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First Public School in America
On April 4th, 1635, the first ever public school opened in America. This all boys public school was opened in Boston, Massachusetts and it was called The Boston Latin School. The school was ran by a Puritan settler named Philemon Pormont and it was made strictly for college preparation. Some of the schools famous alumni include John Hancock and Samuel Adams. -
First Mandatory Attendance Law
Massachusetts was the first state to enact a mandatory attendance law. This law required that every city and town to offer a primary school. This law also stated that parents had to send their kids between the ages of 8 and 14 to school for at-least 3 months a year and for at-least 6 weeks in a row. If the parent's didn't comply, they were fined and sometimes even stripped of their parental rights. -
Brown Vs. Board of Education
After Oliver Brown's daughter, Linda Brown, was denied entrance into an all white elementary school In Topeka, Kansas, Oliver filed a class action law suit against the Board of Education of Topeka Kansas. Brown's case and four other cases like it were brought up the United States Supreme Court. The court stated that segregated schools were "inherently unequal" and ruled that the plaintiffs were being "deprived of the equal protection laws of the 14th amendment". -
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students who were the first African American's to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Once the group had arrived at school on that day, they were unable to enter because Arkansas' governor had sent the Arkansas National Guard to stop the group. Once President Eisenhower found out of this, he sent in Federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school. -
First ACT was administered
Everett Franklin Lindquist, a professor at the University of Iowa, created the American College Test (ACT) as a competitor of the SAT. The ACT was originally based off of the Iowa Tests of educational Development and it differed from the SAT because it tested the students on information actually taught in schools. The ACT was originally used as an admissions exam in the midwest since the SAT is used by only select universities in the Northeast. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, created under President Lyndon B. Johnson, made a commitment to provide access to quality education. Title I was a program created by the United States Department of Education to provide funding to schools with a high percentage of low income students. Title II funded preschool programs and supported school libraries and textbook acquisitions for both private and public schools. Title II mandated education programs even when schools not in session. -
Title XI Passed
Title IX of the Education Amendment Act of 1972 is a law that prohibits sexual discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. The types of discrimination covered by Title IX include sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, equal opportunity in athletics, and sexual assault policies. Title IX forbids sexual discrimination in all aspects of the educational experience, like recreational services and counseling, grading, and classroom assignments. -
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
The original law, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, explained that with the eight million children in schools with disabilities, over half of them didn't receive an appropriate education. As a response, President Gerald Ford signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This law required every state who accepts money from the government must provide equal education to students with disabilities and provide them with one free meal a day. -
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act was made in 2001 in hopes of closing the achievement gap by providing every student with a fair and equal opportunity in education. The law requires states to test students in both reading and math in grades 3-8 and once agin in high school. The law was made to hold schools accountable for how kids learned. -
Common Core Standards First Implemented
The Common Core Standards were first created to help push publishers and test makers to to create better criteria and tests and to push school systems and teachers to go above just basic proficiency for students. The common core standards give a detail as to what k-12 students should know in English language arts and mathematics at the conclusion of each school grade. The Common Core Standards are implemented by states and so Nebraska did not adopt the standards.
