Edu 201-Educational Timeline

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1600s

1620 - The Mayflower arrives at Cape Cod, bringing the Pilgrims who established the Plymouth

Colony. Their religious views came to dominate education in the New England colonies.

1635- The first Latin Grammar School (Boston Latin School) was established.

1636 - The first university called Harvard College, was established in Newtowne, Massachusetts.

1638 - The first printing press in the American Colonies is set up at Harvard College.

Hartford Public High School opens in Hartford Connecticut.

1642 - The Massachusetts Bay School Law is passed.

1647 - The Massachusetts Law of 1647, also known as the Old Deluder Satan Act, is passed.

1690 - The first New England Primer is printed in Boston. It became the most widely used

schoolbook in New England.

1693 - John Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education is published.

1693 - The College of William and Mary is established in Virginia.

1698 - The first officially supported library in the U.S. is established in Charles Town, South

Carolina.

1600s Summary

In 1635, the first public school in the United States was established in Boston,

Massachusetts. Known as the Boston Latin School, it was founded by early Puritan settlers and

was strictly for boys in preparation for college education. The following year, Harvard College

(Harvard University), one of the most prestigious institutions in the country, was established in

Cambridge, Massachusetts. The institution was named after John Harvard who left his books and

half of his estate for the institution. Harvard is also known for educating several presidents such

as John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, etc. Two years after the establishment
of Harvard, the first printing press in America was set up in Harvard College. By 1942, The

Massachusetts Bay Law was passed. The English Puritans who founded Massachusetts believed

that the well-being of the individuals, along with the success of the colony depended on a people

literate enough to read both the Bible and the laws of the land. In 1690, Benjamin Harris

published the New England Primer which was the first textbook ever printed in America. The

primers prepared young children to read the Bible. In fact, many of the Founding Fathers and

their children learned to read from the New England Primer.

1700s

1710 - Christopher Dock, a Mennonite and one of Pennsylvania's most famous educators, arrives

from Germany and later opens a school in Montgomery County, PA.

1727 - The Ursuline Academy of New Orleans is founded

1751 - Benjamin Franklin helps to establish the first "English Academy" in Philadelphia.

1752 - St. Matthew Lutheran School, one of the first Lutheran "parish schools" in North

America, was founded in New York City by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg.

1762 - Swiss-born Jean-Jacques Rousseau's book, Emile, Ou l'education, which describes his

views on education, is published.

1766 - The Moravians, a protestant denomination from central Europe, establish the village of

Salem in North Carolina. Six years later (1772), they found a school for girls, which later

became Salem College.

1778/1779 - Thomas Jefferson authors Bill 79: "A Bill for the More General Diffusion of

Knowledge," which provides "a comprehensive plan for public education”.

1783 to 1785 - Noah Webster writes A Grammatical Institute of the English Language.
1787 - The Young Ladies Academy opens in Philadelphia and becomes the first academy for

girls in the original 13 colonies.

1700s Summary:

In 1710, Christopher Dock arrived from Germany and opened a school in Montgomery

County, PA. H's book schul- ordnung which was published in 1770 became M First book about

teaching in colonial America. By 1727, The Ursuline Academy of New Orleans was established.

It became the first catholic school for girls. The school was sponsored by the Sisters of the Order

of Saint Ursula. This institution is currently the oldest operating school for girls and the oldest

Catholic school in the US. By 1751, Benjamin Franklin helped establish the first English

academy. This academy eventually became the University of Pennsylvania. The academy

focused on a curriculum that was classical and modern with courses that include history,

geography, navigation, languages, etc. in 1766, the Moravians from Central Europe, established

a village of Salem in North Carolina. Six years after their settlement, they established a school

for girls which became Salem College and women’s liberal arts college. In 1783 to 1785, Noah

Webster wrote A Grammatical Institute of the English Language. It consisted of three volumes

which were a spelling book, a grammar book, and a reader. These books have been widely used

throughout the country even to this day.

1800s

1817 - The Connecticut Asylum at Hartford for the Instruction of Deaf Persons opened.

1821 - Boston English High School, one of the first public high schools in the U.S., opened.
1829 - The New England Asylum for the Blind, now the Perkins School for the Blind, was

established in Massachusetts.

1837 - Horace Mann becomes Secretary of the newly formed Massachusetts State Board of

Education.

1837 - The African Institute (later called the Institute for Colored Youth) opens in Cheyney,

Pennsylvania.

1855 - The University of Iowa is the first state university to admit both men and women on an

equal basis.

1857 - The National Teachers Association (now the National Education Association) is founded

by forty-three educators in Philadelphia.

1867 - The Department of Education was created to help states establish effective school

systems.

1876 - Meharry Medical College was founded in Nashville, Tennessee. It became the first

medical school in the south for African Americans.

1879 - The first Indian boarding school opens in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It becomes the model

for a total of 26 similar schools, all with the goal of assimilating Indian children into the

mainstream culture.

1800s Summary:

By the 1800s schools have slowly become more inclusive of students with disabilities.

For example, in 1817, The Connecticut Asylum at Hartford for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb

Persons was established. Its establishment served as the first permanent school for the deaf in

America. This school was founded by Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc. Thomas Gallaudet’s
son Edward Gallaudet helped establish the Gallaudet University in 1864 which became the first

college specifically for deaf students. Then in 1829, another school was established specifically

for students with visual disabilities. It was the New England Asylum for the Blind which is now

known as Perkin’s School for the Blind. By 1837, the African Institute (now called Cheyney

University of Pennsylvania) became the first institution for higher learning for African

Americans. It was funded by Quaker Philanthropist Richard Humphreys. He noticed that African

Americans struggled for employment opportunities against immigrants. Humphreys decided to

start an institution that would teach African Americans skills they need to succeed in competitive

industries. By 1855, Iowa University became the first institution to admit both men and women.

Aside from this, the institution has also accepted qualified students regardless of race since its

founding.

1900s

1900 - The Association of American Universities is founded to promote higher standards and put

U.S. universities on an equal footing with their European counterparts.

1904 - Mary McLeod Bethune, an African American educator, founds the Daytona Educational

and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Florida.

1905- The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is founded.

1909 - Indianola Junior High School opened and became the first junior high school in the U.S.

1916 - Louis M. Terman and his team of Stanford University graduate students complete an

American version of the Binet-Simon Scale. The Fifth Edition of the Stanford-Binet Scales is

among the most popular individual intelligence tests today.


1916 -The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and American Educational Research

Association (AERA) were established.

1919 - The Progressive Education Association is founded with the goal of reforming American

education.

1925 - Tennessee vs. John Scopes ("the Monkey Trial"): John Scopes, a high school biology

teacher, is charged with the crime of teaching evolution, which was in violation of the Butler

Act. The evolution versus creationism controversy persists today.

1931 - Alvarez vs. the Board of Trustees of the Lemon Grove (California) School District

became the first successful school desegregation court case in the United States. The local court

forbade placing Mexican Americans in an “Americanization” school.

1954 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”

in Brown v. Board. of Education of Topeka.

1990 - The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) becomes law.

1999 - On April 20th, two Columbine High School students go on a killing spree that leaves 15

dead and 23 wounded at the Littleton, Colorado school.

1900s Summary:

The start of the 1900s, The Association of American Universities was founded to

promote higher education and make US universities as competitive as other European

counterparts. Fourteen representatives of the major institutions of higher education believed that

the American system was fragmented which resulted in low graduation rates. In 1905, The

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was founded which encouraged the
adoption of a standard system for equating "seat time" (the amount of time spent in a class) to

high school credits which is now called the "Carnegie Unit." By 1909, high school graduation

rates were extremely low. To improve the rates, the Columbus Ohio School Board authorized the

creation of junior high schools, hence the establishment of Indianola Junior High School in 1909

which became the first junior high school in the U.S. With schools becoming more inclusive,

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. Civil rights law prohibited

discrimination against those with disabilities in all areas, including education. Many educational

issues were addressed during the 1900s, however, unfamiliar problems have arisen that are still

on-going today. In 1999, two Columbine High School students went on a killing spree that left

15 dead and 23 wounded at the Littleton, Colorado school. This was marked as the nations'

deadliest school shooting incident. Though schools tighten safety procedures because of the

Columbine massacre, school shootings continue to occur at an alarming rate.

2000s

2001 -No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was approved by Congress and signed into law by

President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002.

2003 - The International Association for K-12 Online Learning, a non-profit organization

dedicated to enhancing K-12 online education, was launched as a formal corporate entity.

2004 - The Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEA 2004) was reauthorized.

2007 – Virginia Tech shooting

2008 - Less than one year after the Virginia Tech massacre, former graduate student Stephen P.

Kazmierczak kills five and wounds 17 in a classroom at Northern Illinois University.


2009 - The Common Core State Standards Initiative, a state-led effort coordinated by the

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of

Chief State School Officers is launched.

2013 - On May 22, the Chicago Board of Education votes to close 50 schools to reduce cost and

improve the quality of education in the country This event was the largest mass closing in U.S.

history.

2013 - On October 21, a 13-year-old student arrived on the campus of Sparks, Nevada middle

school armed with a handgun, and wounds two 12-year-old boys and kills a teacher who was

trying to protect other students before he turns the gun on himself and takes his own life.

2018 -March 24: Hundreds of thousands of students from across the nation join the March for

Our Lives protest.

2020 - On March 11, the World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a pandemic which

closed schools across the country.

2000s Summary

In 2001, The controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was approved by Congress

and signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002. The law mandates high-

stakes student testing holds schools accountable for student achievement levels and provides

penalties for schools that do not make adequate yearly progress toward meeting the goals of

NCLB. In 2004, The Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEA 2004), reauthorized

and modified IDEA which required school districts to use the Response to Intervention (RTI)

approach as a means for the early identification of students at risk for specific learning

disabilities. RTI provides a three-tiered model for screening, monitoring, and providing
increasing degrees of intervention using “research-based instruction" with the overall goal of

reducing the need for special education services. In 2007, Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old student,

killed two students in a dorm and then 30 others in a classroom building at Virginia Tech

University. Fifteen others are wounded, and suicide brought the death toll to 33 which surpassed

Columbine High School as the deadliest shooting. Unfortunately, gun-based violence did not end

there, in 2012, Adam Lanza killed his mother and then invades Sandy Hook Elementary School

where he killed 20 children and six adults, including principal Dawn Hochsprung and

psychologist Mary Sherlachmaking, making this the second deadliest mass shooting by a single

person in U.S. history. By 2018, hundreds of thousands of students from across the nation joined

the March for Our Lives protest in Washington, DC as well as many other cities. This march was

a student-led demonstration in support of gun control legislation. In 2020, the World Health

Organization declares COVID-19 a pandemic. Former President Trump declared a national

emergency which ordered States to close schools, and many colleges and universities suspend

"in-person classes."
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Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.

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Pearson Education, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2020.

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2010.
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