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Distance Learning
Distance learning first came of age at the end of WWII as the military used print materials for training in remote locations. By the 70s and 80s satellite and television had been incorporated for delivery. By the 90s ITV, CAI and multimedia had been added. An explosion happened as the internet and new pedagogical methodologies gave birth to online learning. Now phone delivered instruction, instant messaging and video instruction via the web create new venues for learning. -
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Homeschooling, Unschooling, Natural Learning
(This assumes this will continue to affect education throughout this century.)
John Holt began criticizing public schooling as early as 1964 and by the late 70s was publishing a newsletter. In 1981he published his book on homeschooling, Teach Your Own. Others were influencing education and writing about unschooling, natural learning and social development. Laws, curricula... -
A Nation at Risk: The Imperative For Educational Reform
The1983 report of President Ronald Reagan's National Commission on Excellence in Education. The publication is a landmark event in modern American educational history.The commission made 38 recommendations, divided across 5 major categories: Content, Standards and Expectations, Time, Teaching, Leadership and Fiscal Support. It also marks the beginning of the publishable notion that American education is failing. -
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Excellence Movement
Educational reforms as a reaction to the book A Nation at Risk are collectively considered the Excellence Movement. They included sweeping reforms in public education and teacher training with changes in high school requirements, additions of technology and literacy demands, changes in scheduling and instructional delivery. -
The Emergency Immigrant Education Act
The Emergency Immigrant Education Act of 1984 (EIEA) was enacted in response to the financial crisis facing school districts with large numbers of immigrant students. It targeted aid to those districts with population who generally have limited English proficiency. -
Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act
Esssential concept of the Act is that
effective vocational education programs are critical to the nation's future as a free and democratic society. The Act had two goals, one economic and one social. The economic goal was to improve the skills of the labor force and prepare adults for job opportunities,The social goal was to provide equal opportunities for adults in vocational education. -
Creationism v Evolution
In the case of Edwards v. Aguillard, et al. the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a Louisiana requiring that creation science be taught along with evolution. -
Restructuring Movement
Restructure often calls for expanded education markets and the use of market principles in school systems. It can have mayoral control of school districts, closing “failing” public schools or handing them over to corporate-style “turnaround” organizations, expanding school “choice” and charter schools, weakening teacher unions, and enforcing top-down accountability and incentivized performance targets on education (e.g., merit pay). -
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Restructuring Movement
Restructure often calls for expanded education markets and using market principles in school systems. It can have mayoral control of school districts, closing “failing” public schools or handing them over to corporate-style “turnaround” organizations, expanding school “choice” and charter schools, weakening teacher unions, and enforcing top-down accountability and incentivized performance targets on education (e.g., merit pay). Continues now under Race to the Top. -
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Charter School Movement
Charter schools in the United States developed as public schools that would operate much like businesses yet receive public school funding. In 1988 as reform of the public schools was being called for "charter schools" or "schools of choice" began. Minnesota was the first state to pass a charter school law in 1991. California was second, in 1992. As of 2009, 41 states and the District of Columbia had charter school laws. -
Milwaukee Parental Choice Program
The nation's oldest and largest voucher program,the Wisconsin Supreme Court twice has upheld the constitutionality of the MPCP. On June 27, 2002 the United States Supreme Court upheld voucher programs,. They let parents choose among non-religious and religious private schools. -
Teach for America
Teach for America is formed, reestablishing the idea of a National Teachers Corps. -
IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Public Law 101-476, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), renamed Public Law 94-142. It also changed the terminology from handicap to disability, iand mandated transition services. Autism and traumatic brain injury were added to the eligibility list. -
Immigration and Nationality Act
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990, the first comprehensive reform since 1965, increases annual immigration to 700,000 adding to the diversity of our nation and its schools. Specific aspects of the law provide for family-sponsored visas; employment-based visas for priority workers, skilled workers, and "advanced professionals"; and 55,000 diversity visas "allocated to natives of a country that has sent fewer than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the previous 5 years." -
First use of HTML on the Internet
Tim Berners-Lee,with the help of Robert Cailliau and a young student at CERN, implemented the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and server via the Internet using HTML. This paved the way for the World Wide Web textually, graphically and in multimedia formats, opening many doors for education. -
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World Wide Web, the Internet, Online Education
This assumes the Internet will continue its impact throughout this century. The WWW3 consortium led by CERN scientists developed the interactivity capability of the internet, the physical connectivity of computing sources. Client/server constructs and concepts along with increased networking and security measures changed the way people could access information and thereby greatly impacted education. In addition, online education became possible. Remote learning changed. -
Constructivism
Jacqueline and Martin Brooks' In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms is published. It describes constructivism, a view that learning best occurs through active construction of knowledge rather than its passive reception. Constructivist learning theory,with roots such as the work of Dewey, Bruner, Piaget, and Vygotsky, becomes extremely popular in the 1990s. -
Massachusetts Education Reform Act
The Massachusetts Education Reform Act requires a common curriculum and statewide tests (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System). As has often been the case, other states follow Massachusetts' lead and implement similar, high-stakes testing programs. -
Improving America's Schools Act
The Improving America's Schools Act (IASA) is signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It. reauthorizes the ESEA of 1965 and includes reforms for Title I; increased funding for bilingual and immigrant education; and provisions for public charter schools, drop-out prevention, and educational technology. -
Universal Preschool
Georgia becomes the first state to offer universal preschool to all four year olds whose parents choose to enroll them. More than half of the state's four year olds are now enrolled. -
Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms
Diane Ravitch's book criticizes progressive educational policies and argues for a more traditional, academically-oriented education. Her views, reminiscent of the "back to the basics" movement of the late 1970s and 1980s, are representative of the current conservative trend in education and the nation at large. -
No Child Left Behind
Requires annual standardized testing for students nationwide, grades 3-8.The controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is approved by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush.It reauthorizes the ESEA of 1965 and replaces the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, mandates high-stakes student testing, holds schools accountable for student achievement levels, and provides penalties for schools that do not make adequate yearly progress toward meeting the goals of NCLB. -
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No Child Left Behind
The controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is approved by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush, The law, which reauthorizes the ESEA of 1965 and replaces the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, mandates high-stakes student testing, holds schools accountable for student achievement levels, and provides penalties for schools that do not make adequate yearly progress toward meeting the goals of NCLB. -
Iindividuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004
H.R. 1350, reauthorizes and modifies IDEA. Changes, which take effect on July 1, 2005, include modifications in the IEP process and procedural safeguards, increased authority for school personnel in special education placement decisions, and alignment of IDEA with the No Child Left Behind Act. The 2004 reauthorization also requires school districts to use the Response to Intervention (RTI) approach as a means for the early identification for students at risk for specific learning disabilities -
Kitzmiller v Dover Area School District
The U.S. District Court of Pennsylvania rules in the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District that teaching "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution is a violation of the First Amendment. -
Race to the Top
Prompts competitive education standards between schools - finishing the “race to the top” at number one will allow for a much heavier grant. The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 provides more than 90-billion dollars for education, nearly half of which goes to local school districts to prevent layoffs and for school modernization and repair. It includes the Race to the Top initiative, a 4.35-billion-dollar program designed to induce reform in K-12 education. -
Common Core Standards
The Common Core State Standards Initiative, "a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers," is launched. -
NCLB Goals and Needed Flexibility
President Obama announces that the U.S. Department of Education is inviting each State educational agency to request flexibility regarding some requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. -
NCLB Waivers
President Obama announces on that the applications of ten states seeking waivers from some of the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law were approved. New Mexico's application is approved a few days later, bringing the number of states receiving waivers to 11. An additional 26 states applied for waivers in late February.
