Evolution Of Education in America

  • 1636

    The first university, Harvard College, was established in Newtowne, Massachusetts.
  • 1647

    The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony says that every town of fifty families should have an elementary school and that every town of 100 families should have a Latin school.
  • 1779

    Thomas Jefferson introduced two different way for education for "the laboring and the learned." This let already richer people get better education and better job opportunities.
  • 1801

    James Pillans invented the blackboard by hanging a slab of slate on his classroom wall.
  • 1820

    First public high school in the U.S., Boston English, opens.
  • 1823

    The Hartford Female Seminary was founded as one of the first institutions allowing girls to get an education.
  • 1837

    An African Institute, Cheyney University, was founded in Pennsylvania.
  • 1909

    The first junior high school in the U.S., Indianola Junior High School, opened.
  • 1926

    The first Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was administered.
  • 1993

    Jones International University, the first university to exist entirely online, was created.
  • 2001

    President G.W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act.