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First Public School in America
The first public school in America was established by Puritan settlers in 1635 in Boston in the home of Schoolmaster Philemon Pormont. -
Harvard College is established
Harvard College, the first higher education institution in what is now the United States, is established in Newtowne (now Cambridge), Massachusetts. -
John Locke essay
John Locke publishes his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which conveys his belief that the human mind is a tabula rasa, or blank slate, at birth and knowledge is derived through experience, rather than innate ideas as was believed by many at that time. Locke's views concerning the mind and learning greatly influence American education. -
American Philosophical Society
Benjamin Franklin forms the American Philosophical Society, which helps bring ideas of the European Enlightenment, including those of John Locke, to colonial America. Emphasizing secularism, science, and human reason, these ideas clash with the religious dogma of the day, but greatly influence the thinking of prominent colonists, including Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. -
Thomas Jefferson proposes tracking
Thomas Jefferson proposes a two-track educational system, with different tracks for "the laboring and the learned." -
Young Ladies Academy opens
The Young Ladies Academy opens in Philadelphia and becomes the first academy for girls in America -
Catharine Beecher opens Hartford Female Seminary
Through self-study she learned the subjects not offered in schools for young ladies and by 1824 was convinced that her mission was "to find happiness in living to do good." That year she opened a private school for young ladies in Hartford, Connecticut known as the Hartford Female Seminary which taught the higher branches of learning. -
The McGuffey Readers
The first of William Holmes McGuffey's readers is published. Their secular tone sets them apart from the Puritan texts of the day. The McGuffey Readers, as they came to be known, are among the most influential textbooks of the 19th Century. -
Horace Mann - Mass. Board of Ed
Horace Mann becomes Secretary of the newly formed Massachusetts State Board of Education. A visionary educator and proponent of public (or "free") schools, Mann works tirelessly for increased funding of public schools and better training for teachers. As Editor of the Common School Journal, his belief in the importance of free, universal public education gains a national audience. -
Darwin's Origin of Species
Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species is published introducing his theory that species evolve through the process of natural selection, and setting the stage for the controversy surrounding teaching the theory of evolution in public schools that persists to this day. -
Carnegie Foundation is chartered by Congress
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is founded. It is charted by an act of Congress in 1906, the same year the Foundation encouraged the adoption of a standard system for equating "seat time" (the amount of time spent in a class) to high school credits. Still in use today, this system came to be called the "Carnegie Unit." -
John Dewey's Democracy & Education
John Dewey's Democracy and Education. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education is published. Dewey's views help advance the ideas of the "progressive education movement." An outgrowth of the progressive political movement, progressive education seeks to make schools more effective agents of democracy. His daughter, Evelyn Dewey, coauthors Schools of To-morrow with her father, and goes on to write several books on her own. -
Piaget - Cognitive Development Theory
Jean Piaget's The Child's Conception of the World is published. His theory of cognitive development becomes an important influence in American developmental psychology and education. -
Bloom's Taxonomy
The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Cassification of Educational Goals; Handbook I: Cognitive Domain is published. Often referred to simply as “Bloom’s Taxonomy” because of its primary author, Benjamin S. Bloom, the document actually has four coauthors (M.D. Engelhart, E.J. Furst, W.H. Hill, and David Krathwohl). Still widely used today, Bloom’s Taxonomy divides the cognitive domain into six levels: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. -
Vygotsky - Thought & Language introduced to English-speaking world
First published in 1934, Lev Vygotsky's book, Thought and Language is introduced to the English-speaking world. Though he lives to be only 38, Vygotsky's ideas regarding the social nature of learning provide important foundational principles for contemporary social constructivist theories. He is perhaps best known for his concept of "Zone of Proximal Development." -
Nation's First Bilingual Public School
In response to the large number of Cuban immigrant children arriving in Miami after the Cuban Revolution, Coral Way Elementary School starts the "nation's first bilingual public school in the modern era." -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act becomes law. It prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion or national origin. -
Elementary & Secondary Education Act
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is passed on April 9. Part of Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty," it provides federal funds to help low-income students, which results in the initiation of educational programs such as Title I and bilingual education. -
Lau v. Nichols
In the Case of Lau v. Nichols, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the failure of the San Francisco School District to provide English language instruction to Chinese-American students with limited English proficiency (LEP) is a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Though the case does not require a specific approach to teaching LEP students, it does require school districts to provide equal opportunities for all students, including those who do not speak English. -
Brooks - The Case for Constructivist Classrooms
Jacqueline and Martin Brooks' In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms is published. It is one many books and articles describing constructivism, a view that learning best occurs through active construction of knowledge rather than its passive reception. Constructivist learning theory, with roots such as the work of Dewey, Bruner, Piaget, and Vygotsky, becomes extremely popular in the 1990s.
