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Common School Movement
This movement was started by Horace Mann to use federal funding to provide all children with a common educational experience. This was the precursor to modern public schools. -
First US State Compulsory Education Law
Massachusetts became the first state to require every town to create an elementary school and required parents to send their children to school. Now, every state in the nation has a compulsory requirement for primary education. -
Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution
This amendment granted citizenship, and all rights that go with it, to anyone born in the United State, regardless of their race. Among other things, those rights include the right to an education. -
Plessy vs Ferguson
This Supreme court ruling stated segregated schools were constitutional as long as they were equal. Of course, they were not, in fact, equal. This ruling led to a large disparity between the quality of education received by white children vs children of color. -
Brown vs the Board of Education
This court case ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional as they were not equal. This led to the desegregation of our public schools. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
This act provided federal funding for primary and secondary schools for the purpose of closing the achievement gap between students. -
Bilingual Education Act
This act provided federal grants to districts to establish programs for educating children with limited English speaking skills. -
Title IX
This abolished discrimination on the basis of sex in programs that receive federal funding, which includes the public educational system. -
Education of All Handicapped Children Act
This required the education of all children in the least restrictive environment possible. -
No Child Left Behind
This created accountability measures for schools, including penalizations for schools that did not make progress towards every student achieving.