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Timeline Paper

• 1600’s

o 1635: The first public school opened in Boston on April 23, 1635, named Boston

Latin School. This school was meant for preparation for the boys to enroll in

Harvard (1636) after graduation. Boston Latin was created in a town meeting and

rent was collected from Deer, Long, Spectacle Island, to pay for expenses such as,

the school master and to keep the school in shape.

o 1636: Harvard opens and like Boston Latin School is primary for boys to seek

higher education.

o 1638: Hartford Public high school opened and remains to be the second oldest

secondary school in the United States, founded by Thomas Hooker. Also known

as the Latin school.

o 1639: The first printing press was created by colonists Stephen Daye and Jose

Glover. They planned it in British Colonies, but Jose Glover passed away shortly

after arriving in the U.S. and Stephen completed it nonetheless.

o 1640: Henry Duster became the first president of Harvard and taught all the

courses himself.

o 1642: On April 14, 1642, Massachusetts Bay School Law was passed for children

to have a ground level foundation of knowing how to read. Children had to be

able to read and if they could not their parents would receive a fine.

o 1647: The Old Deluder Satan Act was passed, and children were expected to be

able to read the Bible. This law required all the towns should obtain and have a
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working public school. Towns with 50 families or more had to hire a teacher to

educate the children and towns with 100 or more families had to form Latin

Grammar schools to prepare them for Harvard. The curriculum was based on

reading, writing, and arithmetic.

o 1690: The New England Primer was first published in 1690 and was the most

successful textbook of its time, teaching children of the Bible and the alphabet.

o 1693: The College of William and Mary was established and became the second

college to open in the U.S.

o 1698: The first publicly supported library was held in Charlestown in South

Carolina.

• 1700s

o 1701: Yale was established as a college and not yet a university.

o 1710: Christopher Dock opens a school in Pennsylvania once he returned from

Germany.

o 1727: Ursuline Academy of New Orleans was founded, and it was catholic school

meant for girls and remains to be the oldest operating school for girls.

o 1740: A law was passed that made it unlawful to teach a slave and if they were

caught, they would be sent to prison.

o 1743: Benjamin Franklin helped with the American Philosophical Society to

bring the idea of European Enlightenment to America yet would go against

religious beliefs.
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o 1751: Benjamin Franklin helped established the Philadelphia Academy and

becomes the first English academy.

o 1752: St. Matthew Lutheran School became one of the first parish schools in the

U.S.

o 1770: A school for African Americans was founded by Anthony Benezet.

o 1770: Schul-Ordnung, translates to school management and is the first book that

is in print that is centered on teaching.

o 1779: Thomas Jefferson released Bill 79, “A Bill for the More General Diffusion

of Knowledge”, teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic for 3 years, at no cost to

the parents.

o 1780: The Massachusetts Constitution in 1780 was drafted by John Adams to

provide public education to the citizens.

o 1785: Georgia becomes “Americas first state-chartered university”

o 1787: Young Ladies Academy was established and was said to be the first

academy for girls.

o 1789: Massachusetts passed the first comprehensive education law in the U.S.

• 1800s

o 1821: Boston public high school was the first one to open so students could

receive higher education after their previous years in school.

o 1821: The Troy Seminary was founded by Emma Willard

o 1823: In Connecticut, a women’s school opened to teach them literacy and math.
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o 1827: Massachusetts made a law that requires a teacher for every 500 families

and other reforms related to education.

o 1829: An asylum in New England for the blind were allowed education leading to

the beliefs that everybody deserves a form of education.

o 1836: McGuffery wrote a school textbook that centered around citizenship.

o 1837: The first superintendent was hired in Kentucky demonstrating schools all

over the states had shared expectations and had similar beliefs and ideas.

o 1837: Horace Mann was the secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of

Education.

o 1839: A Teachers College opened in Massachusetts, so all teachers have a

background of education and are well equipped to teach a class.

o 1839: The first “normal” public school opened with general knowledge courses as

the curriculum.

o 1857: The National Education Association was established to professionalize

teaching and appointed the Committee of Ten and the Committee of Fifteen.

o 1867: The Department of Education was created to have a foundation of support

for teachers creating standards for them and their teaching.

o 1876: The Dewey decimal system was created by Melvil Dewey to simplify the

way of ordering books, nonfiction and fiction.

o 1892: The Committee of Ten was appointed and help nine conferences centering

around: (1) Latin; (2) Greek; (3) English; (4) other modern languages; (5)
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mathematics; (6) physics, astronomy, and chemistry; (7) natural history; (8)

history, political science; and (9) geography.

o 1893: The Committee of Fifteen examined the elementary curriculum.

• 1900s

o 1913: Commission on the reorganization of secondary education was appointed

by the NEA.

o 1915: About 100 Montessori schools in the U.S.

o 1916: The American Federation of Teachers was founded.

o 1918: Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education and was a cause of the high

school curriculum and focused on health, command of fundamental processes,

worthy home membership, vocation, citizenship, worthy use of leisure time and

ethical character.

o 1919: The Progressive Education Association was founded and implemented

progressive ideas to improve the classroom.

o 1920: The Progressive Era began and started Progressivism and the teachers

served as guides during this period.

o 1931: Jane Addams was the second woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and

was given the title, “the foremost women of her nation”.

o 1932: The Sociology of Teaching, by Willard Walker, was made and describes

the distancing between the teacher and the rest of the community.

o 1941: The Lanham Act, post WWII, provided funding for childcare for the kids of

working parents.
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o 1944: G.I. Bill of Rights provided funding for tuition and board at colleges and

universities for veterans.

o 1945: Modern Postwar Era has begun.

o 1954: Desegregation in schools has begun and Brown v. Board of Education of

Topeka, 1954 has gone into effect and reject the “separate but equal” doctrine.

o 1957: Sputnik, was the Soviet Union’s first satellite went into space and the U.S.

came second in the “space race”.

o 1958: National Defense Education Act of 1958 was created, and new math and

science programs were the result of it.

o 1965: Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed by congress. It was

sprung into effect to assist low-income households and low achievement students.

o 1968: The Title VII went into effect to support non-English-speaking children and

assist them succeed in class and smoothly transition to becoming fluent English

speakers and be in regular English-speaking classrooms.

o 1975: The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was passed. Granted

extended number of opportunities to students with physical and mental

disabilities. Also known as the mainstreaming law, Public Law 94-142.

o 1990s: Greater Diversity led to curriculum reform, mainstreaming and inclusion.

• 2000s

o 2000: Diane Ravitch’s book, Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms,

describes the current situation with American and the education system centering

around progressivism.
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o 2001: The terrorist attack of September 11th greatly affected America and the

safer precautions that were being taken that the time.

o 2002: George Bush signs No Child Left Behind Act, during this time equity for

all students was a priority.

o 2002: The North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA) was created as an

organization in support of the rights of young children.

o 2003: The Higher Education Act was amended again to help low-income students

have access to a higher education and provide funds.

o 2003: The International Association for K-12 Online Learning was launched and

was an organization for enhancing online education.

o 2009: Common Core State Standards Initiative was being taken place by the

Council of Chief State School Officers as well as the National Governors

Association Center for Best Practices.

o 2013: 45 states were going by the standards and assignments following the

guidelines started to go into effect.

o 2014-2015: Assessments following the standards were being taken place.

o 2015: Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed and was created to

fix NCLB.
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Works Cited

“About Henry Dunster.” THE HENRY DUNSTER SOCIETY,

www.henrydunstersociety.org/about-henry-dunster.html.

“American History Education First ‘Free School’ in VIRGINIA OPENS.” American History

from Native American to Independence, theamericanhistory.org/american-history-of-

education.html.

Carleton, David. “Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647.” Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647,

www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1032/old-deluder-satan-act-of-1647.

“Dewey Decimal Classification.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,

www.britannica.com/science/Dewey-Decimal-Classification.

Every Student Succeeds Act History, https://doe.sd.gov/essa/history.aspx.

“History of Education 1820-1880 Timeline.” Timetoast Timelines,

www.timetoast.com/timelines/history-of-education-1820-1880.

“History of UGA.” University of Georgia, www.uga.edu/history.php.

“Massachusetts Passes First Education Law.” Maria Mitchell Discovers Comet,

www.massmoments.org/moment-details/massachusetts-passes-first-education-law.html.

Milling, Xavier. “What Is (Was) HARTFORD Public High School?” Hartford through Time, 8

May 2020, scholarscollaborative.org/Hartford/social-issues/what-is-was-hartford-public-

high-school/.

National Geographic Society. “First Public School in America.” National Geographic Society,

28 Oct. 2013, www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/apr23/first-public-school-america/.

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“The Nobel Peace Prize 1931.” NobelPrize.org,

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1931/addams/facts/.

The Public Library in South Carolina, 1698-1980. South Carolina Public Library Histories - E.P.

Walker's "So Good and Necessary a Work" - The Public Library in South Carolina, 1698-

1980. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2021, from

http://www.libsci.sc.edu/histories/vts/epw01.html.

Phillips, Written by Avery. “Education: 1700s vs. Today.” 18th Century History -- The Age of

Reason and Change, www.history1700s.com/index.php/articles/14-guest-authors/1876-

education-1700s-vs-today.html.

“What Was a Bill for the More General Diffusion of Education?” Cram, h

www.cram.com/essay/What-Was-A-Bill-For-The-More/PKAUSF5KUYKW.