Where can I find a summary of typical material (e.g., mathematics) taught in US elementaries and high schools?

Question

The reasons for my question are complicated but basically I need information about different subjects, mostly languages (Eng, Spa, Fre), math, and sciences, as taught in different grades in elementary/high schools.

Now I do understand that the material covered by different schools or teachers is not the same, nor is it taught in the same way. But is it true that there are some basics that students are expected to have learned, no matter where they go to school? For example, is there the expectation that students who are starting Grade 8 physics should have learned certain physics principles, even if they come from another US state? Or someone who just finished Grade 12 chemistry should know certain things about acid/base chemistry?

Alternatively, are there certain books one could purchase that are commonly used in schools when teaching these subjects?

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

For math and english, a number US states either explicitly or implicitly use the much-debated Common Core. These standards have been rather controversial, but they still appear to be the de-facto standard in many US school districts. The us common core math standard gives a broad description of what should be covered in each grade. A similar document exists for the common core english standard.

In the sciences, there are the "next generation science standards", but my understanding is they are even less universally accepted than common core. A starting place may be the NGSS standards published by the National Academy Press.

Concerning textbooks, a blunt answer is that there are no standard ones in the US; the market is highly fractured and each and every school district in the US adopts their own texts (if they adopt any at all). Indeed, many school districts do not use printed textbooks at all.