Educational History Timeline

1900

1 CE

1900 The Association of American Universities is founded to promote higher standards and put U.S. universities on an equal footing with their European counterparts.

1901

2

Joliet Junior College, in Joliet, Illinois, opens. It is the first public community college in the U.S.

1902

3

A youth program begun in Ohio "is considered the birth of 4-H." With the passage of the Smith-Lever Act in 1914, 4-H becomes a national program for positive youth development.

1903

4

1903 - Ivan Pavlov reads his paper, The Experimental Psychology and Psychopathology of Animals, at the 14th International Medical Congress in Madrid, explaining his concept of the conditioned reflex, an important component of classical conditioning.

1904

5

Mary McLeod Bethune, an African American educator, founds the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Florida. It merges with the Cookman Institute in 1923 and becomes a coeducational high school, which eventually evolves into Bethune-Cookman College, now Bethune-Cookman University.

1905

6

Alfred Binet's article, "New Methods for the Diagnosis of the Intellectual Level of Subnormals," is published in France. It describes his work with Theodore Simon in the development of a measurement instrument that would identify students with mental retardation. The Binet-Simon Scale, as it is called, is an effective means of measuring intelligence.

1909

7

Educational reformer Ella Flagg Young becomes superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools. She is the first female superintendent of a large city school system. One year later she is elected president of the National Education Association.

1911

8

1911 - The first Montessori school in the U.S. opens in Tarrytown, New York. Two years later (1913), Maria Montessori visits the U.S., and Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel found the Montessori Educational Association at their Washington, DC, home

1950

9

1950 - Public Law 81-740 grants a federal charter to the FFA and recognizes it as an integral part of the program of vocational agriculture. The law is revised in 1998 and becomes Public Law 105-225.

1954

10

1954 - On May 17th, the U.S. Supreme Court announces its decision in the case of Brown v. Board. of Education of Topeka, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," thus overturning its previous ruling in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson. Brown v. Board of Education is actually a combination of five cases from different parts of the country. It is a historic first step in the long and still unfinished journey toward equality in U.S. education.

1955

11

1955 Rosa Parks, a Montgomery, Alabama seamstress, refuses to give up her seat on the bus to a Caucasian passenger and is subsequently arrested and fined. The Montgomery bus boycott follows, giving impetus to the Civil Rights Movement. A year later, in the case of Browder v. Gale, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that segregated seating on buses is unconstitutional.

1956

12

1956 – The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Cassification of Educational Goals; Handbook I: Cogn

1970

13

1970 - In his controversial book, Deschooling Society, Ivan Illich sharply criticizes traditional schools and calls for the end of compulsory school attendance.

1973

14

U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ends on January 27. More than 58,000 U.S. service personnel are killed in action during the war. The fighting continues until April 30, 1975 when South Vietnam surrenders to the communist North Vietnamese forces.

1980

15

1980 - The Refugee Act of 1980 is signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on March 18th. Building on the Immigration Act of 1965, it reforms immigration law to admit refugees for humanitarian reasons and results in the resettlement of more than three-million refugees in the United States including many children who bring special needs and issues to their classrooms.

1980

16

1980 President Jimmy Carter signs the Refugee Education Assistance Act into law as the "Mariel Boatlift" brings thousands of Cuban and a small number of Haitian refugees to Florida.

1991

17

1991 - Minnesota passes the first "charter school" law.

1998

18

The Higher Education Act is amended and reauthorized requiring institutions and states to produce "report cards" about teacher education.

2002

18

2002 - In the case of Zelman v. Simmons-Harris the U.S. Supreme court rules that certain school voucher programs are constitutional and do not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

2007

19

2007 - Both the House and Senate pass the Fiscal Year 2008 Labor-HHS- Education appropriation bill which includes reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. However, the bill is vetoed by President Bush because it exceeds his budget request. Attempts to override the veto fall short.

2017

20

2017 - President Donald Trump signs the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law on December 22nd. The bill lowers corporate taxes as well as those for most individuals. Educational implications include maintaining the $250 limit on deductions teachers can take for school supplies and expanding the use of 529 savings plans for K-12 private and homeschool costs..