Reforms+of+1800-1850+Documents







Education Reform Document A: (downloadable version: ) Education Reform Timeline from Mass.gov **1800 ‐First private school for blacks** After failing to move the legislature to extend public education to black children, Prince Hall invites black families to start a private school in his home. **1810 ‐ School Districts Grow in Influence** School districts supported with local taxes grow in independence from the control of state government. **1817 ‐ 1st School of Law** The creation of professional training programs such as Harvard Law School starts to refocus higher education from its orientation toward literature and classic languages. **1821 ‐// First Free High School //** Boston English School provides instruction in no language other than English. Its curriculum emphasizes math, logic, science and history with the goal of professional preparation. **1825 ‐ 1st High School for Girls** Boston starts the first high school for girls. **1825 ‐ Amherst College** The Legislature charters Amherst College in 1825. This further exemplifies the role played by religious institutions in promoting higher education. **1827 ‐ Education laws** Towns with more than 500 families are required to provide public English high schools. **1829 ‐ First School for the Blind in America** The Perkins School for the Blind, originally called the New England Asylum for the Blind, extends education to the disabled. **1837 ‐ First permanent women's college** Mary Lyons establishes the Mount Holyoke Seminary for women. By this time there are already 120 colleges for men in the United States; by then Harvard College is over 200 years old. **1837 ‐ First Board of Education in US** Horace Mann doubles state funding to education and teacher salaries. Fifty new high schools are built, along with formal teacher training programs and school district libraries. **1839 ‐ First State School for Teachers** Three young women report to a school in Lexington a state operated teacher training program. **1852 ‐ School Attendance Law** It requires children between ages eight and fourteen to attend three months of school. Towns rarely enforced this rule, but it popularizes the norm of schooling.