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Grammar School Established
The first grammar schools were created in or around the year 1635 in order to educate the young boys in communities in the ways of leadership in the local government or in the clergy. -
Harvard Established
Harvard was founded in September of 1636 as the first higher education institute. -
Massachusetts Legislature and Education
Massachusetts passed a law in 1647 that required a teacher to be hired if there were more than 50 families in a township, and if there more than 100, a school was to be built. -
Primer Printing Begins
The New England Primer printing process began in 1690, and was used by the Puritans as a supplement to reading the Bible for children. It included prayers for morning and night, as well as biblical facts. -
Ursuline Academy of New Orleans is established
The Ursuline Academy is a private Catholic school for girls that allowed the studies of basic skills, philosophy, language, and literature. It is still the oldest operating all girls Roman-Catholic boarding and elementary school. -
The Connecticut Asylum for the Education of Deaf and Dumb Persons
There was not a single school that educated deaf children in the United States, and most parents of deaf children sent the kids to Europe to be educated. After some fundraising, a deaf school was built and a teacher was brought in from a Parisian school for the deaf. -
First Public High School Opens
Boston English High School was the first public high school to be opened in the United States. It is still functioning today. -
Massachusetts Legislature and Education part 2
Massachusetts passed another law stating that towns with more than 500 families had to open a public high school. -
McGuffey Reader print begins
McGuffey readers are printed, and they offered a more secular tone, in contrast with the mostly religious education being seen all over the U.S. at this time. The readers were used in grammar schools, and served as the course of study since traditional curriculum hand't yet been delveloped. -
Cheyney University founded
Cheyney University was the first higher education institution for African Americans. -
NTA formed
43 educators met in Philly and they formed the National Teachers Association. -
Department of Education founded
The government founded the Department of Education to help developing states form good, sound, school districts. -
Indian Boarding Schools
In 1879, the nation thought that instead of leaving Native Americans alone, they would educate them as well as try to "make them less savage". The government sponsored boarding schools that took in Native American kids and made them leave everything they've known for integration into white culture. -
Association of American Universities
This association was formed in order to provide help to American universities so they could compete academically with colleges in Europe. -
First Community College founded
Joliet Junior College was the first community college in the U.S. -
Middle schools created
When graduation rates dropped, Columbus Ohio School Board orders for junior high schools to be created. The hope was that the middle ground would help students feel better academically about going into high school. -
Smith-Hughes Act
The Smith-Hughes Act provided federal funding for agricultural and vocational education until it was repealed in 1997. -
Butler Act and the Tennessee vs. Scopes trial
The Butler Act was a Tennessee law that made it illegal to teach evolution in a classroom. John Scopes was a substitute teacher that taught a lesson on evolution. He was sued by the state of TN and was convicted. -
Mendez vs. Westminster and the California Board of Education
The U.S. District Court in LA ruled that educating children of Mexican decent in different schools was unconstitutional, and helped set a precedence for Brown vs. Board of Education. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
The Supreme Court announce the ruling in the Brown vs. Board of Education to be in Brown's favor. The court ruled that separate educational facilities was unequal and the desegregation of the schooling system started. -
ACT
The first ACT test was given. -
Cuban Schools in Miami
After many Cuban families came to the U.S. during the Cuban Civil War, Coral Way Elementary School starts the first bilingual and bi-cultural school in the U.S. -
Head-Start
Part of the "War on Poverty" included giving low-income students a head start in elementary school in an 8 week program. -
Discovery Learning
A book written by Jean Piaget attempted to expose students to discovery learning, mostly within the sciences. -
Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children vs. Pennsylvania
Special Education is offered to anyone free of charge in a public school at the expense of the state. -
Title IX of the Education Amendment
Discrimination against and gender’s participation in sports is prohibited. -
Equal Education Opportunites Act
Prohibits discrimination and requires schools to overcome obstacles which may hinder equal education. This mainly effects LEP (Limited English Proficiency) students. -
Education if All Handicapped Children Act
This act was passed to provide free public education to any child deemed handicapped. -
John Holt’s Teach Your Own
John Holt published a book that strongly encouraged homeschooling, and the program took off. -
Better Teacher Education
A report by the Holmes group and the Carnegie Fourm on Education recommended that teachers receive better education. -
Online Campuses
The University of Phoenix opens an online campus and becomes “the largest private campus” -
SMART boards
The interactive white boards were developed by SMART tech and many classrooms soon had them. -
Massachusetts Law on Education part 3
The legislature passed a law requiring standardized statewide tests. -
CompuHigh Whitmorte
The first online high school is opened. -
Columbine High School Massacre
The Columbine High School Massacre was the first mass shooting in a school. The two shooters were students and many people blamed themselves for the shooting. -
No Child Left Behind
The NCLB program required schools to take certain steps in order to meet state requirements for education. There were penalties for not meeting the requirements. -
Deadliest School Shooting
A graduated student returned to his Alma-Mater and shot 32 students, and then shot himself. This remains the deadliest school shooting in history. -
Common Core
Common Core was introduced and many states adopted it. -
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook was an elementary school shooting, and after there were many questions raised about school security. -
Betsy DeVos names Secretary of Education
Betsy DeVos was named Secretary of Education and many criticized Trump because she had little experience in education. -
Parkland High School Shooting
In February of 2018, a shooter entered Parkalnd High School, and shot 17 people. Law enforcement did not enter the building and the biggest controversy ensued. Everyone was pointing fingers, the NRA was blamed, and many students found heir voices and started to make a change. Many students participated in walkouts and protests following the shooting. -
Santa Fe High School Shooting
The most recent school shooting happened in Santa Fe, Texas.