JusticeLearning : Issues

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	1635
	First public school opens in the Massachusetts Bay colony

	1639
	First public elementary school opens in the Massachusetts Bay colony

	1647
	First public school system established in Boston, Massachusetts Bay colony

	1751
	The first non-religiously affiliated college opens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

	1779
	Thomas Jefferson proposes funding public schools

	1802
	West Point Military Academy is established by Congress

	1812
	Gideon Hawley becomes the Superintendent of New York Schools

	1816
	Indiana adopts the first State Constitution that calls for a free public education system

	1817
	First school for the deaf opens

	1818
	Court recognizes autonomy of private schools

	1818
	Philadelphia begins to train female teachers

	1821
	The first American high school opens

	1826
	First black student graduates from college

	1826
	First high school for girls is opened

	1827
	Massachusetts establishes high schools throughout the state

	1829
	First School for the Blind opens

	1836
	McGuffy Readers are first published and the modern textbook is born

	1837
	Horace Mann, "Father Of American Public School Education," takes over Massachuetts schools

	1837
	First women's college opens

	1838
	Massachusetts establishes public teachers' colleges

	1838
	First co-educational college opens

	1848
	First municipally funded high school for girls opens

	1848
	First kindergarten opens. Teachers and students speak only German

	1852
	Mandatory school Attendance Law passes in Massachusetts

	1855
	Public schools of Massachusetts are integrated

	1857
	National Teacher's Association forms

	1860
	First English-speaking kindergarten opens

	1861
	First black teachers' organization forms in Ohio

	1862
	Congress grants each State land for the purpose of building a State University

	1867
	Federal government creates the Office of Education

	1868
	First vocational school opens

	1868
	College for newly freed slaves open

	1870
	First public high school for African Americans is established

	1870
	National Education Association forms

	1873
	Public elementary schools expand to include kindergarten

	1874
	Local property taxes can be used to pay for public schools

	1875
	Booker T. Washington leads the first black teachers college

	1892
	Committee of Ten develops first national standards

	1894
	Harvard introduces 'elective' courses in college

	1895
	The Committee on College Entrance Requirements founded

	1897
	Philosopher John Dewey writes his first education text: My Pedagogic Creed

	1897
	The National Congress of Mothers is formed

	1902
	College Entrance Examination Board established

	1904
	First college for black women opens

	1904
	The National Colored Teachers Association is created

	1906
	A standard for high school credit is developed

	1909
	Education reformers open the first middle schools

	1909
	Vocational education movement leads to more funding for vocational schools

	1909
	Ellwood Cubberley writes first book, Changing Conceptions in Education

	1912
	First Montessori School in U.S. opens in Terrytown, NY

	1917
	Congress passes the Smith-Hughes Act to help states pay high school vocational teachers

	1918
	National Education Association Commission releases the "Cardinal Principles"

	1918
	All fifty states have compulsory education for elementary school age children

	1921
	The "Single Salary Schedule" is endorsed by the National Education Association

	1926
	The SAT is developed

	1935
	The Iowa Every-Pupil Tests are created to test grades K through 8

	1944
	GI Bill gives aid to World War II vets, including grants for education

	1946
	National School Lunch Act is passed by Congress

	1947
	The Educational Testing Service is created and takes over administration of the SAT

	1950
	Dick and Jane Readers are the first to feature the Whole Language Theory of Reading

	1950
	Impact Aid offers federal funds to financially strapped school districts

	1954
	In Brown v. Board of Education, Court rules that segregation is unconstitutional

	1955
	Rudolph Flesch writes Why Johnny Can't Read critiquing reading curriculum

	1958
	Congress passes the National Defense Education Act to improve math, science and foreign language education

	The Sixties
	Open School Movement begins

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The Sixties
Open School Movement begins

Open schools (otherwise known as Informal Schools or Open Classrooms) operate under the central theory that children want to learn and will do so naturally if left to their own initiative. The open classroom is marked by learning areas, often without walls. Students are free to move from area to area, learn at their own pace and enjoy unstructured periods of study. Developed originally in Great Britain, this school model became popular in American elementary schools in the 1960's. But by the mid-1970’s open classrooms were criticized by those advocating a return to a more traditional emphasis on reading and writing fundamentals and more structured classrooms. Nevertheless, open classrooms remain in some schools across the country.

	1962
	Economist Milton Freedman introduces the idea of tuition vouchers

	1963
	Increased college enrollment leads Congress to pass funding to help colleges expand

	1964
	Civil Rights Act passed

	1964
	President Johnson outlines "affirmative action" approach to civil rights

	1965
	Head Start launched

	1965
	Elementary and Secondary Education Act greatly expands federal government's role in education

	1965
	Higher Education Act allocates money for resources and scholarships for post-secondary education

	1967
	Free School Movement begins

	1968
	Busing permitted by U.S. Supreme Court

	1968
	Congress passes the Bilingual Education Act

	1969
	National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) begins

	The Seventies
	Mainstreaming aims to integrate students with different learning abilities

	1970
	The Nation's first federally funded magnet schools are opened in Minneapolis, MN

	1971
	Schools receiving federal money cannot discriminate

	1971
	California's funding of public schools through property taxes violates equal protection

	1972
	First federal grants to provide funds for low-income students to attend college

	1972
	Title IX requires schools to treat men's and women's programs equally

	1973
	Federal Courts cannot order cross-district integration plans to remedy racial discrimination

	1973
	Education is not a right guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution

	1973
	New Jersey Supreme Court finds inequity violates State Constitution

	1973
	Rehabilition Act requires schools to be handicap accessible

	1973
	The National Middle School Association is formed

	1974
	First experiment with School Choice begins in New York City

	1974
	Schools must help non-English speaking students overcome language barriers

	1974
	Congress passes the Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1974

	1975
	Congress helps to fund Special Education

	1977
	John Holt publishes Growing Without Schooling magazing and the modern Home School Movement begins

	1978
	University's Minority Quotas Struck Down

	1978
	Starting a national taxpayer revolt, California cuts property taxes and reforms funding for education

	1979
	West Virginia's schools ordered to reform

	1980
	The Department of Education becomes a cabinet level agency

	1981
	Congress provides new federal funds for disadvantaged and disabled children

	1982
	President Reagan calls for abolishing the Department of Education

	1982
	Home schooling legal in most states

	1983
	"A Nation At Risk" report calls for sweeping changes in education to respond to failing schools

	1983
	States can give tax credits for education expenses; even if for religious education

	1983
	University of Chicago School Mathematics Project (UCSMP) creates new math curriculum

	1986
	Researchers release a study indicating the failure of merit pay systems

	1988
	E.D. Hirsch publishes "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know"

	1989
	President George H.W. Bush convenes all of the nation's governors for the First National Summit on Education

	1990
	Congress expands support for students with disabilities

	1990
	Colleges receiving federal funds must public crime statistics

	1991
	Molefi Asante advocates Afrocentric education

	1991
	Minnesota passes the first modern charter school legislation

	1992
	New York City expands Public School Choice citywide

	1992
	Nation's largest private school management company is founded

	1992
	Baltimore School District is first to experiment with private management company

	1993
	Minneapolic School District becomes first to hire private company to run all its schools

	1994
	Goals 2000 seeks to set national standards in a variety of subjects

	1995
	Report ties class size in lower grades to academic achievement

	1996
	Controversy over history standards points to larger difficulties in creating national standards

	1996
	The Young Women's Leadership School is established in East Harlem

	1996
	Racial segregation and funding disparities found in Connecticut schools

	1996
	Report points to persistent segregation of Hispanic students

	1998
	Supreme Court lets stand a lower court ruling allowing tuition vouchers for religious schooling

	1998
	Congress passes restrictions on college student behavior and safety measures

	1998
	The Carl D. Perkins Vocational-Technical Education Act enacted

	1999
	Parental involvement in education gets boost from PTA initiative

	1999
	Florida becomes the first to pass statewide tuition voucher law

	2000
	Voters in Michigan and California say 'no' to tuition voucher programs

	2000
	Florida Ends Affirmative Action In Public Education

	2002
	No Child Left Behind Law introduces large-scale reforms in public education

	2002
	Single Sex Education Amendment to the No Child Left Behind Law goes into effect

	2002
	Supreme Court allows tuition voucher programs that include religious schools

	2003
	Court Rules On School's Affirmative Action Policies

	2004
	National Assessment of Educational Progress exams include charter schools for the first time

	2004
	Texas A&M University Abolishes 'Legacy' Admissions