Evolution of the American public school system

First public school

Apr 23, 1635

The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts
It is both the first public school and oldest existing school in the United States.
Admission is determined by a combination of a student's score on the Independent School Entrance Examination (ISEE) and recent grades, and is limited to residents of the city of Boston.
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The Educational Reform Movement

Jan 1, 1837

In 1837, Horace Mann, the Secretary of Education in Massachusetts, began reforming the state's school system, creating grade levels, common standards and mandatory attendance to ensure that all citizens could become virtuous, educated voters.
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Foced Schooling

Jan 1, 1879

Native American(Indian) children are forced to attend boarding schools to learn English.
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Compulsory attendance law

Jan 1, 1918

(image cited from - prezi.com)
Compulsory school attendance based on the Prussian model gradually spread to other countries, reaching the American Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1852, and spreading to other states until, in 1918, Mississippi was the last state to enact a compulsory attendance law.
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Brown v. Board of Education

May 17, 1954

Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional.
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Federal funding

Apr 11, 1965

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed as a part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty" and has been the most far-reaching federal legislation affecting education ever passed by Congress. The act is an extensive statute that funds primary and secondary education, while explicitly forbidding the establishment of a national curriculum.
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