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Impact of Noah Webster
Was one of the first people to teach children the way we do now. He was famous for creating some of the first American textbooks for children. Webster's ideas on how children should be taught are still in schools today as we seek to find the best information for kids whether it be through textbooks or any other source of information. Noah Webster and the Dream of a common language -
Impact of Horace Mann
Horace Mann served on the Massachusetts Board of Education. He focused on ensuring that education is universal, free, and aims should teach civic virtue, and character, in addition to regular curriculum. This brought about many of the modern ideas in education and schooling, meaning that it should be available to everyone and extend beyond just learning information. Horace Mann And The Creation Of The Common School -
Population Growth and Immigration in the 19th century
As more immigrants moved in, the need for an educated workforce grew as well. This called for reforms that ensured any immigrant children could get some sort of education. -
Committee of Ten
The Committee of Ten was a committee put together with the goal of standardizing the American high school curriculum. Some of their recommendations are still in place today, such as 8 years of elementary school (although junior high was separated out of this eventually) and 4 years of high school. -
The Progressive Reform Movement
Was a movement dedicated to changing how children are taught in schools. Some of the major tenets of the movement were, an emphasis on learning by doing, an emphasis on lifelong learning and social skills, and highly personalized learning that accounts for each child's personal goals. -
The Secondary School Movement
Between 1910 and 1940, secondary schools began popping up around the country. This began a focus toward children getting into higher education. -
The Measurement Movement
During this era in the early 1900s education leaders began to find ways to measure student abilities (with tests like IQ tests). They then began using this data to improve teaching methods. -
Brown vs. Board of Education, 1954
Brown v. the Board of Education is probably one of the most crucial moments in both education and U.S. History. It showed that separate but equal did not work and paved the way for a true equality in children's education as well as in society with the Civil Right Act of 1964. Brown v. Board of Education -
Sputnik and NDEA, 1957-58
With the launch of Sputnik, the United States began sweeping curricular reforms to ensure that we could keep up with Russia in the space race. This was the beginning of many different curricular reforms in the next decade, including the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 1965
This was the first sweeping reform law that sought to change education for the better. Many of our modern ideas about how schooling should be come from this, like the idea of standardizing curriculum, and having 12 years of schooling. Every modern federal law stems from this initial law. Elementary and Secondary Education Act 1965 -
Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, 1975
This law brought about more change than just helping those with disabilities. It brought about awareness. No longer would a child be labeled 'stupid' as now teachers began to learn different techniques as well as ways to help students with both physical disabilities and learning disabilities. IDEA - Building The Legacy of IDEA 2004 -
A Nation at Risk Report, 1983
This report started another educational reform movement as the report found that the United States was performing rather mediocrely. This would eventually spawn No Child Left Behind and the school choice movements. -
The Standards Movement
On the way toward No Child Left Behind, this movement began by setting achievement standards for students and tied them to funding. This began the idea of high-stakes testing. -
Growth of Standardized Testing
Standardized testing during this time became the go method of measuring student achievement. However, it also became a problem as teachers began teaching to the test, especially when No Child Left Behind was passed. -
No Child Left Behind, 2001
This law was designed to raise the standards of schools in the hopes that teachers would be more rigorous in their teaching and children would become more college ready. However, it also had standardized test scores directly tied to funding as well as teacher salaries and teacher jobs, which meant more teachers felt pressured to teach to the test.
