Education Timeline
Drianna Gordon
EDU 201- Tuesday Night
Education Timeline 1
1620’s: Education in colonial America tried to duplicate the English school system.
1620’s: If lower class citizens attended school, they would only receive elementary
school level teaching. It was only enough for a poor person to acquire basic skills in reading,
writing and computation; also they received religious instruction.
1620’s: Upper class students attended Latin grammar schools, where they were taught
college level education. They primarily focused on Latin and Greek classics.
1620’s: There were three different colonies at this time.
New England colonies (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut) schools were
influenced by Puritans. They believed in religious discipline and religious ceremonies.
Middle colonies (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware) were the most
diverse among the colonies. The established their own schools known as parochial schools.
There were multiple religions throughout the school.
Southern colonies (Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, North and South Carolina) primary
purpose of school was to promote religion. They prepared students for college in Europe.
1620’s: Men were the primary teachers, women only stepped in when the men needed to
tend to their land.
1620’s: African American slaves that were children only received basic training; enough
to serve their masters.
1635: Boston London school was founded, it provided precollege education.
Education Timeline 2
1636: Harvard College was established.
1642: Massachusetts Act: first school law in the colonies. Established to strengthen and
preserve puritan and religious beliefs.
1647: Massachusetts Act: mandated the establishments of support and schools. Towns of
fifty or more people were appointed an instructor. More than one hundred households were
required to establish a Latin grammar class.
1690: First printed reading lesson was introduced. The lesson introduced children to the
alphabet.
1704: First African Americans and Native American schools started by Elias Neau in
New York City.
1745: Greek and Latin schools course of study lasted seven years, six days and one week.
School didn’t stop for breaks.
1745: Most Latin and Greek schools started at 6:00 am and ended at 4:00 pm.
1745: Latin schools inherited English traditions by hitting students as a punishment if
they fought, lied, cursed, played with cards or dice.
1751: Benjamin Franklin opens the Philadelphia Academy. Latin grammar was replaced
and English was primarily focused on.
1770: One of the best known schools for African Americans was founded in Philadelphia
by Anthony Benezet.
Education Timeline 3
1779: Thomas Jefferson proposed his bill for the more general diffusion of knowledge to
the Virginia legislature.
1783: Noah Webster introduced textbooks.
1803: First female academy was introduced.
1819: Indian schools were founded, federal funds were used for reservation schools.
1821: First state supported high school in the U.S. was established.
1838: Mann proposed teachers needed more than a High School education to teach.
1839: First public school opened into Lexington.
1848: Mann resigned as secretary.
1850: Roberts v. City of Boston ‘equal but separate.’
1855: Margarette Shurz opened first United States kindergarten.
1857: NEA (National Education Association) was funded.
1861: First freedman school established, education for former slaves.
1870: 4,329 freedman schools were established with more than 247,000 students.
1880: Booker T. Washington helped establish Tuskegee Institute.
1892: Committee of ten formed.
1893: Committee of fifteen formed.
1895: Dubois was that first African American to earn a PhD.
Educational Timeline 4
1896: Dewey’s laboratory school was first established.
1904: Daytona normal and industrial school for training African American girls was
established.
1909: Ella Flagg Young was voted as superintendent for all Chicago school, she was the
first female.
1913: NAE requested reorganization of secondary education.
1916: American Federation of Teachers was introduced. It professionalized teachers and
increase salaries and benefits.
1919: The start of philosophical progressive.
1928: An article was released named, “The Problem of Indian Administration.”
1941: Lanham Act was passed.
1944: Roosevelt signed the “GI Bill of Rights.”
1960: Elementary and secondary education act was formed.
1968: Bilingual education act was established.
1972: Indian education act was formed.
1975: Education for handicap children was founded.
1980: Proposed curriculum reform and to learn about communities.
1990: Teachers lost support and took charge.
2002: Technology entered that classroom and there was reconstruction.
