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John Amos Comenius
Comenius was one of the first figures to promote universal education and is renowned as, "The Father of Modern Education." Comenius had a large influence in the formulation of the new modern educational system as well as played a key role in developing textbooks for students. Of these books, Comenius has been know to have created the first illustrated book for children. -
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
Johannn Pestalozzi was an educational reformer in the early 19th century. His revolutionary ways of teaching helped to completely remove illiteracy in Switzerland by 1830. -
Robert Owen
Robert Owen established the first "infant" pre-school in New Lanark, Scotland. His belief was that he wanted to give children a good education, so that they would be more established for work in the future. He wanted to give children the opportunity to study basic literacy and numeracy, so that they would make valuable citizens in the future. -
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, feminist and founder of her own philosophy of education, "Montessori Education," was a leading figure in the development of modern Early Childhood Education. Montessori created a system where children have the ability to choose their form of learning from a large range of objects and activities. Maria Montessori opened her school, Casa de Bambini where she spent time observing the behaviors of students and eventually developed her philosophy further. -
NAEYC is Founded
The National Association for the Education for Young Children was founded in 1926. This non-profit organization works closely with early childhood programs to improve the well being of young children from birth to age 8. -
NHSA is Founded
NHSA, (National Head Start Association) was created in 1965 as a developmental program for children and has since spread rapidly, now being the voice for over a million children. With the help of President Johnson, Head Start was brought about to help meet the needs of disadvantaged preschool children. -
No Child Left Behind Act
Established in 2001, the NCLB Act was an act passed by congress in support of a standards based education reform. This reform allowed each state to develop its own form of standardized testing to assess children. It has since been replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act. -
Preschool for All Initiative
In 2014, President Obama asked Congress to expand high-quality preschools to reach all children in America. This initiative would improve quality and aim to reach children in all 50 states. President Obama's goal is to enroll over 6 million children to these high-quality preschools to positively effect future generations.
