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Education in the Colonial period
The education that was first here in America was brought with ideas and the methods that came from England, Spain, France, and other European countries. The majority of the cirriculum was tied to religion, specifically the protestant church. While now we see a separation of church and state, we must recognize the establishment of education and appreciate it. -
Massachusets laws of 1642 and 1647
The Law of 1642 required that parents and master see to it that their children knew the principles of religion and the capital laws of the commonwealth.The Law of 1647 required that towns of fifty families hire a schoolmaster who would teach children to read and write. Towns of a hundred families must have a grammar schoolmaster who could prepare children to attend Harvard College. -
Secondary School movement
The first public secondary school was established in 1821, and it was called the English Classical School. This later became the Boy's High School, because it was an all boys school, but soon after similar schools arose for girls. By the end of the Civil War six thousand of these schools had spouted within the nation. The focus of these schools was either based upon general curriculum, or college preparation. -
Great school debates of 1840
These debates were greatly publicized and the major issue was the right for everyone to learn and be taught equally, no matter their religion. -
Petition for the end of segregation in Boston
Many African-Americans signed a petition stating that they deserved to get the best education possible for their children. The schools that they were given were very ragged, and insufficient. Unfortunately nothing came of the petition. -
Roberts v. City of Boston
The case of Roberts vs the City of Boston led to the first law of integration in schools. The case continued to be force for integration for years to come. It was brought up in 1896 when the idea that segregation could be seperate, but equal. It was also brought up in the case of Brown vs the Board of Education. -
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson's views on education was once viewed as radical. He believed that everyone had a right to education. Every time his bill was put up for a vote, it was defeated. He pushed for public schooling through all of his political career. He is attributed with saying that public education was essential to democracy. -
Educators on the Frontier
When the west started to get colonized, there was an issue of who would educate the children. It was decided that women would be most appropiate for the job. A common argument was that women could teach, and care for the children. -
Committee of 10
The Committee of Ten was a working group of educators that recommended the standardization of American high school curriculum. -
Horace Mann
Horace Mann is considered the "Father of American Education". He rode on horseback from district to district in order to evaluate them and their facilites. He visited over a thousand different schools and had reports on all of them. He felt that universal public education was the best way to turn the nation's unruly children into disciplined, judicious republican citizens, Mann won widespread approval from modernizers, especially in his Whig Party, for building public schools. -
John Dewey
Dewey continually argues that education and learning are social and interactive processes, and thus the school itself is a social institution through which social reform can and should take place. In addition, he believed that students thrive in an environment where they are allowed to experience and interact with the curriculum, and all students should have the opportunity to take part in their own learning. -
Brown vs the Board of Education
was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which In this case, the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. -
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed as a part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty" and has been the most far-reaching federal legislation affecting education ever passed by Congress. It emphasises equal access to education. It also aims to elliminate gaps between students by giving them equal opportuties to succeed. This act led to what we now know as the "No Child Left Behind" act. -
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ensures students with a disability are provided with a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that is tailored to their individual needs. Before the act, the grand majority of disable children did not participate in schools and did not receive an education. The goal of the act is to provide children with disabilities the same opportunity for education as those students who do not have a disability. -
No Child left Behind
The Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills. To receive federal school funding, states must give these assessments to all students at select grade levels. The Act does not assert a national achievement standard. Each individual state develops its own standards.
