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1647 Massachusetts
A law was passed in 1647 that required all town with fifty or more households to provide and pay for a teacher to inherit all children how to read and write. The funding for these schools would come from the community not the church. This law was a big step towards universal and secular education. -
Cordinal Principles Report
This report argued that secondary education should be expanded to better meet the needs of the growing number of students. Schools teach things outside of the things outside of the traditional liberal arts. Schools should have vocational training and teach students how to be citizens. Now students can take class from computer programming to welding at high school. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This Supreme Court Ruling decided that separate is inherently unequal. With this ruling schools could not be segregated by race. In modern schools the population of students is multi-cultural. The better educational opportunities have coincided with greater equality in society. -
Public Law 94-142
This law requires public schools to provide students with disabilities an appropriate education. This includes an individualized education program and being taught in the least restrictive environment. Students who were at one time shunned from public schools could now receive the same education and have the same opportunities as other students. This has opened the door to attending collage or gainful employment. -
No Child Left Behind
This Act put into place a system that school districts could be held accountable for low test scores or achievement gaps. The goal was to get each student up to grade level despite ethnic and economic background. One side-affect of No Child Left Behind is the importance placed on standardized test scores.
