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The Mayflower arrives at Cape Cod
The Mayflower arrives at Cape Cod, bringing the "Pilgrims" who establish the Plymouth Colony. Many of the Pilgrims are Puritans who had fled religious persecution in England. Their religious views come to dominate education in the New England colonies. -
The Bill of Rights is passed by the first Congress of the new United States.
No mention is made of education in any of the amendments. However, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution states that powers not delegated to the federal government "are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people." Thus, education becomes a function of the state rather than the federal government. -
Horace Mann becomes Secretary of the newly formed Massachusetts State Board of Education.
A visionary educator and proponent of public (or "free") schools, Mann works tirelessly for increased funding of public schools and better training for teachers. As Editor of the Common School Journal, his belief in the importance of free, universal public education gains a national audience. He resigns his position as Secretary in 1848 to take the Congressional seat vacated by the death of John Quincy Adams and later becomes the first president of Antioch College. -
The Civil War ends with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.
Much of the south, including its educational institutions, is left in disarray. Many schools are closed. Even before the war, public education in the south was far behind that in the north. The physical devastation left by the war as well as the social upheaval and poverty that follow exacerbate this situation. -
The first Indian boarding school opens in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
It becomes the model for a total of 26 similar schools, all with the goal of assimilating Indian children into the mainstream culture. The schools leave a controversial legacy. Though some see them as a noble, albeit largely unsuccessful experiment, many view their legacy to be one of alienation and "cultural dislocation." The Carlisle Indian Industrial School closes in 1918. Famous athlete Jim Thorpe is among the school's thousands of alumni. -
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is founded. It is charted by an act of Congress in 1906,
the same year the Foundation encouraged the adoption of a standard system for equating "seat time" (the amount of time spent in a class) to high school credits. Still in use today, this system came to be called the "Carnegie Unit." Other important achievements of the Foundation during the first half of the 20th Century include the "landmark 'Flexner Report' on medical education, the development of the Graduate Record Examination, the founding of the Educational Testing Service, and the creation -
Edward Lee Thorndike's book, Educational Psychology: The Psychology of Learning, is published.
It describes his theory that human learning involves habit formation, or connections between stimuli (or situations as Thorndike preferred to call them) and responses (Connectionism). He believes that such connections are strengthened by repetition ("Law of Exercise") and achieving satisfying consequences ("Law of Effect"). These ideas, which contradict traditional faculty psychology and mental discipline, come to dominate American educational psychology for much of the Twentieth Century and gre -
The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (first called the Wechsler- Bellevue Intelligence Scale) is developed by David Wechsler.
It introduces the concept of the "deviation IQ," which calculates IQ scores based on how far subjects' scores differ (or deviate) from the average (mean) score of others who are the same age, rather than calculating them with the ratio (MA/CA multiplied by 100) system. Wechsler intelligence tests, particularly the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, are still widely used in U.S. schools to help identify students needing special education. -
The U.S. enters World War II after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor on December 7.
During the next four years, much of the country's resources go to the war effort. Education is put on the back burner as many young men quit school to enlist; schools are faced with personnel problems as teachers and other employees enlist, are drafted, or leave to work in defense plants; school construction is put on hold -
the U.S. Supreme Court announces its decision in the case of Brown v. Board. of Education of Topeka,
ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," thus overturning its previous ruling in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson. Brown v. Board of Education is actually a combination of five cases from different parts of the country. It is a historic first step in the long and still unfinished journey toward equality in U.S. education.
