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American Education Events and Reforms
The United States has changed a lot since the nation was first founded. Follow the above links to learn about some of the major events that took place to get us where we are today. -
Northwest Land Ordinance of 1785
The US Congress of the Confederation passed a law that focused on compulsory public maintenance of schools. Also required all capable children to attend and become educated in order to become good citizens. -
Population Growth and Immigration in the 19th Century
So many people immigrated to the United States that the country ran out of teachers to teach all the new students. This led to women's colleges becoming specialized towards teaching women to be teachers. By 1890 the US had more children in school than anywhere else on Earth. -
Horace Man Dies MOST IMPORTANT
Horace Mann is considered one of the most important people in the educational history of the United States. He visited 1000 schools and wrote reports about how badly they needed repair. While about he discovered that students were learning from whatever they could find so he wanted standardized textbooks. Also tried adjusting the schools to become merit based, so it didn't matter if you were rich or poor, those who could succeed did. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Mann] -
Committee of Ten
Group of 10 men who recommended the standardization of the American High School Curriculum in the late 1900's. Suggested students learn: Latin, Greek, English, math, and the sciences. Also recommended the 12 years of schooling that we still use today. -
The Gary Plan
The steel mills in Gary, Indiana, needed to attract more workers so they built schools as a perk for workers. These schools were incredibly successful and attracted people from across the country. They used bells to change classes, kept the building at high occupancy, and had many different types of classes. -
The Measurement Movement
In an effort to discover which soldiers should fight on the front in the Somme vs. stay safe, the US army developed a method of measuring intelligence. Today this method of measuring is still in use to discover which students may be suffering from disabilities as well as every student's ability to learn. -
The Impact of World War Two MOST IMPORTANT
During the war attendance dropped and there was a teacher shortage as 1/3 of every teacher had to leave to fight. The students who didn't leave to fight saw their education change overnight from multi-purpose into doing everything for the war. The returning soldiers also had many children prompting the need for many more schools and teachers down the road. [http://spartacus-educational.com/2WWeducationC.htm] -
Death of John Dewey MOST IMPORTANT
John Dewey was the father of the progressive education reforms. He suggested radical ideas like focusing education on the individual child instead of the subjects taught. Was an intellectual who was "the real spokesman for intellectual America in the progressive era." Also thought that learning should be through experience and not just rote memorization. His theories about education would end up shaping curriculums to this day. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
In Topeka, KS the Brown family sued the school district to allow their daughters to go to a different school which was segregated. The decision came down unanimously against the school board, however desegregation wouldn't end for years. -
Civil Rights Movement MOST IMPORTANT
Even 10 years after Brown vs. Board of Education ended school schools were still segregated. A coalition of parents, activists, students, and teachers all worked together to get segregation ended. There were many people on both sides of the issue. LBJ used a "carrot and stick" approach to get schools to integrate and 8 years after the law was passed 91% of southern black students were integrated. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964] -
The War on Poverty
LBJ took it on himself to do what he thought would be best for the poor an underprivileged in the United States. He wanted there to be an equal chance at education and live. Amongst other things he created the Head Start program and did what he could for low-cost college loans. -
A Nation at Risk Report MOST IMPORTANT
The Reagan administration was concerned about the state of education in the United States and created some reforms to try and fix the system. Public schools were viewed as a monopoly that needed to be busted so more private schools got into the education business. The administration also stressed parental choice and bringing control back to the states. This report set up the Standards Movement and No Child Left Behind. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nation_at_Risk] -
School Choice Movement Begins
Many parents, upset with the failing schools, demanded the ability to choose where their children went to learn. The parents believed that the tax dollars spent on the education should follow the child and in 1990 in Milwaukee the first public school voucher program began. Criticism against this program said that all that would happen is that failing schools would close and/or could spread the problems out further. -
Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA)
This act required that children with disabilities were mainstreamed into regular classrooms as much as possible. Amongst other things it: increased the quality of life for the disabled, more disabled children graduated high school and went to college, and increased funding and training for teachers to help work with the disabled. -
No Child Left Behind MOST IMPORTANT
No Child Left Behind was originally written to help failing schools, however the unintended consequence was that nearly every school suffered underneath it. The goals stated by the law were laudable, higher proficiency and skills, and assessments to measure schools progress. However, the end results were that most schools didn't have the infrastructure to administer the tests, and hundreds of schools were facing closure. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act]
