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500 BCE
Color Coding
People are blue
Legislation is green
Key events are yellow -
348 BCE
Plato
An ancient Greek philosopher he is famous for his theories on pure reason and logic. -
343 BCE
Aristotle
A very early Greek philosopher he is considered by some the father of biology, physics, logic and geology among others. His works heavily influenced the scientists of the renaissance and enlightenment movements. -
Publication of Rousseau’s Emilie
As a book on the relationship between the individual and society, he emphasizes the dilemma of raising and educating children to be good citizens. Children should not be “swaddled” and education should be derived primarily from the real world not books. -
Industrial revolution
The industrial revolution pushed people from the countryside to cities to find work. This concentration of people is what lead to the first public education systems. The industrial Revolution also created a huge demand for skilled workers that needed to be trained in career and technical schools. -
Thomas Jefferson
A founding father of the United States he was an early proponent of free public education for all regardless of class or gender. -
Horace Mann
Mann was an early education reformist, he believed that education should be public available to everyone, paid for by the state and non sectarian (taking religion out of schools). -
Morrill Act
The Morrill act established land grant universities(WSU is one) to teach among other things agriculture and vocational arts. Each eligible state received 30,000 acres of land from the federal government for use as the campus and to be sold to fund the university. -
John Swett
Swett was one of the founders of the California Educational Society later to become the California Teachers Association. His biggest accomplishment was making school free for all Californian children. -
Ellen H. Richards
Richards was one of the first prominent women scientists, after experiencing the struggles of a woman pursuing a scientific education in 1876 she opened the women's laboratory at MIT. -
Booker T. Washington
Washington was a black american born into slavery, In 1881 he became the first leader of the tuskegee institute one of the first black colleges in the nation, they has a farm that taught the fundamentals of agricultural management. In 1900 he was one of the founding members of the National Negro Business League. -
Hatch Act
The hatch act gave funds, initially $15,000 to create research stations to conduct research on better farming practices and pass this information along to local farmers. -
Second Morrill Act
Intended to reform land grant universities in the former confederate states, it required schools to prove race was not a criteria for admission and if it was to establish separate land grant universities for persons of color. The act also gave funding to historically black colleges. -
W.E.B. DuBois
DuBois was an early opponent to the idea of separate but equal education. He challenged the creation of the tuskegee institute believing integration would lead to a better learning environment for black americans. -
Alice P. Norton
Alice Norton was an early influential figure i what we would now call family and consumer sciences. in 1901 she became assistant professor of home economics at the Chicago University. Later in life, the early 20s she was the head of the home economics department at Constantinople Woman's College in Turkey. -
John Dewey
A well known american philosopher in the very early 20th century he became a proponent of education reform. He believed and wrote that education is a key part in creating a better society beginning in the classroom. Students should be more involved in the learning process, if they are interested in the subject students will retain the information much better. Today we would call his ideas holistic education, incorporating not just academic knowledge but life skills into curriculum. -
David Snedden
Snedden was an education reformest, he hoped to to get schools to get away from classical education intended for the upper classed to a more "democratic" education that included vocational training for the lower and middle classes. -
Smith-Lever Act
This act helped establish extension services for land grant universities. -
WW1
As men went off to war women had to fill their place in the work force this in turn increased the amount of pressure on the education system to take care of children. During this time many schools held fundraisers to raise money for relief organizations in the war-torn countries of Europe. -
Charles A. Prosser
Prosser is known as the father of vocational education in the US. He had a long history of working with youth including teaching history and as a juvenile court judge. He is most well known for being instrumental in the passing of the Shith-Hughes act of 1917, form then util 1919 he served as the first executive director of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. -
Smith-Hughes Act
The first federal vocational education act, it established the importance of agriculture, industrial arts and home economics in public high schools and allocated funding to help those programs. To receive this funding states were required to establish vocational education boards. -
Martha Van Rensseleaer
A key person in establishing home economics and a field of study, in 1919 she co authored A Manual of Home Making, helped establish the school of home economics and went on to be the editor of home economics in the Delineator magazine and wrote articles for the Ladies Home Journal. -
Rufus Stimson
Stimson had a long career in agricultural education beginning at the Connecticut Agricultural College (now the University of Connecticut) there he became president and established a horticulture building and greenhouse. in 1919 he wrote Vocational Agricultural Education by Home Projects a textbook on how to incorporate supervised agricultural experiences into the Ag curriculum. -
Women’s suffrage
Women's Suffrage and gaining the right to vote gave women a stronger voice in the education system and was the very beginning of breaking down barriers to women in the workforce and male dominated professions, many of which fall under the CTE umbrella. -
American Vocational Association Developed
Formed when the National Society for Vocational Education and the Vocational Education Association of the Mid-West united in the aftermath of the Smith-Hughes Act. Their goal was to permute leadership in vocational education, unite groups with an interest in vocational Ed across the country and create a united voice for its benefit. -
George Reed Act
The George Reed Act removed home economics from the industrial arts portion of the Smith Hughes act, no funding was allocated through this act. -
George-Dean Act
This act allocated $12 million to vocational education and added marketing to that group of subjects. -
WW2
After war began the free world began to rely more heavily on the US for food imports and once the US joined the war this demand skyrocketed. To meet this new demand farming practices had to change. The war also marked the start of training women for industry to replace the men that had been drafted -
George-Barden Act
This act added to the George Deen act with an additional $34 million. It expanded the ways in which the money could be used to include salaries, training programs, out of school trips, youth programs and equipment for vocational education. -
launch of sputnik
The launch of sputnik essentially started the space race that created a large demand for scientists, engineers and skilled machinists. The highly publicized events of the space race surly inspired students to pursue careers in these fields as well. -
National Defense Education Act
This act helped schools increase education in science, maths, foreign languages and data processing. The act also allowed college students to receive loans and fellowships for TV and media education. -
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement fought to ensure that students of all races are given access to truly equal education, doing away with the “separate but equal” system that existed before that did not work. -
Manpower Development and Training Act
Considered the first federal job training program it's goal was t provide training to unemployed people. -
Major Dennis Mobley
Mobley believed that vocational education was for all people and that it must be included in the public education system, he made these ideas a reality when he helped pass the Vocational Education act in 1963. -
Vocational Education Act and Amendments
This act replaced all vocational education acts up to that point except the Smith Hughes act, it also established an advisory board to evaluate current vocational education programs. Funding was increased to $225 million. It created a federal definition for vocational education. It expanded the scope of agricultural education and home economics and attempted to remedy discrimination on the basis of gender. -
Educational Amendments (Title IX)
Title 9 Prohibits sex based discrimination in any publicly funded education program. -
Comprehensive Employment and Training Act
The CETA grouped together all previous federal job training programs and provided funding to state and local programs, giving them more control than previously. This act aimed to help those unemployed, underemployed or considered economically disadvantaged. the act also supported youth programs like summer work programs and job corps. -
Job Training Partnership Act
This act replaced the comprehensive job training act, it expanded the programs of the previous act while keeping control of them at the state and local level. It also created programs for displaced workers, homeless people and older members of the workforce. -
A Nation at Risk Report
Created by the Regan administration this report warned that American schools were falling behind. It suggested that there needed to be more "rigor", school was too easy and needed to be more difficult for students. Common standards across all states was recommended as well as increasing the requirements to be a teacher and increasing their pay. -
Carl Perkins Vocational Education Act (Perkins 1)
The Perkins act allotted $950 million to vocational education, 57% of that money was specially assigned to programs that helped disadvantaged persons like those with disabilities, singe parents and criminals. The act also set aside 3.5% for the elimination of sex bias and stereotyping. Academic subjects like math als reading were to be incorporated into vocational education and state vocational education consoles were required to be established. -
New Directions Report (Ag Ed)
This report was produced with the goal of reforming both education about agriculture and education in agriculture (Ed/ed) They hoped to improve the public's understanding of agriculture and the methods Ag is taught in the classroom (incorporate more science and career education among other things) -
Perkins Act (Perkins 2)
The new perkins act increased funding to $600 million and created a new federal definition of vocational education "organized educational programs offering a sequence of courses which are directly related to the preparation of individuals in paid or unpaid employment in current or emerging occupations requiring other than a baccalaureate or advanced degree." The act required that measurable standards be created. -
The Secretary’s Commission of Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) Report
This report evaluated what skills were needed for students to become productive members of the workforce. They looked at basic skills, critical thinking, personal relationships, resource management, skills with technology etc. -
School to work Opportunities Act
Introduced by the Clinton administration this act gave money to states in the form of grants to encourage them to provide performance based training to prepare young americans for the transition from being students to members of the workforce. -
Land-grant to Tribal Colleges
This act categorized tribal colleges as Land Grant Universities, most were two year programs though some offered four and six year programs. These schools offer vocational training to Native and non Native students alike. -
American Vocational Association becomes Association of Career and Technical Education
The AVA changed its nave to reflect the changing environment in vocational education. The organization wanted to broaden its horizons to include now technologies and careers. -
Education Amendment Act (Perkins 3)
The third Perkins act yet again changed the definition of vocational education to "improving student achievement and preparing students for post-secondary education, further learning, and careers. While promoting reform, innovation, and continuous improvement in vocational and technical education to ensure that students acquire the skills and knowledge they need to meet challenging State academic standards and industry-recognized skill standards" -
Technological Revolution
The technological revolution saw an explosion of jobs in the IT, automated production and software development industries. CTE was called upon to help meet the demand for these new jobs, this is when we saw an increase in computer technologies classes in high schools and postsecondary education. -
No Child Left Behind Act
This act set out to increase the accountability of schools when it comes to closing the gap between high and under performing students. Schools received funding to conduct national standardised testing and required schools to take action based on the results of these tests to improve students scores year to year. -
Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act (Perkins 5)
The perkins 5 act reauthorized the perkis 4 act and congress committed to continue giving $1.3 billion a year to CTE programs. It allowed stated to define their own program goals and what constitutes "special populations". The act also set aside"special reserve funds" for rural communities and those with a specially high demand for CTE trained workers.