1600s education in the colonies was very informal.

Most children received schooling from

“dames” and their education essentially finished in apprenticeship programs. Boys were sent to
live with masters while girls learned homely skills from their mothers. Boys, also from rich
families, were sent to Grammar Schools. There were not many opportunities s in education for
those who were poor, black, or Native American.

1635: Puritans established the first Latin Grammar School in Boston.

1647: Old Deluder Satan Law was enacted. In Massachusetts, every town of fifty households
must appoint and pay a teacher of reading and writing and every city of one hundred families
must provide a grammar school.

1680: Much of these “anti-Satan” laws spread throughout New England.

1700s education began to become more expansive with the introduction of private teachers and
night schools in Philadelphia and New York. These schools taught a wide range of subjects apart
from religion such as accounting, navigation, French, and Spanish. However, education in the
south was lacking in progress as it revolved around plantation society.

1749: Benjamin Franklin wrote Proposals Relating to the Youth of Pennsylvania which argues
for a new kind of secondary school to replace Grammar School known as the Academy.

1751: The Franklin Academy was established. Both boys and girls were accepted and were
offered a practical curriculum from which they could choose their own courses, free from
religious influence. The success of the Franklin Academy allowed for six thousand more to be
built.

1785: The Land Ordinance Act was passed requiring newly settled territories to save a section of
land for educational purposes.

1787: The Northwest Ordinance passed requiring the same as the Land Ordinance Act.
1800s saw a growing population of “common people”, and there was great advocacy for access
to education for poor white people. The election of Andrew Jackson would attribute as a great
step forward. This time period would see the advocation of free public schools and the start of a
dispute over the role religion plays in schools. Normal Schools were also established to help
bring up the quality of teachers in schools.

1800: Female Seminaries appealed to many who were financially able to educate their daughters
past elementary school.

1821: The English Classical School in Boston becomes the first free secondary school, however,
it was only for boys.

1822: Sequoyah invented the Cherokee syllabary. As the Cherokee language could now be
written, books and newspapers could be produced in Cherokee, and as well as Cherokee schools
become bilingual.

1824: The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was established, creating reservations for tribes of
Native people to be placed on. The BIA used education as a tool of cultural conquest by
implementing Indian boarding schools and entirely white staff.

1837: The Massachusetts State Board of Education was created and Horace Man was appointed
secretary. Mann would start the Common School Movement, allowing poor white children to
identify and nurture their talents just as much as rich children. Additionally, Friedrich Froebel
founded the first kindergarten.

1850: Supported by Quakers, the Miner Normal School for Colored Girls provided education for
African American women.

1852: Boston was able to open a school similar to the English Classical School for girls.
1861: The idea of free public elementary schools had become widely accepted.

1874: Kalamazoo, Michigan case ruled that taxes should be used to support secondary schools.

1875: Francis Parker, superintendent of schools in Quincy, Massachusetts, introduced

progressive education ideas and concepts.

1880: Almost 10 million Americans were students in elementary schools.

1890: The Morrill Land Grant College Acts (including those from 1862) established sixty-nine
higher education institutions.

1892: The National Education Association (NEA) created the Committee of Ten which in turn
established consistency and order in the high school curriculum and had student progress be
measured by Carnegie Units.

1896: The case of Plessy v. Ferguson supported segregation in schools with the doctrine of
“separate but equal”.

1900s education saw a great debate about the “gendered” career of teaching. Though once
dominated by men, women were more frequently seen in the role of teacher. Social norms,
racism, sexism, and homophobia were all contributing factors in the partial-crisis education went
through when trying to employ teachers.

1915: Rosenwald Schools were established to provide education for black children living in the
south. These schools where go on to educate over one-third of all black children in the south.

1917: The Smith- Hughes Act provided funds for teaching training and programs in vocational
education at the high school level.
1918: The NEA focused once again on the Committee of Ten, but this time looked towards
adults preparing for their life roles. The Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education was created
which identified seven goals: Health, Worthy home membership, Command of fundamental
academic skills, Vocation, Citizenship, Worthy use of leisure time, and Ethical character.

1920s: The progressive education movement started to spread to schools and institutions across
the country. This was mostly due to the advocation done by John Dewey.

1920: A pattern of “separate but equal” Mexican American schools began to emerge.

1930: The thought of employing married women was thrown out due to the Depression. Jobs
were given to either women living alone or men.

1942: Pearl Harbor was attacked and this left the results of a study ignored. It found that students
educated in progressive schools were more involved in college life, receive more academic
honors, and were judged to have higher intellectual curiosity.

1945: Most school districts start employing married women.

1957: With the launch of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik, science and math-focused curriculum were
more embraced by schools due to the influence of the Space Race. This halted any debates on the
importance of liberal arts and “life-adjustment” subjects.

1954: In the case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, it was deemed unconstitutional for
segregation to be in education.

1958: Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) which supports the
improvement of instruction, the funding of teacher training programs, and loans and scholarships
in subjects and programs that were deemed important to national defense.
1964: With the passing of the Civil Rights Act, the federal government gained the power to help
school districts desegregate and withhold school funds in order to force desegregation.

1965: The Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided financial assistance to low-income
school districts. The funding was also used to improve libraries and materials and to promote
educational innovations. Only a couple of years later would the law be expanded to include
bilingual and Native American education.

1968: The Bilingual Education Act was a response by congress to authorize funds to provide
instruction to non-English speaking students.

1975: The first passing of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provided financial
assistance to school districts to provide for U.S.’s 8 million children with disabilities.

1983: The National Commission on Excellence in Education released the report A Nation at
Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform which cited declining test scores, the weak
performance of U.S. students, and the fear that the U.S. was losing its economic standing.

2000s saw greater integration in schools and districts. The turn of the century also led way for
schools to be assessed by their performance.

2001: The No Child Left Behind Act revised the Elementary and Secondary Education Act,
establishing standards in subjects, consequences for poor teaching, and more freedom when
choosing schools.

2015: IN the Every Student Succeeds Act, states are granted more freedom to set policies to hold
under-performing schools and teachers accountable.