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Noah Webster wrote the Blue-Backed Speller. His speller was the first all-American textbook, and it taught words with different spellings and pronunciations than the British textbooks did.
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Catherine Beecher inspired young women to become teachers. This changed the dynamic of the schools because the teachers really cared for the children and teaching became a profession mainly for women.
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Thomas Jefferson advocated for education to be a main focus the United States. He believed that for democracy to last, you need your citizens to be educated. He also founded the University of Virginia.
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Lots of immigrants came to America at this time, and many lived in New York. The Irish Catholic immigrants were being discriminated against in public schools so they pushed the government until they changed the textbooks so they weren't so discriminatory.
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Horace Mann was the first Secretary of Education. He traveled to school buildings to inspect them and when he saw the state of some of them he took action. Mann created Common Schools to give every student (rich or poor) and equal chance at life. He also required teachers to be trained and education to be free. This impacts us today because we use a very similar system of equality with our schools now. -
After the Civil War ended all slaves became free citizens, and were free to learn in schools. This was a huge step, but it also led to many debates and disagreements about segregation and free and equal education for all.
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The Progressive Reformers believed in enforcing laws that banned child labor so that children could receive an education. This movement led to impact education through great minds like John Dewey and his school in Gary, Indiana.
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Dewey believed that schools should be centered around the child and not just the curriculum. He believed in learning by doing, and movement in the classroom.
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Wirt started a school system that followed Dewey's ideals in Gary, Indiana. He started the system where students move to a different classroom at the end of each class period. The students learned very practical things and contributed greatly to the success of the school. This impacts us today because we get to get up and move to different classrooms in our school systems. -
Frederick Kelly invented the first multiple choice test. This is important because this changed the way that schools assessed their students.
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There were a lot of changes in the 20's regarding technology and schools. Students were learning how to use typewriters, for instance. They also had separate teachers for different subjects such as, math, science, and english instead of being in one class all day. There were also separated schools; High schools for teens, Middle schools for adolescents, and Elementary schools for children.
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MOST IMPORTANT Link text In Brown vs Board of Education, Oliver Brown made his case that his daughter who was African-American should be able to go the nearest school to her. He said that African-American children should not be segregated and should have equal access to the knowledge and resources that all-white schools had. Because of Brown, segregation was banned in the U.S. and is still banned today.
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This Act bans discrimination based on race. If schools obeyed this Act, they received federal funds. If not, they lost federal funds.
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The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was put into effect by President Lyndon Johnson who wanted to give all children an equal chance at education. The act provided government funds for better materials and resources,especially in areas with low-income families. Today the government is continuing to fund schools to provide an equal chance for education to all. -
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This Act provided free, appropriate education for all students with disabilities in the least restrictive environments. Students with disabilities were no longer isolated or shunned. They were given the opportunity to learn and grow and socialize with the other students. This is so important because today we can see how students with disabilities are thriving through IDEA.
