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Early 17th Century Education
Education began with the Pilgrims' landing in the early 1600's, it was private, and the curriculum was the Bible. The student population from lower classes received a minimal education including reading, writing, calculations and religion; whereas, the student population from upper classes received more advanced education. America always viewed education as important in order to raise competent citizens who would abide by governing laws. People strived for more knowledge to develop America. -
First Secondary School
The Puritans formed the first formal secondary school called the Roxbury Latin School which was designed only for certain social classes of people who were going to be leaders in the church, state or courts. This did not include girls because world leaders were all males. The school taught reading, writing and arithmetic and prepared boys for the entrance exam of Harvard College. From the very beginning of education in America, college entrance exams dominated secondary curriculum. -
Establishment of Harvard: The First American College
Harvard was the first college established in America and served to raise literate and devout clergy through God and Jesus Christ. John Harvard, the man who Harvard was name after, was the only teacher of nine students and taught by having his students read Scripture, attend lectures and tutoring sessions. College is still a lot like this today (lectures and tutoring). Also, an important note is that the secondary school was established before the college and specifically for the college. -
Child Education Regulations and Apprenticeships
Laws were enacted in Massachusetts and Virginia stating all children and servants should be competent in reading and writing. If parents did not properly educate their children then the government could remove the children from their homes and place them into apprenticeships to receive adequate education. Apprenticeships were on the job training in trade such as developing raw materials. This is still similar to programs and internships that students still participate in today. -
The Law of 1647: Old Deluder Satan Act
As formal schooling became more desirable in America, this law was created to tackle the problem of parental negligence. Towns of fifty families were to hire a schoolmaster and towns with one hundred families were to have a Latin Grammar School. This is interesting because children located in rural communities still do not have the same education and opportunities (in some areas) than in larger urban areas. Much of this is due to money and resources. -
First Textbook: The New England Primer
Following the invention of the printing press, the first textbook was created in 1688. This was the most efficient way to systemize education of its time. Benjamin Harris, a wealthy man, wrote this book which contained religion, alphabet help, acronyms, catechisms, and moral lessons. Interestingly, this book was most widely used for over one-hundred years. -
Student Uprisings in the Great Awakening of the 1740's
During this time, people were beginning to stand up to colleges who were only educating wealthy, first class citizens. However, the elite families were not pressuring the colleges to provide education to the less fortunate because that would mean there would be less jobs for them and their children. This is still how elite families in America act today, and of course, the colleges will behave in whichever way they are able to make more money (most of the time). -
Creation of The Academy by Benjamin Franklin
The Academy was the first school to offer a different type of education than the traditional Latin Grammar School by providing education (in addition to traditional education) accounting, bookkeeping, and mathematics. This seems to have greatly influenced college majors, because it was the first time students could choose to study the more traditional Latin course or English course. -
Noah Webster Introduces New Textbook: The Blue Back Speller & Spelling Becomes Separate Subject
Times were changing in the New World and people were struggling between loyalty to England and America. Standardizing curriculum was challenging for the sparsely populated new country. A textbook was most efficient way to spread democracy. Also, the more that textbooks spread throughout the region, the more equipped professors were to teach non traditional subjects. At this time, spelling also became a separate subject in elementary curriculum with America's first spelling bee. -
The United States Constitution of 1787
When education was left out of the Constitution, Americans felt like they had no direction on this issue; however, including education could have seemed provocative to colonists in America at this time. Leaving education out of the Constitution gave more power to the states. However, Edgar does point out that the Fathers did find education important because of the Land Ordinance of 1785 which set aside areas to establish schools and colleges. -
Litchfield Female Academy
Educational reform was in full effect when the first female school was established in 1792. Before this time, females received little to no formal education and most were educated at home. When the school opened, only two females attended but attendance grew to 140 and over 3000 females were educated in this school. -
Horace Mann (Father of Public Education) Leads Movement to Establish the First "Common School"
Common schools were funded by local property taxes and there was no tuition for students to attend. These schools were open to all white children and served a purpose to homogenize and discipline the population to produce intelligent citizens. By 1870, every state provided free elementary education. This is important not only for the first public school, but also because the curriculum was created around producing loyal and obedient citizens of America. -
First Graded Readers Created
The “McGuffey Readers” was developed and writing became more important in elementary curriculum as paper and ink was readily available. This is also when arithmetic was firmly established in elementary curriculum and was considered important for the mental discipline function. Geography also became a subject, and history ended up becoming a subject later in the 18th century. At this time, secondary curriculum was mostly the same as elementary but focused more on moral and character development. -
Growth of Public Schools Throughout America and Struggle to Find its Purpose for Students
There was a struggle between people trying to determine what the purpose for curriculum of the high school. Traditional educators saw high school as a college preparatory program and this philosophy divided students between ethnic and social backgrounds. Others believed high school should teach students for more practical curriculum. It was determined by NEA that hs should prepare all students to do well in life (more to come in paper). -
Demand for Practical and Useful Curriculum
At the beginning of the 20th century, people were demanding for more useful and helpful curriculum. The US was becoming more urban and immigrants crowded cities. The American dream was shaped in schools for children. During this time, people were focused on discovery of the child and after the civil war there were many European theories on importance of the learner. This started the progressive movement, which happened to be swiftly misdirected during industrial revolution. -
Standing Committee on Economy of Time and Education
The NEA appointed a standing committee from 1903 to 1919 to observe, reform, and standardize curriculum for all students. This was happening during a struggle to increase efficiency during industrial revolution and equity for all children (including African Americans) in education. This committee formed objectives for secondary education, developed idea for a junior high, and the Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education. -
Junior High Expansion and Educational Experimentation
In junior highs there was more experimentation in education since the schools were so new and unbound to the traditional education approaches. This is when objectives turned more into learning outcomes and there were more subjects taught such as industrial arts, home economic, metal working, painting, art and music, language arts, science, and foreign language. In high school the progressive idea was given only small attention and focus was more on preparing for successful life ahead. -
The Progressive Education Association Disbanded and Discipline Centered Curriculum Takes Over American Schools
A major barrier in the progressive education movement was college entrance examinations and the threat of other countries such as the Soviet Union surpassing America in Science and Technology. Essentialist educators believed that America should systematically train students in reading, writing, arithmetic, history, English, and foreign languages and that schools should stress discipline and hard work. Discipline-centered curriculum became the means to develop resources for threatened Americans. -
Publication of “A Nation at Risk” by the National Governor’s Association
Seven task forces were created focusing on educational reform to develop national standards and national tests to promote equity for more disadvantaged students. This was definitely a necessary step in education, but just like the college preparatory examinations, have had a great effect on curriculum and education in schools. This led to a focus in the twenty-first century for a need a system of accountability in the reporting of schools, districts, and state performance. -
President Clinton’s Goals 2000: Educate America Act
Creation and certification of a national standards. Many people argued about whether or not this act was an intrusion for state governments by the federal government. There was no longer a debate on education focused on distribution of resources, but instead how each state would report and measure accountability of their own schools. Goals were ready to learn, school completion, student achievement and citizenship, professional development, math and science, and parental involvement. -
No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
This act added new dimensions to the state efforts on improving student performances by requiring that schools assess at least 95% of students overall and in each subgroup, and for states to provide information to the public on how their school is doing. There is also a struggle here between setting national standards and federalism in the US. Within this, there is also an important step in creation of improvement plans for schools that are not meeting expectations set by NCLB.
