History of Education

  • 146 BCE

    Greece was conquered by a Roman army

    Roman education was heavily influenced by Greek education. Boys and girls attended elementary and a secondary or grammar school.
  • 1301

    Renaissance era (14th century)

    Renaissance era, the ideal curriculum of the time was based on the seven liberal arts.
  • Period: to

    Segregation

    Schools were segregated by race. Claimed to be equal but separate but this was not the truth.
  • Period: to

    Different types of schools

    -Dame: Taught bare minimum to girls and boys, run by widows or housewives from their homes.
    -Reading and Writing: For boys only, went beyond what parents or dame school could teach them. Based on the Bible.
    -Latin Grammar: Founded 1635 to provide pre-college education for future leaders. Highest education provided.
  • Massachusetts Act

    Required each town to determine whether young people could read and write.
  • Massachusetts Act of 1647

    Mandated the establishment and support of schools. Teachers were to be paid and towns of 50 or 100 needed to appoint teachers.
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born

    Rousseau believed that children progressed through stages of growth and development
  • Philadelphia Academy is opened

    Replaced old Latin grammar school, broader and more practical curriculum and focused on the English language instead of Latin.
  • Period: to

    Sarah Litchfield Female Academy

    A school for girls, grew to 140 students from all over America and Canada
  • School for African Americans

    Anthony Benezet founded one of the best known schools for African Americans
  • Noah Webster introduced his "speller"

    The purpose was for teachers to instill in students "the first rudiments of the language, some just ideas of religion, morals, and domestic economy."
  • Joseph Lancaster develops a monitorial system

    Lancaster eventually emigrated to America which caused a rapid spread of monitorial schools in urban areas
  • Boston English school was founded

    The first state supported high school in the US. Marked the beginning of the long, slow struggle for state-supported common schools
  • Thomas Jefferson's school opens

    Opened a university with 40 students a month before his 81st birthday
  • Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi book

    "How Gertrude Teaches Her Children" contributed greatly to the development of elementary schools
  • Horace Mann

    Mann accepted the position of secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education. Used his post to improve the quality of schools.
  • Mann's proposal

    He felt teachers needed more than a high school education to teach, they should be trained in professional programs.
  • First public normal school was opened

    Curriculum consisted of general-knowledge courses plus courses in pedagogy and practice teaching
  • Electa Lincoln Walton

    Became acting head administrator and the first woman to administer a state normal school
  • Kindergarten

    Margarethe Schurz opened the first US kindergarten in her home.
  • Morrill Land-Grant Act

    Provided federal land for states either to sell or rent in order to raise funds for the establishment of colleges of agriculture and mechanical arts. Set a precedent for the federal government to take an active role in shaping higher education in the US
  • Successful kindergarten

    Susan Blow opened the first successful public kindergarten in the US.
  • Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education

    Called for a high school curriculum designed to accommodate individual differences in scholastic abilities.
  • AFT

    Labored diligently to professionalize the teaching and to increase teachers salaries and benefits
  • Period: to

    Progressive movement

    Intent on social reform to improve the quality of American life. Implemented progressive theory in classrooms that they believed would lead to the improvement of society.
  • Compulsory education

    From the end of the Civil War to the end of World War 1, compulsory education laws were passed in all states.
  • CCSSI

    48 states participated in developing K-12 standards.