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First Public Schools in the U.S. - Old Deluder Satan Act
The Old Deluder Satan Act required children in Massachusetts to attend public schooling. Towns of 50 or more families had to hire a teacher to teach the students to read and write. Towns of 100 or more families had to support a grammar school that would prepare students for Harvard College. They mostly wanted students to be able to read and understand the Bible. -
National School Lunch Act
The National School Lunch Act was signed into law by Harry Truman. It’s a nonprofit program that provides free or reduced lunches to low income students. -
Brown VS the Board of Education
The ruling decided that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional under the 14th amendment. While it didn’t immediately end segregation, it helped fuel the Civil Rights movement. -
School District of Abbington Township V Shmepp
Up to that point Pennsylvania schools were required to read from the Bible at the beginning of school each day. It was found that this practice was in constitutional since even students who weren’t Christian were required to participate which infringes on the right to have freedom of religion. This resulted in prayer being banned from school. -
Head Start Program
The HeadStart program was originally an eight week summer program that was intended to help low income preschool students by providing them a program that would help them meet their emotional, social, nutritional, health, and psychological needs. HeadStart currently serves more than one million children each year with locations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and U.S. territories. -
Title IX
Title IX prevented discrimination based on sex in educational facilities. It also required schools to have a procedure for handling complaints of sexual harassment. Any schools that received federal funding and some colleges were subject to Title IX. -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
IDEA is a law that allows free public education to students with disabilities. It requires schools to offer special education services to students who need them. -
A Nation at Risk
A Nation at Risk was an article published in 1983 about America’s failing education system. While the article itself got a lot of things wrong and was very over dramatic, it caused a lot of changes in the education system including the NCLB act and the Standards Movement. https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/04/29/604986823/what-a-nation-at-risk-got-wrong-and-right-about-u-s-schools -
No Child Left Behind Act
It was signed into law on January 8th, 2002 by Bill Clinton. It’s intent was to provide equal education opportunities for disadvantaged students. It established annual standardized testing, and it expected states to bring all students, including Special Needs students, to the “proficient” level. Schools that failed to do so might be shut down. -
Covid 19
The pandemic has required many schools to shut down and do online classes. Some schools remain in person. Others are doing hybrid, but no matter what type of classes schools are doing there are still plenty of restrictions including cancelled games and events, mask requirements, social distancing requirements, and etc. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/05/27/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-student-achievement-and-what-it-may-mean-for-educators/
