 10-12 as high school.
But they are changing in 2 years to K-5 as elementary. 6-8 as middle school, 9-12 as high school. I think this layout is likely the most common in the US, but that’s just a total guess.
joker_wcy@reddit
Is high school always 9-12?
AggravatingPrune191@reddit
If 9th grade is in a separate jr high, the grades usually still count for the high school GPA.
That's what my 8-9 jr high was like. The high school had more extracurricular opportunities and a much bigger variety of elective classes, but the only thing 9th graders could do at the high school were JV and varsity sports teams if they made the tryouts. (They could also audition for the high school's spring musical when I was there, but then they stopped offering that for them.) Otherwise we were stuck in another version of middle school.
Our teachers would sometimes say "you're in high school," but we sure didn't feel like high school freshmen. It was a little demoralizing to see our peers from other towns getting the full high school experience in 9th grade. I fully believe that my high school GPA would have been a tiny bit higher if I spent 9th grade in an actual high school instead of that awkward jr high. I ended up getting super motivated in 10th grade.
(Incidentally, I actually enjoyed my 8th grade year in the same jr high. There was less pressure and some fun field trips.)
KaetzenOrkester@reddit
Mine was 10-12 because my junior high was 7-9.
HorrorAlarming1163@reddit
Usually, but some places do junior high 7-9 and high is 10-12 or junior high 9-10 high 11-12
cherry_monkey@reddit
Or you can get real freaky and do a high school academy which is just grade 9 then high school 10-12
Ellemnop8@reddit
We had one called the "Freshman High School" because we'd outgrown the main high school building.
Big__If_True@reddit
I’ve heard those called Freshman Centers
EBN_Drummer@reddit
When I was in school ours was set up like your first situation. Elementary was K-6, jr. high was 7-9, and high school was 10-12. In the last 20+ years my old high school switched to 9-12.
My son's school is K-5, middle school will be 6-8, and his high school is 9-12. Three schools still, just divided up a bit differently than mine.
RudyPup@reddit
My area was in the middle of the split when I was a teen so you could stay at your junior high or go to high for 9th.
Madreese@reddit
No. Some of the places I've lived have been 10-12 is high school.
Actually, I never heard of the 4 breakdowns mentioned.
Elementary/Grade School was K-5 or K-6.
Junior or Middle School was 6-9 or 6-8.
High School was 10-12 or 9-12.
It depends on the State, City, County, Town, etc. Depends on the population.
sunnymentoaddict@reddit
Generally speaking.
Primary/ Elementary School: Grades Pre-K to 5th(4-11).
Middle/ Junior High: Grades 6th to 8th (12-14)
High School: Grades 9th to 12th (15-18). Note where I grew up in Texas, in some suburban communities you might see a dedicated school just for 9th grade.
throwfar9@reddit
My schools were k-7 elementary, 8-9 junior high, 10-12 high school. An outlier.
SirGlass@reddit
No , where I grew up it was
K-6 elementary School.
7-9 middle school (sometimes referred to jr high)
10-12 high school.
eejm@reddit
Rural communities sometimes have both junior high and high school students in the same building.
Patrizio_Argento@reddit
My HS was 10-12, with 7-9 being jr high.
colenotphil@reddit
Similarly, my public schools in Connecticut were:
At which point you are 17 or 18 years old and then you might go to:
5. College or University for 2-4 years.
6. Post-graduate degrees (Medical School, Graduate School, Law School, Masters degrees, etc.) for another 2-4 years.
AggravatingPrune191@reddit
I used to sub in a district that was K-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12. The 4-5 grade intermediate school was in a small, older building.
flapjack_fighter@reddit
I had 5 schools BEFORE college
K-2 3-5 6-8 9 10-12
robinthecat2020@reddit
I had 6, 7 if you want to count PK. K 1-4 5-6 7-8 9 10-12
dragon_morgan@reddit
In New Jersey in the 90s we had a separate school for Kindergarten through second grade and another for third through fifth, but both were just called "elementary school" and if there were official terms to differentiate them besides "little kid elementary school" and "older kid elementary school" nobody used them. Middle school was 6th through 8th, high school was 9th through 12th.
My son is school age now and in our area it's largely dependent on the school. Most elementary schools are K-5, but there are some within the same district that go all the way through 8th and don't have a separate middle school.
THEREALISLAND631@reddit
Ours on Ling Island was k-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12.
KroneckerAlpha@reddit
And then you have the very opposite, single k-12 schools, usually in very small towns
katarh@reddit
In Georgia, my schools were broken up as:
Certain specialty schools might break the mold. They added a "Freshman academy" for the 9th graders at the comprehensive high schools at one point, but that was after I graduated decades ago.
My high school was actually a fine arts magnet school, a combination of middle school and high school, with a bonus 5th grade lobbed in to make it an even 8 grades. So we were 5-12. Later on I heard they had to drop the 5th grade by order of the county.
AlmiranteCrujido@reddit
Sometimes even school to school in the district.
My district has TK-5, K-5, K-8, and 6-8 all in the same district, and at least in California "school districts" covering K-8 are different from "high school districts" (9-12) such that you may not be in the same HS district as your peers at the same middle school if you're crossing town/city lines.
Quirky-Bad857@reddit
You’re right—this is how it mostly is.
mvanpeur@reddit
Definitely varies a lot by school district based on what sizes of buildings they already have and how many students they have. I grew up in a school district that had all of K-3 in one building, all of 4-5 in one building, and all of 6-12 in one building. That was a medium school district featuring the area around a medium town, maybe 125 kids per grade.
Then I moved to the next school district over, and they had two school buildings. One building had one class each of K-5, and the other building had two classes of K-5 and all of 6-12. That was a small school district that was very rural and featured two small towns. The K-5 school was in the smaller town, and the K-12 school was in the bigger town. So basically the smaller school was there to keep young kids closer to home with shorter bus rides. My combined graduating class size was 52.
My kids now go to a massive school district featuring suburban sprawl that has had massive population growth over the past few decades. They break down into K-2 early childhood schools, 3-6 elementary schools, 7-8 middle schools, 9th grade schools, and 10-12th grade schools. They have so many schools (23) because the old schools were built before the population boom, and they kept building new schools then continuing to have more population growth than expected, requiring them to then build more schools.
TheKiddIncident@reddit
The "normal" thing in the USA is three before college.
Elementary (K-5)
Middle School: (6-7-8)
High School (9-12)
It used to be common for "Jr. High" to be 7-8 only and in those places, elementary school went to 6th grade. Still three schools, but the middle one was only two years. So, normally EITHER Jr. High OR Middle School Not both.
There are differences. In some places there are too many kids or not enough so these things are moved around. But this is the "default" answer in the USA.
Horror-Ad-1095@reddit
One for PreK-3rd grade, another for 4-6th, one for 7th. A new highschool was built so 8-9th I went somewhere else. I did grades 11& 12 at an online school. I went to 2 seperate colleges. So 7 for me. Lol
cstar4004@reddit
Laws will vary by state. I was born in The Early 1990’s, and lived in New Jersey. So some of my experiences are no longer true for the current generation. Every town has their own variations on how they set up their school system, but this is how my town was in the 1995-2010 era:
-Pre-school and kindergarten were optional, not required by law. I attended both.
-Some children were “home-schooled.” They were legally exempt from attending school under certain conditions, that they prove the parent is providing education, and the child must take part in state-wide test that they give all students to gauge the efficacy of the education programs.
-Some Children went to private school, as opposed to state-run public school. Paid for by the parents, not by taxes. Typically run by religious organizations. Or for children of celebrity status who are not safe in public or distracted by paparazzi.
-Each grade was 1 “school year”. A school year typically starts in Late August or Early September, and typically ends in Late May, or Early June.
-If you did very poorly and fail a grade, you could be “held back” and made to repeat a grade twice. This means all of your friends will move on to the next grade, possibly even a new school building, you will stay behind, and are now older than everyone else in your class. You could redeem your failure by attending “summer school” which means you do not have a break between school years, and you wont get to go on vacation or enjoy the warm seasons, but it is a second chance to advance to the next Grade.
-High School used an educational credit system, like Colleges. Certain classes were worth a certain amount of credits. You needed Accumulate a certain number of credits from Freshman year to Senior year to graduate high school. If you did not get enough credits, you have to repeat senior year, they call that a “super-senior”. If you stay back for too many years, you age-out, and they expel you. To motivate you, they say If you do not have a high school diploma, you will have to work hard manual labor for life.
-There is a test you can take, called a GED (Graduate Equivalency Diploma) of which you can earn a diploma from scoring high on a single test. It is legally equivalent to having a high school diploma, although many job recruiters may look down on it. Adults who failed high school can take this. Sometimes children will take it to graduate ahead of time. Children who are homeschooled can take a GED, but they also have an option of having their own parent sign them a diploma.
-You can also attend “technical school” instead of high school. They teach special skilled trades and crafts, like welding, mechanics, carpentry, electricians, plumbers, engineers, robotics, computers, film, arts, and graphic design.
-You could legally quit school with parental consent at age 16. (35 states have raise the age to 17)
-At age 18, you are legally an adult, and can quit school without parental permission.
Diligent-Touch-5456@reddit
I went to head start (now preschool), elementary k-6, Jr High 7-9, and High School 10-12.
Legitimate-March9792@reddit
It was three for me but they just built a middle school in our area recently for 5th and 6th graders, so if I went to school nowadays, it would be four schools. That’s grade wise. Moving wise, I attended five different schools. Two elementary, two junior high and one high school.
Ryan_TX_85@reddit
Three schools: elementary school (K-5), middle school (6-8), high school (9-12). Four if you count preschool, but that's not usually part of the public school system.
yugohotty@reddit
There is one district in NJ that I’m aware of where they have elementary (K-4), upper elementary (5&6), Junior high (7-9), and high school (10-12).
But that was not the norm at all.
RRautamaa@reddit
What does that "K-" in "K-5" mean? Because in my language, "K-" written like this means "forbidden", but I don't think it's this...
Ryan_TX_85@reddit
Kindergarten through 5th grade.
RRautamaa@reddit
Thanks!
(If you're ever in Finland and go to watch a K-18 movie, it won't be of the sort where you'd bring the kids along... xD)
screenaholic@reddit
Useless trivia knowledge for you, since you weren't familiar with the word: "kindergarten" is German for "child garden."
No, I have no idea why we have a year called "child garden" before 1st grade.
RRautamaa@reddit
Is kindergarten also considered part of school? How old are they at this stage?
21stCenturyJanes@reddit
American schools start with Kindergarten, at age 5. Way back when, it was the first formal schooling most kids would have as day care and pre-school were less common. It was mostly for kids to learn basic things like colors and numbers and social interaction, there wasn't much "schooling". In recent generations Kindergarten has focused more on early reading and learning through play and most kids have been to some pre-school or day care before getting to Kindergarten.
screenaholic@reddit
Yes, typically. Elementary schools are typically 6 grades total, K-5. Kindergarten is for 5 year olds typically.
There's also "pre-k" which is typically an optional school parents can choose to enroll kids as young as 2 or 3 to help their early education even more.
However, as you can likely see from other comments in this thread, all of this can vary by jurisdiction. The American school system is VERY decentralized.
spaltavian@reddit
Kindergarten used to be optional as well in certain jurisdictions; I never went.
VictorianPeorian@reddit
I did "half day" kindergarten, so I still learned whatever important stuff I was supposed to learn, but I don't know what I missed in the afternoons, lol... PE? Nap time?
Ryan_TX_85@reddit
This is correct. The federal Department of Education oversees financial aid (university and college level) and collects data, but does little else. The state department of education sets the curriculum standards and handles statewide standardized testing. But schools are managed at the local level.
skittlebog@reddit
It is really different depending on the size of the school district and how much money they have to work with. Within 20 miles of where I live there is one district with everyone in a single building complex, several districts with 2 different buildings for K to 6 and 7 to 12. Other districts have different buildings for grade school, junior high, and senior high.
Effective_Display940@reddit
Most kids I know went to four different schools: pre-school (ages 3-4), elementary school (kindergarten-grade 5), middle school (6-8th grade), and high school (grades 9- 12). Pre-school isn’t compulsory, so if you didn’t count that, it would be three schools. But most children I know did go to pre-school. This was with the public school system. Some do just go to one school, if it’s a private or charter school, but that seems to be the exception, rather than the rule.
oogabooga1967@reddit
Depends. In my town, we have elementary (K-2), intermediate (3-5), middle (6-8), and high school (9-12). Some places don't have intermediate school. Some places have high schools that are 7-12. Some of the really small towns have schools that are K-12.
Parking_Champion_740@reddit
No it’s either middle school (6-7-8) or jr high (7-8)
Round_Rooms@reddit
If you're in the private schooling less likely, but for public schooling much more likely, but 3 is most common.
Nagroth@reddit
Primary School: (gradeschool/elementary) Typically 1-6. Jr. High: Typically 7-8. Secondary School: (highschool) Typically 9-12.
Some places replace Jr. High with Middle School which is usually 6-8 or 7-9. Most gradeschools have optional half day Kindergarten.
I don't think I've ever seen any place that had four different schools.
hayleybeth7@reddit
The typical is 3 schools (elementary, middle, and high). Elementary school used to be kindergarten through sixth grade then junior high was seventh through ninth grade, then high school was tenth through twelfth. But now elementary school is kindergarten through fifth, middle is sixth through eighth, then high school is ninth through twelfth.
Now that’s what’s typical across the U.S. I think this comments section is becoming side tracked with specific examples where that isn’t the case. You could have someone who went to both junior high and middle school. You could have someone who went to a kinder through 12 school so they only ever went to one school. Or any combination of things. But you asked for what American kids usually do, and usually it’s 3: elementary, middle, and high.
4myolive@reddit
My grandsons will go to three schools. Elementary, middle school and high school. I worked at a nearby school system that had five separate schools. Primary (K-1), elementary (2-4), intermediate (5-6), middle school (7-8) and high school (9-12).
Ginger630@reddit
Depends on the district. My kids will go to 4 different schools: lower elementary, upper elementary, middle school, high school. Some districts or cities (like NYC) only have three.
Private and Catholic schools are different. Some private schools are really small and they’re K-12. I went to Catholic school K-8.
Greedy_Bandicoot493@reddit
I was on the 5 year 5 high schools plan, for a total of 8 schools.
rutherfraud1876@reddit
Did anyone else go to a kindergarten that was separate from their elementary school? We did but that may have just been because of how desegregation worked in our district
isittimefordinner@reddit
We have 5 different buildings. K-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-12.
KindraTheElfOrc@reddit
i went to two districts and they were elemtary, middle, and high, until my junior yr of highschool when the district basically went broke they closed down and sold the elementary school turned the middle into k-6 and renamed it the intermediate school, and sent the 7th and 8th grades to the high school and added junior senior to its name which is annoying as h3ll cause it already was (county name) county community high school, they did not think at all about their students having to put that whole @ss mouthful on their job applications
Ok-Associate-3781@reddit
Jr high and middle school were synonyms were i grew up . K-5th grade were elementary 6th- 8th grade middle/Jr high school 9th-12th grade high school.
Excellent-Pitch-7579@reddit
Middle school and junior high school are usually the same thing.
PomPomMom93@reddit
Middle school and junior high school are the same thing. They’re the years in between elementary school and high school, which is why it’s called middle school.
Pristine-Loan-5688@reddit
Middle school and Junior high schools are not exactly the same but the same school district usually has one or the other, not both. So if you go to elementary for K-6, Junior high 7-8, and high school for 9-12, that would be normal, but so would k-5, a middle school for 6-8, high school 9-12, or various permutations.
I think probably US kids end up changing school districts more often, so I’ve known people who moved around enough to rack up 10-12 schools. So that makes it harder to know exactly what is “normal”.
Jdawn82@reddit
Unless they move, it’s usually 3 schools—elementary, middle school or junior high, high school
Soggy_Information_60@reddit
I did 1-7 as elementary and 8-12 as high school. Later the county rearranged things: k-6 elementary, 7-8 junior high, and 9-12 high. Another county divided things up "evenly": k-4 primary, 5-8 middle, and 9-12 high. Each school system does things their own way but generally there are 3 groupings, with the second group being called middle school or junior high.
Dangerous-Radish6017@reddit
Depends on where you live. We just had k-5(elementary), 6-8(middle), and 9-12(high). No junior high.
Notansfwprofile@reddit
Absurd question, I know people who went to a one room schoolhouse, but that’s an outlier. Many rural areas have 5 towns combined for all twelve public school grades in one building though. Compare that to metro schools that have 4,000 kids in one complex. I also knew people who had more extravagant and comprehensive public schools than the university I went to.
padall@reddit
OP, you clearly opened a can of worms here. Lol
Like most questions concerning the US, there is never one answer. We have 50 states with probably hundreds or thousands of school systems per state. In general three schools (elementary, middle, and high) is the most typical amount for the 13 years of regular schooling. But 1, 2, and 4 schools are also not uncommon. And of course, this is not taking into account families moving districts, or suddenly deciding to put their kid in private school, which could add to the number of total schools.
silversurf1234567890@reddit
Private schools usually elementary K-8 and high school 9-12. Public schools vary. Elementary K-5 or K-6. Middle or junior high 5-8 or 7-9. High school 9-12 or 10-12.
All depends on the district
Dazzling_Honeydew_71@reddit
It's 3 "levels" if you will. Elementary, Middle and Highschool is typical. They are in separate campuses from eachother typically.
I went to 7 schools growing up, but that's mainly because my dad was in the Army. 3 elementary, 2 middle and 2 highs.
Somewhere_overthere8@reddit
In some places Middle School and Jr High are the same thing. So, not necessarily. Small towns sometimes have Jr High/Middle School and High School in the same building.
At some point though, depending on the student, you will go to four different schools. Elementary, middle, high school, college/university/trade.
Temporary_Fuel_7257@reddit
K to 6, 7-9, 10-12. Elementary,middle,high school.
Tizzy8@reddit
In my area most districts are three schools over 13 years but the smaller ones are only two: K-6 and 7-12.
hobozombie@reddit
Ours was Elementary, Intermediate, Middle, and High.
childproofbirdhouse@reddit
I grew up in rural Texas. I didn’t realize until just now how many campuses I attended school on. We called them all elementary up through 5th grade, 6th was just 6th, and 7-8 was junior high. We had a campus for K-2, a campus for 3-5, 6th on its own (used to be the segregated school), 7-8 on another campus, and 9-12 was the high school.
As an adult, we’ve moved around to different states. Mostly, we’ve seen K-5 as elementary and 6-8 as middle school. One place had K-6 for elementary and 7-9 as middle school, except the 9th grade transcript counted as high school.
IdoltrashElichika@reddit
Growing up in my neck of the woods, elementary was K-6, junior high was 7-8(rebranded as middle school in the early 2010s)and highschool was 9-12
MizzGee@reddit
In my school district, K-6 are in one building, and 7-7 are in one part of the high school building and 9-12 are in the other part. They share gym, lunch room.
drewcorleone@reddit
I went to 5. All in the same city.
Fearless_Panda_908@reddit
I went to 9 different schools in 4 states. My dad liked to move a lot.
PublicFishing3199@reddit
We had elementary k-6, middle/junior (we used the term interchangeably) 7-9, and high school was 10-12. Grew up in NW Arkansas.
stitchdude@reddit
I think most areas are dropping Jr high and using middle school, still three levels for towns/schools big enough.
Substantial-Train-39@reddit
If they’re in public schools they do. Waldorf aka Steiner schools are nursery through 12.
Professional-Pin6455@reddit
Depends on the size of the school district. Some only have 3 (elementary, jr high, high school) others have split elementary (k-4) intermediate (5-6) jr high/middle school (7-8/9) and high School 9/10-12)
ChampionshipUpset119@reddit
I did k-4, 5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-12, and the gate program where I went to an entirely different school for one day a week for 3 years. 5/6schools never moved.. my area was overcrowded and is constantly building more schools and adjusting which grades go where.
Ok_Cheetah_6251@reddit
I went to one school, it was elementary, junior high, and high school.
Dreamweaver5823@reddit
When I was in school 50 years ago, the dominant model was elementary (grades K-6), junior high (7-9), and high school (10-12).
Sometime between when I graduated from high school and when I became a public school teacher a couple decades later, the dominant model switched to elementary (K-5), middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12).
Today, while there are some districts that for various reasons have both something they call middle school and something they call junior high, that overlap is not typical. Middle school and junior high represent two different approaches to the issue of educating early adolescents.
Plastic-Ad-5171@reddit
Mine was pre-k up to 6, 7&8, 9-12. That was public school. Private schools might be different. I think the catholic school behind my house was 1-8. Then 9-12 were at the girls or boys high schools.
Lillibet3@reddit
My sibling, cousins and I went to Catholic schools. Grades 1-8 in one school and 9-12 in another. We went to different kindergartens near each of our homes but then the Catholic School added Kindergarten by the time our younger siblings and cousins came along.
WatermelonMachete43@reddit
My kids went to 4 (not including pre-k).
K-4
5-6
7-8
9-12
Cultural-Band5013@reddit
I grew up in a town where grades 1 through 6 were elementary, grades 7-8 were middle school (aka Jr high school), and grades 9-12 are considered High school.
Loud-Bee-4894@reddit
Middle s hool and Jr high are for the same age group. An area would have one or the other, along with elementary and high school.
Morgaina68@reddit
It depends on the district. I work in a district that has a k-6 elementary with a 7-12 high school, a k-12 school, and a school that has k-3, 4-6, 7-9, and a 10-12.
Empty-Cycle2731@reddit
Middle school and junior high are synonyms. They just have different names depending on your local school district.
While the grades may vary slightly depending on jurisdiction, typically you have:
Elementary School: Kindergarten-5th Grade
Middle School/Jr. High: 6th Grade-8th Grade
High School: 9th Grade-12th Grade
Pre-school is not part of 'compulsory' schooling, and Kindergarten is not in some places as well.
ConsiderationFew7599@reddit
It depends on the area. Some people consider junior high and middle school to be the same thing.
I went to elementary (Kindergarten through 5th grade), middle school (6th through 8th), and high school (9-12).
School districts determine how they organize their schools.
Designer-Travel4785@reddit
We used to have 4 separate school buildings, 2 each on 2 separate properties. Over the years that have merged the building on each property.
Ca1rill@reddit
Junior high school and middle school are the same, at least where I come from.
DeniLox@reddit
Some high schools are also called Secondary schools.
jonesdb@reddit
Rural schools might just be Primary School through 6th grade. High school 7th-12th.
Really depends on population density
DeniLox@reddit
As an American, I’m learning today that many people went to both a middle and intermediate school. I only know of elementary, middle/intermediate, and high school. 3 schools.
RectorAequus@reddit
Middle school/Jr high school are basically the same thing. It's grades 7 & 8 and a transition between the single classroom of elementary/primary school and the multiple classroom environment of high school.
I went to three schools in the 80's and 90's. Elementary, middle, and high school.
My kids went to two schools. Elementary school to 8th grade and high school.
There is also preschool/nursery before elementary, and post high school there is community College/College/University.
DynamiteStorm@reddit
I went to 4 different high schools. Grades 9-12. Never moved.
Richard_Thickens@reddit
It really depends on the area and population covered by the district. I grew up in a town where class sizes were 150-200 kids, and there were two elementary schools (K-2 and 3-5), a middle school, and a high school. So that's four in total, but mostly because our district was too large to have a consolidated school, but too small to have multiple schools for each age group.
7empestSpiralout@reddit
Pre k, Elementary, middle, high
DamnYouChuckBass@reddit
I had four:
Elementary (kindergarten through 4th) Intermediate (5th and 6th) Middle school (7th and 8th) High school (9th through 12th)
swfwtqia@reddit
In arizona junior high and middle school are the same.
Elementary pre-k through 5th. Middle 6-8 high 6-12. Then college if you go to college.
Prudent-Pepper-5065@reddit
3 schools
_jamesbaxter@reddit
I went to 6 schools because of special Ed, but if it weren’t for that I would have gone to 4. In my town it was K-2 at one elementary school, then 3-5 were at a different elementary school, 6-8 middle school/junior high, 8-12 high school. It was a small town, about 100 kids per grade.
animeistheog@reddit
It’s just elementary middle and high school where I am. At least that’s what I’ve done.
Brrred@reddit
"Middle school"and "Junior High" are different terms for pretty much the same thing .. some school between elementary school and high school. I think of them as the place where we keep those awful human beings who at the age when they are no longer young and cute but are not yet becoming relatively civilized. I've long said that people between the ages of about 12 to 15 should be freeze-dried so that they aren't tormenting each other and the adults around them.
thechurchchick@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same, also called intermediate in someplaces… where I live it’s elementary (k-5), junior high (6-8), high school (9-12
Unpopularwaffle@reddit
If you count preschoo/pre-kl, then yes. However, not every child is required to go to preschool or pre-k and usually don't go unless they have parents who have no choice but to send them to daycare as these are part of daycare. Many parents who either have the ability to have one parent at home or another caregiver who can watch the child at home (like a nanny) choose not to send their children to preschool or pre-k because they simply don't have a reason and/or can't afford to send their kids to early education on programs al it costs money. I think there are some free pre-ks that are part of a regular elementary school, but since pre-k is not required, not every child attends.
In my county, required schooling is usually 3 separate schools:
Elementary school: Kindergarten-5th grade - Ages 5-10/11 year olds (once in a while, kids start at 4 years old if their birthdays are close to the first day of school, but where I live children have to be 5 before the first day of school or they have to wait until the following year to start school)
Middle school: 6th -8th grade - 11/12 - 13/14 year olds
High School: 9th-12th grade - 14/15 -17/18 year olds
RodgerRodger8301@reddit
I would say 3 is more common than 4, but both 4 and the outlying 2 do exist. I grew up in a very rural area so from age 5-11 I was in elementary school, then moved on to high school from ages 12-18.
Bastyra2016@reddit
It depends. In my first neighborhood elementary school went through 6th grade. Then there was a JR High (7 and 8) and a highschool (9-12)
When I eventually ended up elementary school went through 7th grade and highschool was 8-12
phillysleuther@reddit
I went K-8 and 9-12. I went to a parochial grade school and an all girls academy for high school.
Ill_Industry6452@reddit
My school had elementary, jr high and high school. But all were in the same building, and some of the teachers were shared. Music and art teachers taught everyone. Many of the jr high teachers were shared with the high school.
The district I went to school in has since consolidated with another one. Our pre-k through 4th grade go to the school in the other town. The older kids go to the same one I did, all in the same building (my parents also went to high school in the old part of that building in the 1940s). Currently, K-4 is considered elementary, 5-8 is considered middle school, 6-8 is considered jr high, and 9-12 is considered high school. My youngest grandkids live in a large district. They had k-5 in one building, 6-8 in another, 9-10 in another and 11-12 in another. Several elementary schools feed into the jr high. Maybe 2-3 jr highs feed into the 9-10 school. They haven’t gotten to the oldest level, and I don’t know how it works. A school near here has a K-1, 2-3, 4-6, 7-8, and 9-12. They are closing the 2-3 school and moving 2nd grade to k-1 school and 3rd grade to 4-6 school.
A lot of times it has to do with what space is available, and if they can close a school when enrollment drops or a building isn’t safe, they often do.
BlueXeta@reddit
Each school district is organized differently, with respect to the size of each year's class.
At one point, my school district actually had a primary school (K-2nd), 3 elementary schools (2 were 1st-5th and 1 one was 1st-4th), an intermediate school (5th), and a high school (9th-12th).
The primary and intermediate schools are now closed down and the elementary schools all do K-5th, so it's a normal elementary, middle, high school model.
shorty-1992@reddit
That’s so confusing. In Scotland we have Primary school for ages 5-11 referred to as P1-P7. Then Secondary school for ages 12-17 referred to as S1-S6, with the option to leave any time after S4 (4th year) then we can go to college or university after unless you go into employment.
Absurdtittyz@reddit
I had 6. Preschool, K-2, we had a 3rd grade building by itself, an “intermediate” school 4-5, middle school 6-8, highschool.
Acceptable_Peen@reddit
MOST districts in Virginia are K-5 elementary, 6-8 Middle, 9-12 High school.
Lilypad1223@reddit
I’m from a tiny rural town and our elementary school, middle school, and high school were all in the same building.
TJH99x@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same, just named different in different areas. So it is usually three schools, although there are some variations as people have mentioned.
Total_Tumbleweed_870@reddit
I grew up in a small town. The kids went to one of three elementary schools based on their neighborhood (grades k-5). Grade 6 was a separate building on the campus of the highschool. 7 and 8 was restricted to a single hall of the main building, then the while school was open to you after that until grade 12.
Master-Collection488@reddit
Middle school and junior high are just different names for the same thing. Which grade range is included varies per school district.
Key thing to remember: The U.S. federal government doesn't typically regulate or manage public schools. They are typically regulated at the state level, but run and mostly-funded at the local level. The degrees to which that happens even varies from state to state.
In the 20th century before the 70s American schools typically had 7th and 8th graders in separate schools called junior high schools. Probably this was as much to limit them from bullying (K-6 kids) and being bullied by high school kids as it was to prepare them for high school.
Over the 70s and 80s a lot of what had been called junior high schools were renamed as middle schools (a name maybe imported from Japan?). Often the range of grades was shifted, sometimes for educational reasons but likely for reasons of space availability.
Middle schools in the USA might be grades 6-8, or some other ranges of grades. Not strictly grades 7-9 like in Japan.
HooksNHaunts@reddit
Not here. It’s 2. Middle school doesn’t exit and for me it was K-8 at the elementary school then 9-12 at the high school. One town was K-6 and 7-12. The whole county is consolidating at the moment though so they are trying to take it down to one school that handles it all.
ElleAnn42@reddit
It varies by location. School districts are local government and there is no national standard.
One district within 30 miles of my house has a standalone building for Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten. Another district has a single building for PreK- 8th grade. Middle school is 6-8th grades in most nearby district, but some have 5th-8th.
A lot of school buildings were built in the 1950's and as the population has shifted, school districts have adjusted their setup to work with their facilities.
alteregobobby@reddit
I went to 5, because my city's school system has an extra one named after someone, I think hc the population grew and it was easier just to split them up than add on to the current school.
Elementary: pre-K to 1st grade "Corley Elementary": 2nd and 3rd Intermediate: 4th and 5th Middle: 6th to 8th High: 9th to 12th
Horror_Struggle226@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same thing.
Britt030@reddit
We had three: k-6 was elementary, 7-8 was middle school and 9-12 was high school.
Informal-Intention-5@reddit
Generally, junior high and middle school are interchangeable terms
CatOfGrey@reddit
In my experience (California, former public school teacher) it's three, not four schools. School systems are local - individual cities and counties usually decide how the schools are structured, so systems might be different in different areas, even within the same state.
There are thirteen years of US school, normally numbered 1 - 12, with a "K" or 'kindergarten' year before '1st grade'. In most populated areas, there are three steps: an 'elementary' school, usually K-5 (ages 5-11) or maybe K-6. The next level is 'middle school' (which is usually 6-8th grade, ages 11-13) or 'junior high school (usually 7th-9th grade, ages 12-14). Finally, most 'high schools' are four years, 9th-12th grade (14-18), though some are 10th-12th grade (age 15-18).
The 'junior high' and 'three year high school' seems to be used less over the years.
There is not usually a separation of different types of 'high school' for varying students, like Germany's Gymnasium, Realschule, and Hauptschule. Future university students are often in similar classes as vocational students, though there are usually advanced classes available to qualifying students. But there are no separate schools.
Suspicious-Cat8623@reddit
My kids:
Each was a separate location. The Senior High School had 4 separate high schools that fed into it. It was set up to look much like a junior college and had every possible educational opportunity one can imagine: trade schools, AP classes, dual enrollment (college classes taken at the high school) and a International Baccalaureate program. Every imaginable club and extracurricular was offered due to the sheer size of the school. Each year, they graduated about 1700 kids from that school.
Becks128@reddit
Where I live k-5 is elementary, 6&7 is Intermediate, 8&9 is Middle, 10-12 is High
JunoCalliope@reddit
Can’t speak for urban areas, but the district I live in only has two schools. One a couple towns over has one building for K-12. Multiple schools isn’t necessarily a ubiquitous experience.
WhtvrCms2Mnd@reddit
My experience was k-8 in one “grammar” school (private) then 9-12 in High School.
But my local (public) district was organized as:
Pre-K (optional) K-3 Elementary 4-6 Middle 7-8 Jr. High 9-12 High School
IsabellaGalavant@reddit
Jr high is the same thing as middle school. So it's only 3 schools. But my Jr high and high schools were combinedwhen I lived in FL so technically if I hadn't moved to AZ after 10th grade I would have only gone to 2 schools.
JohnnyBrillcream@reddit
One district I was in only had two, 1-7 and 8-12
Reasonable_Pay4096@reddit
For me, attending a Catholic school was kindergarten through 8th grade (so, elementary, middle, & junior high) followed by high school (9-12 at a different school).
PumpkinBrain@reddit
I always thought middle school and junior high school were just two names for the same thing. Seeing different here though.
Fangsong_37@reddit
We had elementary school (Kindergarten through 6th grade), junior high (7th and 8th grades), and high school (years 8-12). Preschool was not really a thing where I lived (though I did learn to read before kindergarten). After I graduated, that school district moved to Elementary (K-4), Middle School (5-8), and High School (9-12). Basically, the middle school and high school were in the same building but in different wings.
bangbangracer@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same thing. They all used to be junior high schools and are now middle schools.
But, yes, it's pretty standard to go to three different schools throughout your education. Elementary school is usually kindergarten or first grade through fifth grade. Middle school is usually sixth through eighth. High school is usually ninth through twelfth. Each district is different, so those grades may be different.
_Internet_Hugs_@reddit
Most places have either Middle School (grades 6-8) or Junior High (grades 7-9) not both.
Most kids who live in the same place only go to three different schools.
DartDaimler@reddit
Remember we’re a large country, with lots of variance in population density. A standard US education is K - 12, ages 5-18 for most people, but how the schools divide can even change in the same area as populations shift.
I grew up in a mostly rural area; we had several elementary schools K-6, two junior highs grades 7-9, then high school 10-12. The nearest town over did K-5, then middle school 6-8, then high school 9-12. It was based on the sizes of the school buildings & the sizes of the age groups. The intent was to shuffle ages & classes rather than build new buildings. With fewer kids, my town now has 9-12 in the same building.
Haifisch2112@reddit
I went to Kindergarten at a public school, then went to grades 1-8 at a catholic school. Grades 9-12 were another public school. I had friends that did the same thing, but did grades 7-8 in a middle school. So sometimes 4 schools and sometimes 3 schools.
Consistent_Damage885@reddit
Where I live, it is mostly k-5 elementary, 6-8 middle/junior, 9-12 high school. There are also some k-8 schools.
Beneficial-Ad1593@reddit
I’m pretty sure the majority of Americans go through three distinct schools: elementary, middle, and high school.
lightspinnerss@reddit
For me it was
Elementary: preschool-4th grade
Middle: 5th- 8th grade
High school: 9th- 12th grade
However I have met people with variations like a separate school for 5-6 and then 7-8th
The variations seem to always be around middle school age
Royal_Annek@reddit
Middle school and junior high overlap, you generally don't go to both.
I did because my district switched from junior high system to middle school right when I was 7th grade.
ChampionshipBetter91@reddit
My mother had a job that required moves.
The worst was where I went to junior high (now known as middle school). It was a HUGE school, with about 800 students per grade, and I had a traumatic, AWFUL hair cut the summer before beginning. So, it wasn't just a new place with new kids, but I looked HORRIBLE.
I was there for the two years it offered, but my mother was re-assigned after that and moved to an office 1000 miles away (and not far enough, in my opinion). The move happened the summer before I starred 9th grade.
She was at this office for 5 years, so I was able to attend high school all four years there. However, the high school was part of a school that was pre-K-12, so some kids had actually attended the school for pretty much their entire lives.
Most places in America, though, do this kind of grouping. Is it not like this elsewhere?
brookish@reddit
Me: nursery school (pre-k), elementary school, Middle School/Jr. High School, and High School.
evd1202@reddit
Middle school and jr high are the same thing
FlyByPC@reddit
You generally to go elementary, then either middle school or junior high school, then high school.
SoftLast243@reddit
There are some K-12 programs and schools so it is possible to only go to one school, middle school and junior high overlap. So it’s possible you can go to just 3 schools.
bsunwelcome@reddit
Many places junior high and middle school are the same thing. I went to junior high but we didn't have middle school. My kids had both (5/6 and 7/8).
I know of one school district that made all their elementary and jr/middle schools into K-8 & then they go to HS, so only two for them.
morganalefaye125@reddit
Middle school and Jr high were the same thing when I went. Depending on who you talked to, they called it either of those things. So, it was 3. Elementary, middle school/Jr high, then high school
Old-Hearing-9400@reddit
In my state, pre-university education is split into three categories: Elementary school (Kindergarten-5th grade), middle school (6th-8th grade), and high school (9th-12th grade). “Junior high” is a seldom-used synonym for middle school here. Some people use “grade school” to refer to elementary school or elementary and middle school together.
kay_bryberry@reddit
Yes
kill4b@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same. Just different names depending on the area. So there’s generally preschool which is not required and is for 2-4 years old or so. Elementary school starts with either transitional kindergarten or kindergarten at 4-5 years old. Middle school is from about 11 and high school from around 14. These are the required schooling referred as K-12 as it comprises of kindergarten through 12th grade. College or university comes after high school.
NBKiller69@reddit
I don't know how it is now, but through my school days (grad. 2000), we only went to 2: K-6 were in the same school (Kindergarten considered its own thing, 1-6 considered grade school), then 7-12 in another school (7-8 considered junior high school, 8-12 high school).
Phish_2000@reddit
I went to preschool at one school. Kindergarten at another and 1-8 at a third school. 9-12 at high school
Cyberspots156@reddit
I went to primary school, grades 1-6, then junior high, grades 7-9 and high (secondary) school, grades 10-12.
nerdmon59@reddit
Middle school and junior high are 2 ways to say the same thing.
Foreign_Mobile_7399@reddit
Just went to 3. Elementary school (K-5), middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12). Middle school and junior high are kind of the same thing and can be used interchangeably (at least where I live).
ejja13@reddit
My school system had four but they were primary (K-2), elementary (3-5), middle (6-8), and high (9-12). If someone said they went to Junior High I would assume their HS was only grades 10/11-12 and they didn't go to MS, maybe their elementary ended at grade 6.
My husband went to a K-8 school then to HS. Some kids at his HS didn't join until 10th grade because the feeder school they attended was a Junior High.
TMulharin@reddit
I had similar, but the split was K-1 and 2-5 instead. And there were two locations each for K-1 and 2-5, due to the district covering a large area.
By middle and high school, each just had one building.
Future-Mess6722@reddit
We have the same setup but our middle is called junior high.
Tankieforever@reddit
Junior High was only 7 & 8th where I was
UpbeatPhilosophySJ@reddit
These days it seems like it. Almost everybody when I grew up, went to some version of elementary school, junior high, or middle school (sigh difference in years) and high school.
This intermediate school is a new thing. I think it’s school districts with declining enrollment who’s education bureaucracy is trying to justify letting an extra building open to keep the teachers employed.
echo_808@reddit
When I went to school. It started as. Elementary: K-6 Intermediate: originally 7-8 but my 6th grade year was the first year they started offering 6th grade. High: 9-12
Same schools, way years later... Elementary: K-5 Middle (name changed): 6-8 High: 9-12.
Some_Cicada_8773@reddit
It's going to differ from state to state, town to town.
Maxorus73@reddit
I went to.... 6 schools, but that's cause we moved around the country a decent amount
LonesomeBulldog@reddit
Middle school and junior high are generally the same thing (6-8). At least in Texas, most urban and suburban areas call it middle school and small towns call it junior high. The TX junior highs usually have a baby version of the high school mascot since there’s only one JHS to one HS. My HS was the Bulldogs and the JHS was the Bullpups. A neighboring town was the Apaches and Papooses respectively.
Necessary-Cow9770@reddit
Mine was K-3 , 4-5, 6-8, 9-12. My kids elementary goes thru 6th. I’ve seen some rural areas that have 7-12 as high school and don’t have middle
mlg2433@reddit
It varies between cities and states. I personally had 4. This was in central Texas.
K-4 was elementary school. 5-6 was intermediate school. 7-8 was middle school/junior high. 9-12 was high school.
AnastasiusDicorus@reddit
Just 3, middle school and junior high are basically the same. with a junior high you go to elementary school until the 6th grade and jr high is 7, 8 and 9th grades. With middle school you stop elementary after 5th grade and middle school is 6, 7 and 8th grade. Which is done so that 9th graders are on the high school campus because 9th grade is part of high school, but it's stupid because 9th graders don't belong on a high school campus, they're not old enough, big enough or mature enough. except for that guy that had a full beard in 8th grade.
Morlain7285@reddit
I went to 10 different schools, personally, but I moved around a lot so maybe I shouldn't be counted
glamm808@reddit
I went to (all in one town of 30k people): Lincoln Elementary: 1-3 Washington Elementary: 4-5 Wilson Middle: 6-7 Jefferson Jr High: 8 Vallivue High (Old): 9 Vallivue High (New): 10-12
Weary-Passion5346@reddit
My mandatory education was in elementary school K-8 and High School 9-12
meenadu@reddit
I grew up in rural NY. K-8 only had 350 kids then 4 towns went to the same high school. There was less than a thousand kids in my HS.
Ebice42@reddit
It depends on the school. My first school was small. Elementary (K thru 6) first floor.
High school (7 thru 12) 2nd floor.
I moved and the new district had 4 elementary schools so no little kids had a long bus ride. (K Thru 5)
Then everyone came to the same middle school (6 thru 8)
And from there the High School (9 thru 12)
Current district has 3 elementary schools right next to each other. PreK thru 1, 2 and 3, 4 and 5. Then middle and high school.
And if they want, there's a university across the street.
SufficientStudio1574@reddit
3 in Michigan. 1-5 is elementary, 6-8 is middle school (also called Junior high), and 9-12 is high school.
Expert_Avocado_8445@reddit
I went to grade school and graduated after 8th grade, then went to high school for 4 years. So, only two schools.
BlackBartKuma@reddit
K-5 as elementary. 6-8 as middle school, 9-12 as high school when i went to school. But my kids go to a charter, which can be K-8, or even K-12 depending on the school. Looking at the district we will fall into (we are moving), looks like it will be elementary (PreK-6), junior high (7-8), and high schools (9-12). so maybe 3 is more common, but depends where you are
UnKnOwN769@reddit
Growing up, my school district generally had kids go to three schools: one of several elementary schools for K-5, the middle school for 6-8, and the high school for 9-12.
Eventually there were some changes, so that now everybody goes to five schools: one school for Kindergarten, a nearby elementary school for 1-3, one school for elementary 4-5, and then the middle & high schools from before.
A lot of people weren't happy with the change, since their kids were now more likely to be split up along different schools, had to change schools more often, and it is kind of a drag socially for the kids themselves, since you might end up at a school without some of your close friends you made in Kindergarten.
Hips-Often-Lie@reddit
My daughters go to an all girl school which is 6-12 grades but that’s fairly rare. Most star have middle schools (6-8) or junior highs (7-8) and 6th is still elementary.
julia35002@reddit
Not for everyone I went to two schools in rural NY. Elementary K-6 and junior senior high school 7-12.
StewReddit2@reddit
Tbh, it absolutely varies
The most intelligent answer is "it depends"
Looking back for myself and then at my kids....not to mention Dad, MIL,and BIL + many of their friends over the years from coast to coast experiencing different cities and states.
Statically, maybe only about 10% of American public schools handle K-12 on one campus/building...perhaps in separate wings/buildings.
But more often and "generally speaking" it's normally at least separated by TWO or four schools
1) K-8 .....followed by 9-12
2) But some might be K-5/6....followed by 6-8/9....then followed by 9/10-12th
Example in SoCal ....in the city of Pasadena CA
Blair and Marshall are 6-12 CIS and Rose City are 10-12 Muir and Pasadena ate 9-12
Overall "in general" on average its probably "3" schools 1) Elementary 2) Middle and 3) High
Just to say "4" could be "usual" depending on district/city/etc.
Unfortunately the country is huge and like I said it could be different based upon, even, which neighborhood .....not to mention the private schools or charters.
I think my youngest "graduated" from 3rd/6th and 8th before HS ( not counting K)
1313GreenGreen1313@reddit
This is the only good answer in the entire thread. It varies widely. The 10% of schools being K-12 feels about right, but I suspect that number is shrinking as time passes. It seems like more school districts are breaking up the one, large campus approach and choosing separate locations.
In my experience, elementary schools have more of a tendency to be smaller, with middle schools and/or junior high larger, and high schools larger yet. One school district might have 10 elementary schools, 4 middle and/or junior high schools, and 2 high schools.
I would expand on your point #2 above with the grade distributions:
K-4th, 5th or 6th grades are the most common elementary grades.
Middle schools and junior high schools can be all over the place, typically starting anywhere from 5th to 7th grades and ending at 6th to 9th grades.
High schools most often run from 9th or 10th to 12th grades, but that can vary, too.
Many different distributions exist, some are broken up just to make proper use of existing buildings.
StewReddit2@reddit
Yeah, I saw the 10% figure online and I remember that we do have some small rural areas where population and finances may dictate no need to have 10 of these, 4 of those, plus w HS.
Again, it's a big ass country 🙃
Complex_Solutions_20@reddit
Was 3 anywhere I lived. K-5 Elementary, 6-8 Middle, 9-12 High School.
frisky_husky@reddit
As with all questions pertaining to education in the US, it depends, as there is no firm national standard.
For the "core" period of your education, kindergarten through 12th grade (when you graduate high school) it's usually three schools. Where I grew up, elementary schools had K-5, middle school or junior high (the name depends on the district) was 6-8, and high school was 9-12. Junior high and middle school are two names for the same thing. I'm not aware of any places that have middle school AND junior high, but it's a huge country, so they may exist.
However, the breakdown can be different. When I lived in Boston, I volunteered a few times per week in a school that was K-8 in one building, although the K-5 (where students don't change teachers) and 6-8 (where they do) were in different wings. Those students would (assuming they don't move or something) attend one school for K-8, then a different high school. In some places, it's K-6/7-9/10-12.
My home district had a separate kindergarten for the whole district at one point, but that was when they still had half-time kindergarten. I attended a private school that year because both of my parents worked full time, and it cost the same as paying for a daycare for half the week. They later adopted full-day kindergarten and integrated it into the 5 elementary schools. Kindergarten is not required in every state, and only about half of the states mandate that districts offer full-time kindergarten, though the trend has generally been in the direction of full-time.
Pre-kindergarten is, in most of the country, still run privately, or through churches or community organizations. There is a push for universal pre-K that has had success in some cities, plus the states of Vermont, Wisconsin, Florida, Oklahoma, as well as Washington, DC. However, this is generally more on the basis of economic concerns about childcare than long-term educational outcomes. It isn't clear how significantly pre-K actually impacts long-term educational achievement across the board. Some programs and studies have found a substantial improvement in long-term outcomes, others have not, and others have found benefits for certain groups of students (including those whose home language is not English and who benefit from early exposure, or those from high-risk socioeconomic situations) but not others. I'm supportive of universal childcare in general (which only New Mexico has implemented on a state level), but I tend to fall into the "it depends" camp as to whether pre-K actually has long-term educational benefits over normal day care or play-based social activities.
RudyPup@reddit
Middle school and junior high are basically the same thing.
When I was growing up in the 80s, it was -
Elementary through 6th grade Junior high - 7-9 High -9-12 (yes there was an overlap, often chose to go to highschool early or stay at junior high based on siblings, etc )
I was also during the time that elementary was changing to 5th, middle school replaced junior high with 6-8 and high stayed 9-12.
Again, this varies, especially as stated and even local school districts have different setups.
Smaller towns also have fewer schools.
Then there are private and semi private schools.
I also was a problem child, and other issues, so here is my list -
Pre-K - a private school K-2- a private religious school my sister went to already. 3rd-6th a public magnet elementary for highly gifted children 7th - a public magnet junior high for highly gifted 8th (for about 2 months) - a private school I got kicked out of Rest of 8th-9th - a small private school for fucked up kids that actually went from 1st through 12th (we didn't interact with the different age groups, lunches and even be tween class times were staggered. 10th-12th - a small private school for rich kids, that actually had junior and high school
RustyRayWay@reddit
I switched schools 8 different times before I graduated from high school because I was in a military family and moved around a lot because of it. Since then, I’ve gone to two more schools (community college then university). Generally speaking, most people will only go to three different schools: Elementary, Middle, and High School.
The_Se7enthsign@reddit
I was in the last class to have three in my city. Back then, it was Elementary, Middle School, High School. Today, there is a separate campus just for 9th grade.
DataDancer0@reddit
In the teeny tiny school I graduated from (about 30 students per grade year) we had the elementary side of the building for K-5 and then high school side of the building for 6-12 (6-8 core classes had their own middle school hallway and set of middle school teachers but elective teachers taught all middle and high school).
AyAyAyBamba_462@reddit
Junior high and Middle School are the same thing, just different names. Sometimes what grades are covered under each will vary slightly, but that's more a regional thing.
Alert-Potato@reddit
Middle school and junior high are different names for the same thing. Same with high school and senior high.
There is preschool, which not every child attends. For some families this is an alternative to daycare. But it's quite expensive (as is daycare). For families who are poor, there is Head Start, which is a low income preschool, but there aren't enough slots for all the children who are eligible to attend. Preschool can start as early as two, but usually starts at three, and children who do attend usually attend for the two years immediately before kindergarten.
There is pre-K. Again, not every child attends. This would be a single year from age four to five. More rarely, kids who are being red shirted* are put into pre-K instead of kindergarten. Sometimes this is an alternative to preschool, or an alternative to a second year of preschool. In some places pre-K is only available as paid schooling, like preschool. In some areas it's available through the public school system.
There is elementary school, sometimes also called grade school. In some places this may be called primary school, but that's quite atypical in the US. This is typically kindergarten (children typically enter at age 5) through fifth grade.
Then the children move to middle school/junior high. This is typically sixth through eighth grade.
Then the children move to high school/senior high. This is typically ninth through twelfth grade. At some high schools students have the option to dual enroll in a local community college and can graduate high school with completed college credits or even an Associate's Degree. At some high schools students have the option to dual enroll in a local technical school, and can graduate well on their way to entering a blue collar field or apprenticeship.
In some cases, students have the option to attend a vocational/technical school in place of high school. In these cases, the vocational/technical school takes the place of the high school and has all of the state mandated courses needed for high school students in all of the subjects required that aren't part of their vocational training, English, history, math, etc. They graduate from this school fully trained and ready to enter the workforce in their chosen field. This can include things like automotive repair/tech, health services, construction and/or carpentry, cosmetology, landscaping, graphic design, welding, plumbing, electrician, and so on. They leave school ready to enter the workforce, ready to enter an apprenticeship, or having a significant leg up and amazing foundational education for college.
*red shirting explained: Red shirting a child is when the child is biologically old enough to enter kindergarten based on the local school district's age cutoff (which can vary), but the parent(s) decide to wait an extra year to enroll the child. In most cases, the child's birthday is very close to the cutoff, and they are just barely old enough to enter kindergarten, which will make them one of the youngest children in their class. Birthday cutoffs are usually in August or early September, meaning a child has to be five years old by then to enter kindergarten that year. Most children who are red shirted have birthdays from June through the cutoff. The reason for this is typically that the child is just not developmentally ready for kindergarten. My own youngest daughter (mid June birthday) should have been red shirted, but it simply wasn't economically possible to do. She was still 17 years old when she graduated high school, but typically a student turns 18 during their last year of high school.
Intelligent-Camera90@reddit
It depends on the community and how many times someone may have moved. Or if the schools redistricted.
I went to one school for K-6 and another for 7-12. Then 5 more for my undergrad to make up for it.
katd82177@reddit
Middle school and junior high are really different names for the same thing. It depends but they both cover about 6th - 9th grades. I think it’s more common to use middle school in the western part of the country.
ohheykiki@reddit
Around here it's 3, but can be 2 or even one.
Here it's K-5 as elementary, 6-8 as middle school, 9-12 high school. A lot of the Catholic schools in the area are K-8 though. Also, some of the secular privates start at 5th grade and have a lower school and an upper school.
TheyCallMeSkog@reddit
When I went to school it was:
During that time, the grades you earned in 9th grade went on your high school transcript and those students were offered the option to take classes at the high school that junior high couldn’t offer, like languages and higher level math classes. Soon after I graduated, my high school officially absorbed the 9th grade from the feeder junior highs and those junior high schools in turn absorbed the 6th grade from their feeder elementary schools and are now referred to as middle schools.
ItchClown@reddit
I had kindergarten separate, elementary school, junior high school, and high school
Fuzzzer777@reddit
I went to a private school where all grades were in the same building. K-12
There were 18 people in my graduating class.
It is pretty rare. The public school in town had 3 schools. K-4, 5-8, and 9-12
The elementary school was one area of town, but the middle and High school were pretty much back to back with the athletic fields between them.
It was a small town. 3500 people total back then.
Darknesscomesfromyou@reddit
Depends all about the town size. I went to two, but my nephews only are going to 1, and a lot of comments are talking about 3-4.
trustingfastbasket@reddit
In my part of Michigan: Preschool is optional and is 3-5 Elementary school is Kindergarten- 5th grade Middle school 6- 8th grade High school is 9-12.
AlmiranteCrujido@reddit
US compulsory education corresponds to grades 1-12, starting the year kids turn 6 most places (or 7 if they have a fall birthday in some states).
There's also free but not compulsory Kindergarten (age 5-6, basically) and some places have free preschool or "Pre-Kindergarten" or "Transitional Kindergarten" (around my state, this last is basically an extra year of the same for kids who turn 5 too late in the year.)
Most places divide these into 2 sections with a common name * Elementary ("primary education") which starts at grade 1 and ends somewhere between 4 and 6 * High school ("secondary eduction") - which is usually grades 9-12 (but was 10-12 for my dad's generation back in the 1950s, and still excludes 9 a few places)
What the middle years get called, and how they're treated varies: "Junior High School" "Intermediate School" and "Middle School" are all names most places for the same thing - those years between Elementary and High School. Growing up in NYC in the late 1980s, that was grades 7-8 "Junior High." For my dad's generation that was 7-8-9. For my kids around here in the 2020s, that's 6-7-8.
I've never actually seen someplace that broke up intermediate from Junior High, but other people reply have mentioned it so it happens somewhere.
Last, some schools combine them. My kids are both at private K-8 schools; this isn't unknown in public schools (out of 18 elementary schools in my district, 3 are K-8 including middle school) but it's much more common in private schools at least around here.
I went to a combined public 7-12 high school with no separate junior high. This isn't exactly common anywhere, but there are a few 6-12 middle+high schools around here, so it's not unique.
cosmiic_rat@reddit
I went to 7 different schools in the same district. K & 1st, 2nd & 3rd, 4th & 5th, 6th was its own building, 7th & 8th, 9th was also its own building, and then 10th 11th & 12th. Very strange and very much not the norm, and yes I hated it. Nowadays they have bigger schools to house more grades in, but all of those schools were built after I left them.
fsa3@reddit
Here we can do optional pre-K for one or two years (age 3 and 4)
Then at 5 we start kindergarten. Usually we stay in that school (elementary school) until we complete 5th or 6th grade, depending on the school district.
We then switch to middle school until we complete 8th grade. Some of your classmates in elementary school may go to a different middle school, because the middle school will have a different region that it covers.
We start high school in 9th grade at another location. Again, your classmates can end up at a different high school, and some of those elementary school classmates that went to a different middle school may end up in the same high school as you.
Then there's special education, for both students that are behind and students that are ahead. I used to split my middle school years at two different schools. We'd take a bus to another school for advanced classes half a day two days each week, then bus back to middle school after. Same with high school. If you had enough credits you could graduate early, you could go to junior college to get some of your college credits.
Then advanced learning at either a trade school or college after high school.
-Boston-Terrier-@reddit
Some do.
It mostly depends on how big your district is and when your buildings were built.
ActuaLogic@reddit
Note that, in the US, schools are organized and funded at the local (city or county) level, so there is room for a lot of variation. For the most part, there are two alternative sequences. Middle school covers grades 7 and 8, which is followed by high school, which covers grades 9, 10, 11, and 12. Junior high school covers grades 7, 8, and 9. People who attend a junior high school graduate to a senior high school covering grades 10, 11, and 12. There may also still be systems that still have grammar school, covering all grades through 8, followed by high school covering grades 9, 10, 11, and 12.
Local control over education dates back to colonial New England, where, in 1647, Massachusetts required towns with 50 or more households to appoint a teacher for reading and writing, while towns of 100 or more households were required to establish a grammar school.
farmerthrowaway1923@reddit
I did 5. Pre-school, grade school, 5/6th grade school, middle school and high school. The 5/6th grade school honestly was awesome and I think there should be more of those.
RevolutionaryBank465@reddit
Junior high and middle school are the same things
californiahapamama@reddit
In urban and suburban California it’s usually 3 for public schools.
Elementary Schools are usually K (starts at age 5) to 5th or 6th.
Middle School, Junior High or Intermediate Schools cover 6th-8th, although sometimes you see ones that only do 7-8 or 7-9.
High Schools are usually 9th-12th
Occasionally you’ll see a K-8th schools, but those are generally magnet schools or private schools.
wfbhp@reddit
Unlike apparently a lot of people here, I did indeed go to four different school buildings in the same district. K-3 was elementary, 4-6 was middle, 7-8 was jr. high, 9-12 was highschool.
squidgemobile@reddit
Mine was the same.
TheOtterDecider@reddit
This was mine, too, but our 4-6 was called Intermediate School and our 7-8 was Middle School.
wfbhp@reddit
I don't think "middle school" was ever used officially for my 4-6 school, but 7-8 was definitely officially called our Junior High. 4-6 actually changed names while I was in it. IIRC, it was called the Intermediate Learning Center when I went in and was renamed something in honor of a former school admin that replaced Intermediate with her name before I moved on to 7th.
gmanose@reddit
Junior high and middle school are the same thing. Used to be they were all called junior high but that changed a few decades ago where I lived. Maybe in some areas it’s still called junior high
KrofftSurvivor@reddit
There's absolutely no consistency on that.
I've lived in places with :
K-6 Elementary, 7-8 Jr High, 9-12 High school
K-5 Elementary, 6-8 Middle school, 9-12 High School
Pre-K - 2 Early Elementary, 3 - 5 Elementary, 6-8 Middle school, 9-12 High school
Ok_Entertainment9665@reddit
Middle School and Junior High are fairly interchangeable.
Where I lived (Nevada) we were in school like this:
1) elementary School (5-11 years old) 2) Middle School (11-14) 3) High School (14-18)
donner_dinner_party@reddit
There is no consistency throughout America. In our town kids go to 4 schools: Kindergarten-2nd grade(lower elementary), 3rd-5th(upper elementary), 6th-8th( middle school), 9th-12th(High school).
Godisdeadbutimnot@reddit
Most school systems do: K-5 (elementary), 6-8 (middle), 9-12 (high). But older folks may have had something like K-6 (elementary), 7-9 (junior high), 10-12 (high).
Junior_Statement_262@reddit
for me it was elementary, jr high and high school
holiestcannoly@reddit
No. Each district is different.
For example, one school district I went to did K-1 (Early Childhood), 2-6 (Elementary), 7-8 (Middle), 9-12 (High School)
Another one I went to did K-5 (Elementary), 6-8 (Middle), 9-12 (High School)
2PlasticLobsters@reddit
Just to make things fun, private schools are entirely different from whatever the public schools setup is.
I went to a public school for kindergarten. My parents thought it was a bit too rough & sent me to a Catholic school for grades 1-8. Except A) I hated it there, and B) we moved cities. So for most of grade 8 & all of 9, I went to a public "junior high".
My last year in "senior high", the school district rearranged things. That year we had 9th grade freshmen in our school, and the former junior highs became middle schools. That was more than 40 years ago, I have no clue what they do now.
Vixen-van@reddit
My schooling (FL)
Elementary K-6 Junior High 7-9 High School 10-12
I think if 9th was included in the second school, it was referred to as Junior High. If the second school only went up to 8th, it was Middle School. This was my experience. I understand things vary in different places.
bellegroves@reddit
Middle school and junior high are usually the same thing. Most districts in my area call them middle schools, and they have grades 6, 7, and 8.
Preschool (ages 3-5) is usually a separate school in my area, then elementary or grade schools with kindergarten through grade 5, then middle school or junior high, then high school. So it might be 3 schools or 4, but the fourth one is preschool.
nauticalfiesta@reddit
Just three, (sometimes two depending how small the district is)
We had Elementary (k-6) then Junior high (7-9) then high school (10-12). The district changed this when they built a new high school that was bigger than the old one and went to middle schools (6-8) and the high school became a "regular" four year school.
There were a few districts that were very small and all the grades were in one building. There was also one near where I grew up that had k-8 in one building, then the high school was just 9-12.
Long story short, no four schools isn't common. But there's lots of variations depending on the size of the district.
Artistic-Degree-4593@reddit
Where I live, k-6 was elementary, 7-8 was junior high, and 9-12 was highschool.
Atiram7496@reddit
Grew up in central Oklahoma and went to: - elementary school (K-5, ages 5-10, 19 total elementary schools in my district, ~32 in my year)
- middle school (6-8, ages 11-13, 4 middle schools in my district, ~250 in my year) - high school (9-12, ages 14-18, 2 high schools in my district, ~400 in my year)
My year at every school was on the smaller side. My high school had about 2,000 kids and the other high school was about 2,300
However, my town used to have - elementary (K-5, ? Schools) - middle (6-8, 2 schools) - mid high (9-10, 2 schools) - high (11-12, 1 school)
My husband is a middle school teacher in northern VA and they do: - elementary school (K-6) - middle school (7-8) - high school (9-12)
His middle school is only 2 grades and about 1200 kids! Each high school is fed by one middle school, unless kids transfer to a special school for academics or arts. The elementary schools and middle schools are also weird in that certain schools have gifted programs while others don’t, so if you are determined to be gifted, you go to a different school in your area as opposed to the one you might be zoned for by your address.
They also bus EVERYONE here for every activity. Where I grew up you had to live 1.5 miles from the school to be bussed and there was no after school activity bus if you wanted to do things after school.
22ndCenturyHippy@reddit
Did 6th grade in one school(middle), 7th in another(also middle), 8th and 9th in another (jr high) and 10-12 in another.(high school) only because the new middle school was being built from the baby boom from the local economy back in the day(the graduation class before me had twice as many kids) and when in elementary school in the big city we had a system called like "tracks " or something where only 3-4 classes out of the school got 3 months off at a time so if your friends are in another class on a different track you probably wont see them on your 3 month break unless its weekends and if your 3 month break landed in the winter that sucks.
WilcoHistBuff@reddit
It’s probably better to think in terms of levels rather than “schools” as in physical places where schooling happens.
Kindergarten facilities are very frequently placed in the same building or campus as elementary grade 1-6 facilities. Middle-School facilities (grades 7-8 or some times 6-8) are frequently attached to Elementary facilities or High School facilities or are stand alone facilities.
The curriculums differ. But the decisions of a local school district as to how or where to build facilities depend a lot on whether they are developed in urban, rural, or suburban environments and the nature of public school transportation.
Many towns over the last century built multiple elementary schools at shorter distances from specific residential communities with an eye towards making it easier on parents and younger children getting to school by foot or short car ride while it was assumed that older children could more easily navigate bus routes, longer walking routes, or bike routes to school allowing for greater centralization of middle and high schools.
Obviously, there can be many economic advantages to consolidating facilities for different levels of education on the same campus and one sees a lot of that.
Muscle__Crowe@reddit
Junior High is usually synonymous with Middle School though may or may not include sixth grade from what I’ve seen. Where I grew up we had elementary school go grades K-6, middle school grades 7 & 8, and then four years of high school. Other districts have junior high which is typically grades 6-8.
Question_Consistent@reddit
I had 5
My high school had 2 campuses, one for 9/10 and another for 11/12 about 20min away. So if you made a friend who was a grade above you, you wouldn't see them for a year.
Distinct_Chair3047@reddit
It depends on the area.
Some area's, yes.
Some area's, no.
Most commonly you'll see.
Elementary, middle, and High.
Or Elementary and High.
Quirky-Bad857@reddit
Middle school and junior high are essentially the same things. Middle school has kind of taken the place of Junior High Schools. I am Gen X, which was before the changeover, so JHS was for grades 7-9, but if you wanted to start high school in the ninth grade (freshman year) you still could. Middle school is now 6-8, which makes more sense because everyone can start high school as a freshman.
rock-dancer@reddit
I went from K-8 then 9-12. It’s not entirely uncommon but certainly less prevalent than elementary, middle, and high which is the most common split. Some split middle and junior high which is likely the second most common experience.
A number of magnet schools are 6-12 as well.
Think-Ability-3685@reddit
It depends, but my experience was elementary (k-5) middle (6-8) and higg school (9-12)
Some people use middle school and junior high interchangeably.
magolding22@reddit
I went to Kindergarten, elementary school grades 1-6, junior high school 7-8, and high school 9-12. I note that was in only 3 physical buldings, and today my second elemenatry school building has been connected by a new wing to my junior high and high school building, so now there are only two buildings that I have ever been to school in.
Many US families move a lot, so some kids have been to school in several different school systems and physical buildings. Even though middle school and junior high school are sort of rival stages of education, there may be millions of people who have been to middle school in one system and Junior high in another system, and thus can claim to have been in 4 stages of compulsory education instead of the three stages in a single school system.
LuckyNerve@reddit
My grandson’s county does prek-2 grade in Primary, 3-5 grade in Elementary, 6-8 grades in Middle school and 9-12 grades in High School. The crazy thing is that they all ride the same school bus so you literally have 4 year olds and 17 year old on the same bus. My grandson is 5 and his bus driver has him sit in the seat behind him so that he isn’t influenced by the older kids. He has a couple of older kids who look out for him as well but it’s such a small county that they just mix them all together.
Ok_Concentrate4461@reddit
“Middle school” and “junior high” are essentially synonyms. There is technically a difference in terms of the way the schools are organized, but I teach in a junior high that works like a middle school, while my kids’ middle school worked more like a junior high.
EntranceFeisty8373@reddit
Not uncommon... Our district has early childhood (3-5 years old) in one building, elementary (6-11 years old) in a few different buildings, middle school (12-14) in another building, and high school (15-18) in yet another building. Each of these buildings are spread across different campuses across the city (pop 50k).
Upbeat_Emu_412@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same thing. Some people stay in the same school from K-8 and sometimes but rarely K-12.
professorfunkenpunk@reddit
Middle school junior high are basically synonyms, but there are lots of variations in how things go
When I was in school, my district split elementary into k-4 and 5/6
The district I’m in now is rearranging (and it’s unclear if my kids will be impacted. Right now it is k-5, 6-8, and 9-12. But the new set up going to be k-5, 6/7, 8/9, 10/12
PockASqueeno@reddit
Junior high is part of middle school, so it’s really just three.
Active-General7166@reddit
3
Smorgas-board@reddit
Sometime. Depends on the school.
I went from Kindegarten through middle school at one place. High school at one place
WowsrsBowsrsTrousrs@reddit
Generally, you go to junior high or middle school, not both. If your elementary school is K-6, then you go to junior high for 7-8 or 7-9, then to high school. If your elementary school is K-5, then you go to middle school for 6-8, tgen to high school. Elem K-5, Middle 6-8, High 9-12 is most common now; 50 years ago K-6, 7-9, 10-12 was most common. Note that's for public schools; for private schools, Primary K-8, High 9-12 is common.
BuffaloDivineEdenNo7@reddit
It totally depends on where you are. I'm surprised reading the comments how common 3 is, I only had K-8 and then high school. I briefly lived in a neighborhood where the school district had a jr high, but i never went there as i was only in second grade. Then we moved 6 miles away and everything was K-8.
TranslatorOutside909@reddit
Middle school and jr high is typically the same thing just 2 different names. The actual gades might also vary I have seen: 6-8, 7-8 and 7-9
babassu_seeds@reddit
It's 3. Two paths: 1) elem -> middle (grades 6-8) -> high (9-12) 2) elem (1-6) -> junior high (7-9) -> senior high (10-12)
1) has been most common for the past, dang, 50 yrs at this point. 2) is what my mom had in the 70s
Senior-Cantaloupe-69@reddit
Just three. You go to a Middle School OR Junior High, not both. Each school district can break it up how they want. Junior high is the traditional. Middle Schools came about in the 80’s. I have no idea why.
Junior high is 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. Middle school is 6th, 7th, and 8th.
I’m 52. I went to a Middle school in Kansas. My kids went to a Junior high in Washington state.
Communal-Lipstick@reddit
At least 3. A lot go to a separate pre-k school, that could add 1 or 2 more. And if they move, like I did, kids can easily go to 6 or 7 schools.
However, my husband grew up in a very small town and his school kindergarten thru graduation was on one campus, just slightly separate for the different age groups. So it really depends where you live.
MakeStupidHurtAgain@reddit
The usual would be three: elementary (K-5 or K-6), middle (6-8 or 7-8, occasionally 7-9), and high school (9-12, sometimes 10-12),
In many rural areas it’s not uncommon to have only one or two school buildings so you might do K-8 and 9-12, or K-6 and 7-12, or even K-12 in the same building.
QuokkaMom@reddit
Two for me as my rural high school also housed the middle school/Jr high in a different wing. But usually it's 3.
AngryAlien21@reddit
I went to 2. We lived in a less populated area. K-6, elementary school, was in one building, while 7-12 was in another. 7th and 8th grades were mostly separated from the rest of the building, and were considered junior high, but shared the lunch room, library, and some class rooms
bearsnchairs@reddit
Man, I went to four different schools in 8th grade alone because we moved twice during the school year and I changed schools again shortly after the second move.
In total I went to 9 schools for K-12. I wouldn’t say my experience is typical though.
T-38Pilot@reddit
Junior high and middle school are the same . They different names for the same thing
Atlas7993@reddit
It just depends on the district. The district I went to had K-8 all in one building. 6-8 was called "junior high" but it was the same school. I know some people who went to different schools for each stage. Some even had a school for just Kindergarten, then 1-5 is its own school.
JackYoMeme@reddit
Preschool (doesn't count imo), kindergarten-5th grade (elementary school), 6-8th grade (middle school), 9-12grade (high school), then some college. Only k-12th is considered mandatory, so I'd say 3 is the minimum most of us see.
1EMurph1@reddit
Elementary- Preschool to 5th grade Middle school - 6th to 8th grade High school - 9th to 12th grade
RebeccaMUA@reddit
My husband went to a Catholic school that was K-12, so he stayed at one school the whole time.
wieldymouse@reddit
When I was in school it was elementary (k-6), junior high (7-9), and senior high school (10-12).
hoverton@reddit
Mine was all at the same small school. We had K-12 on the same campus. Total enrollment ranged from 90 to 130 or so.
Huge_Statistician441@reddit
Depending on where you live. My husband is from a very small town and his school was elementary though K12
VictorianPeorian@reddit
Obviously it's different in different places. When I was in school, the local school district had three levels: elementary/primary (K-4), middle (5-8), and high (9-12). Even in the same school district, these things change. In the 50s (and I don't know long it was like this), the same school district had just two levels: grade school (K-8) and high school (9-12). For all I know, things might have changed again since I graduated.
VictorianPeorian@reddit
Also, I think I read that one of the local private schools is a K-12, but I think that would be unusual in most public schools unless maybe if it's a really small town/rural community with not many children.
reaper2161@reddit
Very much depends, I briefly attended a school in Georgia that did technically 5 different schools if you also count preschool: k-4, 5-6, 7-9, and 10-12. But my husband went to a k-12 school in the North Carolina mountains. It’s all about the size and layout of the county/towns.
jeff1074@reddit
I just had 3, elementary, middle, and high school. Now for me I moved a lot so this was across 7 different school systems. But 3 seems typical.
shammy_dammy@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same. Primary and elementary are the same. So the usual is 3 different schools. But those three different schools can be in the same building (as my kids experienced) and can cover different grades and ages. Personally, I attended 7 different schools (military brat) and this is how they were labeled:
First and second grade: Primary school A
Third and fourth grade: Elementary school B
Fifth and sixth: Elementary school C
Seventh: Middle school D
Eighth and Ninth grade: Junior High school E
Tenth grade: High School F
Eleventh and Twelfth grade: High School G
Content_Ground4251@reddit
Yes. This is a typical school setup. Some kids even end up going to 5 different schools if they go to a private pre-k school.
Each community is different based on the population and resources available.
smokiechick@reddit
It depends on the area. My kids have the elementary school (Pre-K - 6th) and the Jr/Sr High school (7-12). My youngest is in "middle school" in the high school building. The kids one town over have one building for Pre-K through 12th. I went to elementary (K-3), middle 4-7, and then the high school. It isn't standardized. But, largely, if there is a middle school there isn't a junior high, and vice versa. But, there are always exceptions.
STLFleur@reddit
The school district I reside in is even weirder.
A few years ago, my district decided to experiment with something new in order to better utilize resources. I am honestly not sure how it's working out (it's a poor school district to begin with). So, in my area, the separate schools are:
• Kindergarten • Primary (Grade 1 & 2) • Intermediate (Grades 3-5) • The 6th Grade Center (Grade 6) • Middle School (Grade 7 & 8) • High School (Grade 9-12)
It has been a few years now since they started this. So far, the district has not improved.
MeteorMann@reddit
My town had four schools: Elementary (K-2), Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8), and High (9-1).
It was a hold-over from when the town was booming. There were too many kids to fit into the existing schools, so they built a fourth school, the intermediate school (grades 3-5). By the time I was in high school, the town was in decline and the elementary school closed. K-2 attended the intermediate school and its name was changed to Elementary.
RedeyeSPR@reddit
I grew up in a suburb of a 40k population city. We had 2 separate K-5 buildings, a middle school 6-8, and a high school 9-12. The middle and high schools were at the same location, but separate buildings. The city school had 6 elementary schools, 3 middle schools, and one huge high school.
The school where I teach (town population 1800) has one K-4 elementary building and a 5-12 middle/high school building.
It all depends on the city size and how much money flows through the district.
Open_Confidence_9349@reddit
Often 3, sometimes 4 (occasionally more) - as long as they don’t move. Most districts have and elementary school K-5 (or 6), a middle school/junior high 6/7 - 8/9, and a high school 8/10 - 12.
Now some districts, like the one I live in have divided the elementary into 2, so there is a primary PreK-2 and an elementary 3-5/6.
Then there are districts like the one I work in: PreK/K, 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7-9, and then 10-12. They shuffled it like that about 15 years ago, said something about busing and being cheaper. Parents are still angry about having 3-4 kids and them all being in different schools. I’m in a sped building, so haven’t had to deal with the fallout of that decision.
Avi_Cat@reddit
Kid of the 80s I had a separate building for kindergarten, elementary school, middle school and high school.
My kids technically only had 2. Since the middle school and HS were one big building.
daveescaped@reddit
My kids attend 4 schools; elementary, elementary intermediate, Jr High and High school. Some attend 5 if their High School has a separate 9th grade campus.
I dislike it. 3 is plenty and I can be disruptive changing schools.
Mistyam@reddit
When I was growing up, grade school or Elementary School was K through 6. Then Junior High or middle school, whichever you prefer was 7th and 8th grade. And then high school was 9th through 12th.
AllSoulsNight@reddit
Back in the day, my district repurposed older buildings for the growing population. I did 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12 all in different buildings. This was also before mandatory kindergarten.
brilliantpants@reddit
Like most things related to school I’m US, this varies from place to place. And often the terms middle school and junior high are used interchangeably, but not always.
I went to three elementary schools - one for kindergarten, another for grades 1-3, another for grades 4-6. Middle school was grades 7 and 8, and then high school was grades nine to 12, so that was 5 different schools.
My husband grew up in another state, and he only went to three schools that were broken out as elementary is k-6, middle school is 7-9, and high school is 10-12.
Where we live now they do elementary as k-4, and another school for 5 and 6. Then 7-8 is middle school and 9-12 is high school.
CaptMcPlatypus@reddit
Usually kids go to either a middle school (grades 6-8) or a junior high (grades 7- 8 or 9, depending on the district). In a district I used to live near, they had elementary (k-4), intermediate (5-6), junior high (7-8) and high school (9-12).
School districts are very independent in the US. There is no universal national system.
Accomplished_War_805@reddit
I went to one school. Elementary was in one building and had the cafeteria. The other building had Jr high (7-8) and high school. Each building had its own gym, otherwise it was a K-12 compound. Disclaimer: I had 25 students in my graduating class.
Various_Knowledge226@reddit
My elementary and middle school were in the same building (it’s a small town), and not that it was a part of the same overall building, just segregated from each other, no, a lot of the stuff was shared between the K-5 students and the 6-8 (middle school) students
lets-snuggle@reddit
I went to preschool, kindergarten, elementary (1-5), middle (aka jr high in some areas of the country, just middle school for me) (6-8), and high school (9-12)
quietly_annoying@reddit
It's depends on the school district:
In my hometown the kids go to: Early Childhood (age 3-6,) Elementary (age 6/7-9,) Intermediate (age 10-11,) Middle school (age 12-13) High School (14-18.)
The school district my kids attend: Elementary (age 3-10) Middle School (age 11-13) High School (age 14-18.) There are also some "charter" or "community" schools that are grades K-8 (age 5-13) and then those kids attend the bigger public high schools.
On top of that, the parochial schools do their own things, so it's kind of a jumbled mess.
Determined-over50@reddit
I did that. 6-7 middle. 8-9 junior high.
My daughter only had 3. 6,7,8 combined.
InsertEvilLaugh@reddit
I went to one for Pre-K, then one for K, then another for 1-3, one for 4-5, another for 6, then anothr for 7 and 8, another for 9, and then went to one last one for 10-12. Funnily enough, didn't move for any of those.
Pre-K was a dedicated school, and K was as well.
The place I went to 1st and 2nd was great, but then they build a new elementary that was closer to where I lived so I was sent there for 3rd through 5th.
6th grade I went to middle school, but the nearby high school needed that building because it was getting so many the next year they needed space for the large incoming class of 9th graders, so they built a new middle school and went there for 7th and 8th.
For 9th grade, I went back to the same building that was the middle school I went to for 6th grade, they just called it the 9th grade center. Then for 10th through 12th I went to the high school nearby.
satanlovesjoker@reddit
Pre K, k-5, 6-8 (I had 2 middle schools because they switched us due to a different school model they tried out) and 9-12 that’s high school
Twi-face@reddit
Elementary, middle, and high school are the thee tiers of compulsory education (elementary is primary, secondary is split into middle and high).
“Junior High” is an archaic name for what is now known as “Middle School.” At some point between when my parents went (in the 1970’s) and when I went (in the 2010’s) schools changed the term.
Stuie299@reddit
Like others have said, it varies a lot depending on where you grew up. My school (and I was lucky enough to live in the same school district my entire childhood despite moving) was divided into three schools: elementary school k–4, middle school 5-8, and high school 9–12. For some reason, there were two different elementary schools, but only one middle and high school.
ndubitably@reddit
Middle School and Junior High are kinda interchangeable outside of Texas.
I had:
Elementary School (K-6) Middle School (7-8) High School (9-12)
My parents had:
Elementary (K*-6) Jr High (7-9) High School (10-12)
FindYourselfACity@reddit
Depends on your schooling systems.
I went to a private school for elementary through grade 8, and then public for high school. So two schools.
Most of the kids who were in my high school, who’d be in the public school system had been filtered through one of many middle schools, which I think grade 6 through grade 8. I believe they went to a separate elementary school which I think was grades kindergarten through 5. Pre schools are also separate.
MaddoxJKingsley@reddit
Depends on region. Buffalo has predominantly K–8 schools, as do some other cities. So, elementary* school from ages 5–13 and then high school for 14–17. I ended up going to three schools total only because I started off in Catholic school (also K–8 and begged to be let out of it and go to public school.
Evapoman97@reddit
Where we live now there are 2 schools, it's a country school and there's k-8th grade and then 9th-12th in high school. Where I went to school there was k-6th, Jr high had 7-9th (9th grade counted as HS) then HS 10-12th.
allan11011@reddit
Everyone here is telling you the various school setups they had so I’ll give mine.
K-5 elementary school, 6-8 middle, 9-12 high
JacobDCRoss@reddit
Middle school means 7-8, or sometimes 6-8. Junior high means 7-9.
One school district when I was a kid had K-3 schools, a single 4-6 school, a 7-8 school, and a 9+12 school. That is pretty rare. I moved around a lot, and work in schools, and have only seen that once.
Most common, however, is K-6, 7-8, and 9-12.
It is becoming more common to have middle schools that go 6-8. I work in one. I have never actually been to a junior high, although I know some exist.
Suppafly@reddit
middle school and junior high are the same thing and used interchangeably here, but there are a few thousand different school districts across the US and they all handle things a little differently. The split here is typically k-5, 6-8, 9-12 although smaller towns often combine junior and regular high or have k-8 in on school and then a separate high school.
L8dTigress@reddit
Actually, it's 3, Junior high and Middle school are the same thing.
Derwin0@reddit
Middle and Jr High are the same thing, the names are interchangeable.
Most kids go to 3 different schools: Elementary, Middle/Jr High, and High school.
SkyPuppy561@reddit
I only went to elementary, middle, and high school. I guess it depends on the state or municipality as to whether they choose to call it “middle school” or “junior high.”
inknglitter@reddit
My hometown has 2 elementary schools, a middle school, a jr. high, & a high school. Mostly because it's a low-income area, I think. Not enough funds to build bigger buildings. School levies are voted down pretty routinely. My h.s. building was in terrible shape and really overcrowded.
Appropriate-Bid8671@reddit
I went to the same school start to finish, but I grew up in a town with a population of 1200 people. My kids all went to 3 different schools: elementary, middle and high school.
Two of the schools in this district have separate high schools for 9th grade only. So some kids go to 4 different schools.
cherry_monkey@reddit
I can do you one better. There's a school district in Illinois that has grade school (k-3), intermediate school (4-6), elementary school (k-6), middle school (7-8) Freshman academy (9), and high school (10-12).
Whether grade and intermediate or just elementary school depends on where you live.
Accomplished_Mix7827@reddit
Middle school and junior high are usually the same thing. Occasionally they'll have four (my community had a K-4 elementary school, a 5-6 intermediate school, a 7-8 junior high, and a 9-12 high school for a while), but that's unusual
Lance-Boyle-666@reddit
Where I went to school, K-6 was elementary, 7-8 was jr. high, 9-12;was high school, but some schools are K-4 is elementary, 5-8 is middle school, 9-12;is high school. Some jr. highs are 7-9 with high school being 10-12. It all depends on the school system.
CatOnABlueBackground@reddit
Most common is 3. Elementary (grade) school usually consists of kindergarten thru 6th. Middle (or Jr. high) is usually 7th & 8th, and High School is 9th thru 12th. Middle school can be different grades, though. Sometimes it can include 6ths grade or 9th. My own personal experience was elementary thru 6th, junior high thru 7th thru 9th (it was called junior high for us because it included 9th grade, which is technically part of high school), and high school 10th thru 12th. Our middle/jr high containing 9th was because of the amount of kids in the district. My graduating class was 1000 students. A new high school was in the process of being built at that time, and once it opened, the next group had their 9th grade moved into the high school where it belonged.
Grouchy-Stand-4570@reddit
It’s usually elementary (5-12), jr high or middle school (12-13) and high school (14-17)
Extra_Routine_6603@reddit
Depends on the area and how schools set up where I grew up we didnt have a middle school and that's basically the same as junior high. Were smaller school and town so elementary went from Kindergarten to sixth grade and seventh up went to the highschool. Was an old middle school that I think originally took kids from fifth to eighth grades but didn't have the population to really justify it and the other buildings were newer so it was repurposed for random little league games and community center for training courses.
breebop83@reddit
My district was weird and 6th graders had their own building so the breakdown was elementary (k-5), 6th grade building (6 only), middle school (7-8), and high school (9-12). It’s supposed to serve as a transition, you have a home room where more you were the bulk of the day but change rooms for 3 or 4 classes and those rooms are right next to each other (further away classes like gym you still went with your home room class) so you don’t go straight from no solo room changes to changing rooms every class all over a large building.
It was weird mostly because everyone goes into one building after being spread over several elementary schools and before being split up into (at the time) 2 different middle and high schools (there are now 3 of each) so when I attended there was a 50/50 chance that a classmate would end up at the other middle school the following year. I think most of the friends I made in 6th grade ended up in the other middle school so that part of it sucked.
carinosa34@reddit
When I was growing up, we went to five school. K-5 was elementary, a 6th grade center, a 7th grade center, 8-9 was junior high and 10-12 was high school. The year after I graduated, it turned to K-5 elementary, 6-8 middle, and 9-12 high school.
Padron1964Lover@reddit
Shit, my dad was in the army. I went to 6 different schools from ages 6-12.
Gunzablazin1958@reddit
I went to four.
K-3: Elementary 4-6: Grade 7-8: Jr High 9-12: High
The village I grew up in had three separate buildings — Elementary, Grade and High — we partnered with another (even smaller village) that had two separate buildings — Elementary/Grade and Jr. High, and we were bussed back and forth.
The Grade and Elementary/Grade have since been razed, there has been some consolidation of grades, but I haven’t been back in decades so I’m unclear on the details.
ElevenDollars@reddit
In the small town where I grew up, there was a k-6 school and a 7-12 school
CRO553R@reddit
My kids went to a K-12 Charter school. College was the first time they changed schools.
KingPe0n@reddit
If they’re lucky, up to 5.
1: Preschool 2: Kindergarten 3: Elementary school 4: Junior High school 5: High school
Lanky-Wonder-4360@reddit
Nursery school is pretty much an institution for ages 3-4, before kindergarten at age 5. Then elementary school, middle/junior high, and high school. But why stop at age 18?
somethingtosay247@reddit
Four just seems like such a waste of a building lol. The grades 6-8 have enough in common that they should (and usually are) grouped together.
SlideClean1415@reddit
I’ll say what is said in almost every post about the American education system. Every school district (there are thousands) is different. There is no national standard. So the answer is sometimes.
PoppaGriff@reddit
I had technically three, but in reality two; went to elementary (k-5), middle (6-8), and high school(9-12). Elementary and middle were in one massive building, but there was a clear division/barrier between the two “school buildings”.
CalamityKid_@reddit
I went to a smaller rural school and we only had an Elementary and High School. No middle school. Elementary was K-6 and High was 7-12.
Icy_Money7447@reddit
Not for me. K-8 at one school. 9-12 at my high school.
Fun-Yellow-6576@reddit
In my large metropolitan area each school district (districts were created long before the population expanded so a city can have a dozen districts). Hubby and I attended K-6 Elementary, 7-8 Jr High. 9-12 High school.
One of kids attended K-5 Elementary, 6-8 Middle School, and 9-12 High School. Two of our children changed districts and attended 7-8 Jr High.
My Son in law same metro area attended K-6 Elementary, 7-9 Jr. High, and 10-12 High School.
theoldman-1313@reddit
For me it was 3. I think that the cases where an extra building sneaks in are mostly due to space limitations, not education.
MWSin@reddit
I attended four, but only because I moved during third grade. Both districts (same state), were elementary (K-5), middle (6-8), and high (9-12).
Senior_Performer_387@reddit
For me grade school was one thing, middle school was another and then high school.
When i went middle school was only 7-8. I think they added 6 sometime after i went to high school.
I did go to different grade schools though due to moving around and being in foster care for a year during that time.
maestra612@reddit
It varies. I teach in a district that has Pre-K 3 through 8th grade neighborhood elementary schools. Then kids go to highschool for 9-12th grades. I live about 10 miles away. In the district my kids attend they have Pre-K through 4th in one building, then in a separate school, but attached building is the middle school that goes from 5-8th grade. Then they apply to high schools since we don't have our own, and the highschool we have a send and receive agreement with is not a good school. However, the agreement is over 100 years old and though we've been trying for the past 6 years the state will not allow us to terminate the agreement. There is another district in the county where kids go to one of three primary schools ( pk-3), then everyone goes to the same elementary school for grades 4-5, then they split into 2 middle schools for 6-8th grade, and finally they all go to the same high school. Keep in mind these 3 variations all exist in the same county within a 20 minute drive from each other. I live in NJ and there are over 600 school districts in this state which is the 47th smallest state out of 50. It's also the most densely populated, with over 9.5 million residents. NJ people are very attached to so-called " home rule" with every town having its own police, fire, school district etc.
AWTNM1112@reddit
Pre-school, elementary, middle, high school, and maybe technical or college. Some ore-schools are more like day care. Some have a set time of age appropriate instruction with several classes a day. My kids did all 5. Their pre-school had an early childhood education specialist, and separated the 3s, 4s, and 5s into three separate classes at 3 separate times. Day care was not included. It was an amazing place.
Jsmith2127@reddit
3 for most. Elementary/gradeschool, then Jr. High which is the same as middle school, and high school.
Unless you live in smaller town or rural towns. I went to 3 schools, bur lived in a larger city.
But when I live now, in a small town my kids went to two schools. Grade school and Jr high are in the same building ( prek-8th grades), then high school
unrepentantlibboomer@reddit
Usually elementary school (K - grade 5 or 6), middle school (grades 6,7 & 8) or junior high (grades 7 & 8 or grades 7,8 & 9), and high school (grades 9-12 or 10-12). In a lot of small towns, it is all in the same building, just the curriculum is divided up.
Amockdfw89@reddit
Some districts they separate junior high and high school. Like mine.
Dangerous_Arachnid99@reddit
I and my older siblings went to junior high (grades 7-9) but my youngest siblings went to middle school (6-8). Same buildings and campus, different name. The high school next door then inherited the 9th grade.
Bloodbndrr@reddit
This post made me realize I went to 6 schools. Kindergarten was its own campus. 1st and 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 5th and 6th, and 7th and 8th were each two grade campuses, and then the 4 years of high school were on a single campus. All in the same school district.
Ok-Growth4613@reddit
Elementary kindergarten to 4th grade. Intermediate 5-6th grade. Middle school 7-8th. High school 9-12th. The school system I went through had very large graduating glasses.
Avena626@reddit
I went to two schools - Kindergarten - 8th grade, then high school 9th-12th. This was in Southern California.
Meepmerf@reddit
I went to preschool at a church, kindergarten-5th grade at an elementary school, 6th grade at a separate middle school, 7th and 8th at a junior high building, and 9th-12th at a high school. It was all within one school district (except the church), so I saw the same classmates growing up, but I was in 4 different schools, 5 if you count preschool. The district I went to recently split up the high school into 2 buildings as well, one for freshman and sophomores and the other for juniors and seniors, so now kids will be going to 5 schools minimum.
Puzzled_Hamster58@reddit
K-5 6-8 and 9-12. Was how my schools were setup.
I know some towns 5th mighg be grouped with middle school tho.
Cricket08328@reddit
Probably depends on the school system. My school went kinder through 8th, so I only went to two schools.
Viocansia@reddit
I did. Elementary was k-3, then a school with 4th and 5th, then middle school 6th-8th, and high school 9-12.
Tannare@reddit
It depends on the school district on where the schools for each level is located. Some districts combine elementary with middle schools (Grades 1 to 8), some combine junior and senior high, etc.
Generally, many students within a district move together as a class when they change schools, so it is not so discombobulating to them. You can stay in the same class cohort your entire early schooling. Also, in many districts there are more lower level schools and fewer higher level schools (often just 1 high school), so most students eventually end up in one final school before high school graduation.
MyLastFuckingNerve@reddit
I went to two schools because the one wasn't quite big enough. K-6 at one in the town i lived in, 7-8 at the one in a town 20 miles away (this one also had an elementary school for the kids from this town and surrounding area), 9-12 back at the first one.
They've since closed the one 20 miles away so it's now K-12 from at least 3 small towns in one building.
Prize_Consequence568@reddit
Junior High and middle school are the same OP.
WorriedCress7965@reddit
Here's a fun one. Every school district I lived in (KY and CA) through the start of 6th grade was Elementary K-5, Middle School 6-8, and Highschool 9-12.
We moved to AZ in my 6th grade year and I had to go back back to Elementary school, then move on to Junior High that was 7-9, then was home schooled for most of, 7-8 and transferred to a 9-12 Highschool.
Due to how much we moved around I've only ever attended one school for 2 full scholastic years (4th and 5rh) AND had to do Kindergarten twice because I started school in Germany and was too young for 1st grade when we moved back to the US.
Hefty_Obligation6303@reddit
Generally speaking middle school and junior high are interchangeable names and typically refer to 6-8th grade
There are places however where they are separate things and the grades in each vary based on location
Thhe_Shakes@reddit
It varies heavily by district and school. I only went to two, grade school (K-8th) and high school (9-12th). 3 is probably the most common; Elementary (K-5), Middle (6-8). High (9-12) . Some do 4 but its a bit more rare.
Avelsajo@reddit
Our school district has elementary (K-6), Jr high (7-9), and high school (10-12), but we're the weird ones. Most districts around us do elementary (K-5), middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12).
emaddy2109@reddit
It depends where you live. My school was small and we had an elementary(K-6) and a high school(7-12). Other schools in the county did have a separate middle school or junior high.
PlasticFern971@reddit
In oregon I had preK (preschool, kindergarten), elementary (1-5), middle (6-8), and high (9-12) before college. I am in graduate school now, so in total I have been to 6 schools lol
Nerisrath@reddit
Most systems have a middle school, OR a junior high, but not both. I did go to school for a short time in an area where elementary was K-4, middle 5-6, Jr high 7-9, and highschool 10-12. This is not the norm though.
emaddy2109@reddit
It depends where you live. I’m my school was small and we had an elementary(K-6) and a high school(7-12). Other schools in the country did have a dietary middle school or junior high.
Prechrchet@reddit
When I was a kid, we had a "Primary" school, that was K-3, a "Middle" School, which was 4-8, and a "High"School, which was 9-12. Since then, they built an "Elementary" School, so the break down is k-2 (Primary), 3-5 (Elementary), 6-8 (Middle), and 9-12 (High).
ChiSchatze@reddit
Elementary, Middle/Junior high, High School is most common. In Chicago city proper, most schools are kindergarten through 8th, but the buildings are huge.
TEG24601@reddit
Most school systems are laid out as either:
Elementary (K-5), Middle (6-8), and High (9-12) or Elementary (K-6), Jr. High (7-9) and High (10-12). Most of these divisions occur to allow for younger kids to be closer to home and have smaller schools, then they get bussed further away for Middle/Jr. High, then even further for High School. The schools also tend to grow significantly in many districts to the point that the High School would have 2000+ kids. There is also a belief, likely false, that mixing ages would have a negative effect on younger kids, as the older kids would take advantage of them (in many different ways).
But it does depend significantly on the state, district, and demographics.
In my community, we had 4 schools: Primary (K-2), Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8), and High (9-12), but there was only one school each, and the Intermediate school was built because the schools were too full. Fast forward 10 years after I graduated, they closed the Middle School campus, moved 7th and 8th to the High School, moved K-5 into the Intermediate school, and put 6th in part of the old primary school; because due to the "great recession", a lot of families moved out of the are for jobs and due to high rent, not to mention a lot of people getting disillusioned with the public schools due to teach methods, and moving to private schools.
My High School was 760 kids the year I graduated, and my class was the largest ever at 230 students, and it was the peak. The largest school in our state has about 2000 students. The kids I went to college with, from other states, had graduation classes of 2000 students.
chefblaze@reddit
My town was building a new high school and rearranging what grades we’re in what schools so I ended up going to 5 different buildings from k-12.
They always had elementary as k-4. After that for me middle school was 5-7, jr high was 8 and part of 9. It depended on what part of town you lived in, 9th was split between the jr high and high school, I went to the high school. When I got to 10th, the new school opened.
Once everything was done and settled, final layout was k-4, 5+6, 7+8, 9-12.
This-Reindeer6063@reddit
I've been to three. But most go to four.
My first school was PreK-8th grade Second was high school And third was college
But typically it's elementary 1-5, middle school/junior high 6-8, high school 9-12 and college
pubesinourteeth@reddit
No. The most standard is one school for k-8, then another for high school aka 9-12th grade. Middle school and junior high usually do not coexist but if they did it would probably be k-3, 4-6 (middle school), 7-9 (junior high) and 10-12.
satellite_station@reddit
I went to like 6 schools from K-12. 🙃
Batty_briefs@reddit
I went to four different schools. My school district had a separate middle school. Not every school district in my state did this.
Elementary school was Kindergarten - 5th grade. Middle school was 6th and 7th grade. Jr High was 8th and 9th grade. High school was 10th - 12th grade.
On one hand, it meant I started being able to participate in electives like band at a younger age. The flip side is that when I transferred to a district that didn't have middle school, some of my credits weren't recognized by the district and didn't transfer, so I had to repeat some classes and do summer school to catch up with my peers.
areohbeevee@reddit
I went to one school until 8th grade and then another for high school
rosebud_trouble@reddit
Same. I lived in a very rural area, there just weren't enough students to need all three. K-7 was elementary. 8-12 was called high school. 423 people went to my high school total in my senior year. We all road the same school busses, though, elementary and high school all together
areohbeevee@reddit
I grew up in a “small city” of about 130,000 people and we had approx. 30 schools that went PreK-8 and then approx. 10 high schools that went 9-12, but only two of the high schools were the “main” high schools - one for each side of town and the rest of them were magnet schools that offered different specialties (business, arts, medicine, law, agriculture, aquaculture, etc.) and were considerably smaller than the two main schools.
My K-8 school had about 600 kids total, then I went to one of the “main” high schools which was the largest school in the district at about 1,500 kids. The smallest one was the agriculture school that only had like 150 kids.
GrookeyFan_16@reddit
Depends on the district. My current town has 3 schools/buildings now but it was 4 previously.
My hometown district was one K-12 school.
tommyjohnpauljones@reddit
Most common is to have three school types: elementary, middle and high schools. Some common groupings:
Elementary K-5, middle 6-8, HS 9-12
Elementary K-4, middle 5-8, HS 9-12
Elementary K-6, middle 7-8, HS 9-12
Sometimes middle and jr high are the same, sometimes different. Could be middle school 5-6 and JH 7-8. You may see intermediate school as a name.
Less common:
Elementary K-3, intermediate 4-6, JH 7-8, HS 9-12
Elementary K-6, middle 7-9, HS 10-12 (in this case the 9th grade still gets HS credits they are just housed at the JH building. This is usually done for reasons of building space at the HS)
collin-h@reddit
depends.
In my small community they had one building for K-6th grade, and a "Jr. Sr. High School" that was 7-12. So I went to 2 schools.
My wife grew up in the city where they had an Elementary school k-4, an intermediate school 5-6, middle school 7-8, and then High School 9-12
Winter-eyed@reddit
Je high turned into middle school when I was entering middle school in the 7th grade. They are the same thing where I am from. They talked about moving 6th grade into middle school but never have.
Unusual_Form3267@reddit
A lot of it is population dependent.
Where a kid goes to school is dependent on the school district they live in, and how big the school is completely depends on the amount of people that live there.
A very love population school might have more grades together. A high population school might be big enough to be separated into smaller grade chunks.
We also have private schools and charter schools. That's a whole different beast.
Stunning_Coffee6624@reddit
Middle and junior high schools were created to help transition kids into adolescence. They aren’t children but they aren’t teens either. They learn how to go to classes by subject rather than have a single teacher all day. Typically junior high covers two years 12-14 year olds. Middle school is three years 11-14. But that’s up to the school district to decide
FinanceGuyHere@reddit
As far as public school is concerned, it could all be one big school separated into 3 segments of lower school, middle school and high school. Some schools end at grade 9, which is the first year of high school and which you may refer to as third form. Junior high would potentially include grades 6-9 at a place like that.
Awdayshus@reddit
Most school districts have either middle school or junior high. In practice, they're basically the same and can be used interchangeably most of the time.
People who are really into educational theories and models could better explain the difference. Technically, a middle school would group the kids more closely, so you would have different teachers for each subject, but be in class with basically the same kids all day. Junior high would have different teachers and each class might also be a different group of kids from the same grade.
But again, in practice those terms are used interchangeably. And the name of the school might not match which model it follows, depending on the current administration and school board. "Our Town Middle School" wouldn't change its name when the new principal runs it as a junior high.
The other difference is simply that middle school tends to be slightly younger. My school district had two middle schools that were both 6th-8th grade. Friends in a neighboring school district had junior high from 7th-9th grade instead. But my middle school followed a junior high model, so I was in different classes with different kids all day.
My sister is 5 years younger than me, so when she went to the same middle school, they had a different principal and each grade was broken into "teams" where there were about 100 kids per team with 4 teams per grade. Each team shared a math, English, social studies, and science teacher.
Itchy_Pangolin_394@reddit
I went to exactly 4. I lived in the same house until I was 19.
K-4 5-6 7-8 9-12
BiggDAZ@reddit
I went to nine different schools. We moved a lot when I was young.
Murderbunny13@reddit
It's common in my area. K-4, 5-6, 7-8, then high school 9-12.
MeInSC40@reddit
I went to 4 but that’s because our elementary was split up between k-2 and 3-5. Then one middle school for 6-8 and high school for 9-12.
Madi_reviews_reddits@reddit
For me, it’s Preschool 1y-4y (which is usually optional), as I didn’t go to preschool. Elemantary school (used to be K-6 but is now K-5). Middle school(used to be 7-8 but is now 6-8) and high school, 9-12. College is important, but still optional. So basically, 5 if you really count college and preschool.
RainInTheWoods@reddit
Junior high and middle school are two names for the same thing.
EightofFortyThree@reddit
I went to kindergarten, then a different building for first grade. I then went to the new elementary building for 2nd and 3rd, the old middle school for 4th and 5th, junior high for 6th through 8th, the new high school building for freshman and sophomore years and the old high school for junior ans senior years. Seven different schools, and yet I live the same house from birth until I left for college.
alcurtis727@reddit
Depends on the school district. 90% of the ones I'm aware of have Elementary, Middle, and High. One district I live near though has 4: Primary (K-2), intermediate (3-5), middle (6-8), and high (9-12). It's the only one I've ever seen like that though and it has to do with some kind of STEM focus.
In my state, school districts are their own governing bodies ran by boards of education. So they can pretty much design their system to fit their needs as long as their budget can support it.
michelle427@reddit
Most American kids go to Preschool. Whether it’s a half day program or full daycare. Prior to Kindergarten. Even if it’s just the year before.
For me I went to Preschool, Elementary, Jr High and High School.
Preschool 3-5 Elementary 5-12 Jr High 12-14 High School 14-18.
For me when it comes to Preschool, I have a physical disability (Cerebral Palsy), so at 3 I was able to start at a special school for kids with disabilities. Most of the day 9-2:30 was a typical preschool class. Only thing different was during the day a few times a week we would be taken out of class for various therapies. Mostly Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapies. It was all in one.
Snoo_16677@reddit
In my part of the country, elementary was originally K-6, junior high was 7-8, and high school was 9-12. However, junior high was part of high school, so there were a total of two schools. In the 70s, elementary school changed to K-5 and middle school 6-8, so three schools. There are also some K-8 schools, which brings it back to two schools.
Big-Tailor@reddit
There used to be just elementary schools (K-8) and high schools (9-12). During the Great Depression in the 1930s, fewer kids left school to work beause there were fewer jobs. To deal with the extra students in each district, they added Junior High schools (typically 7-9 to take 25% of the grade from both elementary and high schools), because that was more convenient than changing school districts and building both elementary schools and high schools. There are reasons with child development to separate K-8 and 9-12 students, but the new Junior High schools had no developmental reasons to exist. Now there are a lot of different kinds of junior high schools, some including 5th or 6th grades, and many high schools have gone back to four years for 9-12.
Basically the first schools were a well thought out plan for the benefit of the children. Then life happened and the school systems were modified in whatever way was convenient for the towns who ran the schools and American ended up with a hodgepodge of different ypes of school buildings.
Core0psis@reddit
I went to 2. Pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade at one school, and 9-12 @ another (high school).
MHW93@reddit
For the most part, Americans go to elementary school, middle school OR junior high, then high school.
Many then go on to either a 2 year community college/tech school or to a 4 year college, but those are optional.
pimientosneeze@reddit
I went to preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, and college so I guess for the average American kid who goes to college you do 5 different schools.
DefrockedWizard1@reddit
depends on the kid and the school district
Angry_GorillaBS@reddit
Middle school and junior high were the same thing for me.
Same for my kids also, although they've changed what grades count as middle school. And it's all technically in the same building for them. I literally went to 3 different buildings.
nhavar@reddit
Depending on where you are you could have pre-k, k-6 (elementary), middle school (7-8th grade), junior high (9th-10th or sometimes 7th,8th,9th), and senior high (11-12th). There's a bunch of configurations based on what school system you are in and no single nationwide standard.
SufficientProject273@reddit
From the deep south. Elementary was k-6. Then middle/Jr high was 7-8 grade. Then high school was 9-12.
notthelettuce@reddit
The school I graduated from has K-12 all on one campus. This is very common in my area.
ImportantSir2131@reddit
Three, but my district was in the middle of building a new elementary school, so my first school was kindergarten through half of 6th, second school was the other half of 6th plus all of 7th, third was 8th through 12th.
Psyko_sissy23@reddit
I don't know what the norm is now, but when I was in school, there was a k-6th grade which was called elementary school. Then middle school(or junior high) for grades 7-8. Then high school was 9-12.
SteakAndIron@reddit
Usually two or three
FriendWinter9674@reddit
I lived in a very small town. When I started school, it wasn't divided at all. We had kindergarten through 12th grade in the same cluster of small buildings. They eventually built an elementary school just down the road.
TemperMe@reddit
Our area was just elementary school (K-8) and high school (9-12)
AtlantisSky@reddit
It depends. I went to two. My K-8 was one school and then 9-12 was another.
My husband went to 4 though. K - 2, 3-5, 6-8, and then 9-12.
It really depends. At my school, I was in Junior High in 7th and 8th grade. In others, it may still be counted as middle school. There is overlap between the two.Middle School vs Junior High School
There are places, including one not that far from me, where there is a single building my K - 12. But the designations still apply.
DarlingTreeWitch@reddit
Where I grew up up (MD and MI) we had: Kindergarten-age 5 Elementary- 1st thru 4th Middle- 5,6 Jr high - 7-8 Hs- 9-12th
Some districts in MD had jr high as 7-9 Must be different depending on reg
Global-Biscotti-9547@reddit
It’s according to how big the town is. I’ve been to a couple k-12 but in one town it was k-6 and 7-12. Larger I’d say 3 different schools is pretty normal.
Riker_Omega_Three@reddit
Think about it logically
When my parents were in their first starter home, we lived in a certain part of the city. It made sense to put me and my siblings in an elementary school close by. Easier to get us to and from school as where I live, schoolbuses are not reliable
The school I started off in was 5K to 8th grade...which is both elementary and middle/jr high (middle and junior high are the same thing)
But we moved after my 6th grade year so I ended up at a school that was 7th grade through 12th grade
Both times, where we lived predicated where I went to school
In other parts of the country, there are separate elementary, middle, and high schools...all in one area
In other places, it's all one school
So really, it just depends on the place and the situation
straight_trash_homie@reddit
No, you usually go to two or three. There are a few different systems, they tend to work like this
Elementary (k-5) Middle (6-8) High (9-12)
Elementary (k-6) junior high (7-8) High (9-12)
Elementary (k-8) High (9-12)
Everyone goes to an elementary school for k-5, and a high school for 9-12. The in between years are just different depending on your school district.
michaelscottuiuc@reddit
It depends on the school district and the school district sizes. Like my school district keeps 6-8th grade together but other school districts have soooo many kids that they have ginormous "junior highs" which only have 7th-8th graders. My high school graduating class was 320-ish but other high schools near me have 600+ graduating classes.
GrimSpirit42@reddit
If a student stays in the same school district, they usually go to three (3) schools: Elementary, Middle and High. (Middle is sometimes called 'Junior high').
Generally Speaking:
*note: If an elementary school goes through 6, that student will not start 'Middle' school until Grade 7.
In some districts, the Elementary and Middle will be the same school...so those will go to two (2) schools.
Tsu_na_mi@reddit
It varies by district, but I think mostly it's 3 schools -- Elementary, Middle School/Jr High, and High School. I have mostly seen Middle be grades 6-8, with HS 9-12, and Jr High 7-9 with HS 10-12. Mine was Elementary->Middle->HS.
I think some areas with short 4-step schools are mostly victims of growth where the town outgrew the school. Instead of building a large new school to accommodate everyone, they built a smaller new one and just split the grades between the two.
TalkShitGetWitt@reddit
I would argue in a sense there are four schools:
Preschool or daycare.
Elementary School (K-5th Grade)
Middle School (6-8th grade)
High School (9-12th grade)
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
Kindergarten was a separate school when I was growing up.
So I went to four schools, kindergarten, elementary, junior high (or middle school, they mean the same thing) and then high school.
My kids went to a large school district where there was a separate building for the 9th graders (freshman).
RemonterLeTemps@reddit
No, in Chicago most kids go to one 'grammar' school from kindergarten to 8th grade. Then, after graduation, they spend four years at a high school. While the 'junior high' concept was attempted here in the late 1920s, it was eliminated as being too expensive to maintain during the Depression, and the schools that had already been built converted to small high schools around 1933 (I attended one in the later 1970s).
Things might be changing, though. My grammar school (built in the Victorian era), now only accommodates grades 6-8, while the younger kids go to a modern school built about ten years ago. (The two schools are designated Eugene Field and New Field.) But from there all graduates still go to Roger C. Sullivan High School, my 'alma mater', which will turn 100 this year.
TBH, there are barely enough kids to fill the two grammar schools, because many families now have only one or two, and the immigrant wave (that had more) has now passed. I suspect at some point, this means all the K-8 students will go to New Field, and the old school will be converted to housing or some other purpose.
Tuerai@reddit
I was caught in the middle of them changing how it worked and did: elementary: K-4 intermediate: 5 middle: 6-8 high: 9-12
because my elementary school didn't have room for 5th grade yet.
James-robinsontj@reddit
I went to elementary k-6 Jr. high: 7-9 Sr. High 10-12
The school district later changed it after graduated to Elementary k-5 Middle: 6-8 High: 9-12
maxxjazz44@reddit
My school system has 4. They are K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
enancejividen@reddit
I grew up with primary (k-2), elementary (3-5), middle (6-8) and high school (9-12).
Then I moved to a district with elementary (k-6), Junior high (7-9), and high school (10-12). I think they have since moved to K-5, 6-8, 9-12 and changed junior high to middle school.
It really depends on the district.
aracauna@reddit
My home county sends all kids to the same schools so they actually have the pre-K building (that also houses the alternative school), the Primary School (K-2), Elementary school (3-5), middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12). This is not uncommon for the really rural school systems because it's cheaper to run fewer buildings and the entire county only has around 700 high school aged kids.
In metro Atlanta, they tend to have lots of smaller elementary schools so it's usually Elementary (prek-5), middle (6-8) and high (9-10).
Pre-K is public education, but is optional.
In the 80s my school system was elementary, middle, junior high and high (same grade bands as earlier) and then after I got to go to Junior High for one year in sixth grade they switched to the middle school system and I spent 7th grade mad about having to "go back" to middle school. I was also mad about being a 7th grader because that is just a sucky year for most people.
21stNow@reddit
This is a question of where and when. I'm older than most redditors and in Atlanta. I went to elementary (K-7) and high school (8-12) only. Atlanta was transitioning to elementary (K-5), middle (6-8), and high (9-12) during the time when I was in school, so students in other parts of town who are my age and even older went to three schools.
ShowerOk8103@reddit
I went k-8, then 9-12. My husband went k-5, 6-8, then 9-12.
A school district in my state has PreK-k, 1-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12.
Some kids go k-12
It depends on the school set up—tiny private schools vs public
Depends on the size of the district and size of school buildings.
My kids go k-8, but it’s a rare thing for public school. My son has also switched schools a lot until we got here due to other reasons.
Ludwigthemadking@reddit
I went to one school, K-12, which I later found out is pretty unusual in the US. Most people go to three. One for elementary, one for middle school, and one for highschool.
tex8222@reddit
Could be far more than 4 if you count switching schools due to moving or redistricting.
I attended ten different achools and my family didn’t even move that often.
manicpixidreamgirl04@reddit
It varies by school district. Some only have one or the other, some have both, some have neither.
Infamous-Yellow-8357@reddit
Yes, I did exactly that. Elementary school grades 1-4, moved to middle school grades 5-6, junior high grades 7-8, and high school grades 9-12.
So 4 schools to seperate age groups.
DonMn763@reddit
I went to WAY more schools than four. I went to three elementary schools, three junior high schools and one high school.
My dad was a USAF lifer.
AncientGuy1950@reddit
Middle school and Jr. High are pretty much the same thing. Middle School is usually 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, occasionally 7th, 8th and 9th grades.
Junior High is usually 7th and 8th grades.
InstructionHuge3171@reddit
Super depends on the district. When I was a kid, my large urban public system went: Kindergarten => 5th as elementary school, 6th->8th as middle school, then 9-12 as high school. There were a few that did Kinder=>8th then 9th=>12th, but they were outliers. Then the school district reworked itself in to a PreK=>8th system and closed a lot of school buildings (ugly, but necessary due to declining student population and aging facilities), and now they're going *back* to the PreK=>5, 6=>8, 9=>12 model, with even more closings.
manicpixidreamgirl04@reddit
There's an age overlap between middle school and junior high school. Kids go to one or the other, depending on how the education system in their school district is set up.
LongOrganization7838@reddit
I had k-6,in one school 7-8, in another school and 9-12, in a third
arcteryx17@reddit
I have lived in 3 states while attending school. All three states were the same for the most part. The standard in Elementary (k-5), Middle School (5-8), High School (9-12).
There are school districts that vary a little but it is not the norm
Batgirl_III@reddit
This will depend a great deal upon the population of the school district the student lives in. The denser the population, the more likely they are to have to attend multiple schools.
I was born and raised in a very small, very rural county in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In the entire county, there are only five schools. Two serve K-5, one serves K-8, and the fifth serves 6-12. When I was a kid, that fifth one was K-12. Had my mum not taken a job overseas when I was due to start eighth grade, it’s quite likely I’d have done K-12 without ever leaving that building.
(There are also two schools on the nearby reservation, K-8 and 9-12, but enrollment is restricted.)
Compare and contrast this to my daughter’s school district here in Portland Oregon. There are half as many students in her high school than my home county has in total population. Portland Public Schools operates something like 80 different schools, most on a K-5 or K-8, 6-8, 9-12 breakdown. With a couple of exceptions for magnate schools, dual language schools, and the trade schools.
TempAcct724@reddit
Most common is elementary school K-5 or 6, then middle school is year 6-8 or 9, then high school is 9/10 to 12.
But there are plenty of variation. My closest elementary school to my house is K-8 then straight into high school.
Some smaller, rural or private schools may just be the whole K-12.
LetsGoGators23@reddit
3 is going to be most common. Likely followed by 2, for people who attended k-8 schools then high school. A very few might have 1 or 4.
The_Ri_Ri@reddit
My school district actually had 5 - We had Elementary (K-4), Upper Elementary (5), Middle School (6-7), Junior High (8-9), and High School (10-12). I moved around a lot growing up, but this was the one I went to the longest and actually went to all 5 of them. I think most places have Elementary Middle/Junior High and Highschool. My kids are in private and have a grammar school and a high school only.
darw1nf1sh@reddit
Middle school and jr high are the same thing. There is usually a transitional school period of between 2 and 3 years between grade school and high school. Grade school are children under 12. Jr high is meant to be a transition period where most kids go through puberty and are becoming teenagers. Not emotionally ready to be in classes with actual teens, and yet more mature than children in grade school.
PittsburghCar@reddit
I went to 4 schools (k, 1-6, 7-8 and 9-12). My son, different school districts went to (k-3, 4-6, 7-12 - different buildings but, same campus). We went to different school districts.
PsychologicalFox8839@reddit
I went to 2 in total, but 4 different buildings. My elementary school got a new building when I was in first grade, and my high school got a new building when I was attending too.
MesopotamiaSong@reddit
it depends completely on how large of a population your school is responsible for (atleast that’s what makes sense to me). if you go to a public school in a large city, then you will go to 3 or 4 schools. if you live in a small town you may only go to 1 or 2 schools. if you go to a private school (often with a religious affiliation) you may only go to 1 or 2 schools.
justwanttobeoutside@reddit
There is no right answers, but I think it depends on your area, the population size, population growth rate, reliance on older buildings, and funding for the district. I’m in suburban NEO and am a young millennial for reference.
A lot of schools near us split up elementary schooling into multiple buildings. For example, I had 2 elementary schools (k-1 with some pre-k programs, 2-3) an intermediate school (4-6), a middle school, and a high school growing up. That district has now consolidated to 4 schools (k-2), 3-6, 7-8, and high school, but it had to build new schools to accommodate the size of the growing city. Preschool is largely private there, so that’s an additional school.
Where I live now (increasingly suburban area but gets rural quick), they had divided up the city into multiple elementary and middle schools based on proximity, and then everyone converged for high school. My husband had this type of model growing up, and was in an urban area. You had 3 schools, but smaller size, and multiple operated in the city. Both districts have now consolidated now to be 4 schools k-2,3-5,6-8, and high school to reduce duplicate costs and eliminated the neighborhood model. They are only keeping the largest buildings to be able to combine grades. We fortunately passed a levy recently, but I know of other districts nearby who are going down to 3 schools (k-3, 4-7, 8-12) to reduce resource costs because they can’t fund their schools and the old ones are no longer useable due to age and cost of upkeep.
SabrinaFaire@reddit
It's going to vary by school district. More populated areas will have more grades together. They might have K-8 in one school and then high school in another. But typically it's K-5, 6-8 (which is middle school or jr high) and then 9-12 which is high school. Again, sometimes districts will break it up depending on population or building size, but that's generally what's common.
TheCouncilOfPete@reddit
Its usually just 3
Elementary k-6 Junior high 7-9 High school 10-12
Or
Elementary k-5 Middle school 6-8 High school 9-12
Its dependant on what the schools around you provide and the size of the town/city you live in.
CartographerDull4303@reddit
I went to— Pre-k (at the high school I went to) Kindergarten at 1 school Next school was 1-3 Next was 4-6 My junior high (7-8) and high school (9-12) were separate but connected by a breezeway and a partition in the cafeteria.
So depends on how particular you want to be if I went to anywhere from 4-6 schools.
Signal-Weight8300@reddit
In Chicago there are grade schools for grades K-8 and hugh schools for 9-12 grade. In some suburbs they did middle school/junior high for about 6-8th grades.
Impressive_Star_3454@reddit
Honestly it depends on the state and the school districts. There is no standardized model, as you can see from all the posts. Elementary schools and middle/intermediate schools can vary wildy, and towns are allowed to adjust grades based on population. There are high schools for a town, or regional high schools that have students from 2 or more different towns. There are VOTECH trade schools, Catholic/Christian Academies and others depending on towns, state, county budgets.
citrusbook@reddit
I did. Elementary, Middle School for one year, Jr High for two, and then High School for five.
Icy-Blacksmith-313@reddit
That is correct, unless you live in a small town or small county. Most public systems are: K-4 5-6 7-8 9-12
In New England where towns are smaller/small I've also heard of: K-5 6-7-8 9-12
In private schools in my town it's: K-8 9-12
YoshiandAims@reddit
A lot of them do. Others middle/high school is combined in one building. It varies.
Roughly:
Preschool/headstart (3-5) (some do not go to this)
Elementary (5- 12)
Middle school (12-14)
High school (14-18/19) (Sometimes they'll go to technical school/trade school during high school, sometimes they can take college courses in high school, both of which happen at different locations.)
College/trade school(18++)
Exotic-Lecture6631@reddit
Minimum 3, K-5, 6-8, 9-12. But it only goes upwards from there. Theres college (both 2 year and 4), apparently junior high as a weird addition (never heard of that before) and of course families move changing your school. I did k-1, 1-start of 5, the rest of 5, 6-8, 9-12, and concurrent with 11 and 12 my 2 years at a community college, then finished my degree at a 4 year college. And if its ever possible may go back and get masters/PHD at likely yet another school.
No-Contact6664@reddit
The most common is 3 schools. Elementary, Middle, High.
However some school districts juggle their buildings differently. My kid when to one district that had K-2 at one building and then moved 3-5 to a newer one.
Chemical-Actuary683@reddit
Kindergarten to 8th Grade and then High School is still common in rural areas. I remember being a kindergarten and walking past the seventh and eighth graders in the hallway and feeling absolutely dwarfed by them.
EulerIdentity@reddit
I think grades 1 to 6 are one school and 7 to 12 are another school, regardless of what you call it.
Potential_Fishing942@reddit
We had elementary k-4. Lower middle school 5-6. Upper middle school 7-8. And HS 9-12.
My understanding is that splitting the middle schools up is pretty rare, but has great results when you can find it. There are massive differences between 5th and 8th graders
Beemerba@reddit
It can really depend on the population. I went to school in a town of about a thousand. Our school was K-12 with grade school in one wing, JH in another and HS in the third wing. The school enrollment was usually between 400 and 500.
safe-viewing@reddit
It varies - school structure can change based on state county and city jurisdiction.
Generally - 3, elementary, middle / jr high, and high school but like I said it varies.
Sometimes there is a K-12 school so it will only be one.
Sometimes you’ll see more than 3. I personally did 5. Preschool, elementary, jr high, high school, and then community college through a program in my state where I earned college credits my junior and senior year.
JustARandomBloke@reddit
I had elementary (k-2), upper elementary (3-5), jr high (6-8) and high school (9-12)
rawbface@reddit
"Junior high" is another word for Middle School in a lot of the USA.
Every school district is different, and there are over 14k different school districts here. In my hometown, I went to three different schools - elementary school (6 yrs), middle school (3 yrs), and high school (4 yrs).
In the town I live in now, my kids will go to four different schools.
Soggy-Attempt@reddit
3-4 is very common. It depends how big the town/city is.
Objection_Irrelevant@reddit
I went to private school, so my preschool classroom was about 200 yards from my 12th grade classes. But if I’d done public school, I would have gone to a lower elementary (K-2), upper elementary (3-5), middle school (6-8), 9th grade only school, and high school (10-12).
Granted the lower and upper elementary were right next to each other but operated completely separately due to their size.
IDunnoWhatToPutHereI@reddit
I did K-6 for elementary, 7-8 middle school/Jr high, and 9-12 high school. My daughter did K-4 elementary, 5-8 middle, 9-12 high school.
curlyhairweirdo@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same thing but many districts have what's called an intermediate school. You have primary/elementary for pre-k (3-4 year olds) through 5th grade, then middle school/ junior highschool is 6-8th grade, last high school is 9-12th grade.
But some places have primary school which is pre-k through 4th grad, then intermediate/elementary school for 5th and 6th, followed by middle school/junior high for 7th and 8th, then lastly high school for 9-12. However many schools break high school up into 9th grade campus and the rest of high school campus.
The reason for this is to meet the kids where they are developmentally. Since puberty starts kicking in at around 9-11 some schools believe that it is better to remove these students from younger groups as they are becoming to mature and can negatively influenced younder students. But they are also easily influenced by older students so they they don't want them in middle school yet. The reason is the same for why some places have high school split into 9th grade campus and everyone else. The students coming in are less mature and easily influenced by older students so they want to keep them away as much as possible until good habits form and they are use to the riggers of high school.
GiggleMoo85@reddit
Yes, give or take a few schools. Where I am, there are more, but I know it is not common. It keeps getting split as class sizes grow, but the building doesn't. We have K-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9, 10-12. 5 schools.
Ok-Concert-6475@reddit
Mine was elementary (K-5), middle (6-8), and high (9-12). There is also preschool, but that is paid childcare.
Joenomojo@reddit
Varies a lot by school district and kid. Kid A went to elem, middle, HS, then HS alt school. Kid B went to elem, middle, Tech HS. Kid C went to elem, middle , 9th grade center, HS, HS alt school. So, my kids went to 4,3,5 different schools. Now college is another story. So far, each has been to two different colleges.
fuckyeahcaricci@reddit
This was true with my son. I moved around a lot as a kid, but one school I attended was a "Central Rural School", K -12. One wing was elementary, the other was junior high and high school. There were shared resources such as the cafeteria, gym and auditorium. For the most part the little kids and the big kids didn't intermingle. The did take the school bus together though.
MamaMidgePidge@reddit
More typically 3 schools: elementary, moddle, and high school. K-5, 6-8, 9-12 is the usual set up.
Middle school is what junior high used to be called but with an extra grade. Junior high was 7-8.
There are exceptions, of course.
MechanicalGodzilla@reddit
This sub really should have an auto post pinned to the top where the answer always starts with "It depends..."
grumplequillskin@reddit
i did. preschool at the church. elementary school until 4th. middle school from 5-8th. high school 9-12th.
DistanceRelevant3899@reddit
Assuming they don’t move to a different district most kids will probably to to three different schools:
Elementary - K through 5
Middle - 6-8
High - 9-12
They-Call-Me-Taylor@reddit
The vast majority attend 3 different schools: elementary (grades K-5), middle school (grades 6-8), and high school (grades 9-12). They may split up middle and junior high into two different schools in some major metro areas, but in most towns & cities, those two terms are synonymous.
Individual-Set-8891@reddit
Yes.
Rare_Independent_814@reddit
It depends. My kids are at a private school that goes from pre-k3 to 12th grade.
SimpleAd1604@reddit
It depends on the population, resources, and how the local school board decides to set it up. When my sisters grew up, there was a larger population of children (baby boom). The Catholic school and the public school each had 1-8 elementary schools, and they all went to public kindergarten and public high school. By the time I was in school, the Catholic school only had grades 1-4. My parents moved me to public school for 4th grade, and the Catholic school closed completely after I finished 4th grade. That meant those kids now had to go to public school and they needed more room, so a new middle school for 5-8 was built. Now, the population has decreased, and they‘ve closed the old elementary school and moved K-4 to the newer middle school building, so it’s K-8 again.
Where I live now, up until about 20 years ago, they still had rural elementary schools in each township for, I guess, 1-4. Maybe 1-8. It cost less to send those children to a single school in town, so they closed all the rural schools. I don’t have children so, other than that there are a public, Lutheran, and Catholic elementary school, I don’t know how the schools are split up here. There’s also a K-8 charter school that “offers a curriculum that emphasizes academic achievement, character development, and community involvement.”
IHaveSomeOpinions09@reddit
My school district used to have a school for kindergarten, several 1-3 elementaries, several 4-6 elementaries, 2 junior highs, and 1 high school. So if you were in the district all the way through, you probably went to 5 schools.
(The exception was that there was one 1-6 elementary, so if you went there, you only went to four schools.)
PaepsiNW@reddit
I moved around a lot as a kid. I went to 4 middle schools/junior highs and they were all 6-8. I believe that most of the time, it's 3 schools, but that varies by state and then by school district. My husband has 4 schools here in WA for example.
etchedchampion@reddit
I did, but my town had two different levels of elementary school. It happened because of increasing class sizes. Like, one of my elementary schools started out as a junior high and my junior highschool started out as a highschool but they would get overcrowded and build new schools and move the grades around.
4LOLz4Me@reddit
Our school district had a bunch of elementary schools (pre-k thru 5th gr), one 6th-7th grade where kids changed classrooms in only one wing, one building for all the 8th graders before they went off to high school (9th thru 12th grade) where everyone changed classes and could be all over the building.
Each grade level had about 600 kids.
NoAngel815@reddit
It's Elementary, Junior High/Middle School, and High School.
Junior High and Middle School are slightly different. It depends on how your school district sets it up, but you go to one or the other, not both.
FormalWaters@reddit
It varies depending on area. I just went to two, K-8th then high school
FormalWaters@reddit
My brother that has a significant age difference from me went to a school that was Kindergarten through 12th grade all in one school.
typefiasco@reddit
I did primary, elementary, middle, and high school
steadyrabbit87@reddit
It depends on the area. Most yes, will go to 3 different schools, K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. But some areas go K-6 or K-8, I even knew kids who went K-12 in the same building.
cb630@reddit
I went k-6,elementary. 7-9, junior high and 10-12 high school.
LQQK_A_Squirrel@reddit
It depends. I have seen so many different things: k-12
k-8, 9-12
k-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-12
k-5, 6-8, 9-12
k-6, 7-8, 9-12
k-5, 6, 7-8, 9-12
*k-6, 7-9, 10-12
And none of these accounts for growing school districts where one year you are at school ABC and the next year a new building opens and half the class moves to the new building.
Rose_E_Rotten@reddit
It's 3 different schools for my area, grade/elementary (k-4), middle (5-8) and high school (9-12).
I just happened to go to 2 different school in kindergarten. One for speech therapy, the other for general education.
cavalier78@reddit
There's no set rule. It's region dependent, all the way down to the local school district. It also changes over time.
When I was a kid, we had elementary school (also known as grade school) with Kindergarten through 6th grade. Then we went to junior high, 7th through 9th. Then we went to high school, 10th through 12th. But now that same school district has changed. Today the 9th graders go to the high school, and they call the junior highs "middle school" for some damn reason.
jetloflin@reddit
Do you go to one school the entire time?
murderthumbs@reddit
Mine was three- elementary, middle, and high school
mykyttykat@reddit
Ohio here. It depends. I had a Preschool, then elementary was Kindergarten through 8th grade, then high school was 9th to 12th grade, then college. Other kids in my town had the elementary portion divided by an elementary school until 5th or 6th grade then a middle school or junior high school before going to regular high school.
No_Satisfaction_7431@reddit
2-3 schools are normal for compulsory education. I went to a k-8 elementary school (my district had some elementary schools that go to 5th grade and some k-8 schools, though k-8 is less common in other districts). I then went to high school (grades 9-12). Middle school and junior high mean the same thing (6-8). It seems to be that older people called it junior high and younger people went to middle school. I'm in my 20s and I've never heard anyone my age say junior high. I had 2 schools but I think most people have a separate middle school.
InksOwl@reddit
I grew up and went to school in Virginia from 1990-2004. Elementary school was K-5, Middle School was 6-8 and High School was 9-12. Pre School and Head Start were available for some children prior to Kindergarten.
Odd-Condition-4773@reddit
It really depends on the situation. I went to 2 Catholic schools - School 1 was elementary to 8th grade. School 2 was high school (grades 9-12). So the latter was a merger of what I’d guess is middle+senior HS.
DrowsyMaggie@reddit
There’s no national model, but 3 schools is typical. More schools than that is more likely due to the town breaking up the youngest grades into different schools now. A junior high model was something they were transitioning away from 35 year ago when I was there. Middle school was the term used to replace how they organized the school when they adjusted the grades sent there and adjusted how they went about teaching as a result (the oldest kids’ days were still organized as if they were in high school to prepare them for high school, but the younger kids’ days had a hybrid feel where they switched every class but stayed together in the same group all day long).
Very small towns up here may just have two schools; K-6 and 7-12.
MyLadyScribbler@reddit
It varies from state to state and school district to school district, TBH. In most places, the breakdown is usually elementary (K-5), middle (6-8), and high (9-12). But in one town near me, they have two lower elementary schools for grades K-2, and then upper elementary for 3-6, and then for grade 7 onward it's the high school building.
Chicken-WeakBird@reddit
Despite going to four American schools, I never learned how to find Australasia on a map.
IWasGoatbeardFirst@reddit
In FL it is 3 schools: elementary K-5, middle 6-8, high 9-12
bericbenemein@reddit
My school district had 4 buildings but it was a scale thing, one of the buildings was made later as the town grew.
K-2 - Primary 3-5 - Elementary 6-8 - Middle 9-12 - High
My son has 3 buildings K-5 - Elementary 6-8 - Middle 9-12 - High
Scootergirl100@reddit
Here we have elementary or grade school which is K-5, then middle school or junior high which is 6-8, then high school which is 9-12. Most have 3 different buildings, but in smaller towns elementary and middle school classes may be in one building.
SamsterDragon@reddit
for a time my area had an “intermediate school”, 5th and 6th grade, then middle school for 7th and 8th. the intermediate school closed down and the building got absorbed into the high school right next to it, and the middle school was demolished and rebuilt to include enough classrooms for 6th grade.
No_Cartographer5955@reddit
I went to three. Kindergarten - 5th grade was elementary, 6-8th grade was junior high, and 9-12th was high school.
nous-vibrons@reddit
There’s different configurations for different schools. Here’s how a few in my area went.
My school: Elementary K-4, Middle 5-8, High 9-12. Two schools in my area go Elementary K-4, Intermediate 5-6, Middle 7-8, High 9-12. Most do Elementary K-5, Middle 6-8, High 9-12. Another does Elementary K-6, Junior High 7-8, High 9-12.
From what I’ve seen historically from looking at yearbooks and such, the last model I mentioned used to be the more common configuration in the past. My school district actually used to do it until the 1970s, and that’s when they built the middle school, ending the “junior” section of the “junior-senior” Hish School building. I think middle school is a newer concept as junior high, but they conceptually serve the same purpose, usually. But in my experience most junior highs don’t go down to sixth grade unless they were an older junior high that expanded and didn’t change to being a middle school in name.
thelordstrum@reddit
I went to three, but for a period it looked like I was going to go to four.
My district had separate primary and elementary schools, and you'd swap in either second or third grade between the two. But then they both added the grades they were missing and everyone just went to one. Which miffed me as a kid but never mind that.
Dizzy-Interview-4438@reddit
it depends on area. i’m from a small town so i only went to two. Grade school for Pre-K through 8th grade and high school. Some other schools in the area are K-12 so they would only have one.
dallen@reddit
Like most things in a place as big as the US, it depends. But most common is three: elementary, middle or junior high, and then high school. Some places might have all 4 though. Some places just have elementary and high school. And some only have a single school for k-12. My area has 3 right now, but the high school freshmen are mostly kept separate from the rest of the school so it wouldn't surprise me if we go to 6-7 for middle and 8-9 for junior high in the future.
seifd@reddit
It depends on the place. For most places, it's just three, you have either a junior high school or middle school. Junior high is the older term, derived from the fact that junior high students used to be part of the high school, and typically has students from 7th–9th grade (about 12–15 years old). Middle school is the newer term and typically has students 6th–8th grade (11–14 years old).
However, there are exceptions. Some places have both an middle school and junior high school. Some places have a combined middle-high school.
fried_clams@reddit
We had elementary k-4, intermediate 5-6, Junior high 7-8 and high school.
I think this was because the student population got larger, before they were able to increase the size of buildings or build a new school . They reopened the old high school and made it 5 -6, to make enough room in elementary and junior high.
Every town, city or county has its own school system, so there can be differences like this.
easternbaker257@reddit
Here in Yonkers NY you can have prek-8 in one school…or prek-4 as one school, or preK-6 So depending on what school you end up in, youll have to switch a few times before high school.
No-Net3015@reddit
We have 5 in our current district but that's not typical
Sledheadjack@reddit
It all depends on the district and when you went to school.
When I was in grade school, our grade schools were K-6th grade. We had Jr high that was 7th-9th & High School that was 10-12th.
Then when I was in 5th grade, our district decided that the next year we were switching to the “middle school” thing. So my class never got to be the oldest in the school, which really sucked. So the next year, grade schools were K-5th, middle school was 6th-9th, and high school was 10th-12th.
Then in 8th grade, they decided that the next year 9th grade was going back into the high schools. Screwed again. My junior year, the district decided to combine the TWO BIGGEST RIVAL HIGH SCHOOLS into one school with two campuses (fortunately I had lettered my Sophomore year, so I got a letter jacket from the school that no longer exists now… sigh)…
My senior year, they sent the 9th graders back to the middle school because the high school was SO CROWDED, they extended passing times from 5 minutes to 7 minutes, put in temporary pods outside for classrooms, made a lottery system for parking passes… it was insanity.
My parents had actually moved out of the district the summer before my senior year, but because both districts were overcrowded, I was allowed to commute (a fact they were assured of before moving) so I could graduate from the district I had been in all of my life.
So, long answer to a short question, while I technically only went to 3 schools (grade school, middle school & high school)… while in high school, my school was re-named 3 times and during my junior year I was bussed to another “campus” for my first 2 classes of the day (and said campus was literally our biggest sports rival up until that very year, so it was a horrible experience, to say the least).
MacheteTigre@reddit
Went to k-8, then highschool. So 2
_haha_oh_wow_@reddit
There can be preschool, elementary school (1-5), middle school (6), junior high(7-8, and highschool.
There's also college where you can be an undergraduate or a graduate, but most people don't go to that until they're adults.
daysie778@reddit
I went to elementary from K-5, middle from 6-8, high school 9-12.
Where we live now it’s primary K-2, elementary 3-5, middle 6-8, high 9-12.
tandembike@reddit
I went to a private school system that had an elementary (K-2), middle (3-6), and junior/senior high where the 7-8 graders were in one wing and the 9-12 had the rest of the building. They've rebranded a little now, so the first two are now called primary and elementary respectively. I think the 7-12 building is still called the junior/senior high school, but it could be middle/high school... I'd have to look into it.
BUT all the public schools in the area had elementary, middle or junior high school, and high school when I was growing up
Wadsworth_McStumpy@reddit
Middle school and junior high are two names for the same thing. Elementary is grades K-5 or K-6, depending on the school district. Middle school/junior high is 6-8 or 7-8. High school is 9-12.
Kindergarten starts around age 5 (plus or minus, depending on the school district's cutoff date and the child's birthday), and high school ends at age 17-18.
The whole system is very much not centralized, so states and school districts have different setups, but that's a good general idea.
revocer@reddit
It may differ slightly depending on school district:
Elementary: Kindergarten - 6th Grade
Middle School / Junior High School - 7th & 8th Grade
High School - 9th - 12th
There is an option prior to Elementary School for Pre-School and Pre-Kindergarten.
UnderstandingDry4072@reddit
There’s a lot of variation by region and area population. Lots of people have mentioned 3-4, but the rural area I grew up in has only two: kindergarten-6th, and 7th-12th.
bmsa131@reddit
Mostly 3. Elementary, and then either middle or junior high, and then hs
Top-Friendship4888@reddit
In my area, middle school and junior high usually refer to the same thing, maybe with the grade cutoffs shifted by a year. So kids will attend one or the other, but not typically both.
It's also becoming very common here for elementary to be split into 2 different schools, with separate "k-2" and "3-5" buildings.
I live in a densely populated area, so high enrollment is responsible for the split.
wrigh516@reddit
Depends on the population. Small towns have K-12 in one building. That's how I grew up. Cities have 3 different schools.
nwbrown@reddit
So first of all, keep in mind that especially when it comes to education, the US is probably better thought of as 50 different countries. And even within each state, each district is different, and even within a district there is variability within schools (my district growing up had several 7-12 high schools). And that's not even taking in account private and charter schools. But this is probably a common structure:
NarrowAd4973@reddit
Elementary, middle, and high schools are typical. From what I can tell, a fourth school is used if there isn't enough room for an increase in the number of students, and expanding the existing schools isn't an option (typically because there's no room for them to expand).
My sister and I have almost a 12 year age gap, and my parents moved when I graduated high school, so we essentially went to school in different districts. Where I went had four elementary schools covering kindergarten to 6th, middle school with 7th and 8th, and then high school for 9th to 12th.
Hers had elementary, intermediate, middle (or junior high, not sure, and also not sure if it was before or after intermediate) and high school. I don't know how the grades were partitioned. The intermediate school was built because the district had a huge population boom within only a few years, needed more space, but didn't have room to expand the existing buildings. But after all the kids that came with that boom grew up, many moved out of the area, so the number of students significantly decreased. I think one of the buildings was closed down as a result.
blipsman@reddit
Middle school and Jr. high are basically the same, just often which grades they include. Middle school might be 5th or 6th grade through 8th grade, jr. high just 7th and 8th with elementary running all the way until 6th.
Slight_Manufacturer6@reddit
Middle school and Junior high are the same thing.
Some smaller towns only have elementary and high school.
metricnv@reddit
My experience: 1. Skipped kindergarten 2. 1st grade at a Catholic school that was 1 - 12 3. 2nd and 3rd grade at a public school that was 1 - 6 4. 4th - 6th grade at a different public school that was 1 - 6 5. 7th grade at a Catholic school that was 6 - 8 6. 8th grade at a different Catholic school that was 7 - 8 7. 9th and 10th grade at a Catholic high school that was 9 - 12 8. Summer school for math geeks at a college 9. 10th - 12th at a 10 - 12 public school
Then a bunch of colleges.
lacaras21@reddit
Depends on your district
The one I grew up in had elementary (K-4 ~5yo-10yo), intermediate (5-6 ~10yo-12yo), middle (7-8 ~12yo-14yo), and high (9-12 ~14yo-18yo).
The district my kids are in has elementary (K-5), middle (6-8), and high (9-12)
SenseNo635@reddit
I went to three: elementary K-6; middle school 7-8; high school 9-12.
Draconuus95@reddit
3 is the usual. Elementary(pre-k to 5), middle/junior high(6-8, and high school(9-12).
There is a decent amount of fluctuation with that though. Really small towns may just have 1 or 2 schools. Some districts have elementary last through 6th. Sometimes they split it up into 4 schools. Our education system can vary a decent amount from state to state or even district to district. Heck. Even within a district it’s not always uniform if you’re going to specialty schools.
But ya. The majority of people went through the standard 3 school system.
Reasonable_Mood_5260@reddit
Education in the United States is 90 percent governed locally. Each district has unique challenges with population density and real estate prices and budget.
Sevenbucksbetter@reddit
In Washington I went to four schools. Elementary was K-5, middle school was 6-7, junior high was 8-9, and high school was 10-12
Romirose86@reddit
I only had 2. K-6 and 7-12.
tcrhs@reddit
I went to six. Our elementary schools were broken up into three. Then, junior high, then high school.
We don’t have a centralized school system. Every local school district is different.
machagogo@reddit
I went to 3. Kindergarten in one school. (The school my parents wanted to send me to did not offer kindergarten) Then 1st through 8th. Then high school.
My kids went to four. K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12.
As my town population grew they built a new high school, moved the two middle schools into one at the old high school, split the elementary schools that had been k-5 into smaller schools using what used to be the middle schools to do so.
The idea of separating is that the needs of a 5 year old are far different than those of a 14 year old.
LankyJeep@reddit
Most common amount of schools to attend before college is 3 schools. grades K-5 is elementary school, 6-8 is middle school (junior high), and 9-12 is High School. There are some instances where towns have a K-8 and HS or a K-5 then a 6-12, but those are usually only in rural communities. I’ve heard of very rural areas having a full K-12 in one building but I don’t know if that is still a thing anywhere in the country.
Cameront9@reddit
This will vary widely by region and age of the person. For me, age 43, elementary was 1-6, junior high was 7-9, and high school was 10-12.
Particular_Golf_6065@reddit
I went to elementary school (kindergarten-3), intermediate school (4-5), middle school (6-8), and high school in my town in the 90’s, my husband grew up 30min from my town and went to a k-6 school, then middle school, then high school. My kids are in a k-8 school in a different state, and will eventually go to the county high school. It’s so different depending on where you live.
Ornery-Bit-8169@reddit
I went to three. Elementary (grades K-5), Middle school (grades 6-8), and High school (grades 9-12). I grew up in a small town with its own school district, so I had all the same kids in my class (barring some families moving to the area and others moving away) for the entirety of my compulsory education. Though in the time and place I went to school, it was only compulsory between the ages of 6 and 16, which was 1st-10th grade for most people.
But the grades in each level can vary, I think largely depending on the culture of the region you're in, the number of students, and what resources are available in terms of buildings/teachers. When I was in 11th grade, a new high school was built and the old high school building turned into the middle school (the old middle school, which was on the other side of town, became a community center). Since the new middle school had more space available and the elementary was getting overcrowded (they had to use portable classrooms), middle school became grades 5-8.
Some places refer to middle school as "junior high", others divide the upper elementary and middle grades into two separate schools (middle school, and junior high). K-8 schools are also a thing, where kids stay in the same place until high school.
castafobe@reddit
I went to 5 different schools and my town only has 8,000 residents. K-2 was one school, 3-4 another, 5-6 another, then middle school was 7-8, and finally high school 9-12.
MangoSalsa89@reddit
Three is usually the max - elementary, middle, and high school. Many schools consolidate into two.
zenfish@reddit
Not usually, but one notable exception I can think of is Allen High School in Allen, Texas. It serves all of Allen, TX, which is a suburb of Dallas but runs its separate independent school district. There must be others, but AHS has anywhere from 5,000 - 7,000 students as the population in Allen fluctuates.
There, kids go from elementary school (15) to middle school (3) to a Freshman Center (1) then High School (1).
AHS is just fascinating on its own. Here's an overhead map. You can clearly see the school has both a Subway and Pizza Hut express (not unusual as my school also had them), but their locations are separated apparently into different wings of the school. There's also an 18,000 seat American football stadium, practice fields, 12 tennis courts, 2 baseball and 2 softball diamonds and a performing arts center sponsored by a local Lexus dealership.
Additionally, there's the Lowery 9th grade center that has it's own campus, larger than most US high schools, with its own smaller stadium, track/field and tennis courts just right across the road.
JuZNyC@reddit
I'm in NYC and we had pre-k - 6, 7-8/9, 9/10-12 with them being called Elementary, Junior High/Middle School/Intermediate School, Highschool. I went to a JHS school and some of my friends in Highschool went to schools that started with MS or IS. Some schools you had the option to stay for 9th grade if you wanted to.
kleiokat@reddit
If you are in a small enough town, all these schools can be housed in the same building.
Beck316@reddit
Tiny town resident here, our schools were grades k-3, 4-6 (called an intermediate school) and 7-12 when I was growing up in the 80s/90s. Now with the degradation of the physical buildings and renovation, the schools are k-6 and 7-12. That's atypical though. Most places have high school 9-12, the younger years depends on population and space available. My step daughter's city did k-4 for multiple school buildings, the intermediate school 5-6 one building, Jr high 7-8 one building, and two 9-12 high schools.
Reasonable_Read8792@reddit
My kids went to elementary school K-5, middle school 6-8 and high school 9-12. New Jersey.
Mr_Noms@reddit
Most commonly it’s 3. But it really depends.
I very briefly went to a school where the kids attend from K-8th and then they would go to one high school.
There are some places that have separate elementary and middle schools but then would also have a junior high (grade 9 & 10) and senior high (11 & 12).
The norm for most is 3. One elementary, one middle, and one high school.
I ended up going to 5 myself.
PenHouston@reddit
It depends and the size of the districts. In addition to elementary/middle/high school some districts have six grade campus, ninth grade campus and tenth grade campus. Preschool was its own building.
One_Violinist_8539@reddit
Just three for me. (Elementary, middle, and high) My husband went to 4, like you’re saying! Some places have different schools set up. In my current town we have some schools that are k-8(kinder through 8th) so you’d just go there and then high school!
packersfan823@reddit
Most people go to 3 schools (Elementary, middle, high). I went to 4 because I transferred to a different school in the middle of a year.
Tricky421@reddit
Elementary, kindergarten to 6th. intermediate (middle school) 7th and 8th and then high school 9th to 12th.
JadeChipmunk@reddit
I did elementary k-5, middle school 6-8, and high school 9-12
AirlineRegular1827@reddit
GenXer, we had elementary k-6, jr high 7-9 and high school 10-12
Intrepid-Entrance460@reddit
I almost "graduated" the same school 3 times. At the time, i our district there was Elementary (K-4), Intermediate (5-6), J High (7-8) and High School (9-12).
After 4th I went to the Intermediate school, but after 5th they realigned so Elementary was K-6. So, back to the Elementary school. After 6th I went to the Jr high, but again after 7th they realigned again so Elementary was K-8. I would've gone back to the Elementary school for 8th, but our parents started sending us to parochial schools. The district has remained K-8 & 9-12 since.
DepressedLike2008@reddit
Just 3 for me: elementary, middle, & high school. But my grandparents generation seemed to have junior high and attended 4 schools.
Soundtracklover72@reddit
I think it’s normally 3. In our area it’s elementary, middle and high.
Responsible_Side8131@reddit
Middle school is Junior High. We don’t go to both. Some places call it middle school and some call it Junior High. The exact configuration of what grades is included can vary. Sometimes it’s 6-8, sometimes it’s 7-9 or 7-8 or 5-8.
HermioneMarch@reddit
3 typically. You either do middle (6-8) or junior high (7-9). It depends on the school district. Most schools in my region moved from jr high to middle decades ago.
Kirdavrob@reddit
I grew up in Oklahoma and had 5 different schools. K-6 was elementary, 7th grade was a separate school, 8th grade was a separate school, 9th and 10th were intermediate school, and 11th and 12th were high school.
JimBeam823@reddit
The USA has 50 states and thousands of school districts, each of which does their own thing.
Most districts have three schools:
Elementary: K-5 Middle school: 6-8 High School: 9-12
Junior High is just an older term for Middle School.
taylorgrande@reddit
my son will do preschool (not required), a school that has elementary and middle school kindergarten-8th grade, and high school 9-12th grade.
Head_Act_585@reddit
Depends on how your public school system is set up. Where I grew up it was 3 or 4 physical buildings/schools.
When I went it was: Kindergarten (K) Elementary School (1-6) Jr. High (7-8) High School (9-12)
When my youngest brother went it was: Elementary (K-5) Middle School (6-8) High School (9-12)
Now it is: Lower Elementary (K-2) Upper Elementary (3-5) Middle School (6-8) High School (9-12)
Maryland_Bear@reddit
I count six for me, but there’s a special case:
My parents have expressed some regret for moving me to a different school in third grade, since the kids there were very cliquish already and I had trouble making friends. My brother and sister were younger, spent all twelve grades in the same schools, and didn’t have the same problem. (I was also the youngest in my class since I had started first grade a year earlier than I probably should have — I was a bright child and my parents wanted me in first grade early.)
On the other hand, in high school, I found that several of my friends had gone to the nursery school I left.
Classy_PolarBear1072@reddit
I’ve seen so many different things. I work with school districts from a wide area and location setting really matters. I’ve noticed that the more urban the school district, the more schools you’ll go through sometimes up to 5. The most typical you’ll see is 3 schools K-5, 6-8, 9-12. But I grew up in a small town and most of the districts around me are only 2 schools. I went to a school that was K-8 then 9-12
Rocket-kun@reddit
Usually it's three: elementary school, middle school, and high school. That said, different places will do things differently. There's a school where I live that starts at kindergarten and goes through 8th grade; so you could start school there and keep going there until you reach high school.
WatermelonRindPickle@reddit
I grew up in rural part of Virginia. We had elementary school grades 1-7, and high school was grades 8-12. No kindergarten or preschool in the area back then.
Rows_and_Columns@reddit
I went to 5 schools: Primary (K-2), Elementary (3-4), Middle (5-6), Junior High (7-8), and High (9-12). Southern Missouri.
PaxNova@reddit
A good number will lap go the preschool from age 2-3.
Admiral_AKTAR@reddit
No, it's typically three. But the arrangement of the thirteen years of schooling can vary wildly! This depends on typically the population of the school district and the availability of space in schools.
FenisDembo82@reddit
Middle school and Jr High are different makes for the same thing.
12B88M@reddit
Typically, grade (elementary) school is kindergarten to 5th grade.
Then middle school (junior high) is 6th grade through 8th grade.
Then high school is 9th grade through 12th grade.
Wastedgent@reddit
In our area we have Primary (1-3), Elementary(4-6), Middle(7-8), and High School(9-12).
As our area has been replacing all of the schools the last few years I have seen the trend in smaller towns to build 2 main campuses with Primary/Elementary sharing a campus with separate wings but a shared library/cafeteria and then doing the same with Middle and High school.
Ear_Enthusiast@reddit
In Virginia we go to a preschool ages 2-5, then elementary school aged 5-11, middle school ages 11-14, then high school ages 14-18. The exception is in regions with small populations. They'll often have some if not all of the schools in the same building.
TeamTurnus@reddit
For many of us, several of those are combined into one physical school. (So like my private school was 6-12 so everything after elementary school in one place). A school across the street was kindergarten through 12, so all years in one place.
FernX02@reddit
In my area there are 4 separate schools. I've gone to a K-12 school once but that was a very rural area and there were 32 kids in my class.
Better_Pea248@reddit
Just learned that my nieces up north have separate middle school (9-11 year olds) and junior high (12-13 year olds), but growing up in California and moving to the south as a tween, we did elementary (5-10), middle (11-13) and high school (14-17/18).
Bluemonogi@reddit
Middle school and junior high would be the same age range. Junior high is 7th and 8th grade but a middle school might be 6th, 7th and 8th or sometimes 5th-8th grade. It just depends on what is in your area.
Some children go to a separate pre-school at ages 3-4 but that is not compulsory. Elementary school might be grades kindergarten to 5th or 6th grade. You would then go to either a middle school or a junior high school after elementary school. After middle school or junior high you would go to high school for grades 9-12.
I started preschool at an elementary school at age 4 then went on at that same school until 6th grade. I attended a junior high school for 7th and 8th grades. In 9th grade I started high school.
SabresBills69@reddit
most school districts have 3
elementary kindergarten - 4 th/5th/6th grades
middle/ junior this is some combination of grades 5-9such as 7-8,7-9,6-9,6-8,5-8
high school many are 9-12 some are 10-12
some schools and catholic schools have a K-8 school
you might have 4 schools if school districts want to consolidate. the school district I went to had 4 K-6, one 7-8, and 1 high school . when my younger sister went through they change the 4 K-6 Elementary schoolers to 2 K-3 and 2 4-6 schools. because of enrollment drop they consolidated high school into a 7-12 school where 7-8 grade are its own wing and operate on different schedules. the only shared space are the auditorium and gyms ( 2 gyms) and lunch area
when I was a kid the high school had class sizes of 350. it gradually dropped to around 240 when I was there, after 2000 it’s been around 125-130
vabello@reddit
I went to private schools, but one school was K-8 and then a different one for high school 9-12. The schools in my town where I live now are K-2 for one school, then 3-8 for another, and the high school is in the next town over.
Busy_Shelter2695@reddit
My grandkids are in a district with 3 separate elementary divisions. Pre-K through 1st, 2-4, and upper elementary is 5-6. Then they do Middle School, then High School
onyxrose81@reddit
It’s very region and population specific. I only went to three: elementary, junior high and high school.
Living-Night4476@reddit
Uh well we have where I live a pre-k which is sorta a school of teaching kids on how to interact with others and beginning basics of alphabet numbers colors and animals mostly and be away from parents for 4-5 hours so they can go to elementary school for regular school times grades k-4 to then go to middle school 5-7 and then high school 8-10 then of course you can go to college or vocational schools
zenmargarita@reddit
I went to one elementary for k, another elementary for 1-4 middle school 5-8 high school 9-13.
Emily_Postal@reddit
I went to elementary school, then middle school, then high school. All went to nursery school from age 3-5.
tbowling049@reddit
I went to 4 schools. K-3rd, 4th & 5th, 6th-8th, 9th-12th. First two were called elementary schools, third was middle school, and last was high school.
Litzz11@reddit
I went to nursery school, elementary school, junior high school and high school. Then college. Nursery school is basically day care, so probably doesn't count.
I think it depends on where you live. I know people in extremely rural, remote areas who only go to one school. It depends on the size of the population. I think in most places, it's 3 schools, though.
xianbosque@reddit
I grew up in a rural school district and went to two schools. Elementary was K-7 and high school was 8-12. Seventh graders were definitely too big for grade school and eighth graders too little for high school.
They’ve since reorganized and have elementary school K-5, middle school 6-8, and high school 9-12. Makes a lot more sense.
Important_Canary6766@reddit
I lived in a lot of states as my dad was Army. Most places I lived had K-5, 6-8, then 9-12. One place did K-6, 7-9, then 10-12.
pikkdogs@reddit
As far as if they are different buildings, that depends on the town. When I grew up there were just two different buildings. Now that towns has 1 building and where I live now has 3 different buildings.
Generally it’s elementary PK-5, junior high: 6-8, high school: 9-12. And sometimes high school is broken up to junior high and senior high. But those are mostly arbitrary divisions, they don’t mean anything.
Ok-Entertainment5045@reddit
Our middle school and jr high are in the same building but separated by some double doors
GrammarLyfe@reddit
I went to 5
acorpcop@reddit
Yes, and also no u/snailquestions
The core of the "why" in the question comes how local government is organized and operated in the US. Refer to the 10th Amendment in the Constitution.
It's kind of confusing to non-Americans how things theoretically and actually work in the US. Things are supposed to work from the bottom up in what is supposed to be a federation style government. States generally mirror this pattern set by the federal government. 50 states under one federal government, a state with however many counties under the state government. The level of the government that most people interact with the most, aside from the IRS making sure your taxes and social security is withheld from your pay check, is local government. Local government usually handles police, fire, schools, emergency medical, social services, roads, streets, trash etc. School districts are generally organized by county in the US, sometimes rarely they can be consolidated, or there can be multiple ones in a county.
Your kid's education is delivered by your local school district, who is supposed to implement the standards set by the state, who is supposed to work under guidance from the federal government. What actually happens can vary widely from one side of the country to the other.
Four different physical buildings, yes. Kindergarten in one school building. 1st-5th grade at another, 6th-8th at the district middle school, 9th-12th at the district high school. Same school district the entire time. So, technically yes, but also no because it was in the same school district and therefore there was a shared curriculum and organization.
I'm also old enough that none of the physical buildings exist anymore.
RedSolez@reddit
I went to 6 different schools from K-12 because of redistricting. I grew up in an area that was growing and building new schools as a result.
FunkySalamander1@reddit
I went to one school K-12. I think it all depends on how the population grows in your area. When there were too many kids at one campus, usually a long time ago, they would split it up by opening a new school. So, low population areas might have only one, while more densely populated continue to add more, but I think most places stop that around three. It sounds like some have added a fourth, almost certainly due to space constraints.
Persis-@reddit
Kids in my district attend 5 schools. K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-12. But all children in those grades attend the same school.
DoodleSam@reddit
How long is the American school day? Can someone explain K to me? I’ve seen references to K, Pre-K and TK. What is TK? What is part of the main school system? Is there a separate public or just private pre-school/playschool system. In Ireland we have a 2 year, government funded, optional pre-school/playschool, 3 hours per day. For ages 2 years 8 months up. Then the main school system has - Primary School which is a 5 hour, 40 minute school day for 8 years: Junior Infants, Senior Infants (1 hour shorter for infant classes), 1st through 6th Class. (Occasionally a Primary School may run a Junior School Campus J.I. - 2nd Class and a Senior School Campus 3rd - 6th Class). - Secondary School hours max out at 9am - 4pm ~ish, but depending on lengths of breaks/lunchtimes may finish earlier throughout the week or have one half-day per week. It’s a 6 year system: 1st through 6th Year. But maybe one-third of students skip 4th Year - also known as Transition Year. It’s compulsory in some schools and optional with limited spaces in others.
HawkeKeating96@reddit
My school district used to have a four-level system (elementary, intermediate, middle, and high). But I’ve never heard of that system being used anywhere else.
LaLechuzaVerde@reddit
3 is more common.
But there are lots of variations, too. Sometimes things get switched up due to crowding or other issues. In my area we have elementary schools (K-4, K-5, or can be K-6 but that’s kinda old fashioned), Intermediate Schools (5-6), Middle Schools (6-8), a couple of “9th Grade Centers” (which are exactly what they sound like), and High School (can be 9-12 or 10-12). I don’t know of any Jr High schools (7-9) in the area but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Which combination of schools you attend depends on your district. But attending 3 is more common than 4 or more.
Lower_Neck_1432@reddit
For most American school districts, "Junior High" and "Middle School" are the same thing. In my city, all formerly Jr High were renamed Middle Schools. I don't know why, but it happened sometime during the 1960s.
rysbol@reddit
I had middle school from grades 6-8. My son is in his 2nd year of middle school now in grade 6, but will be at junior high for grades 7-8. I think that’s mostly because he’s living in an area of rapid growth. It was just middle school a few years ago, until they built the new jr high.
TrapdoorSolution@reddit
Depends on location, but usually at least 2.
In southeastern PA, it’s typically 3: elementary school (K-5) middle school/junior high (6-8) then high school (9-12)
Some private schools and a fair few of Philly schools will do K-8 (elementary school and middle school put together) then high school (9-12).
When I was a kid there were more private schools that did K-12, but you see less of those nowadays
Salty_Permit4437@reddit
My children went to the same school for elementary and middle.
No_Sorbet1634@reddit
From 4/5-18 typically in Oklahoma and the surrounding states there tends to be 3 levels in public or ISD district (Texas). From my experience though middle school grades 6-8 sometimes only 7-8 at least always share a campus if not building with a high school. I personally wouldn’t consider them to be different schools as long as you stay in the same district even though more times than not they’ll have different in-house admin, but share a School board and superintendent.
This really only for small urban and rural areas. In large cities it’s different afaik, and you very well might hit 3 mostly independent schools if you’re going through the public system due to district and compact infrastructure.
Astronomer_Original@reddit
I live in Illinois. There are a lot of differences. Most districts it is 3 but some it is 2 or 4.
CrankyOperator@reddit
Some it's 3 (grade/middle/high) and some it's 2 (grade and middle are 1, then high.) Those are the common situations.
Idle_Tech@reddit
We had an Elementary school, Intermediate school, Middle School, and High School in my little town of 2,000 people.
Doone7@reddit
Should we count pre k and kindergarden?
Eratticus@reddit
Typically 3 (elementary, middle, and high school) but as many as 5: preschool, primary, intermediate, middle, and high school. The number of schools isn't universal throughout American education because every municipality runs their own schools. In small towns you'll still see one school for all grades, Kindergarten through 12th. Typically amount of resources goes up within each school as you move up. For example an elementary school might have a dedicated library where a high school has a dedicated library, football stadium, pool, shop class, mechanics garage, greenhouse, etc.
Donald_J_Duck65@reddit
Depends on the city/town. Middle and junior are different names for the same thing. Many towns lump K-6 in one school and 7-12 in another.
AliMcGraw@reddit
Most people are saying "usually 3, sometimes 4" but I would point out the more rural your district is, you might attend two (K-8 and 9-12) or even just one for your K-12 years. They often have the campus separated into wings or even different buildings on one school site, to keep the kids somewhat separated. But done well it can be nice.
JuliusTweezer@reddit
Pre school, elementary (k-5) junior high (6-8) and high school (9-12) is what I was when I went.
Cpt_Rossi@reddit
I went to three
FadingOptimist-25@reddit
I went to three different schools growing up Gen X. Elementary (K-5), junior high school (6-8), then (senior) high school.
My Gen Z kids went to four different schools. Elementary school (K-4th), Middle school (5-6th), Junior high (7-8), and high school (9-12). The school district is restructuring now and I’m not sure what it is currently. It might be K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12.
We also grew up in different parts of the country. So I’m not sure if it’s generational or regional.
It’s a lot of transitions for the kids, which wasn’t all that great for my kids. I think there are some benefits, maybe reduces the chance of older kids picking on younger kids. I’m not sure.
Spirited_Season2332@reddit
It depends. I know ppl who have only gone to 2 schools, K-8 and then 9-12.
I know ppl who have gone to 4 schools, K-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-12.
I know ppl who have gone to 3 schools, K-5, 6-8, 9-12.
AFAIK, 3 schools is the norm, 2 schools is second and 4 schools is rare but that's just from ppl I've talked to personally and has no real research done.
Stunning-Pick-9504@reddit
When I was growing up in PA middle school and Jr. high were the same thing. My kids are going to school, in NY, and they are 2 different schools with different grades. This could be just that there’s more people or just different districts are different.
Side note: my poor daughter, because of changing grades and us moving to different districts, went to 7 different schools from grades 5-11.
damageddude@reddit
Depends. My former elementary school in NYC is now K-8. After that it's HS. Used to be grade 7-8 went to the JHS. I think that building is now grades 6-8.
NatashaDrake@reddit
We have elementary school and high school here. Elementary is k-3, high school houses 4-12. 4-8 are in their own wing and rarely mix with the bigger kids though.
Huskerschu@reddit
I'd say 3 is more common with middle school or jt high being between elementary and high school
RhydurMeith@reddit
K-6 Elementary, 7-9 Jr. High, 10-12 High school.
ghost_suburbia@reddit
I only went to 2. Elementary was grades K-6 and high school was 7-12. Small school district, and they added a middle school to the system since then.
CamiJay@reddit
It all depends on where you’re at and how big the school district is. Where I live elementary is kindergarten through 4th, middle school is 5th and 6th grade, junior high 7th and 8th, 9th grade has it’s own building, 10th through 12th is high school.
No-Resource-5704@reddit
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area (East Bay) and it varied by school district. At the time I was school age, our public schools had three levels, elementary grades K-6, junior high grades 7-9, and high school grades 10-12.
However, I attended a Lutheran school from grades 1-8. (I did K at the public school). Because we had moved to a suburb our particular high school had grades 7-12 due to the number of available students. I attended the public high school there.
Unlucky_Let5103@reddit
I think it depends on your age. I grew up in the late 80s and 90s. During that time it was 1-4 Elementary, 5-6 Middle, 7-8 Junior High, 9-12 High School. I think the reasoning was developmental stages during those ages were closer together and similar making it easier for transitioning and learning.
CSI_Shorty09@reddit
I had 4 schools
Elementary was K-2 Intermediate was 3-5 Middle was 6-8 High school was 9-12
Akito_900@reddit
Usually 3 or 4. I personally went to 4, which I think was somewhat uncommon. Elementary (K-2), Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8), High (9-12).
MortgageOdd2001@reddit
Some kids go to two. In Chicago it’s common to go to elementary (preschool-8th grade) and high school (9th-12th grade).
Some private schools are preschool-12th grade (I went to one).
Maleficent_Slip_8998@reddit
I went to a private school where K-8 was kept in the same building, but K-4 was one wing, 5-6 was in a smaller one and 7 & 8 was another floor. It was great.
MattieShoes@reddit
Middle school and Junior High kind overlap -- you generally only go to one or the other.
I went to 7 different schools I think -- partly because we moved, partly because new schools were built, and partly because a school closed to become an administrative campus.
Just1Pepsimum@reddit
Its usually 3 elementary first 6 years. Middle school 6 thru 8. Then High school 9 thru 12.
Junior high might still be around our middle schools use to be called Junior highs and had 6 thru 9. When they moved 9 to high school they changers junior to middle school.
meils121@reddit
I went to school in 3 building but 4 schools. Our elementary school was split due to space constraints, so k-2 was in one building and then you went to 3-5 in the next building. That building also hosted the middle school, which was housed entirely on the 3rd floor except for shared resources with the elementary school like the gyms, pool, library, cafeteria, etc. Then 9-12 was the high school.
They've since added an addition to the elementary school, so now that has UPK-4. Then the middle school is now 5-8 at the second building.
PresentationFluffy24@reddit
Growing up we had a school for k-2, 3, 4-8 and 9-12. They consolidated k-5 in one school so now there are just 3. I think 3 is typical but depends on the town/school district.
Texan_Greyback@reddit
I went to preschool, elementary, intermediate, junior high, and high school. Then three different universities either four or five times depending how you count it.
dgillz@reddit
Usually 3. Elementary school, then middle school/Jr high, then high school.
Available-Stage-1146@reddit
I went to 3 different schools. Elementary, Middle, and High School. My Freshman year of High School our towns population had boomed so fast we had kids literally 2 miles away from each other that went to different schools because of district policy.
thirstposting69@reddit
3 is fairly normal. For me it was only 2, a catholic school for K-8 and a public high school for 9-12.
Commercial_Count_584@reddit
I depend on the size of the school you live in. I have some cousins that went to just one school. K-12 in the same school. While I went to three different schools.
KieraJacque@reddit
My school didn’t even have middle school or junior high. I was in elementary school from k-6 and high school from 7-12
DiscontentDonut@reddit
It depends on where in the country you are. As a general rule of thumb, it's elementary school for Kindergarten through 5th grade, middle school (aka junior high) is 6th through 8th, and then high school is 9th through 12th.
However, some more highly dense populated areas will split the grades further into more schools because they have so many kids to accommodate.
For example, the area I grew up in, Elementary only went from Kindergarten to 3rd grade. Then we had Intermediate School just for 4th and 5th grade. Or in some places, middle school and junior high are two separate schools that also have different grade levels.
More often than not, though, we attend 3 schools. Pre-K, or the year before Kindergarten, just depends on availability in your area. It's often a paid program, though. My sister is a preschool teacher, and the parents have to pay for their children to be there.
Traditional_Entry183@reddit
My county oddly has four.
K-2, 3-4, 5-7, then high school is 8-12.
Its because it's a small population in a rural area, and only one building per school, and after building a huge new high school, they made the old one the middle school, the old middle school 3-4, and the old grade school just for the littlest.
madogvelkor@reddit
No counting private preschools, it ranges from 2 to 4. There are over 13,000 separate school districts in the US. Following 50 different state laws.
MadHats3@reddit
About that. I had elementary for grades k-3 , so ages 5-8. Then intermediate school for grades 4 and 5, ages 9 and 10. Middle school for grades 6-8 ages 11-13 and then high school for 9-12 .. ages 14-17/18
StarManta@reddit
This isn't typical, but in my school district going up, we had a separate Freshman School. (This had a lot to do with the fact that our district was growing faster than they could build new buildings; the Freshman building had been the whole high school ~5 years earlier, and the 10-12 high schools were two newly built buildings)
Elementary (K-6)
Jr High (7-8)
Freshman(9)
High School (10-12)
Adventurous_Button63@reddit
I’ve seen many different arrangements. When I was a kid there were elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. Later, my siblings attended a primary school (k-3) then and elementary school (4-5) then middle and high school. My elementary school went to 6th grade, for others it went to 5th grade and middle school was 6,7,8). It really depends on the district and how the teachers and administrators are spread out.
This also doesn’t account for preschool which can sometimes be a separate institution and sometimes is integrated into a primary/elementary school. Not every kid goes to preschool but many do.
Free-Sherbet2206@reddit
I’m the outlier and only went to 2 schools-K-6 and 7-12
iowanaquarist@reddit
Generally speaking middle school and jr high are the same, but yes, most of us go to 3-4 different buildings.
That's because each age group has different needs, and having one building for all of that would also be gigantic. Keep in mind that while one city or area might have 10-12 elementary schools, which are k-6, there might be 2 junior highs or middle schools which, and 1 high school.
HoidsApprentice1121@reddit
In my state/area, it’s three. Elementary (K-5), Middle (6-8), and high school (9-12). The concept of junior high kind of ‘went away’ when my mom was in school. I don’t know if my experience is the same elsewhere, but yeah.
HoidsApprentice1121@reddit
Well, actually, if we count pre-k then it’s 4, but not everyone does pre-k.
Capable_Stranger9885@reddit
I had 3, K-5 elementary, 6-8 middle and 9-12 high. My daughter's neighborhood school is a K-8 though we may apply to transfer into a magnet school at middle school age. If we do nothing she will have 2 schools.
Environmental_Fan348@reddit
Some of you would probably be amazed to learn that in some small rural school districts there are unit schools that have grades 1-12 under one roof.
savestheday91@reddit
When I went through school it was standard K-5, 6-8, 9-12, but things changed.
My town is growing so the need for another school arose and they built a 7th elementary school. After a while they switched it to an "intermediate school" so now my town does K-4 in the other 6, then everyone comes together for 5-6 intermediate, then 7-8 in the middle school, and 9-12 high school.
idredd@reddit
Not the norm probably but I had a preK-2 followed by elementary 3-5 followed by middle 6-8 followed by high school 9-12.
It's not the norm but also not unusual for places with magnet schools and pre k. I think it's the norm but putting K-5 together always seemed wild to me that's a huge developmental range.
Reasonable-Fail223@reddit
In my old neighborhood we just at elementary school k-6 and high school 7-12. My kids are going to private school which is k-8 and will only have to do high school 9-12 so it varies by district.
brak-0666@reddit
I went to a K-8 school and then high school.
Outrageous_Cow8409@reddit
It depends on the area. I only went to two schools. Elementary school which was kindergarten through 5th grade. Then my middle and high schools were actually just one big school so I did 6th-12th at the same place. I live about 20 or so minutes south of the my hometown (just one town over). Where our district is my daughters will go to 4 schools. Two elementary schools (K-2 and 3-5), middle school (6-8) and high school (9-12). It's just how the buildings have worked out over the years.
FarYam3061@reddit
Hell I went to 4 elementary schools
Altruistic_Role_9329@reddit
No
hisamsmith@reddit
I grew up in central Indiana. One school district I went to had k-6 in elementary school, 7-9 in jr high, and 10-12 in high school. Then in between 6 and 7 grade we moved to a school district that had 1-5 in elementary school, 6-8 in middle school, prekindergarten and kindergarten and 9-12 in the high school. The reason prekindergarten and kindergarten were in the high school was because the school was the early childhood education vocational school program for the entire district. Teenagers would bus for up to an hour to our school to take classes and get hands on experience there.
jafnharri@reddit
In my small town there were just two. Elementary school and then jr/sr high school. I think more larger school districts have 3, and even smaller extremely rural districts will just have 1.
Human_Management8541@reddit
No. Every area is different. There is no "usually" in the US. I went to one school k-12. Rural area, it's called a central school. The neighboring school district has 2, elementary and then high school. My niece and nephew went to pre-k, k-4 elementary, 5-6,middle scool , then 7-8 junior high, 9-12 high school. That's common in cities.
Dunnoaboutu@reddit
We do three.
Elementary is smaller. (K-5)
Middle is a combination of 3 elementary schools. (6-8)
High is middle in another location. (9-12)
Longwell2020@reddit
My school was a campus. So elementary had 1 building. We had both a middle school and jr high. Then a high school and even a votec building for adults. So 5 buildings, all the same school. But layed out more like a college.
ScoutAndLout@reddit
Kindergarten and pre-k programs can be a different school as well. Sometimes they are at the elementary school, sometimes the young ones are at a different school.
Substantial_Meal_530@reddit
There's was a Catholic school in my area that had grades K-8 in one building, and 9-12 in a different building. They only used 2 buildings.
clutzycook@reddit
It varies widely. In the district my kids attend, they attend one elementary school for kindergarten through 2nd grade, a second school for 3rd-5th, middle school 6th-8th, and then high school. In the district I attended, they have one elementary school for K-5, a Jr high for 6-8, and then the high school. However, the jr high and high school are one building so I don't know if that counts as one school or two.
If you attend a private school it can get even weirder. You might be in the same school from kindergarten all the way through 8th grade; and a few I know of have K-12 all in one school.
MergedBog@reddit
Here the kids have primary elementary (pk-2) intermediate elementary (3-5), middle school then high school
Pitiable-Crescendo@reddit
For me it was elementary, middle and high school.
designsbyintegra@reddit
Our district had k-5 6-8 is middle school 9-12 is high school
When I was in school the middle school was attached to the high school. That was in the late 80s, early 90s.
It now has its own building because parents were not happy that the middle schoolers could possibly interact with high school students.
Possible_Juice_3170@reddit
Our district has a prek-2 building, 3-5, 6-8, and HS. So yes 4 buildings but all the same students (plus/minus students who move).
ryamanalinda@reddit
I went to college for secondary in a smallish town (10,000 people). Since I wasn't doing elementary education, I don't know the exact grades, or the amount of elementary schools, but they had like kindergarten and third graders at one school. 1st and 4th in another 2nd and 5th in another, maybe a middle school and also a high school. That was 30byears ago, so don't know if it has been changed.
teriKatty@reddit
Here they recently changed it. Primary for pre k-2nd, intermediate is 3-5, middle is 6-8, and high is 9-12. When I was growing up it was k-5 was elementary. Then middle and high.
Less_Ability_5721@reddit
Depends on the school district. The town I grew up in had one school district and one set of schools but to make all the kids fit into one building, each building only had a couple of grades.
One was k-2, one 3-4,. We called these both elementary.
The next had grades 5-6. That was middle school.
Jr high was 7-9.
High School was 10-12.
So, it was the same school district but 5 different buildings. My senior year, they built a brand new high school, big enough to hold grades 9-12, and we moved into that over Christmas.
Standard-Outcome9881@reddit
I went to kindergarten at one school (which then closed), then 1st to 8th grade in a different school for all 8 years, and then high school at another school. My grade school had nothing but grades 1-8. My high school had grades 7, 8 and then freshman, sophomore, junior and senior levels.
Ok-Preparation-9974@reddit
Depends on community size. My county only has 2 for all 12 grades. Splits at 7th grade.
sleepypossumster@reddit
In the district where my kid attended school, there were 5 different levels: elementary (K - 4), intermediate (5 & 6), middle (7 & 8), freshman academy (9 only), and high school (10 - 12).
Bird_Watcher1234@reddit
I went to an elementary school from Kindergarten through 6th grade. I went to a middle school for 7th grade only. I went to a junior high school for 8-9 grades and a high school for 10-12. Those were public schools. Most private schools here cover all grades.
Tampa, Florida
Vast-Combination4046@reddit
It's not so much that it's 4 distinct buildings as much as 4 age ranges that tend to be separate buildings but it's mostly up to the town to organize that.
In my area you have preschool for ages 3 and 4. You have elementary school for k-6 middle school is 7-8. Highschool 9-12.
Some middle schools do 6-8 some do 6-9. It's really up to the school district to decide.
somecow@reddit
Three. Middle school is a nightmare, only two years, basically designed as a transition while you go through puberty.
HoyAIAG@reddit
I went to elementary, intermediate, middle school and high school
Scribe_WarriorAngel@reddit
Preschool, primary school, elementary school, middle school and high school.
Longjumping_Ant7025@reddit
Where I grew up we had a K-2 school , 3-6, and 7-12 were technically in the same building but almost completely separate wings (7-8 grade, and 9-12 grade)with the exception of classes like gym/art and lunch which shared spaces.
Odd-Tell-5702@reddit
Sometimes it’s more. My son went to preschool, pre-k, k-5, 6-8 and now 9-12.
scumbagstaceysEx@reddit
Yes but if the student’s family doesn’t move while growing up all four of those schools will be in the same school district. In some school districts all four schools might even be on the same campus. Just different buildings for different age cohorts.
mcmah088@reddit
It really just depends on the place. My family is from Minneapolis. My brother and I only went to two schools: one for Kindergarten-8th grade and one for high school. My sister went to a middle school for 6th-8th grade. Thus, my sister went to three schools.
Both Middle School and Junior High are educational institutions between primary and secondary education, and my sense is that there's some flexibility in the terminology. I think junior high schools often include 9th grade, but I don't think that was the case when I was growing up (AFAIK, there were only Middle Schools, which were 6th-8th grade).
WilliamTindale8@reddit
Middle school and junior high are similar schools between elementary and high school. It’s the same in Canada and varies by geographical area. Junior high was traditionally grades 7, 8 and 9. Middle school / intermediate school is usually 7 and 8.
LemonSkye@reddit
Middle school was junior high for me. Our elementary school was split in 2, though--primary school was Kindergarten-2nd grade, and intermediate was 3rd-5th grade. Middle school was 6th-8th, high school 9th-12th.
Sylent09@reddit
There are a lot of variables. In Tennessee it really depends on how rural an area is. A sparsely populated area will likely have one K-12 school. Whereas a more densely populated area might have multiple elementary, middle, and high schools. Even then though the most is 3. I've honestly never heard of a school system with 4 different levels. I HAVE heard of junior high referring to the same grades as middle just with a different name.
Great_Value_Trucker@reddit
I went to three. Elementary (grades k-5) Middle school (grades 6-8) High school (grades 9-12). It varies. But thats the most typical set up I think. Theres also preschool if you count that (4 years old)
Cant-think-of-a-nam@reddit
Before my town had a middle school it was k-8th grade all in one school then high school
rage1026@reddit
Where I’m at my local schools also have a designated 5th grade campus as well as a 9th grade campus.
osama_bin_guapin@reddit
It varies from region, but generally it’s elementary school, middle school and high school
tsouryavong13@reddit
For me, I only went to 2 buildings for school. Pre-K -2 on first floor, 3-5 on second floor, 6-8 on third floor then Higg school was in a different building on the other end of town
Olivia_O@reddit
The district that I grew up in had a combination of K-3, K-6, and K-8 schools. Some kids then ended up going to three schools, some to two, and some to only one. Then high school was 9-12 and was always a different school (it was actually an entirely different district).
Technical-Suit9095@reddit
We only had 2 … it has since changed to the traditional 3 but my community had a k-9 and we fed into the next community’s high school at 10th grade but that school was a k-12.
Storage-Helpful@reddit
I did 4 buildings through school. Kindy, Elementary 1-4, middle school 5-8, and high school 9-12. technically elementary was in two different buildings, but they were linked together by the time I moved to middle school, so I counted them as one
Quirky-Invite7664@reddit
I went to 4 separate schools. Kindergarten, private school grades 1-8, public junior high grade 9, public high school grades 10-12.
But I imagine it varies depending on the person and where they grew up.
chaosrulz0310@reddit
When I was in school yes we went to 4 schools. Now with my kids it’s 3. For me it was
Elementary K-4 Middle 5-6 Jr High 7-8 High 9-12
By the time my kids got to school 5th had moved to elementary, 6-8 combined as middle and highschool was still 9th-12.
RickySlayer9@reddit
A typical American will go to from 1-5 different possible schools
And then college (university) which is 1-2 schools.
Preschool
Kindergarten
1-6th grades
7-8th grades (middle school)
9-12th grades (high school)
Ijustreadalot@reddit
The answer to "do American schools do this" is pretty much always, some of them yes and some of them no. It always varies by state and sometimes varies by county or even by individual school district within each county. Just n the city where I live there are several school districts. District A's schools are K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. District B's schools are K-6, 7-9, and 9-12. District C's schools are K-8 and 9-12. District D's schools are most K-6, 7-8, and 9-12 but they have multiple K-8 schools that feed directly into the 9-12 schools, 2 schools that are 6-8 but I'm not sure where the 6th graders come from because the schools that feed into them are still k-6, and one school that has multiple buildings with a shared playground/field that are called like George Washington primary school and George Washington intermediate school. The primary school is k-4 and the intermediate school is 5-8.
rogun64@reddit
My school district had 4 different levels, but I went to 8 different schools and only one change was due to a move. I went to 6 different schools for intermediate and junior high.
Bhoddisatva@reddit
I went from kindergarten to finishing high school in the same building. Small town.
OfficeChair70@reddit
Some do, but not always that same way. My school district sent us to two elementary schools, one middle and then since we didn't have one, we could pick whatever high school we wanted in another district. The elementary schools were structured so that one had K and then 4-5, and the other 1-3. with 6-8 being middle and 9-12 being high school
No-Mouse4800@reddit
For me, it was K-6 was elementary school, 7-9 junior high, then 10-12 was high school. "Middle school" is just another word for junior high.
Frankjc3rd@reddit
I went through two different School levels.
1-8 At a Catholic parochial School and then high School level which was actually split between two different schools but that's because I got drummed out of one and had to go to another.
shit-Helicopter@reddit
Depends on where you live. My school was 1 to 8 and 9 to 12..so ii went to two and then college or university which was 4 years. Separately I did a masters in another college a few years later
InteractionStunning8@reddit
We actually had 5. K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Our town really needed two or three elementary schools but decided to do this instead which was a little odd.
ProposalCalm8231@reddit
In one state I was in it was K-6, 7-9, 10-12. In another state it was K-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12. That wasn’t statewide, it could vary within the state.
Both of them were in districts that are constantly lauded as top public schools.
Due-Garage4146@reddit
For me, it was just 2. I grew up in VA, about 15 minutes drive from DC. It was grades K-8. Then high school grades 9-12. K-8 had two separate buildings. One for grades K-5 and across the parking lot it was grades 6-8. Every area, city, county, state, etc. is different.
LastCookie3448@reddit
Three, elementary, middle, and high. They pretty much stopped calling it Jr High with the Millennials.
StarMan-88@reddit
Went to school in Texas. Elementary: K-5, Middle: 6-8, High School 9-12 (though still high school, the 9th graders had their own separate building apart from the 10-12th graders, though now it's been changed to be a building for 9-10 and another for 11-12 (but all still considered high school).
Electrical_Stage_610@reddit
By far the most common arrangement in the US is three schools - elementary (k—5, ages 5-11), middle (6–8, ages 11-14), and high school (9–12, ages 14-18).
Some might vary of course. The school district where I am, for instance, has K-2 in one school, 3-6 in another, and 7-12 in another.
Karamist623@reddit
Depends on location. I went to two schools. Grade school (grades 1-8). High school (grades 9-12)
My kids went to grade school (grades 1-6). Middle school (grades 7-8) and high school (grades 9-12)
Bargle-Nawdle-Zouss@reddit
Every state has their own way of structuring primary and secondary education. Even further, this may differ from county to county, and even school district to school district.
GENERALLY SPEAKING:
The school district I went through had junior high schools with grades 7-9. It's my understanding that more recently they've gone to the middle school format. I don't know if it's strictly due to demographic/population changes, or an updated view of educational theory.
KingDarius89@reddit
I went to 13 different schools k-12. We moved a lot.
bloontsmooker@reddit
I went to 3 schools including my university
MobileOrdinary6827@reddit
I went to elementary school which was grades 1-5, then I went to middle school which was 6-8, and then finished high school at grades 9-12. Never went to kindergarten or pre-K.
Jsaun906@reddit
Where I'm from we have elementary, middle, and high school
Historical-State-275@reddit
Usually it’s jr high OR middle. They don’t always mean the same grades though. It can differ state to state, or even school district to school district. For my state, they were interchangeable. Elementary was grades 1-5, middle/jr high 6-8, high school 9-12.
K_Linkmaster@reddit
1 building until college. Not every village is a city or a town even. We had 4 town/villages from nearby coming to our school. Our school has even expanded in the past 5 years. Still 1 building though.
KittyKittyowo@reddit
It really just depends on the population size. Those are bigger populations will have the four different schools. I had kindergarten and Elementary. Middle School Junior High and then High School.
ZLUCremisi@reddit
High school, Junior High (middle school) and it can be 2 to 3 elementary schools.
C8H10N4O2_snob@reddit
I went to two schools, k-8 and high school.
Sorry-Government920@reddit
where we live Elementary 4k - 2nd grade Intermediate 3rd -5th grade Middle School 6th - 8th grade High School 9th - 12th
Merrilys@reddit
Californian to Texas
California was K6, 7-8, 9-12
My middle school in Kansas was 6-8 (which was hell)
Texas was K-6, 7-8, 9 was completely separate, and 10-12 was the High School!
The US is weird!
Kinetic_Silverwolf@reddit
Due to a combination of my father being in the military, and me living somewhere that separated elementary school age children into different schools every two years. I attended 2 Kindergartens, 1 Primary School, 1 Elementary School, 1 Intermediate School, 1 Middle School, and 2 High Schools before graduating grade school.
8 schools in 13 years, and I was stable compared to some of my fellow military brat friends.
swake3@reddit
Middle School and Jr High are two different terms for the same thing. Middle School is more modern.
The suburban district my kids went has a lot of schools over 14 grades. They attended an Elementary, Pre-K to 4th grade, then an Upper Elementary for 5th and 6th grades. Then Middle School for 7th and 8th grades. Then Freshman Academy for 9th grade, which is on the High School campus but in a separate building. Lastly High School. The high school is a full college style campus with many buildings and stadiums for 3,800 students in 10th to 12th grades. 5 schools in 14 years from 4 years old to 18.
Then on to college. My daughter's college was half the size of her high school.
Soggy_Yarn@reddit
My school (gen y) was k-8 then high school 9-12. My kids too (gen z & alpha). I think most people in the USA are (1) k-5, (2) 6-8, (3) 9-12 though.
kittyheartseapuppy@reddit
Elementary: Kindergarten - 4th grade Intermediate: 5 & 6th grade Middle: 7 & 8th grade High school: 9 - 12th grade
Then when I was in university, I was a tutor/nanny and the school system changed a little bit.
Elementary: K - 3 Intermediate: 4 - 7 Junior High: 8 - 9 High school: 10 - 12
In elementary school, we had 1 teacher for all subjects and stayed in the same classroom with our cubbies, except for PE (physical education), art, and music. Our teacher would walk us to those classes in a single file line. Once we were in Intermediate school, we had assigned lockers and class schedules where we had different subjects taught by different teachers at different times in different classrooms. We had 6 subjects in 45 minute blocks. Then in Middle school, we had 4 subjects for longer durations. High school introduced semester length courses and electives. The previous schools' courses were year long.
marquis_knives@reddit
I went to elementary (k-4) middle (5-8) and high school (9-12). My nephews are in school now and they had pre-k, elementary (k-3) middle (4-5) junior high (6-8) and high school (9-12). Still in the same school district. I just lived outside of town and my schools had bigger campuses. They live in town and the schools are a lot smaller.
SummitJunkie7@reddit
You would go to either middle school or junior high, not both.
In my district, we had Junior High which was 7-8th grade. When I started 7th grade, they changed it to Middle School which was 6-8th.
Depending on the size of the town/school district, the organization might be different. But Elementary, then Middle School or Junior High, then High School, is a common way of doing it.
Sometimes Elementary includes Kindergarten, sometimes that is separate also.
Add in nursery school or pre-K, which not everyone goes to - you can start in Kindergarten, nursery school is for families that need day care before their kid is old enough for Kindergarten and/or want their kid to get some prep for kindergarten - but add it in, and you could go to as many as 5 schools before university, without ever moving.
J0J0388@reddit
We had a lot of students in my grade so we went elementary to Upper elementary(5th) then middle school (6-8) then high school.
uruiamme@reddit
Well, maybe more nowadays. There is a pre-K, or as we called it, preschool. Elementary, 5-6 grades. Junior High (sometimes, generally 2 grades) and its variant: Middle School (usually 3 grades), then High School is 3 or 4 grades.
So most people go to 3 different schools, but it could be 4 (uncommon) or 5 (uncommon+preschool)
The main weird thing I know about American schools is the time that it starts. It can be super early compared to other places, especially the early grades.
DummyThiccDude@reddit
I went to the same school K-12, it was a small private school though. Some of the other smaller towns around my area were also mostly one or two schools.
We were one of the bigger Catholic schools in the area, so quite a few kids came in from other small Catholic schools that didnt go into 7-12.
Proud_Huckleberry_42@reddit
Elementary school, some schools have pre-K, then Kindergarten, and 1-5th grade. Middle school is 6-8, and high school 9-12.
Disastrous-Nail-640@reddit
In most places, it’s elementary school, then either middle school or junior high school, and then high school. So, 3 schools.
Personally, due to zoning and building new schools, I had 5 different schools because there were 3 different elementary schools.
LHJackiO@reddit
Southern cali 3 schools
SenetBoard@reddit
In my particular reason I've always taken the definitions to mean:
Elementary School: K-6 or K-8
Middle School: 6-8
Junior High: 7-8
High School: 9-12
As you can see, there's a lot of overlap here between definitions. This is because different school districts across the country divide their schools by different grades. Some places might have a middle school, while others might have a junior high, etc.
Where I live, most "primary" schools run K-6 or K-8, with "secondary schools" running either 7-12 or 9-12. Those middle 6-8 grades could go one way or another depending on the school.
However, the terms middle school and junior high will often still apply, at least informally. For instance, if X High School is 7-12, you would usually still refer to the 7-8 graders as being in "junior high". They may attend a "high school", but they're not "in" high school. High School is always 9-12.
Likewise, if a school goes K-8 you might call the 7-8 graders "junior high" kids, or the 6-8 graders "middle school kids", even though they're technically in the same school as the younger children.
Parking_Abalone_1232@reddit
Sometimes more.
My niece and nephews went to the school in the same district I graduated from.
They went to:
Primary K - 5 Sixth grade center - all sixth graders. Seventh grade center - nothing but 7th graders Eighth grade center - only 8th graders Ninth grade center - only 9th 10th grade center - only 10th
Before finishing high school with combined 11/12
Zealousideal_Lab_427@reddit
We had elementary school (K-8) and high school (9-12) here in Chicago, but suburban school districts were more likely to have the elementary/middle/high school structure.
Particular-Move-3860@reddit
Individual Americans and American families move around frequently, usually for employment reasons. If my family had stayed in the same location throughout my childhood, I would have attended three different schools from K-12. In that urban school district at the time (1960s) there were no middle schools or junior high schools. There were just two levels: grades K-8 constituted elementary school, and four years of high school (grades 9-12). I attended kindergarten (K) at a public elementary school (school #1a), and then attended a Catholic parochial elementary school from grades 1-8 (school #1b).
In grade 8 I had applied to and was accepted for admission to a highly selective Jesuit-run academy for my high school years and was looking forward to that experience when my family had to abruptly pack up and move to another city at the behest of my father's employer. I finished 8th grade at a public junior high school in the new city (school #2c). (Junior highs were a brand new thing at the time.) I attended a public high school (school #2d) for 9th grade, and then enrolled in a Catholic high school (school #2e) in that city for 10-12.
I finished 10th grade there and was halfway through 11th when my family had to uproot itself and move to another city in a different state where my Dad had accepted a new job. I finished the rest of 11th grade and all of 12th grade at a public high school (#3f), my third school in four years. I graduated from that school, but during my brief time there I managed to make myself into a little bit more than just an unrecognized name on a class roster. I actually made a few friends there and got to know a few of my teachers. I earned a "full ride" scholarship for undergraduate university at school #3f.
One odd thing about the two moves during my final years was that in the two public schools I attended in city #2 (end of 8th grade in School 2c and 9th grade in School 2d) I was in classes with some of the oldest classmates that I ever went to school with: 15 and 16 year old boys in 8th, and 16 and 17 year olds in 9th grade. For comparison, I was 11 and 12 in those years. Playing basketball and flag football in gym class in those schools was ... an adventure, and the group showers after gym provided me with another "education."
So the count was:
2 schools (a & b) in city #1
3 schools in city #2 (c, d, e)
1 school in city #3 (f)
Total for grades K-12 = 6 schools in 3 cities in 2 states.
By the time I graduated I was quite accustomed to transferring from school to school.
Subsequently, I went on to attend 2 different universities for undergrad, and a 3rd university for graduate school. All three were in different cities in different regions of the same state.
Longjumping-Word8336@reddit
Most 3, I had 4 because the elementary school was, oddly, divided between k-3 on one site and 4-6 on another. Then middle school 7-8 then high school 9-12
VoiceArtPassion@reddit
I went to two elementary schools because the school I lived near only did 3-6, so I went to another from k-2. Then middle school, then high school.
IgntedF-xy@reddit
My middle and high school were the same building so I only went to two.
privatelyjeff@reddit
It varies from state to state/county/city. Some have ones for different groups (K-3, 4-6, 7 & 8, 9-12), others are K-12. In my area of California, the common way is K-6 is one school (elementary), the jr high/middle school (7 & 8) then high school with 9-12.
daft_plant001100@reddit
Publicly funded schools have four schools, typically but miles may vary depending upon where you live.
Private schools want all four schools worth of money from your child.
NSandCSXRailfan@reddit
My school Corp was a bit different than others. We had Kindergarten, Elementary (1, 2) Intermediate (3-5), Middle (6-8), and High (9-12).
MissAnthropist20@reddit
It really depends on the town/school district. I live in a small rural town & when I was in school, we had 5.
We had both an elementary & primary, except elementary was kg-5th & primary was kg-4th. It depended on which part of town you lived in which school you went to. The kids from the primary school who were going into 5th got sent to the elementary school.
Middle school was 6th-7th grade
Jr. High was 8th-9th grade
High School was 10th-12th
Now it’s all different because we eventually built an intermediate school after I had graduated. Currently its now
Elementary/Primary(both now kg-4th), Intermediate, Jr High, & High School.
Manic_Monday_2009@reddit
Middle school and Jr. High are the same thing. American kids go to 3 schools, elementary, middle, and high school.
In rural areas sometimes 2 of the 3, or even all 3, will be housed in the same building:
huskeya4@reddit
Something I don’t really see people mentioning here: the schools may be named something else, they may not be near each other, but they are all the same school district. Unless you decide to change districts, you are going to the same school as all your classmates, just the location of the school may change. This often has to do with school sizes. You aren’t registering for a new school really, you’re just continuing on to new buildings (which may not be near your old buildings).
My grandpa went to my elementary school when it was a single room classroom for the entire town. All the kids, regardless of their grade were in the same classroom. Eventually the town had so many kids they knocked the building down and split them into classrooms by elementary, junior, middle, and high school classes. Town got bigger, more kids were going to school, and the building wasn’t that old. So they called the neighbor town and asked how their school was doing. Same situation so they decided to send all the middle and high schoolers to the neighbor town and take all the neighbors elementary and junior school students. Meanwhile, the neighbor town started building a middle school nearby since they had a big lot for it. Eventually we had all four schools but the junior high was converted into special education right before I went to it. Our student populations had dropped and it wasn’t really needed anymore.
Bigger cities have multiple high schools in them but some might be private schools. Not all the schools are part of the same district so they’ll have different teaching methods. I think where you live in the city decides where you’ll go to school. I grew up in a small town so I stayed in the same district throughout my education. I graduated with some of the kids I also went to kindergarten with. I also knew every kid in my grade since there were only 82 of us. We actually had students from 4 towns go to our school but one of those towns finished rebuilding their high school (tornado takes it out every few decades or so) when I was in elementary school which is why our junior high was converted back to special education. We just didn’t need four school buildings once those students returned to their school. The middle, junior, and high school were all pretty close to each other as the town designated a much larger lot to them decades ago. The elementary school is in a neighboring town because that was the original school lot for both towns but the town built around it and there was nowhere for them to expand into unless they built on their recess fields.
General_Reading_798@reddit
There is no national standard, each state has significant control over how they choose to organize schools, that's part of the reason for the differences you are seeing in the responses.
Select_Secretary6709@reddit
Elementary school K through 8th grade and HS 9th through 12th
Elendril333@reddit
Where I live: Preschool is optional for 4 year olds and is half a day M-F. Elementary School starts at age 5 for kindergarten (half day) and goes to grade 6. Middle School was grade 7 and 8. High School was grade 9 through 12.
Some middle schools are grade 6-8, rarely grade 7-9.
WhatAmIDoingHere05@reddit
I went to elementary school from grades K-5 (usually ages 5/6 is when kids traditionally start school), middle school from 6-8, and high school was 9-12.
toxicjellyfish666@reddit
I had Elementary : K- 5
Middle School : 6-8
High School : 9-12
goddesskristina@reddit
The school that 3 of my 4 kids have attended from starting school has some interesting splits. They have primary for kindergarten through 4th middle school is 5th to 8th. The 5th grade classes in a wing that was built joining the now century plus now middle school to the primary school. The high school is 9th to 12th grades. There is construction all over so the grade splits could change. My eldest started school at an elementary with state funded pre k in the building and yes attended that as well.
chainmailler2001@reddit
Varies a lot by area and size of the school district. School district I lived in groǰwing up didn't have middle school nor junior high. We had K-12 elementary school and then high school.
Phoenix_Court@reddit
usually it's 3:
Elementary (k-5) > Middle (6-8) > High (9-12)
But I have also seen:
Elementary (k-4) > Intermediate (5-6) > Middle (7-8) > High (9-12) Elementary (k-5) > Junior High (6-8) > High (9-12) Elementary > Middle > Junior High > High (I don't know how the grade levels are divided up in this one)
Comfortable-Waltz452@reddit
It differs probably depending on the population of the town/district you're in. My town is small, so it has a school from three-year-old preschool to graduation with only about 400 students, max.
Smooth_Beginning_540@reddit
School districts may divide grade levels differently. I went to elementary school (grades 1-6), junior high (7-8) and high school (9-12).
This question also leaves out the question of preschool and kindergarten, both of which precede 1st grade. I attended both, and they were in separate facilities.
Present-Rope-1749@reddit
Depends on the size of the city or private school. Really small places and most private schools will have one school for all grades. 3 is the norm. My city had elementary, intermediate, junior high and high school. They've since got rid of intermediate, but in my day they're were 4.
Western-Finding-368@reddit
Three is the most common:
K-6 7-8 8-12
The way it divides up varies, though. My school was K-4, 5-6, and 7-12.
The only thing that feels like it’s always constant is that 9-12 are always together.
Current-Joke-4871@reddit
My school was k-5 elementary 6-8 middle school 9-12 high school. Then when I was in tenth grade they changed it so there was one school specifically for 9th graders. Weird and made me basically a freshman twice in a row lol
Mysterious-Mango4936@reddit
I went to 4 different schools. Elementary was one school, middle was another and high school. Then I moved in the middle of high school to another. My area had all the schools disconnected and is still that way. Just from my personal experience.
genuine_counterfeit@reddit
It depends on the district, state, etc. As with anything, your experience in America will vary greatly.
I went to 5 different schools because what used to be a K-6 was closed and students were split by grade level into upper and lower elementary schools. So now, in my area, since around 2005 or so, typically it is 4 schools that kids go to.
Lower elementary: K-4 Upper elementary: 5 and 6 Middle school: 7 and 8 High school: 9-12
DogsBikesAndMovies@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same thing. So some Americans go to three different schools (before college), but there are some that schools that serve all ages.
Decent_Cow@reddit
Most go to at least 3 schools.
Elementary school, middle school, high school.
I went to a small district, so middle school and high school were combined.
Pre-school is before elementary school, and college is after high school, but those are not generally subsidized by the state, so not everyone goes to those.
MrRaspberryJam1@reddit
I technically did, but that was because I moved from the city to the suburbs when I was going into 8th grade, so I went to two different middle school. Still, most people will attend elementary school, middle school/junior high (which are not necessarily the same thing but serve the same purpose) and high school.
erilaz7@reddit
Where I went to school in Central California, middle school and junior high were different names for the same thing, which was 7th and 8th grades. Junior high was the older name, middle school the newer. I remember when the front of our school said one and the signboard said the other.
saint_of_thieves@reddit
You'll get a variety of answers. Some areas have kindergarten, elementary, middle, junior high, and high schools.
Personally, I went to three. Kindergarten, grade school (1-8 grade), and high school (9-12). I'd probably have gone to just two if my grade school had a kindergarten at the time.
Hitthereset@reddit
Depends on the districts... Had I stayed where I was born it would've been K-5, 6-8, 9-12. Where we live now is K-8 then 9-12. There are other permutations as well but these two have been the most common I've seen.
phishphood17@reddit
I went to a preschool, different pre-K, kindergarten, different elementary, junior high (just 7/8th), and high school. In California for context. So yeah not uncommon.
AccurateAlps9333@reddit
If you count preschool but preschool isnt legally required. Legally you are only required to attend 1st-12th grade, even kindergarten isn’t required in California though in some other states it’s is.
boodyclap@reddit
Elementary, middle and highschool for me
I guess you could count day care? But that's not really a school in the same sense
Wise_Finance_5315@reddit
Elementary, middle, high, college
dumptruckulent@reddit
Depends entirely on the local school district, of which there are thousands in the US.
cornbreadkillua@reddit
It’s 4-5 where I am. Preschool, elementary school (k-4), intermediate school (5-6), middle school (7-8), then high school (9-12)
JulesInIllinois@reddit
Most kids go to only three schools before college (university). They are:
Grade school aka elementary school (kindergarten - 6 grade)
Jr high (grades 7-8)
High school (grades 9-12).
RickMoneyRS@reddit
It just depends on the amount of students/size of the school district, and just how it's set up. I went to four different schools: Elementary (1-4), Intermediate (5-6), Middle (7-8), and High (9-12).
I know someone who went to a school in a town 75 miles away where there was a single school campus 1-12 they went to the entire time.
Filippo_G@reddit
I went to five.
Montessori school (pre-school) ages 3-4 then kindergarten Primary school grades 1-2 Elementary school grades 3-5 Middle school grades 6-8 High school grades 9-12
OrganizationSouth481@reddit
We had elementary school (K-3), intermediate school (4-5), middle school/ junior high (6-8), and high school (9-12).
There are schools and districts that do this differently though. I know areas that do not have an intermediate school. I also know areas that do k-12 in one building. Population size and size of the classes is a big factor.
hikarizx@reddit
It depends on how it’s structured where you live. As the needs of a particular town/city change they might shift the student population around. I would guess the most typical is elementary, middle/jr high, then high. Some places have elementary split into two (for example k-2 in one school and 3-5 in another). Some middle schools are 7-8 grade and some are 6-8.
Really small towns or private schools sometimes just have one school for k-12.
Cecowen@reddit
For me it was primary school, elementary school, middle school, and high school
PioneerOfTheFalls@reddit
My daughter went to elementary kindergarten-4th, intermediate 5th-6th, middle school 7th-8th, high school 9th-10th and Sr high school 11th-12th.
LunarOwls@reddit
During my schooling we had, Pre-k K Elementary: 1 - 5 Middle: 6th grade Junior high: 7-8 High: 9-12
Looks like they changed things since, - the kindergarten is within the elementary school now - the 6th grade only middle school is now another elementary school - the junior high is now a 'middle' school with 6-8
True-Post6634@reddit
When I was a kid, I was in the same school district but different actual schools:
Kindergarten
Grades 1 & 2 Grade 3
1, 2, and 3 were considered primary school, but 3 was in a different building.
Grades 4, 5, and 6 - elementary school
Grades 7, 8, and 9 - junior high
Grades 10, 11, and 12 - high school
This was mostly about the student population and building sizes. They built new schools not long after that 🤣
zhemao@reddit
Usually it's three: elementary, middle/junior high, and high. But one neighborhood in my town had to split its elementary school into two: primary (k-2) and elementary (3-5) because they were running out of space. Then the primary school ran out of space again ... A lot of young families moving to the Sunbelt back then, LOL.
TheMrsH1124@reddit
I was homeschooled, so I never went to school at all until college.
I have MULTIPLE degrees, including advanced degrees, in the hard sciences and humanities, and ended up with over 120 credit hours in just four years in undergrad with a perfect GPA . . . My parents did good 💪
drillbit7@reddit
It really depends on the local school district and their availability of buildings. My town houses K-4 (elementary) in one building, 5-8 in another (middle school), and for grades 9-12 (high school) sends to an area school (regional district serving 4 communities and providing 2 high schools).
A town near me has K-2 in one building, grades 3-8 in another building and contracts with a larger community to use their high school.
BlueYoshiManiac@reddit
NorCal native here. In my area it’s either 3 schools (K-5 for Elementary, 6-8 for Middle, 9-12 for High) or 2 schools (K-8 and 9-12)
Rich-Wrap-9333@reddit
In Chicago, elementary school was K-8; I didn’t know what junior high was when my kids were that age in SF. But they also were in one the K-8 schools here and didn’t have to navigate the junior high search.
realdonaldtramp3@reddit
I did a total of 4 in Connecticut - k-2, 3-6, 7-8, 9-12
Oragain09@reddit
I went to one k-12 school which was separated into elementary, middle school, and high school. Each were in separate buildings on the same shared campus.
cschoonmaker@reddit
Elementary = K thru 6
Middle / Jr High = 7,8
High school = 9 thru 12
At least for me in CA.
mr_humansoup@reddit
If my family hadn't moved the summer before 3rd grade, I would've had K-6 at one school.
After moving, the school sequence was K, 1-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9, 10-12. In the 70's, the high school was overcrowded and they built another school on the other side of town just for Freshmen (9). A few years after I graduated, they built onto the newer school and demolished the old high school. Now it's 9-12 in one place again.
KaBar42@reddit
Let's define grade ranges.
Elementary: Pre-K, Kindergarten and grades 1 to 5
Middle/JR. High: Grades 6 to 8
High school: Grades 9 to 12
In my experience, Catholic schools typically combine elementary and middle schools. So you have as young as Pre-K to as old as eighth graders in ghe same school.
Public schools split campuses. So you have elementary schools that serve only Pre-K to 5th grade, and then from 5th grade, the student switches to a different middle school for 6 to 8th grade and then they switch to a different school for high school.
So, it depends. If you utilize Catholic schools, unless there is a reason to switch, you only need to switch once, when you graduate 8th grade. But if you utilize public schooling, you will need to switch twice, when you graduate 5th grade and when you graduate 8th grade.
RobThree03@reddit
Three is common. Four is not unusual.
I went to school in Texas, Illinois, and Florida. All had K-5, 6-8, and 9-12 schools. When I graduated I thought that was the only way schools could be arranged, notwithstanding far rural small towns where K-12 would be in a single school because there weren’t enough children near enough to allow a “normal” arrangement.
When I had kids and we lived in Mass they had K-2, 3-6, 7-9 and 10-12.
In Connecticut where I now live there is a K-4, 5-6, 7-8, and 9-12.
Aggravating_Anybody@reddit
Here’s the breakdown where I live in the US:
Preschool - 3&4 years old (no “grades” yet)
Elementary School - kindergarten through fifth grade.
Middle school - sixth through eighth grade.
High school - ninth through twelfth grade.
Gymnastkatieg@reddit
Middle school and junior high are usually synonyms. Older people say junior high and younger people say middle school
Intelligent-Count-84@reddit
Junior high/middle school are usually the same thing. So three schools tops. Some elementary schools include middle school (usually 7th and 8th grade) but so do some high schools. Depends on the district.
Comfortable-Elk-850@reddit
Schools are generally elementary and middle school combined if they have enough room. If not then they have a second or third school grouping people by class levels. I’m a military brat and attended a bunch of schools as we moved often. My schools generally went to 6th grade and then I went to Jr high from 7th to 9th grade and then HS for 10th to 12 th grades. My kids were in the same building up to 8 th grade, then HS from 9 th to 12th. It all just depends where you live.
RentJust1712@reddit
Not sure why there are people here insisting that junior high and middle school are different things and depend on the grade levels offered. They are the same thing, just "the school between elementary school and high school", and the specific years may vary from place to place but don't have anything to do with the names, which are arbitrary. There are middle schools that are 6-8 and middle schools that are 7-9, as well as junior highs that are 6-8 and junior highs that are 7-9. And there are other variations as well, like there are places that have 5-8.
As others have said, yes there are generally 3 schools Americans attend: elementary school, middle school/junior high, and high school. But some places may have a combined elementary/middle school or a combined middle/high school. And others have all 12 years of education in one school.
jessek@reddit
Some people in rural areas go to K-12 in the same school. I knew someone who did, my high school graduating class was bigger than his entire town’s population
Healthy-Process874@reddit
Some school systems have a separate freshman building for their 9th graders.
I don't know how common it is, but the school I went to did this after I graduated.
The-one-true-hobbit@reddit
Learning here that my district having separate middle and junior high was not the norm. We had five schools. Kindergarten to third grade, fourth grade, fifth and sixth grade, seventh and eighth grade, and high school. We called fifth and six grade middle school, then junior high for seventh and eighth. The district population grew pretty quickly and a newer high school building was added but they still needed the space of the other schools so they split grades up more than usual.
I think they’ve since built a new elementary school to put more of the grades together but I’m pretty sure there’s still a split between elementary, middle, junior high, and high school.
I went to six schools because of a move after kindergarten. Seven if you count preschool.
Weary_Anybody3643@reddit
Depends I only had 2 elementary school then out middle school were one building split in half
mmm_nope@reddit
This varies by location. Very rural areas or smaller communities may only have one or two schools covering all years.
jrhawk42@reddit
Depends on the area, but mostly it's broke down like this.
Pre-school is not required but many parents have found it beneficial especially if the child isn't frequently socializing with other children.
Elementary Grades - Grades K-5 - Kindergarten is a lot like pre-school. Mostly focused on getting kids ready for the school environment. Waiting to go to the bathroom, sitting in class, following instructions. 1,2,3 starts building basic math, writing and reading skills. 4,5 starts more advanced subjects.
Junior High - Typically these continue more advanced subjects, introduce kids to more responsibility and freedom (lockers, changing classrooms, and different schedules).
High School - More classes have students from mixed grades, and classes are more geared towards students career path (college bound, vocational). Funny enough I didn't realize one of my friends was mentally handicapped until high school. He was a little immature in Jr High, but fun to hang around. Then he was taking all different classes in high school, and was exactly the same has he was in Jr High. Found out he would have the mental capacity of a 10 year old his entire life. I never kept up with him much after high school. Hope he's doing ok.
Spirited_Voice_7191@reddit
Districts split and categorize in many ways. I had Elementary K-6, a district-wide solo combined 7th grade Jr. High. Then regional 8-9 Jr. High, then 10-12 Sr. High.
DrDentonMask@reddit
I went to four high schools in three US states.
ETA: nm. Jr. and middle are synonyms, like pop and soda. Depends what state you're in, IIRC.
Lowcord@reddit
Only 3 where I went to school in California. Elementary (Kindergarten-6th), Middle school or Junior High (same thing, 7-8th) and High School (9-12th).
Effective_Coach7334@reddit
same same
MissingGrayMatter@reddit
Every school system is different.
For me:
Elementary: 1-5 Middle school: 6-7 High school: 8-12
They’ve since combined the middle and high schools I went to, so now they have a middle school (6-8) and a high school (9-12) operating in the same building.
ShylokVakarian@reddit
Okay, so we have:
LovelyGh0ul@reddit
It depends on the school. I went to elementary (K-5), middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12).
However, the middle school I went to was a K-8 because we moved to a small area in the school district between my 5th and 6th grade years.
The school district my daughter was in had the same groupings, but our elementary school also offers public preschool, so it was Pre-K through 5th grade. Private preschools are common.
Compulsory education also starts at different ages depending on the state.
TheLizardKing89@reddit
I went to 3: elementary which was K-6, middle school was 7-8, and high school was 9-12.
Odd_Morning_Rain@reddit
We have Primary (pre-K through 2nd), Elementary (3rd through 5th), Middle (6th through 8th), and High school (9th through 12th).
EllieIsDone@reddit
Depends if your parents sent you to preschool, or you decide to go to college.
redditreader_aitafan@reddit
Middle school and junior high are almost always the same thing.
Enough-Secretary-996@reddit
I went to 3, but being from a very small town my middle and high school shared a building, and in some cases a few teachers
Bandag5150@reddit
Why is there so many comments so fast?
Lumpy-Artist-6996@reddit
My kids went to one school for k thru 8th, and then high school.
Our school district has several k thru 6 schools, one that is k thru 8th, a charter that runs 7th through 12th, a middle school that is 7th and 8th and the high schools are 9th thru 12th.
Nothing confusing about it at all. ;p
Cinisajoy2@reddit
Sometimes. One town here has a school for 9th grade only.
Afromolukker_98@reddit
In my case I did.
Preschool (Seperate School before ahe 5, more so like a daycare)
Then Kindergarten-5th grade (Elementary School, this is usually one school, but due to shifts in my education and new schools built I was in 3 different schools)
Then 6th-8th grade (Middle School)
Then 9th-12th grade (Highscool)
Then Undergrad (4 years)
Then Graduate (2 years Master's program)
I think the first 4 is pretty common across USA
bestem@reddit
I went to two. My grade school was preschool through 8th grade (10 years), and then high school was 9th through 12th.
Most kids going to public schools go to 3. One for kindergarten through 5th or 6th, one for 6th or 7th through 8th or 9th, and one for high school.
ScarletDarkstar@reddit
If you consider preschool a school, or count college. Preschool is not mandatory, 3 - 4 years old Kindergarten usually 5 yrs old by the start of the semester. Elementary /Fundamental K- 5
Middle school is parallel to junior high, but where u went Middle was 6th to 8th, and places with Jr high left 6th grade in Elementary school and Jr high was 7th and 8th.
High school is 9-12, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. If you go to college this repeats for a 4 year degree.
cfcblue26@reddit
I had all four. I don't know why everyone is saying middle and junior are the same thing. That's not the case everywhere.
PickleManAtl@reddit
When and where I grew up, we went to elementary school from grades 1 through 6, Junior high school from grades 7 through 9, and high school from 10 through 12. Before any of that we went to kindergarten at the age of 5 for 1 year which was a much more informal setting before starting elementary school.
In a lot of places now, even back where I grew up, high school is now grades 9 through 12.
mckenzie_keith@reddit
There is a lot of variation. I went to a k-8 school, then high school. So only two schools.
Some kids go to elementary, junior high and high, so that is 3 schools. I don't think very many kids go to 4 schools (unless they transfer, of course).
And some schools are combined like the one I went to which covered kindergarden through 8th grade.
My son attended a school that goes from pre-school through high school, all in one school. But he transferred out so he ended up going to more than one school.
Kathw13@reddit
What ages go to which school depends on the district. Typically there is either Middle School or Jr. High, not both.
Some districts in my area have a separate building for 9 graders.
mostly-anxious@reddit
In my district there are 8 different schools but only because they’ve separated out the youngest kids quite a bit. Each of these has their own building. Pre-K. Kindergarten. 1-2. 3. 4. 5-6. 7-8. 9-12. 3rd and 4th used to be two schools with both grades but some years ago one building became 3rd grade and one 4th grade. Pre-k through 4th is considered elementary even though there’s a different building for each set. 5-6 is middle school. 7-8 is junior high and 9-12 is high school.
LikelyNotSober@reddit
Most usually Elementary K-5, Middle 6-8, High 9-12.
Some places it’s K-6, then 7-12, an the first 2 years are called junior high school.
thankyoufriendx3@reddit
Elementary, jr. high, high school for me.
UnrulyPoet@reddit
For sure varies by school district! When I was growing up our town had two, elementary (k-8) and high (9-12), but they added a middle school model when I was in 6th grade.
Our current district does K-4 elementary, 5-8 middle, and 8-12 high. Meaning my 9yo is moving to middle next year which blows my mind bc he and his friends are gd babies compared to the older middle schoolers in our neighborhood lol
In our last town middle started in 6th grade and the elementary schools had two extra grades (preschool and transitional kindergarten) before kinder so elementary technically had 8 grades even though it ended with 5th lol 🤷♀️
PlainTrain@reddit
In my school district, kids go to one school for K-2, another for 3-5, a third for 6th, a fourth for 7th, a junior high for 8th and 9th, and finally high school. Rapidly growing school districts are interesting places.
smile_saurus@reddit
Gen X here. "Elementary School" was Kindergarten - Grade 5. "Middle School" (which was referred to as "Junior High" when my Baby Boomer parents were young) = Grade 6 - Grade 8. "High School" = Grade 9 - Grade 12.
My Middle School was one big building; half was Middle School and the other half was Elementary School. They each had separate gymnasiums and cafeterias etc.
We never said "Grade 4" we would say "Fourth Grade." Then, in High School: Grade 9 students were called Freshmen, 10 were called Sophmores, 11 were called Juniors and 12 were called Seniors.
In my area, they put Grade 8 / Eighth Graders into High School within the past couple of years.
But it is different depending on which School District you're in, and which State. Each "phase" of school, I attended at a different building (I lived in another neighborhood for Elementary School).
SassyGirl0202@reddit
Depends on where you live/districts, etc. our schools are K-8th grade then we have a high school. So thats 2 schools. Would hate having to go to 4 schools.
Seanthesheep0711@reddit
It somewhat depends but the most common is to have three schools: elementary (K-5th grade, 5-11 years old), middle (6th-8th grade, 11-14 years old), and high (9th-12th grade, 14-18 years old). Some smaller schools may combine elementary and middle into a “grade” school. I know a couple larger districts that have a separate “intermediate” (9th-10th grade) school
Slight_Literature_67@reddit
When I went to school (90s-early 2000s), Head Start/pre-K were held at a separate school, then it was K-5 (elementary school), 6-8 (middle school), then 9-12 (high school). Now, it's Head Start/pre-K, K-6, 7-8, and 9-12. It really depends on the district.
StuckInWarshington@reddit
It varies a lot by school district, city, and state. I’ve seen 2, 3, and 4. The most common is probably 3. The lines between middle school and jr high are kind of blurry. Some places use the names interchangeably and others will separate them into distinct campuses.
JMS1991@reddit
It's usually 3. Depending on how a district is set up, it will have either middle school or junior high, not both. They're usually different, depending on the grade setup.It's usually (but not always) one of...
Elementary: Kindergarten - 5th grade
Middle: 6th - 8th grade
High school: 9th-12th grade. (Some schools may have a separate freshman building for 9th graders, but that's typically adjacent to the main school, and considered part of the high school for all intents and purposes).
OR
Elementary: Kindergarten - 6th
Junior High: 7th-9th
High school: 10th-12th.
Sometimes (especially in small towns) you may have some or all of the schools combined into one. E.g. an elementary and middle school combined, or a middle school and high school combined into one building.
Ahpla@reddit
I went to head start for 2 years, k-5, 6-8, then 9-12. So 4 different schools.
The district I live in now has 5 different schools. Early childhood is pre k to kindergarten. Lower elementary is grades 1-3, upper elementary is grades 4-6, middle is grades 7-8, and high schools is 9-12.
Sea-Astronomer-6600@reddit
My kids went to pre-k (up to 5 years old), elementary (k-2), upper elementary (3-5), middle school (6-8) and high school (9-12). Every district within the US does theirs differently though and it’s dependent upon the size of the district usually.
MundaneHuckleberry58@reddit
No. It’s elementary, then middle OR junior high (whichever your district has), then high school.
DadPuncher69@reddit
In my hometown when I was a kid we had two elementary schools (K-2, 3-5), middle school (6-8), and high school (9-12). Now they also have a school that is just for Kindergarten and a junior high that's for grades 8-9.
Boston_Brand1967@reddit
Depends where ya live.
I went to elementary, middle, and high school. I have Seen jr.highs and sr.highs too.
Some charter, community, and private schools are K-12.
That being said, most probably go to 3 different levels.
I have a peer who went to Public school in a really rural part of Montana. She stayed in 1 building from 1st to 12th grade. Less than 100 kids in the whole building.
-HS teacher
jrice138@reddit
I went to kindergarten thru high school all at the same school. Tho that’s not common, I just went to a small school
Qedtanya13@reddit
I attended school in 3 different states. In one, it was K-5: elementary, 6-8 Junior High and 9-12 high school. In another it was K-6, 7-8, and 9-12. In the third K-5, 7-9, and 10-12.
superduckyboii@reddit
It’s different all over the country. A school district I attended had elementary (K-4), middle (5-6), junior high (7-8), and high school (9-12), but the district I graduated from only had three levels, with middle school being 6-8. This led to a situation where I transferred from a middle school to an elementary school because my family moved when I was in 5th grade.
Carlpanzram1916@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same thing. Generally you go to two or three different schools. Elementary school starts with kindergarten when you’re like 4 and then grades 1 through 5. Then you go to middle school (or junior high) which is grades 6-8. In some smaller communities, kindergarten through 8th grade might actually all be one school. Then you start high school. You’ll be about 14 years old when you start 9th grade. You’re there for 4 years and turn 18 the year you graduate.
reflectorvest@reddit
Depends. There was a point ~20 years ago where it became relatively popular in some areas to split elementary school into primary and intermediate schools, so some school district models did/do have 4 schools, but most would have 3. For example, my school was elementary (K-6), middle (7-8), and high school (9-12). My cousin two school districts over in the same county had primary (K-3), intermediate (4-6), middle (7-9), and high school (10-12).
Far-Building3569@reddit
It depends on where you live
Generally, there’s (optional) private preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, and (optional) university. I knew of a district that had an intermediate school as well
Personally, I went to 2 different pre schools (one private, one funded by the government), one elementary school, one middle school, one high school, college while in high school, and 1 university (for 1.5 years before dropping out.) So, that would be 7 schools
Technically, it would be 9 if you count a cousin’s private elementary school I visited for 3 days and the online high school program I did (through my public high school) from March 2020-May 2021
Dapper-Presence4975@reddit
No. Junior high was replaced by middle school virtually everywhere in the 1990s. There are usually 3 different types of schools: elementary, middle, and high school. A school district might for logistical reasons split the grades up in other ways to fit the available facilities though (i.e., two different middle schools of 5-6 and 7-8, for example are both middle schools.)
swagmaster3k@reddit
Excluding preschool, I only went to 2 schools. K-8 at for primary and 9-12 for HS. Then of course college but even then I went straight to a 4 year university, not community college then a transfer. I’m from California, most districts don’t do a separate middle school anymore.
Thick-Journalist-168@reddit
Depends on your town.
In my town it is elementary (k-5th), middle school (6-8th), and high school (9-12th).
The town next to me you go to one elementary school from prek to 2nd grade. Then go to another elementary school from 3rd to 5th. Then Intermediate school from 6th to 8th. Then High School from 9th to 12th.
So, my town 3 and town next door 4.
JuneRhythm1985@reddit
A typical student will go to 3: elementary, middle school or junior high, and high school.
My daughter goes to a secondary school that is 6-12. I went to a school that was K-8. Some schools are K-12. It depends on the district, the needs of the area, and the type of school (charter, alternative, etc.).
janebleyre@reddit
Not necessarily. We would refer to all of that as just “school” as well, but those indicate different levels. Most Americans attend pre-school at age 3-4 which tends to be a separate institution, but also not really formal education so it doesn’t really count.
Elementary can span as large as Kindergarten - 8th grade. Middle school and junior high are more or less interchangeable, you most likely wouldn’t attend both but one or the other if your elementary school didn’t extend all the way to 8th grade. So you may be up to 3 at this point, or you may attend a school that covers all of those grade levels. Some schools even offer K-12th grade, but those seem to be less common these days. High school is nearly always 9-12th grade.
I can only speak anecdotally but I would guess most people I know attended 2-3 different schools before college.
Silly_Personality_73@reddit
3 different schools for me.
xSparkShark@reddit
In my district it’s:
Elementary school: kindergarten-4th grade
Middle school: 5th-8th grade
High school: 8th-12th grade
I know we are different than other districts. Just goes to show not all districts are the same. However the generally speaking junior high and middle school are essentially the same thing.
OmericanAutlaw@reddit
i went to three. elementary, jr high, and high school. our jr, high was just 6-8 eventually our high school integrated a jr high that i was too old to be part of.
Dear_House5774@reddit
Sometime yes sometimes no. I did not go to the same building from 5 years old to 18 years old. It is normal to go to all separate schools during your academic upbringing. It is also normal for jr high to be attached to the same building as high school. Or even an elementary school attached to a preschool attached to a kindergarten.
old-town-guy@reddit
Not necessarily. The US system is highly decentralized, and the number of schools a student attends as they age can vary even within each educational district. It is possible (excluding private schools) for a student to attend only two (1-6 and then 7-12), while a 20 miles away in the same city/county a student might have one school 1-6, another 7-8, and another 9-12. Others may organize 1-8 and 9-12, or 1-5 > 6-9 > 10-12, or 1-6 > 7-8 > 9 > 10-12. Or some other combination that makes sense for the area.
Private schools may follow a similar model, or even have K-12 all under one roof.
Aloe_-_Vera@reddit
preschool is optional
elementary school: sometimes kindergraden, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade & 5th grade
middle school/junior high: 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade
high school: freshman year, sophomore year, junior year & senior year
then if you want a bachloers degree, a college or university of your choosing, which is called undergraduate school
then if you want to persue a masters degree or PhD, that is called graduate school
Miserable-Lawyer-233@reddit
pre-school, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, college
so 6 schools
International-Fan-22@reddit
Junior High and Middle School are the same thing.
rhombusx@reddit
I went to four different schools, six if you include pre-k and kindergarten. One for pre-k, one for kindergarten, one for grades 1-3, one 4-6, one 7-9, and one 10-12. My school district called the 7-9 school a junior high, and both 1-3 and 4-6 were elementary schools, but were completely different schools in different places. This was in public school in NY.
Quirky_Commission_56@reddit
My mom sent me to a Montessori school when I was four because my grandma who usually watched me during the day had broken her collarbone and couldn’t lift more than two pounds. Next was elementary school, middle school, high school and then college.
MsPandaLady@reddit
We have preschool which isn't required. Thus is before 5 years old(5 before September
Then elementary which covers 5 through 11(11 after September). This is kindergarten through 5th. Though some may go through 6th so 12.
Then Middle School is 11(before September) to 14. Covers 6th through 8th. Also called JR. High.
Then high school is 14(before Sept) to 18. 9th -12th.
Historical_Low4458@reddit
Like others have said, it is just 3: elementary, middle school/junior high, and high school. However, I would say it is common for children to attend the same school district for their entire compulsory education from ages 5-18. So really it is just children attending different buildings which can be in different locations within that same school district.
Traveller7142@reddit
In small towns, middle school/jr high is sometimes combined with high school
funktion666@reddit
Elementary, Middle School/Jr. High, High School
Many Americans go to kindergarten before elementary school.
Many Americans go to college or University after High School.
Some Americans go to religious school/ Sunday school/bible school while in elementary school. If they are religious, go to church AND their parents make them go. Idk if this counts as school school, but it’s called school.
famousanonamos@reddit
Middle school and junior high are the same thing. Elementary is usually kindergarten to 5th or 6th grade, junior high would be 7th and 8th, and 6th if it wasn't part of elementary. High school is 9-12th. It is fairly common to have K-8 schools as well, and some schools break up into different groups, like there is a school near me that is 4th-8th grade. Usually when there is an age gap like that, the kids are still kept mostly separated by age.
steve-0-tron@reddit
junior high and middle school are basically different words for the same thing. the only difference middle school typically being grades 6-8 and junior high being 7-9 but it varies. it depends on the school district but they will have one or the other not both
crispyrhetoric1@reddit
I should have attended three, but we moved so I went to four: elementary, intermediate, middle, high (if we hadn’t moved when I was in 7th grade I would have stayed in intermediate until high school in 9th).
I work in a TK-12 independent school now that has four divisions: primary, lower, middle, and upper.
blablahblah@reddit
It's usually 3. The second school will either be called Middle School or Junior High, it depends on the district.
dalaylana@reddit
I think most will attend 3 schools. There is preschool that many kids attend prior to starting elementary school. Many schools go from kindergarten to 8th grade, then high school from 9-12th grades before graduation and then college if seeking additional education.
Argentarius1@reddit
Junior high and middle school mean the same thing but otherwise usually yeah unless it's a specifically integrated school
MommyPenguin2@reddit
Junior high and middle school are typically different names for the same thing. Middle school is often 6-8th grade, junior high 7-9th. I’d say junior high is an older term. My schools in the 80s/90s and the current schools where I live have elementary for K-5, middle for 6-8, and high school for 9-12th, so only 3 schools.
thatotterone@reddit
Middle school and Junior high are the same thing but otherwise, yes. Three schools (like grade school and elementary school are both the same) I'd say many children go to preschool, too, but it isn't required
Brave_Speaker_8336@reddit
middle school is the same as junior high