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Schooling to Maintain Religious Order
In 1642 parents were required to teach their children because it was thought that illiterate people were easy targets for Satan. -
Old Deluder Satan Act
America's earliest law relating to school required towns of 50 or more families to have a primary school teacher and towns of 100 or more to have a Latin teacher -
Northwest Ordinance of 1785
The ordinance required Midwestern territories to set aside a section of land for education purposes. -
Common Schools
The Northeast was moving toward organized schools that were free and available to all. -
School Committees Law
The Massachusetts and Great Courts required all cities and towns to have school committees. -
High School Education Publicly Funded
High schools now publicly funded by communities. -
First State Board of Education
First state board of education was started, Horace Mann being the secretary. -
Egg-Crate Schools
Rooms were split based on age and academic abailities rather than everyone being in a one-room schoolhouse. -
Wisconsin's 1848 School Law
Law that made elementary education free to everyone between ages of four and twenty. -
Morrill Act of 1862
Lincoln signed the Act which donated public lands for the use of land-grant colleges. -
Lincoln's Emancipation of Slaves
Abraham Lincoln emancipated slaves and abolished slavery, but did not ensure education equal or adequate to that of the white people. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Supreme Court case which affirmed the principle that political equality did not guarantee social equality. -
First Labor Union - Chicago Teachers' Federation
Changed the future of teaching to more of a profession and teachers as a political force. -
First Female Superintendent
Ella Flagg Young became the first female superintendent in American schools, appointed at the Chicago Public Schools. -
State Teachers Colleges
In the 1930s, normal schools became state teachers colleges and are now state colleges or universitites. -
Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
Act which mandated the teaching of Indian history and culture in schools. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
Prohibited school segregation on the basis of race. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
President Johnson created this law to set up Head Start, Title I, and other prorams. -
Title IX of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1972
Title IX ensured that "no person in the US shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational programs or activity receiving federal financial assistance." (U.S. Dept. of Education, 1972 preamble) -
Women's Educational Equity Act of 1974
Aimed to level the playing field for young women by giving them schools for model programs, traning, and research. -
Indian Self-Determination and Education Act
Act that gave tribes the power to run their own schools. -
No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)