End period of education in America (8)
I believe the answer is:
terminus
'end' is the definition.
(terminus is a kind of end)
'period of education in america' is the wordplay.
'period of education' becomes 'term' (I've seen this before).
'america' becomes 'us' (abbreviation for the United States).
'term'+'in'+'us'='TERMINUS'
(Other definitions for terminus that I've seen before include "Limit" , "End of the line for tram or bus" , "Destination point" , "eg Paddington" , "End station" .)