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Common Schools
The term common school (1770-1890) referred to schools that provided education for the average person, although not necessarily at public expense or available to all.
Grammar school, math, and philosophy.
Students were given a horn book (alphabet and a short prayer). -
Northwest Land Ordinance
It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. Congress at the time did not have the power to raise revenue by direct taxation, so land sales provided an important revenue stream. The Ordinance set up a survey system that eventually covered over three-fourths of the area of the continental United States. -
Impact of Horace Mann
1830-1840s Horace Mann was the Father of the Common School. He was the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He established and headed the Massachusetts Board of Education. He rode horseback from district to district doing evaluations of schools and their teachers. -
Progressive Movement
John Dewey was the father of the progressive movement. It involved the whole child, grounding education in the real world, preparing children to fully participate in a democratic society, and physical as well as academics training. -
Committee of Ten
Was a working group of educators that in 1892 recommended the standardization of American High School curriculum. -
Catherine Beecher
Founded the Hartford Female Seminary School.
Spread the idea of teaching as a profession for women. -
Population Growth and Immigration in the 19th Century
They headed west, founded their own towns, which would attract others by the schools. U.S. cities grew by about 15 million people in the two decades before 1900. -
WW2
Effects of the War 1939-1945
Major loss of life, major destruction in Europe and Japan, Great Depression ended, women in the workforce, Iron Curtain, Nuclear Arms Race, Red Scare -
Brown vs Board of Education
The Brown vs. the Board ended legal segregation in public schools, is one of hope and courage. When the people agreed to be plaintiffs in the case, they never knew they would change history. The people who make up this story were ordinary people. They were teachers, secretaries, welders, ministers and students who simply wanted to be treated equally. It had also caused violence involving federal authorities and citizens who wanted to obstruct it. -
Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement (also referred to as the African-American Civil Rights Movement) encompasses social movements in the United States whose goals were to end racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and to secure legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship rights enumerated in the Constitution and federal law. -
ESEA
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) created a clear role for the federal government in K-12 policy, offering more than $1 billion a year in aid under its first statutory section, known as Title 1, to districts to help cover the cost of educating disadvantaged students. The law has been reauthorized and changed more than half a dozen times since that initial legislation. It also maintained Head Start. -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Students with physical, cognitive, emotional, deaf, social and behavioral disabilities were prohibited from schools. They were mainly housed in state institutions. Now from the funding of IDEA provides schools and districts an enhanced capacity to give full and equal educational opportunities for schools success, in the least restrictive environment possible. Most students spend an amount of time in their regular classes. -
The Standards Movement
The SBE reform movement calls for clear, measurable standards for all school students. Rather than norm-referenced rankings, a standards-based system measures each student against the concrete standard. Curriculum, assessments, and professional development are aligned to the standards. -
Nation at Risk
Effects of this report were: higher graduation requirements, standardized curriculum mandates, increased testing for students and teachers, lengthening of the school day and year, increased emphasis on basic skills, an emphasis on forcing public schools to “compete”, a shift from “equity” to “excellence”, and more emphasis on technology. -
NCLB
No Child Left Behind Act grew out of concern that the American education system was no longer internationally competitive - significantly increased the federal role in holding schools responsible for the academic progress of all students. It gave a special focus on ensuring that states and schools boost the performance of certain groups of students, such as English-language learners, students in special education, and poor and minority children, whose achievement, on average, trails their peers.
