-
Massachusetts
First education law enacted by
Massachusetts General Court
requiring parents and guardians of children to
“make certain that their charges could read and understand the principles of religion and the laws of the
Commonwealth” -
Period: to
Permissive Era
-
Ben Franklin
Benjamin Franklin founds a
private academy
(a private secondary school) that
offers a practical curriculum of a
variety of subjects and useful skills. By the mid 1800s, many such private academies exist, offering a wide array of
curricula and courses ranging from traditional Latin and Gr
eek to very practical, utilitarian studies -
1st Public High School Opens
First government-owned/operated public high school opens in Boston, MA -
From State to City
Massachusetts passes a law requiring every town to choose a
school committee, beginning the policy of organizing public schools into a system under a single authority. Connecticut follows suit shortly thereafter -
Period: to
Encouraging Era
-
Public schooling is required
Massachusetts enacts law requiring public high schools -
Church & State
Seeking to win public support for government schools, chief advocate Horace Mann, who is appointed Secretary of
Massachusetts Board of Education in 1837, assures Protestants that the public schools will regularly use the Protestant Bible -
Push for literacy
More than 120 million copies of McGuffey’s readers, which emphasize the ideals of “literacy, hard work, diligence, and virtuous living,” are sold -
Maine & Vermont push back
Despite a trend toward building government-run elementary schools, Maine and Vermont continue their practice
of ‘tuitioning’ students (i.e., allowing districts that decided not to own/operate public schools to use public funds to
pay costs of a district student’s schooling at a private,
parochial, or religious school of parents’ choice) -
School Attendance
Compulsory school attendance laws are enacted in all states -
Period: to
Compulsary Era
-
-
Kids are property
Wisconsin Teachers Association asserts that children are the property of the state -
Kids are not property
US Supreme Court limits “The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in the Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only. The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and
direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty to recognize and prepare him for additional obligation” (US Supreme Court, Pierce v. Little Sisters of the poor -
Taxes for education
Minnesota enacts tax deductions for K-12 expenses. -
Brown vs Topeka
U.S. Supreme Court, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,
outlaws racial segregation in government schools -
Federal Funding
Congress enacts the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
, providing federal funds for local public schools -
Period: to
School Choice Era
During this stage, education options for
children expand through
homeschooling, vouchers,
tuition tax credits, scholarship
tax credits, education
deductions, and charter
schools. Marked by increased parental authority
and options -
Homeschooling
Between 1982 and 1992, 32 states change their compulsory attendance laws to specifically permit home schooling. By the mid-1990s, all states permit homeschooling. -
NCLB
No Child Left Behind Act is signed into law to remedy a crisis in education and give children in low-performing public schools options to choose better public schools. -
CCSS
Forty-four of the fifty U.S. states and the District of Columbia are members of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Standards were released for mathematics and English language arts on June 2, 2010
