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The first public school to open in America was the Boston Latin School and it remains as the oldest public school in America. The school was founded on April 23, 1635 and unlike schools today, the curriculum was mainly based on family values and religion. -
Harvard University was founded in 1636, named after Rev. John Harvard who donated all of his 400 books and half of his estate to the college. At this time women were not allowed to attend college. -
The Ursulines, which were a religious sect of women that originated in Italy, founded the first women's college in America. At the time it was known as a 'community of women', this school was established in New Orleans, LA and is still known as the oldest Catholic School and Women's School in the U.S. -
Horace Mann, a legislator from Massachusetts, proposed the creation of public schools that would be available for any and all children and that these schools would be funded by the public. These common schools would shy away from religion and instead would teach reading, writing, and arithmetic while expanding to include history geography, and grammar. -
In 1896 Plessy v. Ferfuson resulted in the law allowing racial segregation in schools however, in 1954 in the suit Brown v. Board of Education this law was overturned and segregation in public schools was ended which was a huge win for racial equality. -
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is a law that provides federal funding to improve primary and secondary schools and educational opportunities in the United States. This law basically states that children from low income families should have a fair shake and that funding would also go towards improving teacher education as to provide a quality education for all. This law has been expanded on in the 21st century to include more. -
In 1983 there was a report submitted to the Nation and the Secretary of Education by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. In this report test scores were shown to be on a steep decline from the 60's to the 80's in all areas of education. This is when people realized that curricula cannot be solidified, and instead must remain flexible and adaptable to keep up with growing technological advances. -
On April 20, 1999 two young men opened fire on their classmates and faculty killing 15 people and themselves. This wasn't the first or even the deadliest school shooting to occur but it definitely marked a turning point in education and kicked off a rash of school shootings that have sadly become commonplace in American schools. Schools began having active shooter drills and training which continues today. -
A controversial act proposed under President George W. Bush. It is an attempt to hold schools responsible for the students' success by ransoming federal aid. This act has lead to schools being forced to teach children how to take tests instead of nurturing curiosity. The responsibility of success has been taken from the student and given to the teacher. While test scores have inevitably improved, we have to ask ourselves if taking a test fosters success outside of school. -
The WHO declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic in March of 2020. Lockdowns caught the country off guard and school went from normal in class learning to online learning. This left educators across the country scrambling to put together means of remote learning, but it was the students this affected most. Nearly 147 million children missed more than half of their schooling between 2020 and 2022. This missing year of school has exacerbated the ongoing learning crisis.