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Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in an effort to create equal opportunity to children in low-income families. The goal was to give quality primary and secondary education to children in poverty, as well as to encourage parental involvement and career development. This has been reenacted every five fiscal years with amendments and has assisted hundreds of thousands of children from different cultural backgrounds to obtain education. -
Bilingual Education Act
Once again, President Lyndon B. Johnson legislated the Bilingual Education Act, the first law signed to provide bilingual education in schools. The act enabled students to receive education in both English and their native language. The funding also allowed a vast expansion of multi-cultural and bilingual curriculum and teachers. -
Mills v. the Board of Education of Washington, D.C
This crucial court ruling was the first building block to special education. Prior to this ruling, millions of children with disabilities were denied access to education due to income. Following this court case, monetary excuses could not be made to reject education of special needs children. This had a large impact on future acts that were passed such as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. -
Equal Educational Opportunities Act
The Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 prevented the denial of equal opportunity education based on ethnicity, nationality, race and gender. It also prohibited discrimination of the same characteristics for faculty and teachers. This was followed by a number of high profile cases where people were discriminated against in their quest for education. -
Teach Your Own: A Hopeful Path for Education is released
Teach Your Own: A Hopeful Path for Education by John Holt is released, creating an major momentum swing for homeschooling. After teaching in public schools for many years and becoming dissatisfied with the education system, Holt began encouraging homeschooling. His belief that the ideas taught were outdated, and many children from multicultural backgrounds were not receiving high quality education. His book allowed homeschooling to be seen from a different perspective. -
Columbia College begins admitting women
Until 1983, women were not allowed to attend Columbia University as undergraduate students. They were the last Ivy League school to become coeducational. This immediately doubled the applicant pool of undergraduates and gave the opportunity for thousands of brilliant young women to further their education. It is unfortunate that it took until 1983. -
Sheff v. O'Neill
The Sheff v. O'Neill case of 1989 made the case that minority children in the school districts of Hartford, Connecticut were being discriminated against. It became a landmark case in access to public education for areas with high black/Latino populations. -
Columbine High School students go on a killing spree
On April 20, 1999, two students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado went on the nations most deadliest school shooting spree. After killing 15 and leaving 23 wounded, the discussion of mental health in teenagers, gun laws, and safety in schools changed forever. Though the conversations have continued, school shootings still run rampant today. -
No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
The No Child Left Behind Act replaced the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 and attempted to hold public schools up to higher scrutiny. Following the introduction of the act, in order to receive federal funding, schools must submit regular reviews, grades and assessments of their students. While there have been positives of the legislation, it has had negative repercussions for special needs children as if primarily focuses on testing rather than work-centered experience. -
Chicago board votes to close 50 schools
On May 22, 2013, the Chicago Board of Education voted to close 50 schools due to a $1 billion deficit. The assumption was that it would consolidate schools and allow for education quality to improve. The opposite has occurred, and many children from low-income areas have been without any education whatsoever. Many other large cities with low-income, high minority populations have seen schools close at alarming rates.
