TIMELINE OF AMERICAN EDUCATION:

A Progressive History

By: Tracy Blackwell

EDU 202: Intro to Secondary Ed
Instructor: Sandee Gregorio
 -1647-
The Massachusetts Law of 1647, also known as
the Old Deluder Satan Act, is passed. It decrees
that every town of at least 50 families hire a
schoolmaster who would teach the town's chil-
dren to read and write and that all towns of at
least 100 families should have a Latin grammar -1690-
school master who will prepare students to attend The first New
Harvard College. England Primer
is printed in
Boston. It be-
-1636- comes the most
widely-used
Harvard College, the first higher educa-
schoolbook in
tion institution in what is now the United
New England.
States, is established in Newtowne (now
Cambridge), Massachusetts.

1600 1640 1680

1620 1660 1700

-1642- -1690-
The Massachusetts Bay John Locke publishes his Essay Concerning Human
School Law is passed. Understanding, which conveys his belief that the hu-
-1635- It requires that parents man mind is a tabula rasa, or blank slate, at birth and
The first Latin Gram- assure their children knowledge is derived through experience, rather than -1698-
mar School (Boston know the principles of innate ideas as was believed by many at that time. The first public-
Latin School) is estab- religion and the capital Locke's views concerning the mind and learning ly supported
lished. Latin Grammar laws of the common- greatly influence American education. library in the
Schools are designed wealth. . U.S. is estab-
for sons of certain so- lished in Charles
cial classes who are Town, South
destined for leadership Carolina. Two
positions in church, years later, the
state, or the courts. -1600’s- General Assem-
bly of South
Dame schools opened throughout many towns and colonies.
Carolina passes
Available for a fee, woman took in others’ children into
the first public
their home to teach basics such as reading and arithmetic.
library law.
Curriculum varied greatly from one school to another.
 -1783—1785-
Because of his dissatisfaction with English textbooks of the day, Noah Webster writes A
-1710- Grammatical Institute of the English Language , consisting of three volumes: a spelling book,
Christopher Dock, a Men- a grammar book, and a reader. They become very widely used throughout the United States.
nonite and one of Pennsyl-
vania's most famous educa-
tors, arrives from Germany
and later opens a school in
Montgomery County, PA. -1791-
Dock's book, Schul- The Bill of Rights is passed by the first
Ordnung (meaning school Congress of the new United States. No
management), published in mention is made of education in any of the
1770, is the first book about amendments. However, the Tenth Amend-
teaching printed in colonial -1776- ment provides that education becomes a
America. The Declaration of Independence is adopted function of the state rather than the federal
by the Continental Congress on July 4th. government.

1700 1740 1780

1720 1760 1800

-1787-
-1751- The Young La-
Benjamin Franklin establishes the "Franklin -1766- dies Academy
Academy” in Philadelphia Subjects included The Moravians, a protestant denomi-
courses such as surveying, history, navigation, -1779- opens in Phila-
nation from central Europe, establish Thomas Jef- delphia and be-
geography. The school accepts both boys and the village of Salem in North Caroli- comes the first
girls. The academy ultimately becomes the ferson pro-
na. Six years later (1772), they found poses a two- academy for
University of Pennsylvania. a school for girls, which later be- girls in America.
track educa-
comes Salem College, a liberal arts tional sys-
college for women with a current en- tem, with
rollment of approximately 1100. different
tracks for
"the laboring
and the
learned." -1787—1789-
The US Constitution is established, but the
document does not include the words edu-
cation or school.