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Engel v. Vitale Supreme Court Decision
This historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibited states from requiring the recitation of a daily school prayer in public schools. This changed the dominant culture by allowing multiple interpretations of religion in schools, as well as reinforcing the fundamental cultural tenet of the separation of church and state. -
Project Head Start Launches
This program designed to help pre-school children from lower socioeconomic status homes transition to the school environment began as an 8-week summer program, and continues today as a key factor in providing education to those who live in poverty. It reflected the cultural deprivation theory being developed in the 1960s and sought to provide equal footing to all students. -
Kent State University Shooting
On this day four college students protesting the Vietnam War were murdered by the Ohio National Guard. This national tragedy shows the bidirectional nature of how education and multiculturalism influence each other; schools can change culture much as culture changes schools. -
Refugee Act Signed into Law
President Carter helped shape the culture of America as a home for humanitarian refugees, welcoming three million people into an American way of life. Many of those refugees had children, who would bring their cultural perspectives into American schools and result in the system adopting a more multiethnic approach to education. -
A Nation at Risk Published
This report from the National Commission on Excellence in Education was a broad wake-up call for the American educational system, urging schools to embrace the fast-paced changes in consumer lives. Among the report's prescient recommendations was for schools to embrace computers and technology. It envisioned the future we live in today where smartphones are ubiquitous and shape the way we interact with others, a key component of culture. -
Immigration and Nationality Act Law Enacted
This law built on the Refugee Act of 1980 and welcomed not just an increase in the number of people immigrating to the U.S. but an increase in the diversity of the families brought into the fold. As before, these families with their diverse socioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds would require schools to broaden their multicultural approach to education. -
Columbine High School Massacre Occurs
The nation is shaken by the deaths that occurred when two students at Columbine High School went on a shooting spree during a school day, killing 12 of their fellow students, one teacher, and finally themselves. This event shows an example of the overlap of America's gun culture with the education system, resulting in gun safety precautions such as posted signs, security guards, and metal detectors being placed on school campuses in many states. -
No Child Left Behind Enacted
President George W. Bush enacted this law in an attempt to raise the standards of public education, but it was highly controversial due to its national mandates on standardized testing and holding schools accountable for their students' test scores. Many critics of the law believe that standardized tests are a poor metric to measure quality of education primarily because it discourages multicultural approaches to learning. -
AARD Renamed
The American Association on Mental Retardation embraced its new name as the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. This rebranding is an indication of how important labels and language are in culture, as schools continued to trend toward discarding outmoded and offensive terms in institutionalized practice, replacing them with more inclusive and affirming terminology. -
Betsy Devos Chosen for Education Secretary Position
President Trump's pick of Betsy Devos as Education Secretary was met with immediate widespread criticism from teachers unions and educational experts due to her lack of experience and strong support for "school choice" and voucher programs, both of which threaten to defund public schools and place more financial stress on an already underfunded educational system. Schools may find themselves re-segregating along socioeconomic lines if Devos' critics are correct.
