Chapter 7: The History of American Education

National Defense Education Act (NDEA)

Federally sponsored programs (1958) to improve science, math, and foreign language instruction in schools.

in loco parentis

Latin term meaning "in place of the parents"; that is, a teacher or school administrator assumes the duties and responsibilities of the parents during the hours the child attends school.

Old Deluder Satan Law

(1647) Massachusetts colony law requiring teachers in towns of fifty families or more and that schools be built in towns of one hundred families or more. Communities must teach children to read so that they can read the Bible and thwart Satan.

Northwest Ordinance

(1785, 1787) Provided for the sale of federal lands in the Northwest territory to support public schools. Also known as land ordinance

Kalamazoo, Michigan case

A 1874 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the right of states to tax citizens in order to provide public secondary education.

Latin grammar school

A classical secondary school with a Latin and Greek curriculum preparing students for college.

separate but equal

A legal doctrine that holds that equality of treatment is accorded when the races are provided substantially equal facilities, even though those facilities are separate. This doctrine was ruled unconstitutional in regard to race.

Land Ordinance Act

A nineteenth-century federal law that required newly settled territories to reserve a section of land for schools. Also known as northwest ordinance

kindergarten

A preschool, early childhood educational environment first designed by Froebel in the midnineteenth century.

behaviorism

A psychological theory that interprets human behavior in terms of stimuli-response.

common school

A public, tax-supported school. First established in Massachusetts, the school's purpose was to create a common basis of knowledge for children. It usually refers to a public elementary school.

hornbook

A single sheet of parchment containing the Lord's Prayer and letters of the alphabet. It was protected by a thin sheath from the flattened horn of a cow and fastened to a wooden board—hence, the name. It was used during the colonial era in primary schools.

gendered career

A term applied to the gender stereotyping of career and occupational fields. Teaching, for example, was initially gendered male, and today is gendered female, particularly at the elementary school level.

normal schools

A two-year teacher education institution popular in the nineteenth century, many of which were expanded to become today's state colleges and universities.

Plessy v. Ferguson

An 1896 Supreme Court decision that upheld that "separate but equal" was legal and that the races could be segregated. It was overturned in 1954 by Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka.

American Spelling Book

An early elementary textbook written by Noah Webster that focused on the alphabet, grammar, and moral lessons.

elementary school

An educational institution for children in grades 1 through 5, 6, or 8, often including kindergarten.

progressive education

An educational philosophy emphasizing democracy, student needs, practical activities, and school-community relationships.

McGuffey Readers

For almost 100 years, this reading series promoted moral and patriotic messages and set the practice of reading levels leading toward graded elementary schools.

The Old Deluder Satan Law of 1647 required that

Massachusetts provide education for young people so that they would be able to read Scriptures and prepare for university

New England Primer

One of the first textbooks in colonial America, teaching reading and moral messages.

dame schools

Primary schools in colonial and other early periods in which students were taught by untrained women in the women's own homes.

academy

The private or semipublic secondary schools in the United States from 1830 through 1870 that stressed practical subjects.

de jure segregation

The segregation of racial or other groups on the basis of law, policy, or a practice designed to accomplish such separation

de facto segregation

The segregation of racial or other groups resulting from circumstances, such as housing patterns, rather than from official policy or law.

second generation segregation

When a school's multiracial populations are separated through tracking, extracurricular activities, and even in informal social events, the school is considered to be in second generation segregation.