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History of U.S. Education

By bpafford15

  • Massachusetts Act of 1642

    Massachusetts Act of 1642
    Prior to the Massechusetts Act of 1642, parents could decide whether to send their children to school or to educate them at home. With this act, education was no longer voluntary and in 1647, another act was passed, mandating establishment and support of schools.

  • Northwest Ordinance

    Northwest Ordinance
    This ordinance gave federal land to the states for educational purposes.

  • Normal School

    Normal School
    The first public normal school opened in Lexington, Massechusetts. This gave teachers a higher education than a basic high school education. This normal school provided courses in pedagogy (teaching) as well as general knowledge courses

  • Freedmen's Bureau

    Freedmen's Bureau
    Provided the foundations for education for former slaves. By 1869, over 9,500 taught at these schools, and when the Bureau ended in 1870, 4,329 freedmen's schools had been established.

  • Committee of Fifteen

    Committee of Fifteen
    The National Education Association appointed the Committee of Fifteen to go over the elementary curriculum. The committee's report called for Latin courses, the modern languages, and algebra. Also, the curriculum was organized into five subjects: grammar, literature, arithmetic, geography, and history.

  • Reorganization of Secondary Education

    Reorganization of Secondary Education
    The Commission on the Reoranization of Secondary Education gave a report stating that the high school curriculum should be designed to accomodate individual differences in scholastic ability rather than view as a preporatory institution for college.

  • Desegregation

    Desegregation
    The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the "separate but equal" doctrine which began the decrease of segregated schools.

  • Central High

    Central High
    In Central High - a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas - nine african-american teenagers showed up to go to the white school. Since school officials and mobs were against this, President Eisenhower sent in troops to escort the teens to the school.

  • Elementary and Secondary Education Act

    Elementary and Secondary Education Act
    This act was a part of President Johnson's Great society program and allocated funds on the basis of the number of poor children in the school districts.

  • Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

    Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
    This act gave the right for individuals with disabilities to have a free public education in a least restricted environment.