Educational Impacts in the United States

By Amanda Hoverson

  • The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

    The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony decrees that every town of fifty families should have an elementary school and that every town of 100 families should have a Latin school. The goal was to ensure that Puritan children learn to read the Bible and receive basic information about their Calvinist religion.

  • Massachusetts

    Massachusetts passes a law making all grades of public school open to all students free of charge. They continued on to form the first Board of Education in 1837, led by Horace Mann, making education required by law.

  • Board of National Popular Education

    Board of National Popular Education, formed by Catharine Beecher and William Slade, ran from 1848-1856. It recruited young women as teachers and sent them west to "civilize" the frontier; places that were destitute of them.

  • World War II

    Schools face low attendance and staffing when many young men enlist or are drafted in World War II.

  • National School Lunch Program

    The National School Lunch Program is created to provide low-cost or free school lunches to students through subsidies.

  • Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka

    The U.S. Supreme Court rules that state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, stating, "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," and therefore violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The integration was not immediate. In Brown II (1955), they required all schools in the U.S. to integrate, but did not specify a time frame when it needed to be done. It took many years in some states to comply.

  • Civils Rights Act of 1964

    This act prohibited discrimination against students in school based on their race, color, sex, or national origin.

  • Elementary and Secondary Education Act

    The main goal of this law was to improve educational equality for students from lower-income families by providing federal funds to school districts serving poor students.

  • Bilingual Education Act

    This act provides federal funds to encourage programs for students who don't speak English when they arrive in school.

  • Title IX of the Education Amendment

    This amendment says that no one can be excluded from any school program on the basis of sex.

  • Lau v. Nichols

    The U.S. Supreme Court in Lau v. Nichols rules that schools must attend to the needs of students who do not speak English. Because of this, programs for ELL are no longer voluntary.

  • Public Law 94-142, EAHCA

    U.S. Congress passes Public Law 94-142, Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA), which requires a "free appropriate public education" for every child in the U.S. no matter their disability.

  • Box Tops for Education

    The Box Tops for Education program is created by General Mills, helping schools earn money by collecting coupons from food packaging.

  • No Child Left Behind Act

    This act made schools accountable in regards to standardized testing and teacher accountability. This act put a lot of pressures on public schools to meet their requirements in an effort to not lose their accreditation.

  • North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL)

    The North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) is established as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the enhancement of K–12 online learning.

  • Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA)

    This U.S. law promotes accountability for results, uses proven practices and materials, provides more flexibility, enhances parent involvement, and reduces paperwork burdens for teacher, state and local school districts. It mandates equality, accountability, and excellence in education for children with disabilities.

  • FAIR Education Act

    The Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Act is a California legislature that passed an amendment to the Education Code. It included sexual orientation, prohibited discrimination based on disability or religion, categories not previously fully protected in civil rights laws. This kept schools from sponsoring negative activities about or teaching students about in an adverse way.