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Compulsory Education Law
What: Massachusetts passes the first law mandating that children receive education. Why: Without it being required by law, many children would not have participated in schooling by either their or their parents' wishes. Another social divide would have been created along with poorly educated citizens. -
Brown v. Board of Education
What: Supreme Court declares an end to segregation in schools. Why: This legally allowed an entire race access to the better quality education, educational settings, and materials that white students already had. -
PL-94-142
What: All handicapped children and individuals with disabilities can no longer be denied education by a public institution.
Why: Inclusion of a group that can now receive the quality of education their peers receive, in institutions their peers attend. Equal access for all. -
Department of Education
What: Jimmy Carter established a federal department called The Department of Education.
Why: Creating a whole department for education secured the fact that federal government would remain a power in American schooling. -
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National Education Summit Hosted by Big Businesses
What: Big businesses held their own National Education Summit discussing national academic standards as a way to "fix American public education".
Why: National standards and testing are still alive today. This also affects education in that businesses will steer education to meet economic, workforce needs. -
CompuHigh Whitmorte
What: A school is founded claiming to be the first online high school.
Why: Whether or not the school was valid in its claims or successful is not of most importance. What is important is the push and want for online education. People are grasping the possibilities the internet has to offer in the world of education and actually trying to execute such visions. -
No Child Left Behind Act
What: Enacts unforgiving student testing, school accountability for student achievement, and penalties for those schools who do not make progress towards meeting the goals of the act.
Why: Highly controversial federal involvement. Some believe the act is a good way to increase school's commitment to quality education. Some believe schools and thus teachers may begin to worry about test scores more than actually educating the students behind the scores. -
Common Core State Standards Initiative
What: A state-led effort creates a set of standards to unify education across the nation. Many states adopted them.
Why: Common Core standards are widely used. Ohio's standards are Common Core. Nationwide standards means children will be receiving similar education no matter where they are or where they go. Some schools might find it hard to reach set standards while others will be lowering expectations by adopting Common Core. -
Too-Much-Testing Movement
What: A news report states that Seattle high school teachers refused to give students the state mandated standardized tests.
Why: This sounds like the beginning of a movement Obama later joins in 2015 which seeks to lower the amount of standardized tests students take. This allows more flexibility within the classroom (especially with time). -
Every Student Succeeds Act
What: President Obamas replacement of the No Child Left Behind Act. It allows states to have more control in judging the quality of their own schools.
Why: After several revisions the NCLB is finally replaced entirely by new legislation. The previous act was so controversial and affected education in such a way that updates on its power remain significant. This is also a step back towards more locally controlled education.
