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Colonial Period
Puritans who settled New England contributed most that was of value for our future educational development. By 1700, New England colonies had literacy rates that were often superior to those in England. -
First Education Law: Massachusetts *Most important*
This law ordered the selectmen of each town to ascertain whether parents and masters, of apprentices were, in fact, providing for the education of their children. Selectmen also dtermined what the child was being taught. In 1647, it ordered every township of 50 household to provide a teacher to teach reading and writing and all townships of 100 or more households to establish a grammar school. This was considered the first education law in America. It served as a model for other colonies. -
Jefferson
"Bill for More General Diffusion of Knowledge". This bill was for the establishment of a system of public schools that would provide the masses with the basic education necessary to ensure good government, public safety and happiness. Attendance would be free for all for 3 years. The curriculum was to be reading, writing, arithmetic, and history. -
Rush
He was a medical doctor and professor. He wanted to establish a system of schools in Pennsylvania and eventually the entire nation. He was an advocate of the education of women and founded the first female academies in the United States. He was also an advocate for the education of the blacks. -
Webster *Most Important*
He was a teacher who sought cultural independence. He believed the primary purpose of education should be the inculcation of patriotism. What was needed was an American education rid of European influence. He believed this could be accomplished by creating a disctintive national language and curriculum. He prepared the world-famous American dictionary. -
Secondary School Movement
Offered education beyond elementary level. The beginning of this movement occurred before the civil war. High school for boys started in 1821 and high school for girls in 1828. The first comprehensive and co-educational high school started in 1838. -
Monitoral Schools
Monitoral Schools orginated in England and was brought to American by a Quaker named Joseph Lancaster. A monitoral school is ran by one teacher who instructs hundreds of pupils through the use of student teachers or monitors, who were chosen for their abilties. This school was concerned with teaching only in the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. -
Infant Schools
Infant schools originated in England by Robert Owen who also started the first infant school in the U.S. An infant school is taught by women for children 4-7. This was because these children would go to work in a factory at a very early age so they would probaby not receive any other schooling. -
Progressive Reform Movement
This movement called for curricular and administrative reform. It also called for schools to be more sanitary, open to air and sunlight and more condusive to creativity. This movement also asked for lowered pupil-teacher ratios. The movement added provisions of basic health care and food services provided by the school. -
John Dewey *Most important*
Dewey provided the foundation for progressive education. He rejected the old, rigid, subject-centered curriculum in favor of the child-centered curriculum in which learning came through experience, not note memorization. Problem solving was the preferred approach. The goal of education was to promote individual growth and to prepare the child for full participation in society. Education is a lifelong process. -
Measurement Movement *Most important*
The Binet-Simon scale is an insturment based an intelligence scale that allowed comparison of individual intelligence to a norm. This later developed the itelligence quotient (IQ). This helped the military during WWII to determine which men were suited for service. The IQ is now part of American education. -
Impact of WWII
Schools were dominated by the war effort. Teachers left the classroom for the battlefield. Enrollment went down because youth chose not to go back to school. Colleges and universities played a role in preparing men for military service, for war industries, and for essential civilian activities. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated educational facilities have no place in public education and generate a feeling of inferiority that affects a child's motivation to learn. This marked the beginning of the civil rights movement. -
NDEA
Directed federal funding to specific curricular areas (math, science and modern foreign languages). This was the first time the federal government attempted to influence the curriculum in general elementary and secondary education. This sponsered the effords of academic specialists to revise the curriculum according to the latest theories and methods which helped form the spiral curriculum pattern. -
Charter Schools
Publically supported schools established upon the issuance of a charter from state, local school board, or other designated entity. -
No Child Left Behind *Most important*
Required that by 2005-06 school year that all states must have developed standards for what every child should know and learn in math and reading and that 95% of all sutdents in grades 3-8 be tested annually and at least once in grades 10-12 to determine their progress in meeting the standards.
