Research On Diversity In American High Schools

The National Program for medium-and long-term Education Reform and D evelopment(2010-2020)puts forward "promoting the diversified development of ordinary high schools",which requires "promoting the diversification of training models to meet the development needs of students with different potential".Hope to change our common high school homogenization problem.But in the past ten years,the progress of diversification of high school education in China is not obvious.The diversified development experience of American high school with diverse objectives,types of schools,diverse curriculum types and flexible teaching methods is of great significance for reference to the diversified development of high schools in China.This paper takes Tennessee’s "Advanced higher Education Program" Early postsecondary opportunities(EPSO)as an example,which has its own characteristics and fully presents the basic characteristics of American high school education diversity.In this paper,the implementation background and institutional framework of EPSO program are combed.On the basis of the development situation,this paper focuses on the eight classes of courses or examinations planned by EPSO,and analyzes its diversified basic types in high schools by means of literature studies and case studies,through school cases and from the perspective of curriculum or examination.And various types of content and characteristics.According to the nature and function of the curriculum,the eight types of courses or examinations planned in the "pre-higher Education Curriculum" can be roughly divided into three categories: academic,vocational and vocational.Under the background of the popularization of higher education,in the transition between higher education and middle education,EPSO plans different types of courses from academic elite education to vocational and technical education,which satisfies the different needs of students with different abilities,interests and needs.This variety of courses seems to give all high school students a chance to advance to school,but we must also see that the social status of the students’ families and their economic abilities have a decisive impact on the curriculum choice of senior high school students.The proportion of high school students with low family social status and weak economic ability is much larger than that of high school students with high family social status and strong economic ability.This is also the reason why the EPSO plan focuses on vocational and technical education as a whole.