A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school (usually abbreviated to preparatory school, college prep school, or prep school) is a private secondary school designed to prepare a student for higher education. Some schools will also include a junior, or elementary, school. Secondary education - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

North America

There are three types of preparatory schools in the United States and Canada. Some have facilities in which students reside (known as boarding schools); most are day schools, and some boarding schools also admit students who reside locally, but who seek the benefits of prep schools. Some admit students of only one gender; others are co-educational. Prep schools are highly selective, academically challenging, and largely independent of state and local controls. The existence of such controls, which are a primary defining characteristic of public, government-operated, elementary and secondary schools, have contributed to the support and growth of prep schools, because these controls are widely viewed by preparatory school proponents as an unacceptable burden on the educational process, and on student outcomes such as university matriculation. Parents of students in the top tier of preparatory schools pay fees that are comparable to tuition at Ivy League universities. Among the principal benefits of preparatory schools is a very low student to teacher ratio, resulting in much smaller class sizes than in most public schools. The tuition money allows the schools to hire highly qualified teachers and to retain them for long tenures. These schools often have significant endowments which finance scholarships that allow for demographic heterogeneity and financial aid. A boarding school is a school where some or all students not only study but also live, amongst their peers but away from their home and family. ... Coeducation is the integrated education of men and women. ... The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education located in the Northeastern United States. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Endowment may refer to many things: Finance Financial endowment; relating to funds or property donated to institutions or individuals. ...

Preparatory schools place a strong emphasis on sports (see the Independent School Leagues or Ivy Preparatory School League). In many private schools students are required to participate in some one of the school's sports teams. University-preparatory education is also often associated with the preppy subculture. There are several expansions of the abbreviation ISL: Formally, ISL can refer to International Sign Language, aka Gestuno. ... The Ivy Preparatory School League, like the Ivy League for universities, was originally an athletic conference, not a scholastic one, for preparatory schools. ... Preppy (also spelled preppie) is a chiefly American adjective or noun traditionally used to describe the characteristics of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) who attend or attended major private, secondary university-preparatory schools commonly associated with New England and the northeastern United States. ...

In Canada, preparatory schools blend the American and British traditions. Upper Canada College is often regarded as Canada's foremost university preparatory school, as they focus on all aspects of the "well rounded" man; including rigorous academics, as well one of the top athletic programs in the country. They also focus on many other opportunites such as elaborate plays and musicals, and many other clubs and leadership opportunites that prepare the younge men for University. Upper Canada College (UCC) is an all-male elementary and secondary school in Toronto, Canada, the oldest independent school in the province of Ontario, and the third oldest school in Canada. ...

In the United States, prep schools are typified more by an exclusively American tradition. Some notable former prep school attendees include U.S. Presidents George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and other prominent figures such as John Kerry, Daniel Webster, John F. Kennedy Jr., William Randolph Hearst, and Dan Brown. For the pop band, see Presidents of the United States of America. ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) is the former 41st President of the United States of America serving from 1989 to 1993. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American businessman and politician, was elected in 2000 as the 43rd President of the United States of America, re-elected in 2004, and is currently serving his second term in that office. ... Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882–April 12, 1945), 32nd President of the United States, the longest-serving holder of the office and the only man to be elected President more than twice, was one of the central figures of 20th century history. ... John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also referred to as John F. Kennedy, JFK, John Kennedy, or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. ... This article is 79 kilobytes or more in size. ... Daniel Webster (1782–1852) Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 25, 1852) was a United States Senator and Secretary of State. ... John F. Kennedy Jr. ... William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper magnate, born in San Francisco, California. ... Dan Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author of thriller fiction, best known for writing the controversial 2003 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code. ...

Prep schools are, by design, academically oriented. Low student-to-teacher ratios (half to less than half that of public elementary and secondary schools), excellent facilities, and superior faculties contribute to invariably higher university matriculation rates (on the order of 98% or better). Thus, prep schools are, because of their differing mission as compared to public elementary and secondary schools, both academically dissimilar and academically superior, in both method and substance, to public elementary and secondary schools.

Europe

France

In France, some high schools offer special postgraduate classes called classes préparatoires, equivalent in level to the first years of university, for students who wish to prepare for the competitive exams for the entrance in the Grandes écoles. French classes préparatoires are exceptionally intensive and selective, taking only the very best students graduating from high schools but generally not charging fees. The Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Écoles (nicknames : Classes prépas or simply prépa) are highly selective French undergraduate studies which prepare students to the Grandes Écoles. ... Representation of a university class, 1350s. ... The grandes écoles (French: grand schools) of France are higher education establishments outside the mainstream framework of the public universities. ...

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the concept of the college or university preparatory school has never had currency; schools are classified in other ways instead. However the term preparatory school, more commonly "prep school" is used in a different way to describe schools which prepare students under thirteen for prestigious fee-paying Public Schools. A preparatory school, or prep school in the United Kingdom, and previously in the British Empire and the Commonwealth in current English usage, is an independent school designed to prepare a student for fee-paying, secondary independent school. ... A public school, in current English, Welsh and Northern Ireland usage, is a (usually) prestigious independent school, for children usually between the ages of 11 or 13 and 18, which charges fees and is not financed by the state. ...

External links

• National Association of Indepenent Schools
• Independent Schools Association of the Southwest
• Canadian Association of Independent Schools
• The Association of Boarding Schools
• Upper Canada College
• Middlesex School
• Choate Rosemary Hall
• Phillips Exeter Academy
• Isidore Newman School
• The Loomis Chaffee School
• Deerfield Academy
• Phillips Academy Andover
• The Gunnery
• St. Pauls School
• Avon Old Farms
• Lawrence Academy
• La Lumiere School
• Ridley College
• Saint George's School
• Prince of Peace College Preparatory
• Tarsus American College
• Groton School
• Hackley School
• McCallie School