1. The History of American
Education
Heather Wilson
EDU 324
Instructor: John Glover
July 1, 2013

2. April 23, 1635 – The
Founding of the Boston
Public School
This was the very first public school
that was created. This school was
made for boys from the ages of eight
to fifteen and was created to prepare
the young men for college. This school
was meant to prepare the young men
for leadership for the court, state, and
church.

3. April 26, 1636 – Harvard
College was Established
Established in Newtowne,
Massachusetts. This college was the
very first college in the United States.
The school was named after John
Harvard.

4. April 14, 1642 – The
Massachusetts Bay School
Law
This was the first place to pass a law in
the New World declaring that the
children should be taught how to read
and to write. The law was based on
the Puritan lifestyle.

5. January 24, 1690 – The
New England Primer
More than five million copies of this
text book was sold. This was the
textbook that was used in New
England and in many other English
settlements in America.

6. August 13, 1751 – The
First American Academy
Founded in Philadelphia by Benjamin
Franklin. The purpose of this academy
was to prepare the students for
employment.

7. April 16, 1779 – Proposal
of the Two-Track System
Created by Thomas Jefferson. The two
tracks were the laborers and the
learners. This was a way to separate
the wealthy from the less fortunate.

8. April 16, 1785 – The Land
Ordinance of 1785
This ordinance divided the western
territories, making them into
townships. One of the townships was
set aside to be the maintenance of the
public schools.

9. May 27, 1787 – Young
Ladies Academy
This was the very first academy made
for girls. It was established in
Philadelphia.

10. January 1, 1805 – The First
Monitorial School System
Created by Joseph Lancaster and
Andrew Bell. The purpose of the
school was to crate masses by having
one of the better and educated
students be taught by the teacher and
then that student would teach to the
other students.

11. April 16, 1817 –
Connecticut Asylum at
Hartford
Founded by Thomas Hopkins
Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc. It was
created for Instruction of Deaf and
Special Ed people.

12. 1821 – Boston English
High School
This was the first public high school.
The high school opened in Boston,
Massachusetts.

13. 1837- Horace Mann joined
the Board of Education
He was the Secretary of the
Massachusetts State Board of
Education. He believed that school
should be free and also worked to
increase funding for the public schools
and tried to better teachers training.

14. 1856 – The First
Kindergarten
Founded in Watertown, Wisconsin by
Margarethe Schurz.

15. 1867- The Department of
Education
Created to help the states create
effective school systems.

16. October 16, 1896 – Plessy
vs. Ferguson
This was a Supreme Court case that
was “separate but equal”. This case
helped with the segregation laws.

17. May 7, 1919 –
Transportation
This was a law that was passed by the
states to provided funds for the
transportation to and from school.

18. April 17, 1962 – Engal vs.
Vitale
In this Supreme Court case it is rules
that the state of New York’s prayer is a
violation of the First Amendment.
This is a lawsuit that happened to end
prayer in the schools throughout the
United States.

19. July 2, 1964 – Civil Rights
Act
This is a law that prohibits
discrimination based on race, sex,
color, religion, or national origin.

20. April 17, 1975 – Education
of All Handicapped
Children Act
This act requires a free; public school
education that is suited to the
individual handicapped child’s needs,
and has to be offered in the least
restrictive way.

21. January 8, 2002 – No Child
Left Behind Law (NCLB)
This law holds schools accountable for
the student achievement levels. It also
provides penalties to those schools
that do no progress toward the goals
of the NCLB.

22. January 24, 2012 – State
of Union Address
President Barack Obama wants to
require students to stay in school until
they either graduate or until they are
at the age of eighteen years old.

23. References
• Gaither, M. (2011). History of American
education. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint
Education, Inc.
• (2013). American Educational History: A
Hypertext Timeline. Retrieved on June 24,
2013 from http://www.eds-
resources.com/educationhistorytimeline.html.
• Images retrieved from google.com/images.