Washington University in St. Louis

The Office of Student Records maintains the academic records of all Washington University students and is the principal custodian of the University’s Student Information System. The student record data maintained by the University is highly confidential. Access to this information is defined in accordance with the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and University policy. Administrative access to student data is managed by the Director of the Office of Student Records.

Located in the Women’s Building, the Office of Student Records provides all fundamental University Registrar services for Danforth Campus students including academic transcripts, diplomas, the verification of enrollment and degrees, and the provision of Student ID Cards. Similar services for students and alumni of the School of Medicine are available through the Registrar’s Office at the Medical School.

The academic programs of study at Washington University are administered by seven schools: Arts & Sciences, the John M. Olin School of Business, the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Engineering & Applied Science, Law, Medicine, and Social Work. Within the schools are various divisions of undergraduate and graduate study. The "day school" divisions at WU represent traditional full-time programs. Evening and part-time divisions are offered in the schools of Arts & Sciences (the University College), Business, Design & Visual Arts, and Engineering & Applied Science. Enrollment and statistical reporting at the University typically reflects these divisions.

5. The Educational System

Even more than in other countries, discussion of education in Britain tends to be dominated by argument about its effects on inequality and privilege in society. This is partly because the state was slow in building up its role in education. The private sector (as it is now called) filled the vacuum for such a long time that it is still significant.

Free and compulsory education, funded by the state and guaranteed by law, became available in 1870 for children aged from five to ten. Some primary schools had already been provided by churches and charities, and in time these bodies agreed to having their schools taken over by the new system, which was run by local authorities (education committees of county councils) most of whose costs were covered by grants from the central government.

Meanwhile, secondary education was left to the private sector, though the main day schools in towns received grants directly from the central government. The grants covered a large part of their costs, and up to half of their pupils, chosen for merit, paid no fees. This direct grant system was ended in 1976, when a few of these schools joined the state system, while the majority became wholly self-supporting. Meanwhile, the most prestigious secondary boarding schools have always remained wholly independent of the state system.

Before 1944 the state system developed in two ways. The school leaving age had been raised by stages to fourteen, and some local education authorities had developed their own grammar schools. In 1944 a new law raised the leaving age to fifteen. All education beyond the age of eleven became 'secondary'. At that age most children went to secondary modern schools, while about a fifth of all children, chosen by examination, went to grammar schools, aiming to gain certificates at sixteen, and then eighteen, leading to further education By the 1960s, this division of children in the state system was criticised for sustaining inequalities. The school leaving age was raised to sixteen and by 1980 almost all state secondary schools were 'comprehensive' taking all children from their areas at the age of eleven. This change combined with the abolition of direct grants to some private sector schools, has tended to widen the gap between the private and state sectors of secondary education, and to increase some inequalities which had previously been reduced.

In 1986 a new GCSE qualification, (General Certificate of Secondary Education), was introduced. This was designed to give scope for children of all types and inclinations to pass, at about the age of sixteen, in at least some subjects corresponding with their talents. The certificates are awarded on the basis, partly of examinations, partly of course work, partly of work on projects undertaken by the children. The tests are adminis­tered by several different examining boards which are independent of central and local government.

Children who continue their education after sixteen, in what is commonly called the 'sixth form', prepare themselves to try to gain vocational or professional certificates or diplomas. Those who hope to continue after eighteen, at universities or other higher-level colleges, aim to gain advanced-level GCSE certificates, usually in three subjects, and entry to the universities, etc. is based on the grades (A, B, C, D, E) gained. There is no formal division of the teaching profession between primary and secondary school teachers-, though primary teachers are normally trained in three-year Bachelor of Education courses, enabling them to teach young children in all subjects, while secondary teachers are prepared in one-year postgraduate pedagogical courses after getting university degrees in the subjects which they will eventually teach. There is a single pay scale, with additions to the salaries of teachers with special responsibilities. It is rare, and becoming rarer, for teachers to move, during their careers, between state and private-sector schools.

There are some Roman Catholic secondary schools in the state system, and recently some Muslim ones have been added. As with the Church of England primary schools, the religious bodies provide only a very small part of the capital costs, and in return determine the content of religious teaching, and influence the appointment of heads and some other teachers. To this extent Britain has dealt with the problem of religious education quite satisfactorily. In the ordinary state schools the law requires that Christian instruction be given, but this has developed mainly into informal study of different religions. However, in 1988 the Government proposed that all children should participate in religious worship, either in assemblies or in classrooms (with individual parents having the right to withdraw their children from these occasions). The proposal caused so much consternation among teachers that it is unlikely that it will be effective.

The academic year begins in September, after the summer holidays, and is divided into three 'terms', with the intervals between them formed by the Christmas and Easter holidays. The exact dates of the holidays vary from area to area, being in general about two weeks at Christmas and Easter, plus a week in the middle of each term, and five weeks in the summer.

Day schools mostly work Mondays to Fridays only, from about 9 a.m. to between 3 and 4 p.m. Lunch is provided and parents pay most of the cost unless their income is low enough to entitle them to free children's meals. Subsidies for school meals were reduced in the 1980s, and many children who cannot go home for lunch now bring their own sandwiches.

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