Education Timeline

1620-1750 (Colonial Time)

Tried to develop the two-track system that paralleled the British

Primary objective was religion- Read the Bible and religious catechisms- Thereby spend eternity
in heaven.

Teachers were “shadowed” because they were subordinate to the clergy, and by real work-
“Farming.”

Teachers respected church members

SCHOOLS:
New England Colonies (Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Connecticut)
 Church, state, and schools were interrelated.
 Heavily influenced by Puritans= Harsh
Middle Colonies (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware)
 More diverse- Irish, Scots, Swedes, Danes, Dutch, German)
 Parochial schools based on religious beliefs
Southern Colonies (Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, North and South Carolina)
 Small farmers received no formal schooling.
 African American slaves received only training needed to serve their masters
 Wealthy plantation owners believed the primary purpose of education was to promote
religion and prepare children to attend college and universities in Europe.
Dame Schools
 Home school- Mainly school for girls.
 Schools run by widows or house wives supported by modest fees from parents.
 Held in the kitchen. Taught essentials of reading, writing and arithmetic.
 Learned alphabet from Horn books.
 Schooling lasted a few weeks to 1 year.
Reading/Writing Schools
 Boys received education beyond what was learned at a Dame school.
 Reading lessons based on Bible, religious catechisms, and New England Primer (1960)
Latin/Grammar Schools- College Prep
 Boston Latin School (1635)- Philemon Pormont hired to teach and nurture children
 Boys age 7-8 prepared to enter Harvard College (Est. 1636)
 Grammar schools were 7 years, later made to be 4 years.
 Latin and Greek were the principle studies, although arithmetic introduced in 1745

Minority Schools
 One of 1st schools for African American and Native American started by Elias Neau,
NYC, in 1704.
 Reading focus as the Church’s effort to convert students
Laws:
Massachusetts Act of 1642
 Law requiring each town to determine whether its young people could read and write.
 Children not able to read and understand principles of religion and capital laws of the
country could be fined and possibly loose custody of their children.
Massachusetts Act of 1647
 Law mandating establishment and support of schools; often referred to as the Old
Deluder Satan Act because education was seen as the best protection against the wiles of
the devil.
 Towns of 50 households or more to appoint a person to instruct reading and writing.
 Towns of 100 households or more to establish a Latin Grammar school to prepare for
Harvard.
 Town failing to satisfy these laws fined 5 pounds.
Northwest Ordinance in 1785
 Gave federal land to states for educational purposes.
 Divided Northwest territories (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, part of
Minnesota) into 36 square mile sections, with the 16th square mile designated for public
schools.

1750-1820 (Revolutionary period)

Decline of European influence on schools
Religious influence continued, however need to develop agriculture, shipping, and commerce
exerted influence on the curriculum.
Colonies’ break from Europe during American Revolution of 1776
SCHOOLS:
Philadelphia Academy
 Benjamin Franklin designed and promoted
 Private secondary school
 Opened in 1751
 Broader curriculum and wider range of topics, more practical, focused on English not
Latin.
 Anyone who could pay tuition could attend, regardless of church affiliation
Sara Pierce’s Female Academy
 People’s colleges reached peak of 6,185 in 1855 with enrollment of 263,096.
 These academies served males only usually
 Sarah Pierce’s Litchfield Female Academy
 SPLFA began in dining room of her home with 2 students; eventually grew to 140
students.
Female Seminaries
 Established in early 19th century to train women for higher education and public service
outside the home.
Troy Seminary
 Founded in 1821 by Emma Willard
 One of the first women’s colleges in the country
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
 Author of Declaration of Independence at age 33
 Two term president
 1779- Bill proposed for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge
o This plan called for state controlled elementary schools, teach with no cost to
parents.
o 3 years of reading, writing, and arithmetic to all white children.
o 20 State grammar schools created for poor people to be taught maximum of 6
years.
o Bill unsuccessful

 Founded University of Virginia

o Opened with 40 students March 1824
School for African American
 Anthony Benezet founded
 In Philadelphia, in 1770.
 Schools modeling the Philadelphia African school opened elsewhere in the Northeast.
Indian Schools
 Quakers founded Indian schools as philanthropic enterprises
 1819- Federal funds for reservation schools first granted through newly created Office of
Indian Affairs.
 1901- Only 300 of 4,000-5,000 school-age Navajos attended school.
Textbooks:
 Noah Webster’s Elementary Spelling Book (1783).
 Webster’s speller sold over 24 million copies, more than 1 billion people read the book.
 A Grammatical Institute of the English Language, Later versions title American Spelling
Book or Elementary Spelling Book.
o Nicknamed Old Blue Back- Early copies book covered in light blue paper, later
copies book covered in bright blue paper.
 Cloth pages, not paper
 Teacher has copy, students do not

1820-1865
Schools:
Boston English Classical School
 First state-supported high school in the United States
 Established 1821
 Renamed English High School in 1824
 Marked beginning of long, slow struggle for common schools. **Free public schools**
 Horace Mann- Most eloquent and effective spokesperson for common schools
 Curriculum General knowledge and pedagogy
Normal School
 Schools that focused on the preparation of teachers
 Catherine Beecher contributed significantly to the development of publicly funded
schools for training teachers.
 Harriet Beecher Stowe (Catherine’s sister) wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin
 First public Normal School opened up in Lexington, Massachusetts, July 3, 1839.
 Curriculum was general knowledge and pedagogy
People:
Horace Mann (1796-1859)
 1st Massachusetts secretary of a state board of education, lawyer, senator
 Advocate for state supported schools, common schools, free public schools
Reverend W. H. McGuffey
 McGuffey Readers
o Between 1836-1860, 120 million copies of the six-volume series were sold
o Difficulty ranged from first grade to sixth grade
o Developed 7 readers
o Teaches phonics, words, reading.
o Emphasized hard work, honesty, truth, charity, obedience
o Wrote, “The Boy and the Dog”

Textbooks:
 Books taught truth, honesty
Laws:
 From 17th century to late 20th centuries schools were segregated by race
 Robert v. City of Boston, 1850
o Roberts family sought to daughter to white school in Boston
o Court ruled, “Equal but separate” schools were being provided, and Roberts
couldn’t claim injustice.
 Morrill Land-Grant Act
o 1862- Provided federal land that states could sell or rent to raise funds to establish
colleges or agriculture and mechanical arts
o Sponsored by Justin S. Morrill of Vermont
o Each state given a land subsidy of 30,.000 acres
o $7.5 million from the sale of over 17 million acres was given to land grant
colleges and state universities
 Second Morrill Land Grant Act in 1890
o Provided even more federal funds for land-grant colleges

1865-1920 (End of WWII, Industrial Revolution)

1869-1870- Only 64.7 percent of 5-17-year olds attended public school
1919-1920- Proportion rose to 78.3 percent
2006-2007- Rose to 92.8 percent

Schools:
Kindergarten
 Based on ideas of German educator Friedrick Frvebel
 Means garden where children grow
 First kindergarten founded in 1837
 Total of 12 kindergartens in 1873, 72 teachers, 1252 students.
 By 2012, enrollment to 2,681,000 in public kindergartens. 289,000 in private
kindergartens.
Schools for former slaves
 After Civil War and emancipation schools opened for former slaves in the south.
 1865- African American leaders in Georgia formed an education association to raise
money and supervise their own schools.
Freedman’s Schools
 Freedman’s Bureau- U.S. government agency to provide assistance to former slaves after
the civil war
 By 1869 more than 9,500 teachers taught at Freeman Schools
 1870- Bureau ended. 4329 Freeman schools established, 247,000 students.
Tuskegee Institute
 1880- Booker T. Washington helped to found the Tuskegee Institute
 Industrial school for African Americans in rural Alabama
 Institute to play a key role in bringing racial equality
Events:
 NEA (National Education Association) founded in 1857
 AFT (American Federation of Teachers) founded in 1916
 Committee of Ten
o 1892-1893 directors of NEA appropriated $2500 for committee of ten
o NEA recommended an academically rigorous curriculum for high school students
(1893)
 Committee of Fifteen
 o 1895- NEA recommended an academically rigorous curriculum for elementary
school students
 Reorganization of Secondary Education
o 1913 NE appointed the commission on the reorganization of secondary education
o Cardinal principle of secondary education released in 1918
 Women’s Suffrage Movement

People:
Frederick Taylor
 Founder of Scientific Management- Application of management principles and
techniques to the operation of big businesses and large school districts.
 Top down management techniques should be applied to schools as well as factories.
Margarethe Schurz
 Student of Froebel
 Opened first U.S. kindergarten in her home. Watertown, Wisconsin in 1855. Conducted
in German.
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody
 Opened first private English-speaking kindergarten in this country in Boston
Susan Blow
 Established first successful public kindergarten in the united states
William E. Burghardt DuBois
 1st African American awarded a PHD
 One of the founders of NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People)
 Challenged Booker Washington’s views
Willard Waller
 Wrote, “The Sociology of Teaching”
Ella Flag Young
 Superintendent of Chicago schools (1909-1915)

Laws:
Compulsory Attendance Laws
Freedman’s Bureau
 U.S. government agency to provide assistance to former slaves after the civil war

1920-1945 (Progressivism Era)

Based on the belief that life is evolving in a positive way/direction
Schools:
John Dewey Laboratory School
 Teachers must begin with an understanding of the child’s world
Mary Mcleod Bethune
 Founded Bethune Cookman College
 Speaker for African American youth for educational rights
 President Roosevelt asked her to direct National Youth Administration
Maria Montessori’s Method
 Learning on student’s levels on readiness and learning materials
Events:
WWII- Approached to be seen assort and lacking the structure to discipline children
Laws:
Lanham Act
 1941
 Training workers
 Construction of schools in areas where military personnel on federal projects
 Child care for working parents
GI Bill of Rights
 1944
 Provided tuition for college for veterans

1945-2000 (Modern Postwar Era)

Schools:
1950’s Schools
 Taught less science, math, and foreign language
1960’s
 Kennedy administration put more money towards materials, breakfast and lunch
programs, Headstart, and Upward Bound.
1970’s
 Militant youth groups, negative perspective school teachings
 In response, schools expanded curricular offerings
1980’s
 Lee Shulman (1987) characterized much of 1980’s as an era of “Teacher Bashing”
1990’s
 Teachers went beyond the classroom and assumed leadership roles in school restructuring
Events:
1957- Soviet Union launched first satellite, Sputnik, into space. Russian space success viewed as
American education failure.
Little Rock Nine/Little Rock Crisis
Vietnam War- 1955-1974
People:
George H. W. Bush
 1990 bush unveils Goals 2000 identifying 6 educational goals
Bill Clinton
 1994 Clinton signed into law Goals 2000: Educate America Act
Kennedy and Johnson (1960’s)-
 Funneled massive amounts of money into War on poverty.
 Johnson announced War on Poverty during state of union address January 8, 1964.
Laws:
National Defense Act of 1958
 1958 federally sponsored program to promote research and innovation in science,
mathematics, modern foreign languages, and guidance.
  Out of the work came new math, new science programs, integration of anthropology,
economics, political science, and social studies programs.
 In 1964 congress extended the Act for 3 more years
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
 Landmark U.S. Supreme Court case rejecting separate but equal doctrine used to prevent
African Americans from attending schools with Whites.
Elementary & Secondary Education Act of 1965
 Part of President Johnson’s Great Society Program
 This act allocated funds on the basis of the number of poor children in the school districts
 Schools in poverty areas received much needed assistance
 Title I
 Headstart, free lunch, job core, upward bound
Title VII
 Bilingual Education Act of 1968
 This act provided Federal aid to low income children of “limited English-speaking
abilities”
Title IX
 Education amendments act prohibiting sex discrimination
 Took effect 1975
 No person in the US on the basis of sex, will be excluded from participation of, be denied
benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program receiving
federal financial aid assistance.
 Girl sports teams began
Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975
 PL 94-142
 This act intended educational opportunities to children with disabilities provided free,
appropriated education in the least restrictive environment.
Indian Education Act of 1972
 A federal law and subsequent amendment designed to provide direct educational
assistance to Native American tribes 3 nations.
 Put away with boarding schools
 University of Utah keeps mascot, the University provides scholarships to the tribe
Indochina Migration & Refuge Assistance Act of 1975
 For allies during Vietnam War, migrating to US
Terms:
Accountability- Hold teachers responsible for adhering to high professional and moral standards.
Back to Basics- Began in 1970’s- Establish basic skills
A Nation at Risk: The imperative for Educational Reform- Publish 1983 by National
Commission on Excellence Education. Evidence some schools are failing.
Education Reform Movement- 1980’s-1990’s to improve schools and preparation of teachers.
Paideia Proposal- Mortimer Adler’s, 1982. Called for a perennialist core curriculum based on
Great Books.
High School: Report on Secondary Education in America- 1983, written by Ernest Boyer.
Widely accepted. Suggested strengthening academic core curriculum in high schools.

2000-Present
Schools:
Testing is costly- Computer to teach kids
3 Trends to continue to be priority this century
 Equity for all students
 Excellence and high standards
 Accountability for schools and teachers
Dropout rate
 3% of Asian youth, 4% of Whites ages 16-24 were not enrolled in school
 9% of Blacks & 13% of Hispanics were not enrolled in schools
Some schools implemented merit-based programs for teachers, schools, and administrators
 School system gave bonuses to schools who showed significant gains on test scores
Events:
Recession of 2008
 Affected the funding
Laws:
NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Act of 2001
 AYP came from NCLB
Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSI)
  48 of 50 states participate (Not Texas and Alaska)
 Organized in 2009
Blueprint for Reform 2010
 Barack Obama created
 Schools will no longer be singled out
 Race to the Top 2010
 ESEA flexibility 2011
Terms:
Achievement Gap- The continuing gap in academic achievement between White students and
Hispanic, African American, and American Indian/Alaska Native students.
Common Core State Initiative (CCSSI)- K-12 Curriculum standards
Adequate yearly progress (AYP)- Requiring schools to provide evidence of students making
yearly progress.