Previous posts on this issue can be found here, here, here, here, and here. This post continues the discussion of the history of public education in America.
The seventh trend was the centralizing of the control of schooling. The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reserves to the states all powers not specifically delegated to the national government. Therefore, the responsibility for education has usually fallen on the states. However, that has not totally kept the federal government uninvolved.
In the Northwest Ordinance of 1785, Congress reserved land for public schools in each township of the new territory. In 1867, Congress authorized a Department of Education whose purpose was to collect and disseminate information on education. About a year later it was abolished and its functions transferred to a new Office of Education in the Department of the Interior. In 1953, this office became part of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In 1979, Congress made the Department of Education an executive department administered by a cabinet level secretary. This department oversees federal support, research programs, and information sharing. It oversees a number of financial-aid programs. For colleges and universities, the department provides money for programs in international studies, adult education courses, grants to improve instruction, assistance in building facilities, and financial aid to students. It also enforces civil rights and conducts research and gathers educational information.
In 1837, the first public school superintendent was appointed for Buffalo, New York. Beginning in the 1870’s, many local school boards were replaced by central boards of education. Supervisory positions in the schools increased as well and the supervisory function was in large part separated from teaching. Curriculum, schedules, and standards were increasingly dealt with by those in supervisory positions. Also, in 1874, the Michigan Supreme court ruled that communities could use property taxes to support schools. By 1900 the superintendent was commonly regarded as the most influential figure in elementary and secondary education. The consolidation of power continued throughout the 20th century. In 1900 more than 100,000 school districts existed in the U.S. By 1960 the number had fallen to about 40,000, and by the mid-1980’s it had been further reduced to fewer than 16,000.
Early in the twentieth century, foundations such as the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching began to set national standards for curriculum, student promotion and graduation. These were non-enforceable, but many schools adopted them in order to obtain grants from the foundation. National testing organizations also came into existence.
Following the Great Depression, there was more dependence on the government for nearly everything. The Supreme Court played an important role in educational policy from 1940 on as many social issues concerning education were decided. In 1958, the National Defense Education Act provided federal funds for education in an attempt to close the scientific gap between America and the Soviet Union following Sputnik. In 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed. This act provided federal money to school districts with large numbers of disadvantaged students and defined further federal involvement in public education as well as setting the stage for many people’s expectations of federal involvement in education. In this act public schools were officially designated as agencies of the federal government for national defense and national welfare.
Educational funds administered by the states now came under the control of the federal government. The federal government was given the right to determine the nature, extent, and time of education.
To be continued…
