-
Period: to
John Locke
John Locke was one of the most influential Enlightenment philosophers. In 1678, he wrote an essay titled "Concerning Human Understanding." In this essay, he discusses his belief that at birth, our minds are a blank slate, and that we gain knowledge through experience. His views of the mind and how people learn were greatly influential to the US educational system. -
Earliest American Colleges Established
The first colonial college, Harvard, was established in 1636 to prepare ministers. A few years later, other schools such as Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Brown are established. -
Old Deluder Satan Act
This act decreed that every town of 50 families or more needs to hire a schoolmaster who would teach the town's children to read and write and that all towns of at least 100 families need to have a Latin grammar schoolteacher who would prepare students to attend Harvard. -
American Academy
In 1751, Benjamin Franklin founded the American Academy, an educational institution. Its curriculum was both classical and modern, which included lessons in history, geography, navigation, surveying, and languages. This went on to become the University of Pennsylvania. -
State Control Of Education
When the 10th Amendment of the United States Constitution is passed, the individual states gain the right to control education. -
Invention of the blackboard
In 1801, James Pillans invented the blackboard when he hung a large slate on the classroom wall. -
Dewey Decimal System
In 1873, the Dewey Decimal System, developed by Melvil Dewey, was patented and published. This became the world's most used library organization/classification system. -
High School Curriculum
A standardized high school curriculum was formed by the National Education Association to establish a standard secondary school curriculum, the Committee of Ten, recommended a curriculum that was college oriented, which laid the foundation to high schools today. -
First Pencil and Paper
Mass produced pencils and paper are starting to become more accessible, which eventually replaced the school slate, and made writing easier. -
First Community College
In 1901, Joliet Junior College in Joliet, Illinois, opened, and became the first community college in America. -
SAT was invented
The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was first administered in 1926. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. The test was developed to assess a student's readiness for college. -
IQ testing was Invented
In 1939, David Wechsler developed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. This introduced "deviation IQ," which calculates scores based on how far from the average subject's score another subject's score is. These tests are still used widely in schools to determine students needing special needs. -
Period: to
First Computer
The Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC), the first vacuum-tube computer, was built for the U.S. military by Presper Eckert and John Mauchly in the 1950s. This marked the beginning of the computer age. -
Brown V. Board of Education
The United States Supreme Court passes the case, Brown v. Board of Education, which makes segregated schools illegal. -
ACT Invented
In November of 1959, Everett Franklin Lindquist administered the first ACT test as as direct competition to the SAT. The ACT has usually consisted of 4 different tests: English, Math, Reading, and Science Reasoning. Although the SAT is the standard, the ACT is still very popular, and is used exclusively in certain districts. -
First Computer Used in School
Computers were first used in New York elementary schools to teach arithmetic. This was the beginning of a major technological revolution in education. -
First African American Child to Attend All White School
At William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Ruby Bridges, a first grader, was the first African American child to attend. She eventually became the only child in the class, because all the white parents pulled their students out of the class. -
Tinker V. Des Moines
During the Vietnam War, students in the Des Moines wore black armbands in protest. The district passed a rule prohibiting the bands, but the students argued it infringed on their First Amendment rights. The court agreed with the students and struck down the ban. -
Handheld Calculator
Serving as the predecessor to the TI-83, this first calculator was originally concerning to teachers, as they feared it would undermine students' learning. -
Scantron was Made
In 1972, the Scantron Corporation removed the need to grade multiple choice tests by hand. The machines were free to use, but the company charged for the grading forms. -
Whiteboard was Made
Although the inventor of the whiteboard has been heavily debated, they first started to gain popularity in the 90's, partly due to students having allergic reactions to the chalkboard dust. -
Higher Education Act
This act was amended and reauthorized, and required institutions and states to produce report cards about teacher education performance. This was another attempt to unify the educational experience in the USA. -
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was approved by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush in January of 2002. This law mandates high-stakes student testing, holds schools accountable for the students' achievement levels, and punishes schools that do not make adequate yearly progress toward meeting the goals of NCLB. -
Common Core was Made
The Common Core State Standards Initiatives is launched which details what K-12 students should know at the end of the year.