-
Education Law of 1647 (Massachusetts)
(https://www3.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/masslaws.html)
This was one of the very first education laws established in America during the Colonial times. The law stated that every township with 50 or more households must provide a teacher to teach reading and writing. Also, every township of 100 or more households must create a grammer school. To me, this is the most important law in America's education history because it paved the way for the future of education in America. -
Common Schools
https://mises.org/library/common-school-movement-and-compulsory-education
The Common School Movement's goal was to provide a free public education system. These Common Schools would make gaining an education possible for those who were poor and could not afford the elite schools. The creation of Common Schools is crucial to the American education because it was the beginning of the public school system which is still how the vast majority of Americans receive their education today. -
Department of Education Created
The Department of Education was created in order to help the states establish more effective school systems. -
Committee of Ten
A group of educators that recommended the standardization of the American high school curriculum. -
The Impact of John Dewey
John Dewey was a professor and philosopher that provided the foundation for progressive education. He emphasized the importance of learning coming from experience instead of just memorization. -
Population Growth and Immigration in the 20th century
The number of immigrants doubled in the first 2 decades of the 20th century. This resulted in not only the need for more schools but also larger schools. By combining schools and making them bigger, the number of school districts decreased but only because they were bigger. -
The Measurement Movement (IQ, Thorndike, Terman)
This movement saw the development of intelligence and aptitude tests that compared an individual's intelligence to a norm. The first to develop this were Binet and Simon but from their scale and tests came a more accepted, revised versions by Lewis Termin and Thorndike. Termin developed the IQ (intellegience quotient) test and Thorndike created different scales for determining one's achievements in several different areas such as reading, spelling, arithmetic, and language. -
The Impact of WW2
Due to WW2, there was a huge decline not only in student attendance but also 1/3 of the educational staff was reduced. Also, due to the expense of the war educational funding was dramatically decreased as well. The schools that weren't affected as badly were the colleges. Although there was still a big decline in attendance, the government invested more money in special projects that they enlisted the help of colleges for. -
Brown vs. Board of Education, 1954
https://www.nps.gov/brvb/index.htm
The ruling of Brown vs. Board of Education was a very important moment in history. The ruling made it illegal to segregate schools based on race. This had a huge impact on society and not all good. Many sates and people revolted against the ruling and refused to implement it. There was a lot of violence and protests at the federal governments enforcement of the law. It took years but we have seen complete desegregation take place all over the country. -
The War on Poverty
The War on Poverty was declared by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Poverty was at an alarmingly high rate and to combat this they imposed many acts that included low income housing, more welfare programs and benefits, more job and skill trainings in schools, and other educational programs that helped people gain educations in order to become successful members of society. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 1965
This act provided more than $1 billion in federal funding to the education system. 80% of this funding went to Title I schools which were primarily made up of low income families. The ESEA also provided funding for additional assistance such as textbooks,library resources, and educational research and training. -
Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, 1975
IDEA was enacted to ensure that all people with disabilities were given the opportunity for a free and appropriate education. This is an extremely important stepping stone in America's education history because it helped to create more equity among all students. IDEA provides funding for additional resources and services to ensure that students with disabilities have access to an appropriate education.
http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/idea/ -
A Nation at Risk Report, 1983
This report alerted Americans to the fact that American schools were failing, and set off a wave of local, state, and federal reform efforts. -
School Choice Movement
This movement provided more options for where parents could send their children for school. It gave them other options than just the public school system such as private schools, charter schools, and homeschooling. -
No Child Left Behind, 2001
The No Child Left Behind law increased the federal role in holding schools accountable for student outcomes.They set standards and test scores that schools must meet with standardized testing. If the adequate yearly progress was not met, there were consequences. This was an important moment in education because it made schools more accountable for the success of students.
http://atlas.newamerica.org/no-child-left-behind-overview
