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Law of 1647
Towns of 50+ inhabitants required a reading and writing teacher. Towns of 100+ inhabitants required a reading and writing teacher and a Latin teacher to prepare the students for college. -
English Grammar Schools
English Grammar Schools were born as the growth of middle-class businesses in the 1700s led to the demand for a secondary education that would provide practical instruction in many subjects, from navigation and engineering to bookkeeping and foreign languages. Students needed more than elementary instruction; but were not interested in preparing for college. Commercial subjects were emphasized over religious ones. Later in the 1700s, English Grammar Schools became more flexible in allowing wo -
The first "English Academy" is Established
Benjamin Franklin helps to establish the first "English Academy" in Philadelphia with a curriculum that is both classical and modern, including such courses as history, geography, navigation, surveying, and modern as well as classical languages. The academy ultimately becomes the University of Pennsylvania. -
Only large towns required to have schools.
Schools were not required or free. Only large towns required a school to be established. In small towns parents would pay a fee to send their children to school. Schooling was linked to the Protestant bible. -
Jefferson's Free Education Proposal
Thomas Jefferson drafts a proposal for 3 years of free education for all children with advance education for a select few. His idea was to give the people the basics and to "rake up a few geniuses from the rubbish" who would later serve the country just like he did.It did not include females past the first 3 years. Salves did not receive any education. -
Jefferson Advocates Proposal
Jefferson continues to advocate a plan that provides schooling for both the common people and the landed gentry at the expense of all. -
Blue Back Speller published by Noah Webster
Noah Webster publishes Blue Back speller to teach students about America. First American textbook and forerunner to the Webster dictionary. Tried to establish a sense of Americana breaking away from British language and culture. -
Ordinance of 1785
Every township was required to establish a public school. Free land was given to build the school and school function autonomous from the state. -
Northwest Ordinance
The ordinance "encouraged" education in this way: It divided the Michigan territory into townships of six square miles each. The townships were then subdivided into 36 sections with a minimum size of 640 acres. Each section was then sold at a public auction with the starting bid of $1 per acre. The funds raised by the sale of section 16 in each township were then set aside for the purpose of funding schools. -
The Common Schools
Horace Mann, the first secretary of education, advocates for free education for all. The school would be paid for by taxes not by fees. School's would provide high quality education for all not just the wealthy. -
Massachusetts Per Pupil cost for schooling:
$2.81 -
Horrace Mann Appointed first Secretary of Educaiton
During his years as Secretary of Education Mann published twelve annual reports on aspects of his work and programs, and the integral relationship between education, freedom, and Republican government. He wanted a school that would be available and equal for all, part of the birth-right of every American child, to be for rich and poor alike. Mann had found "social harmony" to be his primary goal of the school. -
Massachusetts Per Pupil cost for schooling:
$4.80 -
First Morril Act
An act Donating Public Lands to States and Territories to provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. -
The Kalamazoo Case
In 1875 a lawsuit was filed in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to collect public funds for the support of a village high school. The town had used taxes to support the school for thirteen years without complaints from the citizens. The defendants in the case, the school officials, felt that a select few out of thousands need not dispute their obligation to pay taxes for the purpose of supporting a high school. The school officials supported their case with many previous court cases which upheld their posi -
Second Morril Act
An act Donating Public Lands to States and Territories to provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. -
John Dewey Publishes "Democracy and Education"
Dewey's views help advance the ideas of the "progressive education movement." An outgrowth of the progressive political movement, progressive education seeks to make schools more effective agents of democracy. -
Free Transportation to and from School
All states have laws providing funds for transporting children to school. -
G.I. Bill
Congress enacts the G.I. Bill to provide federal funds for college education of veterans at public, private, religious schools. -
The President's Commission on Higher Education
With thousands of veterans returning to college, The President's Commission on Higher Education is given the task of reexamining the role of colleges and universities in post-war America. The first volume of its report, often referred to as the Truman Commission Report, is issued in 1947 and recommends sweeping changes in higher education, including doubling college enrollments by 1960 and extending free public education through the establishment of a network of community colleges. -
Brown vs. The Board of Education
U.S. Supreme Court, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, outlaws racial segregation in government schools. -
Elementary and Secondary Education Act,
Congress enacts the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, providing federal funds for local public schools. -
Project Head Start
Project Head Start, a preschool education program for children from low-income families, begins as an eight-week summer program. Part of the "War on Poverty," the program continues to this day as the longest-running anti-poverty program in the U.S. -
A Nation at Risk
The National Commission on Excellence in Education releases its report, “A Nation at Risk,” declaring America’s “educational institutions seem to have lost sight of the basic purposes of schooling, and of the high expectations and disciplined effort needed to attain them,” and warning of a “rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.” -
No Child Left Behind Act
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. Of the 45 million high school seniors, according to US Secretary of Education Rod Paige, an estimated “10 million could not read at even a basic level; more than 25 million did not know even the basics of U.S. History; and of students in all high school levels, more than 20 million could not do even basic math”
