History of Education

By 17gahinderman

  • Soviet Union Launches Sputnik

    In the middle of the Cold War the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the entire earth. This worried the United States with maintaining national security. In addition, as the United States was in the midst of battling the Soviets in the Cold War, it disheartened the Americans.

  • Science Becomes Priority in Education

    After the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union, the United States takes the world of science a bit more seriously. More science courses are added to school curriculum to increase the intelligence of future scientists. This provides more of a chance of America reaching the same scientific intelligence as the Soviet Union.

  • ACT Test Begins

    In 1959, the ACT wast first introduced. ACT, which stands for American College Testing, was introduced to measure academic intelligence of high school students applying to college.

  • First African American Attends Integrated School

    In 1960, Ruby Ridges, an African American first grader, becomes the first African American student to attend an integrated school. Ruby had not been welcomed with open arms. In fact, over the course of time, Ruby became a class of one as parents pulled their Caucasian children out of the class.

  • Thought and Language Introduced in English

    Thought and Language, a book written by Soviet Psychologist, Lev Vygotsky, was first introduced in the English language. The book had been first published in 1934, introducing ideas about the nature of learning and how they provide important foundational principles for contemporary social constructive theories. He is best known for his concept of "Zone of Proximal Development", which is the difference between what an individual can do on their own and what they can accomplish with help.

  • Learning Disabilities

    Samuel A. Kirk uses the term "learning disability" at a Chicago conference on children with perceptual disorders. The term sticks and now the Learning Disabilities Association of America is formed.

  • Civil Rights Act

    The Civil Rights Act becomes law. It prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin

  • The Elementary and Secondary Education Act

    The act is passed on April 9th and is part of Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty," it provides federal funds to help low-income students, which results in the initiation of educational programs such as Title 1 and bilingual education

  • Project Head Start

    A preschool education program for children from low-income families begins an eight-week summer program. Part of the "War on Poverty," the program continues to this day as the longest running anti-poverty program in the U.S.

  • Equality of Educational Opportunity Study

    A study conducted in response to provisions of the Civil Rights act of 1964 is known as the Coleman Report , named after its primary author James S. Coleman. This study remains important because of the discovery that African American children benefit from attending integrated schools, starting the fight to end segregated schools.

  • Toward a Theory of Instruction

    Psychologist, Jerome Bruner, wrote and published the book entitled Toward a Theory of Instruction. His new ideas about learning popularize the cognitive learning theory as opposed to behaviorism.