The History of American Education

Heather WilsonEDU 324

Instructor: John GloverJuly 1, 2013

April 23, 1635 – The Founding of the Boston

Public SchoolThis was the very first public school that was created. This school was

made for boys from the ages of eight to fifteen and was created to prepare

the young men for college. This school was meant to prepare the young men for leadership for the court, state, and

church.

April 26, 1636 – Harvard College was Established

Established in Newtowne, Massachusetts. This college was the

very first college in the United States. The school was named after John

Harvard.

April 14, 1642 – The Massachusetts Bay School

LawThis was the first place to pass a law in

the New World declaring that the children should be taught how to read

and to write. The law was based on the Puritan lifestyle.

January 24, 1690 – The New England Primer

More than five million copies of this text book was sold. This was the textbook that was used in New

England and in many other English settlements in America.

August 13, 1751 – The First American Academy

Founded in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin. The purpose of this academy

was to prepare the students for employment.

April 16, 1779 – Proposal of the Two-Track System

Created by Thomas Jefferson. The two tracks were the laborers and the

learners. This was a way to separate the wealthy from the less fortunate.

April 16, 1785 – The Land Ordinance of 1785

This ordinance divided the western territories, making them into

townships. One of the townships was set aside to be the maintenance of the

public schools.

May 27, 1787 – Young Ladies Academy

This was the very first academy made for girls. It was established in

Philadelphia.

January 1, 1805 – The First Monitorial School System

Created by Joseph Lancaster and Andrew Bell. The purpose of the

school was to crate masses by having one of the better and educated

students be taught by the teacher and then that student would teach to the

other students.

April 16, 1817 – Connecticut Asylum at

HartfordFounded by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet

and Laurent Clerc. It was created for Instruction of Deaf and Special Ed

people.

1821 – Boston English High School

This was the first public high school. The high school opened in Boston,

Massachusetts.

1837- Horace Mann joined the Board of Education

He was the Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of

Education. He believed that school should be free and also worked to

increase funding for the public schools and tried to better teachers training.

1856 – The First Kindergarten

Founded in Watertown, Wisconsin by Margarethe Schurz.

1867- The Department of Education

Created to help the states create effective school systems.

October 16, 1896 – Plessy vs. Ferguson

This was a Supreme Court case that was “separate but equal”. This case helped with the segregation laws.

May 7, 1919 – Transportation

This was a law that was passed by the states to provided funds for the

transportation to and from school.

April 17, 1962 – Engal vs. Vitale

In this Supreme Court case it is rules that the state of New York’s prayer is a

violation of the First Amendment.This is a lawsuit that happened to end prayer in the schools throughout the

United States.

July 2, 1964 – Civil Rights Act

This is a law that prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, color, religion, or national origin.

April 17, 1975 – Education of All Handicapped

Children ActThis act requires a free; public school

education that is suited to the individual handicapped child’s needs,

and has to be offered in the least restrictive way.

January 8, 2002 – No Child Left Behind Law (NCLB)

This law holds schools accountable for the student achievement levels. It also

provides penalties to those schools that do no progress toward the goals

of the NCLB.

January 24, 2012 – State of Union Address

President Barack Obama wants to require students to stay in school until they either graduate or until they are

at the age of eighteen years old.

References

• Gaither, M. (2011). History of American education. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

• (2013). American Educational History: A Hypertext Timeline. Retrieved on June 24, 2013 from http://www.eds-resources.com/educationhistorytimeline.html.

• Images retrieved from google.com/images.