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Colonial Education
Very little education was provided during colonial times. The only semblance of public education was provided in the Northern Colonies, and even then it was mostly for the wealthy. Everywhere else in the colonies schooling was done privately and very rarely. -
Jefferson, Rush and Webster
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Rush, and Noah Webster were all men who had an interest in the education of the country. All wanted to create some sort of public education program, but were shot down. Noah Webster did manage to create the first textbooks used in the common schools, known as the "Blue-back Speller." -
19th Century Immigration and Population Growth
During the beginning of the 19th century, immigration to the United States increased dramatically. Most of the immigrants moved to the cities to work in the factories, which created overcrowded schools to those that actually attended. One of the biggest problems was that because schools were overcrowded and in various states of disarray, many children preferred to work rather than attend school. -
Common Schools
Common Schools were an idea that was created and put in place by Horace Mann. They were funded by taxes and there were regulations for teachers, buildings, and fairly standardized curriculum. I think this is important because it was the beginning of Public Schools as we have now. -
Horace Mann
Horace Mann was the first person to be in charge of education in the country. He helped create the Common School and the regulations for education at the foundations of the country. -
Catherine Beecher
Catherine Beecher was the general idea behind the use of women as educators in the Common Schools. As the country was expanding, the need for educators was increasing. She said it was because women were more nurturing, but in reality later she stated that it was to provide a larger role for women in the workforce. -
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Progressive Reform Movement
During the early 1900's there were many changes happening in the country, some of the biggest changes were starting to happen in the schools as well. This is when the schooling started to become closest to what we have today. There was more funding given to build bigger, better, stronger schools and provided for the best education possible with new ideas for how to teach to get the best results. -
John Dewey
John Dewey was a prominent figure during the Progressive Era of education. He helped turn the curriculum to more of a child centered approach where more movement and understanding was taken into account, rather than just memorization which had been taught up until this time period. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
Brown vs the Board of education in Topeka, KS was a supreme court case fought to end the segregation of schools. It was a win for the civil rights movement, but it was very poorly enforced and didn't change much until The Civil Rights Act (1964) stated that funding was going to be revoked unless they actually started integrating the schools. -
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Civil Rights Movement
Schools were a big deal during the civil rights movement in order to stop the segregation. Brown vs Board of Education was one of the big turning points for this movement. A lot of adults felt that starting the integration young would make it easier when they were adults to let go of the prejudices. -
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War on Poverty
John F Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson were presidents who created programs after the Great Depression and World War 2 to help those stuck in poverty to get back on their feet. There were many laws and programs created during this time frame to help low income students succeed as well. Most of these programs were created by Lyndon B Johnson who used to be a teacher. -
IDEA
Standing for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, this act provides a greater support to those students with disabilities. This is a great act because up until this points, many students with disabilities were just not enrolled in school because they weren't taught how to think and succeed. This act provided a way for educators to learn how to teach and provided a way for these students to have a greater access to schools that they hadn't had before. -
A Nation at Risk Report
A Nation at Risk Report was given during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. It stated that schools were not adequately preparing students for the real world. It led to many changes in public education with bigger standardized testing, harder graduation requirements, and many more laws designed to create a better education system. -
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Growth of Standardized Testing
Also stemming from the A Nation at Risk Report, greater standardized testing regulations were formed. This was done to create a greater accountability and accomplishment from the schools in the United States. -
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School Choice Movement
Stemming from the A Nation at Risk report, the School Choice Movement brought a greater decision making process for which school a student could attend. Instead of having a specific school required for the students, a wider variety of school types were introduced (charter, specialized, religious, etc). Parents and students were given greater choices in what would be the best type of education for their child.
