Advanced courses美国中学的提高型课程 Many high schools provide Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. These are special forms of honors classes where the curriculum is more challenging and lessons more aggressively paced than standard courses. AP or IB courses are usually taken during the 11th or 12th grade of high school.
美国许多中学校也向学生提供跳级班(AP) 或者国际学士班 (IB) 优等成绩班。这些优等成绩班的课程比起普通班级学习的课程更难更有挑战性。学生们通常在第11或12年级进入这两个优等成绩班学习。
Most post-secondary institutions take AP or IB exam results into consideration in the admissions process. Because AP and IB courses are intended to be the equivalent of the first year of college courses, post-secondary institutions may grant unit credit which enables students to graduate early. Other institutions use examinations for placement purposes only: students are exempted from
introductory course work but may not receive credit towards a concentration, degree, or core requirement. Institutions vary in the selection of examinations they accept and the scores they require to grant credit or placement, with more elite institutions tending to accept fewer examinations and requiring higher scoring. The lack of AP, IB, and other advanced courses in impoverished inner-city high schools is often seen as a major cause of the greatly differing levels of post-secondary education these graduates go on to receive, compared with both public and private schools in wealthier neighborhoods.
美国的大多数中学以上学历教学机构通常都在招生时会察看学生的跳级班或国际学士班学习时的考试成绩作为是否录取该生的参考条件，因为这两个班学生学习的课程相当于大学一年级学生学习的课程，学校可以让这些学生早些毕业。美国另外一些中学以上学历教育机构则只将这些学生这两个班的考试成绩用于学生进入大学后跳级参考标准：这些学生因而可以免修该大学的入门课，但学生的这两个班的考试成绩不适
用大学学位的授予或者也不能视为大学毕业生的基础课及格分数。美国的大学或学院在考试选择和对学生是否跳级或是否修够所需学分的分数要求方面，学校与学校间差别很大。美国的名牌大学现在倾向于少考试但要求学生在考试中考高分才能跳级或才认可学生修够了学分。现在有人认为美国一些经济条件差又处于闹市区的中学毕业生进入大学时教育水平不如较富裕中学（不论公立还是私立中学）毕业生，是因为这些穷学校缺少跳级班或/和国际学士班这种优等成绩班。
Also, in states with well-developed community college systems, there are often mechanisms by which gifted students may seek permission from their school district to attend community college courses full time during the summer, and during the school year. The units earned this way can often be transferred to one's university, and can facilitate early graduation. Early college entrance programs are a step further, with students enrolling as freshmen at a younger-than-traditional age.
同样， 美国有的地区学院制度较发达的州，经常允许天分高的中学生申请在暑假甚至整学年的到这些地区学院学习。这些学生在地区学院修得的学生可以转到大学去，这样他们就可以更早从大学毕业。美国的中学生也可以选修大学入门课，这样可以早些作为大学新生被录取。 西方人看美国之美国的中学教育（二） Home schooling在家上中学
Proponents of home education invoke parental responsibility and arguments for freedom from government
intrusion.
Few
proponents
advocate that homeschooling should be the dominant educational policy.[citation needed] 鉴于孩子在家上学完成其义务教育阶段的教育涉及父母的责任以及政府是否应该对此进行干预尚有争论，因此几乎没有人认为孩子在家学习完成其义务教育阶段的教育这一做法可以成为美国义务教育的主要政策。
Most homeschooling advocates are wary of the established educational institutions for various reasons. Some are religious conservatives who see nonreligious education as contrary to
their moral or religious systems, or who wish to add religious instruction to the educational curriculum (and who may be unable to afford a church-operated private school, or where the only available school may teach views contrary to those of the parents). Others feel that they can more effectively tailor a curriculum to suit an individual student’s academic strengths and weaknesses, especially those with singular needs or disabilities. Still others feel that the negative social pressures of schools (such as bullying, drugs, crime, and other school-related problems) are detrimental to a child’s proper development. Parents often form groups to help each other in the homeschooling process, and may even assign classes to different parents, similar to public and private schools. 孩子在家上学完成其义务教育阶段的教育的提倡者由于各种各样的原因对美国现有教育机构抱着很大的戒心。这些人中，一些是认为现有教育机构的非宗教教育与其信奉的道德和宗教教义相背的宗教人士，或者说希望校方将其信奉的