Early Education History

By nicoleyk16

  • Massachusetts

    In 1927 Massachusetts passes a law that any town of 500 people or more, there must be a public school children can attend. It should include every grade and should be free to all who live in the town.

  • First Kindergarten

    The first Kindergarten in the US was opened in 1856 in Watertown, Wisconsin. Margarethe Meyer Schurz was the name of the women who opened the first Kindergarten in the US. The first class was only five children but it was successful enough that it brought other Kindergartens to the US.

  • Montessori

    Maria Montessori believed that all children should be able to play and explore while in their learning environment. This type of education allows the child to always learn in the direction he or she wants to go. Montessori brought this idea to the US in the early 1900's.

  • Mendez v. Westminster

    This case challenged the segregation that was happening at schools between Mexican and American children. It was found that separating the children was unconstitutional. This was seven years before the Brown VS. Board case which could have influenced the outcome of that case.

  • Brown v. Board of Education

    A seven year old girl named Linda Brown and her family fought against segragation of schools when Linda was forced to walk and bus a long way to school when there was an all white school was only a few blocks away from her home. On May 17, 1954 it was decided that segregation at schools should no longer be allowed. This helped children to learn to be tolerant and to learn about other cultures.

  • Sputnik

    Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik 1 which caused America to fear what else the Soviet Union could do (like send missiles to America) but it also caused the world to learn more about space. It also lead to America launching the Explorer. Now children learn about the planets in early education and that wouldn't be possible without Sputnik.

  • Tinker v. Des Moines

    During the Vietnam war, a family of young students (the Tinkers) in Des Moines, Iowa were in favor of a peace agreement between the US and Vietnam. In order to express this, they created a protest in which students would show up to school with a black arm band on. Any student that showed up with a black arm band was suspended, including the Tinkers. The parents went to court and said the students getting suspended was against the 1st ammendment.

  • Mills v. Board of Education of District of Columbia

    Mills V. Board made sure children with disabilities were given the free education they need in order to have the possibility of succeed just like the other "normal developing" children. Children with disabilities were not able to keep up in public school settings but after the ruling, schools had the tools they needed to teach those children.