Historical Timeline of U.S.

Education

THE SEVENTEETH CENTURY

1600s
1635
Boston Latin
Grammar
School

1647
Old Deluder
Satan Law

1636
Harvard
College

1687
New England
Primer
Published

1600s
The New England
Primer was the first
real textbook. It was
tiny, 2 by 4 inch
book containing 50100 pages of alphabet,
words and small verses
with woodcut
illustrations. It was
also the only reading
text used in colonial
schools until the
1800s.

1687

The Old Deluder Satan

Law was the Puritans
attempt to thwart
Satans trickery with
Scripture-reading
citizens. It stated:
1. Every town of 50
households must
appoint and pay a
teacher of reading and
writing.
2. Every town of 100
households must
provide a Latin
Grammar School.

1647

Harvard College was

the first college in
America. It was
considered the
Puritans jewel in
religion and it was
their educational
crown. Harvard was
established specifically
to prepare ministers.

1636

1635

The Boston Latin

Grammar School was
the first established
school in America. It
was an exclusive school
for boys, ages 7-14, of
wealth.
The curriculum
reflected European
roots. They were taught
to read and recite, in
Latin, the works of
Cicero, Ovid and
Erasmus. In Greek,
they read works of
Socrates and Homer.

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

1700s
1740
South
Carolina
denies
education to
blacks

1783
Noah
Websters
American
Spelling
Book

1751
Opening of
the Franklin
Academy in
Philadelphia

1787
Northwest
Ordinance

1785
Land
Ordinance
Act

1700s
The Land Ordinance
Act and the
Northwest Ordinance
required townships in
the newly settled
territories bounded by
the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers and
the Great Lakes to
reserve a section of
land for educational
purposes.

1785 & 1787

Noah Websters
American Spelling
Book was the
textbook that
replaced the New
England Primer. It
included the
alphabet, syllables,
consonant, rules for
speaking, readings,
short stories and
moral advice.

1783

The Franklin
Academy of
Philadelphia was
established by
Benjamin Franklin
which was free of
religious influence. It
also offered
mathematics,
astronomy, athletics,
navigation, dramatics
and bookkeeping.
Students were able to
select some of their
courses.

1751

1740

South Carolina
denied
education to
black citizens.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

1800s

1823
First (private)
normal school
opens in
Vermont
&
Mississippi Law

1821
Emma Willards
Troy Female
Seminary
opens

1821
First public
high school
opens in
Boston

1837
Horace Mann
becomes
secretary of
board of
education in
Massachusetts

1830
Louisiana Law

1827
Massachusetts
requires public
high schools

1836
McGuffey
Readers

1800s
1839
First public
normal school
in Lexington
Massachusetts

1892
NEA
established
the Committee
of Ten

1862
Morrill Land
Grant College
Act

1855
First
kindergarten
(German
Language) in
United States

1874
Kalamazoo
case

1896
Plessy v.
Ferguson
Supreme
Court decision

1800s
McGuffey Readers
Books geared for
different grade
levels.
Paved the way for
graded elementary
schools.
The books taught
work ethic,
patriotism, heroism,
and morality.

1836

The Mississippi Law

prohibited 6 or more
Negroes from
gathering for
educational
purposes.
The Louisiana Law
imposed a prison
sentence on anyone
caught teaching a
slave to read or
write.

1823 & 1830

The first public high

school in Boston,
Massachusetts was
an English Classical
School that enrolled
176 male students.
It was the first free
high school. (In
1852, Boston
maintained a similar
school for girls
which changed the
name of the boys
school to Boys High
School.

1821

1821

Emma Willards Troy

Female Seminary
was a secondary
school for girls
whose families were
financially able to
educate their
daughters.

1800s
Called the Morrill Land
Grant College Act
because land was
donated to establish
sixty-nine institutions of
higher education in
various states.

1862

German immigrants
came to the United
States and brought with
them the idea of
Kindergarten in
Wisconsin. The first
English-language
kindergarten and
training school for
kindergarten teachers
began in Boston in 1860
by Elizabeth Peabody.

1855

1837

Horace Mann was the

Nations leading advocate
for the establishment of
a common (public)
school open to all. He is
considered The Father
of the Public School. He
worked for trained
teachers education, built
normal schools to
prepare teachers in
pedagogy, opposed
corporal punishment,
sought ways to positively
motivate students, and
made free education a
reality.

1800s
Plessy v.
Ferguson
Supreme Court
decision
supported
racially separate
but equal
schools between
the blacks and
whites.

1896

The National
Education
Association
established the
Committee of
Ten to develop a
national policy
for high schools
to bring
consistency and
order in the
curriculum.

1892

1874

The Kalamazoo
court case ruled
taxes could be
used to support
high schools.

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

1900S
1909
First junior
high school
in
Columbus,
Ohio

1919
Progressive
education
programs

1918
NEA
repeated
Committee
of Ten

1944
G.I. Bill of
Rights

1932
New Deal
education
programs

1950
First
middle
school in
Bay City,
Michigan

1900s
1954
Brown v.
Board of
Education of
Topeka

1958
National
Defense
Education Act

1957
Sputnik leads
to increased
federal
education
funds.

1964
Job Corps and
Head Start are
funded

1964
President
Johnson and
Congress move
boldly to
eradicate
racial
segregation

1900s
1979
Cabinet-level
Department
of Education
is established

1972
Title IX

1975
Public Law
94-142

1990
Increased
public school
diversity and
competition

1983
A Nation at
Risk: The
Imperative for
Educational
Reform

1900s
The New Deal
education
programs were in
response to the
Great
Depression. It
focused on relief,
recovery, and
reform for the
poor and
unemployed.

1932

Progressive
education
programs were
designed for the
organization of
schools around
the concerns,
curiosity, and
real-world
experiences of
students.

1919

NEA repeated the

Committee of Ten with
new, more established,
professionals in
education. They came
up with seven goals for
high school. 1. health
2. worthy home
membership 3.
command of
fundamental academic
skills 4. vocation 5.
citizenship 6. worthy
use of leisure time and
7. ethical character.

1918

1909

The first junior

high school was
designed to meet
unique needs of
preadolescents
from grade 7
through 9.

1900s
The National
Defense Education
Act funds and
brings science,
math, and foreign
language
programs to
schools.

1958

Brown v. Board of
Education of
Topeka, Kansas
Supreme Court
decides to outlaw
racial segregation
in schools. Even
though this took
place, there were
still 91% of Blacks
still segregated.

1954

The first middle

school in Bay City,
Michigan covered
grades 5-8. The
Junior high
schools and the
middle schools
were designed to
prepare them for
the high school
experience.

1950

1944

The G.I. Bill of

Rights, also
called,
Servicemens
Readjustment Act,
paid veterans
tuition and living
expenses for a
specific number of
months,
depending on the
length of their
military service.

1900s
Public Law 94142, Education
for All
Handicapped
Children Act.
(renamed
Individuals with
Disabilities
Education Act,
1991), is passed.

1975

Title IX prohibits
sex
discrimination in
schools.

1972

Head Start is a
program for low-income
3-6 year old children,
that provides medical,,
social, nutritional, and
educational services.
Job Corps is for lowincome 16-24 year
olds. It offers career
technical training and
education programs.
Students can earn a
high school diploma, a
high school
equivalency credential,
or college credits

1964

1964

President Johnson
and Congress
moved boldly to
eradicate racial
segregation. Civil
Rights Acts gave
the federal
government the
power they needed
to enforce the
Brown v. Board of
Education of
Topeka law.

1900s
Increased public school
diversity and
competition through
charter schools, forprofit companies, open
enrollment, and
technological options.
Promotion of educational
goals, standards and
testing.

1990

A Nation at Risk was a

report of the National
Commission on
Excellence in Education.
It reported declining test
scores, weak
performance of US
students compared with
students in other
industrialized nations.
In response to the
report, states increased
the number of course
requirements needed for
graduation and required
more testing of both
students and teachers.

1983

1979

Cabinet-level
Department of
Education is
established. This divided
the departments of
Education in the United
States government.

THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

2000s
2001
Passage of No Child
Left Behind Act

2011
Federal government
modifies NCLB

2001

This act revises the

Elementary and
Secondary Education
Act (ESEA, 1965) and
calls for standards and
annual testing of math,
reading, and science.
Schools that test poorly
face the possibility of
being closed and
teachers being fired.
Parents are given
greater freedom to select
schools, with increased
federal support for
charter schools.

By 2011, the federal

government responded
to a back lash against
NCLB by granting
exceptions to
underperforming
schools and by giving
states more freedom to
hold schools and
teachers accountable.

2011

2000s

Works Cited
Sadker, David Miller, Karen R. Zittleman. Teachers, Schools, and Society. New

York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2016. Print.