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Milwaukee Parental Choice Program is Launched
This program is considered the nation’s first modern private school choice program and was the start of the school choice movement. When the program was first enacted there was much controversy created. School choice is a complicated issue, and the launch of this program would ignite further debate across the country. In the 2017-2018 school year there were nearly 29,000 students and 126 schools participating in the program (Ed Choice, 2018). -
1991 Minnesota Legislature Pass the First Charter School Law
After a three-year battle, and many compromises, the first charter school law was passed in Minnesota. A year after the law was passed, the first charter school was opened in St. Paul (McCabe, 2013) . Minnesota served as an example for the rest of the country. As of the 2015-2016 school year, 6% of public school children, or 3 million, attended charter schools (Reuters, 2017). -
Georgia Becomes the First State to Offer Universal Preschool
From 92-94, Georgia had a pre-K program that was offered to at-risk families. In 1995 they opened enrollment to all 4-year olds. This turned a program that is often seen as a welfare program into an education initiative (Johnson, 2014). Studies show that all children benefit from preschool, which means it would be beneficial if more states followed Georgia’s lead and didn’t target disadvantaged students only (Sanchez, 2017). -
Columbine High School Massacre
On April 20th two students opened fire on Columbine High School, killing 15 and wounding 23. This horrific event forever changed the students and teachers of Columbine High School, in ways we still do not understand. Now with these mass shootings becoming routine (think Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and Parkland) more research is being done in this area. One study showed that both enrollment and test scores at schools that were victim of a mass shooting declined (Strauss, 2018). -
Santa Fe School District v. Doe
In Santa Fe School District v. Doe, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that student-led prayer prior to football games violates the Establishment of the First Amendment (Cornell University Law School, 2018) While this event might not have had the same type of effect on education as the other events on my timeline, it is significant to many Christian students and teachers as it was the modern day start of removing God completely from the classroom. -
No Child Left Behind
No Child Left Behind increased the federal governments role in holding schools responsible for academic performance. With this came an onslaught of new standardized tests. Instead of focusing on actually teaching children and closing education gaps, teachers are forced to teach to the test or risk their schools being punished for not making the required improvements (Flaherty, 2015). -
Common Core State Standards Initiative
It doesn’t matter if you are for or against it, the Common Core State Standards is a huge pedagogic shift in American education. The goal of the initiative is to prepare students to be college and career ready by the time they graduate. The Common Core is a way to bring consistency and uniformity to education across the country. In the process the standards have changed curriculum and the way teachers teach in their classrooms (Murray, 2018). -
Accessible Technology
In Hesperia USD all students from 2nd to 12th grade are given a Chromebook to use in school and at home (Hesperia Unified School District, 2018). Technology has been revolutionizing what teachers can do in the classroom for sometime now, but with technology this accessible it has completely changed how students interact with their fellow students and teachers. I believe technology will continue to affect education in ways we can’t yet even understand.
