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Northwest Land Ordinance Passed
MOST IMPORTANT: This ordinance, in the expansion of the United States, allowed the federal government to raise funds by selling land plots to western settlers. In townships Section 16 was used to fund public education. This was the beginning of funded Public Education. This revolutionized the way we thought about education, from an idea of privately educating, to it being a right to everyone, spurring the rest of educational history's events. http://www.in.gov/history/2478.htm -
Horace Mann
As the secretary of the board of education in Massachusetts, he pushed for education to be maintained by an interested public to raise a generation of good citizens. This should be compulsory, and provided by well-trained teachers. His model of education was re-created by many states. -
19th Century Population Growth and Immigration
Through the 19th century immigrants from all different ethnic and cultural backgrounds came freely to the U.S, setting the tone of the U.S. classrooms as places of open opportunity. -
John Dewey
MOST IMPORTANT: Dewey focused on hands on education which allowed students to choose what they wanted to learn, following their own natural propensities. The teachers acted as guides. This approach of student-centered learning is at the heart of how we now teach. We try to engage our students through doing, be it through internships or projects. Higher education allows students to choose their education experience. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_School_and_Society -
Secondary School Movement
During this time, attendance went from 19% enrollment of youth to 73% enrollment. The curriculum focused on teaching life skills at this time. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
MOST IMPORTANT: The parents of a young girl applied to an all-white school, and when denied, took it to court arguing that the "separate-but-equal" claim of their schools was not true. The Supreme Court ruled that separate public schools for blacks and whites was unconstitutional. The ideal of having equal opportunities regardless of birth, still permeates education. Later President Johnson furthered this cause. http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka -
Sputnik and NDEA, 1957-58
After the launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik the Federal Government reacted by passing NDEA, which provided funding to all schools to stimulate their science departments in order to compete with the Russians. -
The Civil Rights Movement & The War on Poverty
Lyndon B. Johnson understood that while Brown vs. Board of Education stated that separate schools was unconstitutional, very few schools had actually integrated. By providing funding as incentive to integrate, schools quickly became integrated. At this time a great focus was placed on poverty as a root of disadvantage in education. Instead of reforming only education, programs were put in place to decrease student poverty. -
(ESEA) Elementary and Secondary Education Act
MOST IMPORTANT: The furthest reaching bill in US as far as impact today, this bill focused on shortening achievement gaps between students of different socio-economic backgrounds. This diversifies today's classrooms, creating unique challenges to teach students of all different backgrounds. Any education bill passed now is just a rewrite of this hallmark legislation. http://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/programs/education/elementary-and-secondary-education-act-of-1965/ -
The Standards Movement
This was a shift from measuring students in a normative way, and pitted them against universal, measurable standards. -
A Nation at Risk Report
This report was put together by the National Commission of Excellence in Education, in colorful language describing the many ways in which our schools are utterly failing our children, jeopardizing our nation. This has created an overall attitude of distrust in our failing schools. -
Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act
MOST IMPORTANT: This law was passed to include all children with disabilities in public schools, giving them equal opportunities. This has a lasting impact on us as teachers because we will have many of these students in our classroom, and will have the opportunity to teach our students to help and learn with students facing unique challenges. http://www.specialednews.com/special-education-dictionary/eha---education-for-all-handicapped-children-act.htm -
No Child Left Behind
This legislature was another rewriting of the education act ESEA, and supported standard-based measurement of student progress. It set a national standard that expected every student to be performing at grade level, resulting in a nationwide diagnosis that all our schools were failing. To receive funding, schools' students needed to show measurable improvement. -
ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act)
Legislature that scaled back the leverage federal governments held in education, shifting testing accountability back to the states.
