| 1635: |
Latin Grammar School established. |
| 1647: |
Old Deluder Satan Act passed. |
| 1779: |
Thomas Jefferson proposed a system of education for all supported
by taxes. |
| 1785: |
Continental Congress passed a law creating townships and reserving
a portion of each township for a local school. |
| 1794: |
New York State established a Board of Regents. |
| 1805: |
New York Public School Society formed to provide education for
poor children. |
| 1820: |
First Public High School, Boston English, opened. |
| 1830s: |
Laws in some southern states forbade the teaching of reading
and writing to slaves. |
| 1837: |
Statewide Common School System established (Horace Mann). |
| 1839: |
First Normal School established, Lexington, Massachusetts. |
| 1840s: |
Over a million Irish immigrants, mainly Catholic, were driven
out of Ireland by the Potato Famine and flocked to the United States,
ultimately leading to the establishment of the Catholic parochial
system. |
| 1851: |
State of Massachusetts passed first compulsory education law. |
1865-
1877: |
African Americans mobilized to bring free public education to
the south for the first time. |
| 1925: |
Supreme Court ruled that states could not compel Catholic children
to attend public schools. Catholic schools were validated. |
| 1954: |
Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling that racial
segregation violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution. |
| 1958: |
National Defense Education Act passed, emphasizing math and science
(a direct response to the launching of Sputnik.) |
| 1964: |
Civil Rights Act banned discrimination on the basis if race in
all federally funded programs. Head Start began as a part of
the War on Poverty. |
| 1965: |
Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed. |
| 1972: |
Title IX passed, prohibiting public schools to discriminate on
the basis of gender. |
| 1994: |
Elementary and Secondary Education Act; renewal under President
Clinton required states to come up with content standards, assessments,
and definition of adequate programs to measure children's progress. |
| 2001: |
No Child Left Behind Act passed. |
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