Archived: The Educational System in the United States: Case Study Findings

Instructional Support
The typical teacher in the United States assumes nearly total responsibility for the
conduct and management of her or his class, whether it is at the elementary or
secondary school level. While some teachers said that they had no assistance, oth-
ers mentioned that an aide came in to help (grade papers, work on bulletin
boards) 2 or more hours a week; still others mentioned that secretarial staff would
type tests for them or do photocopying.
In elementary schools, it is typical for a teacher to be responsible for teaching
all of the major subjects (language arts, math, science, and social studies), al-
though others may be responsible for teaching subjects such as gym or music.

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Students of all abilities are usually in the same classes in elementary schools, while
many middle schools begin to track in mathematics, and high schools frequently
track students across a range of subjects. Secondary school teachers typically
teach in one subject area. The instructional support they receive seemed to be
limited to secretarial help with typing or photocopying. Science teachers were to-
tally responsible for laboratory classes that often required complicated prepara-
tion.
Many U.S. schools are also dealing with issues of diversity. Recent legislation dic-
tates that, to the extent possible, children with special needs (e.g., physical or
learning disabilities, emotional problems) should be included in regular class-
rooms. Children with special needs may become a member of a class or visit for
some period of time each day. Because of the high influx of immigrants many
schools now offer bilingual education or English as a Second Language (ESL). Ele-
mentary children whose first language is not English thus may be pulled out of
their classrooms during the day for special language instruction, while middle and
secondary students may be offered special classes with bilingual instructors.
Schools vary, however, in the extent to which they are able to provide such serv-
ices.
Efforts are also underway to establish master teachers in schools to aide new
teachers and assist others as problems arise. Such a role existed, however, in only
one of the Case Study schools. Most teachers worked alone in their individual
classrooms, with little assistance from ancillary staff and little opportunity to col-
laborate with other teachers.
Because of the differential funding of schools, teachers who experienced the
greatest challenges (i.e., large classes in elementary schools, students who were
not proficient in English, special children included without extra assistance, lim-
ited parental involvement, and high rates of absenteeism in secondary schools)
often were the ones who had the fewest resources at their disposal-and the least
amount of assistance in meeting those demands.