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Top 5:Colonial Time Period- Massachusetts Bay School
The Education Act of 1647, every town of 50 households or more was ordered to provide a teacher who would instruct children in basic literacy. Townships of 100 households or more were required to set up a grammar school. The Massachusetts Bay School was the first tax funded schoolhouse.
https://www.founderspatriots.org/articles/mass_education.php -
MOST IMPORTANT Jefferson, Rush and Webster
These men were the founding fathers of education in this new country. Jefferson and Rush lead the way requesting we be an educated society teaching about our country. Webster took this a step further with his Blue Backed Speller where he included words spelled differently for a new republic.
http://faculty.washington.edu/joyann/EDLPS520Aut07/Jefferson_Rush_Webster_part1.pdf -
Creation of Secondary schools
Secondary schools were created to bridge the gap from the well established elementary schools and the universities. Some called them preparatory schools as they prepared students for university.
http://jtrentsblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/secondary-school-movement.html -
Top 5: Horace Mann appointed to Massachusetts Board of Education
Horace Mann was the great crusader for public schools, "common schools". He visited 1,000 schools documenting the conditions of schools, teachers and students. He felt we needed to educate our teachers and create equal opportunities for all children in regards to the quality of the teacher and the resources being used.
http://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/horace.html -
Population Growth through immigration
As more and more immigrants came to the new country, the struggle for education grew. The schools taught religion as a prominent part of the education base and with many immigrants with many varying religious backgrounds this became an issue quickly. With the help of John Hughes, an Irish immigrant who became Archbishop, religious schools were opened in New York that were of many religions that gave immigrants the opportunity to educate their children and hold to their own religion. -
Catharine Beecher
Beecher advocated for women teachers. She felt that they had the natural ability to teach. She opened schools to train women to be teachers and started the profession claiming it was even more important than doctors or lawyers.
http://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/beecher.html -
John Dewey
First "Laboratory School" was created at the University of Chicago to test ‘progressive’ methods of teaching and learning.
http://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/john.html -
The Gary Plan
American educator William Wirt, who became superintendent of Gary’s schools in 1907, developed the Gary Plan, which was also known as the “work-study-play” plan or the “platoon system.” It was influenced by the philosophy of John Dewey and the methods of Frederick Taylor, a pioneer of scientific management. The Gary Plan had organizational and curriculum components that provided pragmatic school subjects related to occupations and everyday life.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gary-Plan -
The Measurement Movement
Thorndike believed that intellectual and achievement differences between people are quantitative, not qualitative. The “Army Alpha” project, which was the first mass testing of intelligence, and which subsequently stimulated testing in schools, colleges, and industry as well as the IQ test.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Edward_L._Thorndike.aspx -
Top 5: Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka
This started because a father of a black child wanted his child is the best school, which were white schools at this time. In 1855 a law was passed abolishing segregation but was not written in a way that made it stick and was not enforced. But once it went to the supreme court it was passed and it put the end to desegregation in public schools.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html -
Top 5: Growth of Standardized Testing
The Standardized testing started back with Horace Mann when he created in multiple choice type of testing instead of oral testing. These were to assess if a child was ready to move up a level in education. As time as progressed it has become a way to put numbers to how our students are learning across the nation. It also comes with many opinions of its effectiveness.
http://daily.jstor.org/short-history-standardized-tests/ -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
Originally called the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, guaranteed public education to all children with disabilities in the least restrictive environment. http://idea.ed.gov/ -
The Standards Movement
Due to the A Nation at Risk Report of 1983, reform was the topic of the time. One outcome was The Standards, a standard-based education of what should be taught in American classrooms. The hopes would be to create equality in what was being taught and holding it to a standard. http://www.sonoma.edu/users/p/phelan/423/standards.html -
School Choice Movement
This would allow children to attend any school without regard to their families residence. It also allows public education funds to follow each child to their desired school.
https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/what-is-school-choice/ -
No Child Left Behind
The No Child Left Behind act was the update of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It increased the role the federal role in holding schools accountable for student outcomes by looking to close the gap between poor and minority students and their more advantaged peers.
http://www.k12.wa.us/esea/NCLB.aspx
