Brittany Gesualdo

EDU. 201

1600

1635- The first Latin Grammar school opens which was meant for sons of a higher

class that were going to be put in leadership positions.

1635- The first “free school” opens in Virginia. Education during this time is still

primarily provided by the parents’

1636- Harvard, the first higher education institution opens.

1638- Hartford becomes the second public secondary school to open.

1638- Harvard sets up the first printing press in the American Colonies.

1642- Massachusetts Act of 1642: This law was the first educational law in the

country. Before this date, parents were able to decide whether or not they wanted

to educate their students at home or in school. The Act states that children must

read and write or the parents could receive a fine.

1647- Massachusetts Act of 1647: This is an Act declaring that there must be a

schoolmaster to teach the children how to read and write in towns with at least

fifty families. It also states that there must be a Latin grammar school teacher in

towns of at least one hundred families.

1648- Apprenticeships now have opened for women.

1690- Boston prints the first New England Primer which becomes New England’s

most used schoolbook.

1693- The college of William and Mary becomes the second college to open.

1700
1704- Elias Neau opens one of the first schools for African and Native Americans

in New York.

1727- The Ursuline Academy of New Orleans, a Catholic school for girls, opens.

1731- The first official Jewish School opens in New York City.

1731- Benjamin Franklin founded the first public library.

1749- Benjamin Franklin proposes a plan to open an English Grammar School.

1751- Philadelphia Academy, a private secondary school designed by Benjamin

Franklin, opens.

1752- St. Matthew Lutheran School becomes one of the first Lutheran Parish

Schools to open in the United States.

1787- The Young Ladies Academy becomes the first academy for girls to open.

1787- Northwest Ordinance of 1787: encouraged public schools by giving land to

build the schools.

1796- A bill proposed by Thomas Jefferson to create a more centralized educa-

tion.

1800
1801- James Pillans invented the modern blackboard.

1819- Reservation schools were granted federal funds due to the Office of Indian

Affairs.

1821- Troy Seminary, founded by Emma Willard, became one of the first women’s

colleges.

1821- The Boston English Classical School (renamed English High school in 1824)

creates difficulty for free schools.

1827- Massachusettes passed a law that required that towns with more than five

hundred families were to have a public school opened for everyone to attend.

1829- The New England Asylum for the Blind, currently the Perkins School for the

Blind, becomes the first school in the United States for children with visual im-

pairments.

1837- Kentucky appoints the first superintendent.

1837- Mann is appointed secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Educa-

tion. Mann immediately worked on reforming the quality of schools.

1837- Oberlin College becomes the first college in the United States to be coedu-

cational.

1839- The first public normal school opened in Massachusetts. It consisted of ba-

sic knowledge courses.

1862-The Morrill Land-Grant Act created the ability for people to sell to rent

federal land in order to raise funds for colleges.

1900-1950
1916- “Democracy and Education” written by John Dewy was published. It created

a very progressive movement in education.

1918- The Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education came out

with a report stating proposing a high school curriculum built for different types

of students. It was meant to provide education for different levels.

1925- Tennessee v. John Scopes: John Scopes was convicted due to him teaching

evolution to his high school students.

1926- The SAT is first given out. Standardized testing is now becoming an impor-

tant part of curriculum.

1929- The Great Depression caused a huge decrease in the economy. This led to

funding for public education to be extremely scarce. Therefore, there were a lot

of layoffs, schools closing, and pay decreases.

1944- GI Bill of Rights- gave millions of veterans money for tuition and board for

college.

1946- The age of Technology began.

1946- The Mendez v. Board of Education ruled that it is unconstitutional to send

Mexican students to their own school for people of Mexican descent.

1947- Everson v. Board of Education: A law in New Jersey that allowed parents of

children that rode a public mode of transportation everyday to school to be reim-

bursed for the cost. In a 5-4 vote, they ruled that it did not violate the First

Amendment.

1948- McCollum v. Board of Education: The Supreme Court ruled that schools were

not able to allow students the ability to participate in religions education during

the public school day.

1950-2000
1954- Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka: This ruled that it is unequal to have

separate education facilities.

1958- The United States National Defense Education Act was passed. This gave

more funding for science and research.

1959- The first ACT test was given.

1963- Cases of School District of Abington Township Pennsylvania v. Schempp and

Murray v. Curlett came to the conclusion that no Bible or any work of religion shall

be read in class. It also states that the Lord’s prayer should not be said in school.

1964- The Association for Students with Learning Disabilities formed.

1965- The Elementary and Secondary Education Act is passed. It gives federal

funds to low-income students. This leads to Title I schools.

1966- The Equality of Education Opportunity Study came to the conclusion that

African Americans would do better in an integrated classroom.

1968- The Bilingual Education Act became a law. This Act was meant to help stu-

dents with limited English speaking skills.

1968- Epperson v. Arkansas ruled that it is not unconstitutional to teach the the-

ory of evolution in a public school.

1982- Board of Education v. Pico: The Supreme Court ruled that books can not be

removed from a school library because the teacher thinks it is offensive.

2000
2001-The No Child Left Behind Act is approved by Congress.
2009- Common Core State Standards are released. The NGA Center predicts that

most, if not all, states will participate.

2010- Due to the great recession, unemployment was still very high and many

teachers were laid off.

2013- Seattle High School teachers protest against the excessive use of stan-

dardized testing by refusing to give the tests.

2014- The Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, signs legislation that makes Indiana

become the first state to withdrawal from Common Core Standards.

2015- New York parents were able to get 150,000 students out of standardized

tests.

2019- In Los Angeles, more than 20,000 teachers went on strike due to the pay

and oversized classes.

2020- The World Health Organization decided that COVID-19 was a pandemic,

which led to the national emergency declared by President Trump. Not too long af-

ter this, schools and many colleges shut down indefinitely.

2020- States opened the schools in the fall with regulations as the COVID-19

cases were still rising. Many Colleges and Universities were still only online.

Citations
• Background - Mendez v. Westminster Re-Enactment. www.us-

courts.gov
• Parkay, Forrest. Becoming a Teacher. Print.

• Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy. 155,000 New York kids boy-

cott standardized tests. usatoday.com. 16 April 2015. Web.

• history.com Editors. Brown v. Board of Education. history.-

com. 27 Oct. 2009. Web.

• Bilingual Education Act. britannica.com. 1 Jan. 2022.. Web.

• Bowman, Kristine. Epperson v. Arkansas. mtsu.edu. 2009.

Web.

• Nicks, Denver. Indiana Drops Common Core Education Stan-

dards. time.com. 25 March, 2015. Web.

• Thomas Jefferson’s Draft Bill. https://founders.archives.-

gov/documents/Jefferson/03-08-02-0075

• Board of Education v. Pico. https://

billofrightsinstitute.org/e-lessons/island-trees-school-dis-

trict-v-pico-1982.