History of Education

Final Exam Study Guide

Progressive Education

A student-centered approach to learning that emphasizes critical thinking, problem-solving, and experiential/active learning. Founded by John Dewey.

New England Primer

The first reading primer designed for American Colonies, used to teach literacy and moral lessons.

Land-grant institutions

Colleges established under the Morrill Acts to focus on agriculture, science, and engineering.

Head Start

A federal program in 1965 providing early education, nutrition, and parental involvement for low-income families.

Dame schools

Early colonial home-based schools run by women that taught basic literacy and religion.

Bray schools

Religious schools established under Dr. Bray to educate enslaved and free Black children in colonial America.

Kindergarten

A German concept for early childhood education that emphasizes play-based learning.

Native American Boarding Schools

Government-sponsored schools that aimed to assimilate Native American children and erase their cultural identities.

Common school movement

A 19th-century push led by Horace Mann for publicly funded schools for all children regardless of background

University of Delaware

Established as Newark College in 1834, renamed University of Delaware in 1921 when it merged with Women’s College of Delaware and became co-ed.

Tuskegee Institude

Founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881 and provided vocational education for Black Americans.

Title I

A federal program that provides financial assistance to low-income families, established in 1965.

Northern Education

Prioritized public schooling and had a lot of schools funded by local taxes.

Southern Education

Focused on private schooling, much more restricted and fewer schools.

The Great Society

Lyndon B. Johnson’s set of programs in the 1960’s aimed at eliminating poverty and racial injustice, including educational reforms.

The Lost Cause

A Southern narrative that romanticized the Confederacy and downplayed slavery’s role in the Civil War.

The Souls of Black Folk

W.E.B. Du Bois’ seminal work in 1903 that advocates for higher education for Black Americans and equality.

Community college

Two-year institutions that offer accessible, affordable education.

Hornbooks

Early educational tools used to teach children basic literacy.

Colonial Period

Education was limited and mostly religious and informal, included dame schools and the New England Primer.

Revolutionary period

Emphasis on civic virtue and Enlightenment ideals; early calls for public education.P

Post-Civil War

Freedmen’s schools, reconstruction reforms, and debates over vocational vs. academic education for Black Americans.

Modern Period

Spanning 20th century reforms like desegregation, the rise of federal involvement, and changes in curriculum and policy.G

Great Depression

Funding cuts for education, rise in federal aid and New Deal programs, schools struggled to operate.

1940’s education

WWII shifted focus from education, women entered the workforce.

1950’s education

Suburbanization and Cold War fears, emphasis on science/math education, Brown v. Board of Education.

1960’s education

Civil Rights era, elementary and secondary education act and head start expanded federal roles.

1970’s education

Focused on equity; Title IX, bilingual education, and disability rights legislation.

Massachusetts School Law (1642-1647)

Required towns to ensure children were educated.

Old Deluder Satan Act (1647)

Required towns to establish schools to prevent Satan.

Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge (1779)

Proposed public education in Virginia to promote civic responsibility.

The Kalamazoo Decision (1874)

Court ruling that upheld tax-supported high schools and legitimized public secondary education.

Lemon Grove Incident (1931)

First successful school desegregation case in the U.S., involving Mexican American students in California.B

rown v. Board of Education (1954)

Landmark decision declaring racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Civil Rights Act (1964)

Prohibited discrimination in schools receiving federal funding; enforced school desegregation.

Economic Opportunity Act (1964)

Created programs like Head Start to combat poverty through education and job training.

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965)

A central part of the war on poverty that aimed to close achievement gaps.

Lau v. Nichols (1974)

Supreme Court case ruling that non-English-speaking students must be given equal language access.

Milliken v. Bradley (1974)

Limited desegregation efforts across district lines unless intentional segregation was proven.

Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975)

Guaranteed a free, appropriate public education for children with disabilities.J

John Dewey

Leader of progressive education who emphasized experiential learning and democracy in classrooms.F

Horace Mann

Father of the Common School Movement, championed public education reform in Massachusetts.L

Louisa May Alcott

Author of Little Women and educator who advocated for women’s rights.

Benjamin Franklin

Advocated for practical education and founded academies emphasizing science and civic knowledge.W

W.E.B. Du Bois

Sociologist and educator who opposed the vocational model and promoted higher education for Black Americans.R

Robert Carter III

Early anti-slavery advocate and education supporter in Virginia.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Author of the Little House books, which reflect rural education and pioneer life. Taught at 15 years old.

William Berkeley

Governor of colonial Virginia who opposed mass education as a threat to hierarchy.C

Calvin H. Wiley

Led efforts to establish public education in North Carolina and became first superintendent of public instruction there.

Thomas Jefferson

Advocated for free public education to safeguard democracy.

Juliette Gordon Low

Founded the Girl Scouts and emphasized leadership and education for girls.

John Chavis

First African American to attend college in the U.S., educated Black and white students in the South.

Mildred D. Taylor

Author of children’s books about African American life like Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

Friedrich Froebel

Creator of the kindergarten model.

Richard Wright

Author who wrote about racial inequality and educational barriers for African Americans.

John Edward Roach

Involved in scandal at University of Delaware, victim of the unsolved murder in Harrington.

Philip Vickers Fithian

Well-known tutor in colonial Virginia who wrote diaries about his experiences.

Sally Hemings

Enslaved woman at Monticello who had children with Thomas Jefferson.

Sherman Alexie

Native American author whose work explores Indigenous education and identity.A

Abigail Adams

Advocate for women’s education, urged her husband John Adams to remember the ladies.B

Booker T. Washington

Founded the Tuskegee Institude and emphasized vocational education for Black Americans.

Amos Bronson Alcott

Progressive educator who believed in child-centered education.

Ella Flagg Young

First female superintendent of a major U.S. school system (Chicago) who followed John Dewey’s ideology.

Dorothea Dix

Advocated for the education and humane treatment of people with mental illness.

Washington Irving

American writer whose stories were used in 19th-century readers.

Mary McLeod Bethune

Educator and civil rights leader, founded Bethune-Cookman University (school for Black Girls)

Ketanji Brown Jackson

Current Black Supreme Court Justice, symbol of educational progress and representation.

John Holt

Educational reformer and critic of traditional schooling, advocated for unschooling and homeschooling.

rederick Douglass

Formerly enslaved abolitionist who valued literacy and education as tools of freedom.

Raymond Moore

Early homeschooling advocate who emphasized family-led education.

Quakers

Advocated early for education of women and minorities, founded many schools.Ca

Catholics

Established parochial schools in response to Protestant-dominated public schools.