Timeline of History of US Public Education

Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647

1647

• In 1647, Massachusets passed the Old Deluder Satan Act that laid the basis for public education in America.
• This law required every town that housed 50 or more families to hire atleast 1 teacher to instruct all the children in reading and writing.
• There are 4 principals established from this act that public education still follow today.
• Education is the communities responsibiliy
• State can require communities to raise or expand their local funding for schools
• Day-to-day operations of schools are decided on the local level
• Schools must be separated by elementary and secondary education

Carleton, David. “Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647.” Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647, 2009, https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1032/old-deluder-satan-act-of-1647#:~:text=Old%20Deluder%20Satan%20Act%20of%201647%20(1647)&text=Commons%2C%20public%20domain)-,Massachusetts%20passed%20the%20Old%20Deluder%20Satan%20Act%20in%201647%2C%20laying,interpret%20the%20Bible%20for%20themselves.

New York Free School Soceity of 1805

1805

• The goal for the New York Free School Society was committed to free schooling for all children in New York.
• A lot of the schools in New York were church-ran schools. The Mayor at the time, DeWitt Clinton, was concerned that non-religious parents would not send their children to these religious charter schools.
• During this time, members could pay a fee and send one child to the "Free" School. The more children they sent, the higher the membership was.
• The New York Free School Society opened in its first school in 1806. Their first school had about 40 pupils in attendance.
• Although they wanted to provide a place for students with no religious affiliate, they still believed that religious instruction was "necessary for the future of both its students and the society".
• New York Free School Society used the Lancastarian System which there would be one teacher per 100 students in a single room. The Lancastarian System emphazied discipline and obedience in their schools.

“." American Eras. . Encyclopedia.com. 21 Jun. 2022 .” Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 12 July 2022, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/new-york-free-school-society-1805.

Henry Barnard

1837

• Barnard was a part of the General Assembly of the Connecticut State Legislature and completed three terms in office.
• During this time, he began a movement to improve public schools in Connecticut.
• His findings told a story about the hardships that public schools were facing. Schools in Connecticut were facing poor facilities, overcrowding, irregular attendance, and poorly trained teachers.
• In order to improve public schools, Bernard proposed an idea to create a "Board of Commissioners of the Common Schools". This would allow the continuous monitoring of public schools and provide improvement plans for the public schools.
• Bernard would later travel to Rhode Island to evaluate the conditions of their public schools and establish a state system for Rhode Island's public schools.

Fales Library and Special Collections. “Guide to Henry Barnard Papers 1765-1935.” Guide to the Henry Barnard Papers 1765-1935 (Bulk 1830-1899) MSS.033, 2017, http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/fales/barnard/bioghist.html.

Lyman School for Boys

1848

• The Massachusetts State Reform School opens in 1848 and was the first "reform" school in the United States.
• The board of trustees opened this school to reform, instruct, and employee juvenile offenders.
• According to the school, any boy that was under the age of 16 and was convicted of an offense that was punishable by law could be sentenced to this school.
• The boy who were sentences there often used the skills they have learned from labor work to keep the institute running on a minimal budget.
• In order for a juvenile to get released, they had to be deemed "reformed" or turn 21.
• After a riot in 1878 and bad press, they moved the institution. The new institution was composed of smaller buildings with different features. This was known as a "cottage-system".

Kirsch, Tom. “Lyman School for Boys.” Opacity.us, Opacity, 10 Dec. 2019, https://opacity.us/site160_lyman_school_for_boys.htm.

Compulsory Attendance Law of 1852

1851

• In 1852, Massachusetts passed a law that required attendance in schools. This was called "The Massachusetts
• School Attendance Act".
• This law required children between the ages of 8 and 14 to attend school 12 weeks per year. 6 out of the 12 weeks had to be consecutive.
• According to the law, if a child failed to come to school, there would be a fine of $20.
• The school committee was in charge of fining residents who did not go to school. However, if the committee has decided that a child has completed school in another town or has already completed schooling at a common school, there would be no fine.

Cave, Cynthia. “Compulsory School Attendance - Development of Compulsory School Attendance Philosophy and Laws, Exemptions and Alternatives, Issues Associated with Compulsory Attendance.” StateUniversity.com, https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1878/Compulsory-School-Attendance.html.

General Court of Massachusetts. “." Social Policy: Essential Primary Sources. . Encyclopedia.com. 21 Jun. 2022 .” Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 15 July 2022, https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/act-concerning-attendance-children-school.

Department of Education

1867

• The Department of Education was founded in 1867 with president Andrew Jackson signing the legislation for its creation.
• The Department of Education helps set the national standards for education.
• The main purpose of the Department of Education was to collect information and statistics about school's in the nation.
• Due to concern that the department might exercise too much control, it was demoted to an "Office of Education" in 1868.
• Over the years, the Office of Education operated under many titles and housed various agencies.

“An Overview of the U.S. Department of Education-- PG 1.” Home, US Department of Education (ED), 14 May 2018, https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/focus/what.html.

Creation of ETS

1948

• In 1947, ETS was created by three nonprofit educational institutions: the American Council on Education, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and the College Entrance Examination Board.
• The process for ETS began in 1946 and the five-year trial began in 1947.
• Each educational institute had to turn-over their findings and testing operations.
• The Carnegie Foundation contributed their findings for the GRE and Pre-Engineering Inventory.
• The American Council on Education contributed the National Teacher Examinations and the Cooperative Testing Service.
• The College Board contributed the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the Law School Admission Test, and other several other programs.
• By 1947, the New York State Board of Regents named the organization "Educational Testing Service" or ETS.
• The goals for this organization were to develop and administer tests, to conduct research, and to advice educational institutions.

“Educational Testing Service.” FundingUniverse, http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/educational-testing-service-history/.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

1954

• Oliver Brown filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas because his daughter was denied entrance into Topeka's all-white elementary schools. He argued that they had violated the equal-protection clause.
• The Board of Education agreed that public school segregation had a detrimental effect on children.
• In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional.
• The ruling was important to the Civil Rights Movement and helped established "separate-but-equal" in education and other services.

History.com Editors. “Brown v. Board of Education.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Oct. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka#:~:text=Sources-,Brown%20v.,in%20public%20schools%20was%20unconstitutional.

Milliken v. Bradley

• The NAACP brought a class action suit against the Detroit Board of Education. The NAACP claimed that their public schools were segregated because of state and local policies.
• The NAACP wanted to end segregation in the Detroit public schools.
• The District Court concluded that the Detroit public schools had engaged in segregation of their schools. This lead the District Court to order a desegregation plan of Detroit and the surrounding area.
• The District Court adopted a plan that desegregated 53 districts surrounding Detroit.
• However, the Supreme Court ruled that other districts could not be a part of this plan unless they were guilty of segregation policies.

1974

Team, by: Content. “Milliken v. Bradley - Case Summary and Case Brief.” Legal Dictionary, 9 Jan. 2019, https://legaldictionary.net/milliken-v-bradley/.

A Nation at Risk Report

1983

• The secretary of education, T.H. Bell, created the National Commission on Excellence in Education in 1981. The goal of the commission was to examine the quality of education and to make a report to the nation.
• The Commission was asked to examine several things during this 18 month period. These things were:
• assessing the quality of teaching and learning in public and private schools
• comparing our schools and colleges to other advanced countries
• studying relationships between college admissions and requirements and student achievement in high school
• identifying educational programs that result in student success in college
• assessing the degree of major social and educational changes has affected student achievement
• defining problems to overcome for the success of excellence in education
• With the Commissions evaluation, they determined that education must be able to develop the talents of their students to their fullest and foster a commitment to life-long learning.
• The Commission offers several tools to create a learning society that offers opportunities for life-long learning.
• However, the Commission argues that the public's commitment is the most powerful tool for educational reform (which I still find true to this day).

The National Commission on Excellence in Education. A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. https://edreform.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/A_Nation_At_Risk_1983.pdf.