-
Period: to
Thomas Jefferson's Plan For Public Education
Jefferson wanted to build a public school system with democratic morals and ideals.
In 1779, he proposed "A Bill for More General Diffusion of Knowledge. Which was supposed to be a scholarship-esque way of schooling that would help whole communities of people be provided with the ideals of leadership and opportunity.
In 1817, he introduced a plan to have public schooling for men only, who are citizens of the U.S.. It relied on students families to pay for further education. -
First Integrated College
In 1833, Oberlin Collegiate Institute, was founded by John Shipherd. Although they didn't become the first college to admit blacks, they were the first to make it a policy that race would not be taken into account when accepting students. As of 1835. -
Period: to
Compulsory Laws
Massachusetts being the first in 1852 and Mississippi being the last in 1917, the compulsory education laws that went into effect by state require children to attend schooling until a certain age. This age ranges from 14-18 and varies by state. -
Morrill Act
The Morrill Land Grant College Act of 1862: When signed into law, this bill gave each state 30,000 acres of "western land" to be distributed for the paid construction of both mechanical and agricultural schools.
Some land-grant schools include Iowa State University, University of Missouri, and University of Nebraska. -
Wayne State College founded
Founded as the "Nebraska Normal College" in September 1891, by a math professor from Fremont, James Pile; the college started out extremely small. With four faculty members and seven students. But, just under 20 years after, there were more than 1,000 students attending.
On April 6, 1909, it was dubbed "Nebraska State Normal College"
And in 1910 it became Wayne State College, the official state college of Nebraska to this day. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Stemming from an incident that occurred June 7, 1892, in which Homer Adolph Plessy, a black man who bought a train ticket to go from New Orleans to Covington, Louisiana, took a vacant seat in a whites-only car.
After refusing to move, he was arrested and jailed.
Plessy argued that his constitutional rights were violated, specifically the 14th amendment.
But the court did not agree, saying that the 14th Amendment didn't apply to "social rights". It upheld the doctrine of "separate but equal". -
Period: to
Brown vs. The Board of Education
The Supreme Court case "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka", overturned the doctrine of "separate but equal". Unanimously stating that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional.
In 1951, Linda Brown, was denied entrance to Topeka, Kansas' all-white elementary schools. After reaching the Supreme Court, the new chief justice of the supreme court, Earl Warren, stated "in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place." -
First Integrated High School: Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine: a group of nine black students who were enrolled at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. This school was formerly and all-white high school.
With Little Rock Central being the first, Institutions began to integrate in 1957. In response to the verdict of Brown v. Board of Education.
This marked the beginning of integration of schools nationwide. -
Period: to
Education of All Handicapped Children
In 1975, Congress enacted the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. This served to meet needs, improve educational results, and protect the right of youth with disabilities along with their families.
In 1990, it was renamed to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This was able to educate more disabled children in their neighborhood schools, not separate schools and institutions. -
Period: to
21st Centrury Skills
Starting in the 1980's and all the way up till 2010. Education became reformed to suit the youth for further schooling or future jobs.
21st Century Skills were introduced to curriculum such as: Critical Thinking, Creativity, Problem Solving, Collaboration, and many more.
Starting in 2010, states began adopting Common Core State Standards. This ensures that students will receive a proper education even if they change schools or move to a different state. -
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act, was enacted to address a drop in standards within America's Public Schools. With bipartisan support, both parties deemed the drop in standards unacceptable.
It mandated "Adequate Yearly Progress" which was measured through standardized testing. The results were inconsistent and even negative.
Many people believe that having the same goals for schools statewide punishes schools that already perform well. It was replaced with the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015.