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Marie Clay was a researcher and author; she was responsible for several important breakthroughs in the area of literacy, particularly in early childhood ("Marie Clay", 2019). Through her research between several universities in New Zealand, she created the literacy processing theory which also lead to her greatest work, Reading Recovery. As Gaffney and Askew point out, her work has been widely accepted throughout North America, Europe, and stretches to most any English-speaking countries (1999).

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Clay's work follows a bit of a Constructionist approach to literacy where it is realized that children construct their own understandings of printed text, they come to the table with varying knowledge and literacy skills, and reading and writing are both reciprocal and interrelated ("Early Literacy Learning", 2019). Later in the School of Teacher Education you will find all these fundamental ideas are present throughout the work of several influential researchers. Prior to this methodology, teachers were merely instructing students on phonics and rote memorization of letter sounds, rather than the holistic approach which allows meaningful engagement with text and promotes deeper understanding of vocabulary, use, and better develops fluency (Groff). While this initial approach did develop reading skills, it failed to develop these stronger connections between words and meaning, playing with meaning, and using background knowledge to engage with text at a deeper level. Her work in the development of Reading Recovery was astounding, as she developed a system that at the first grade level "75% of students... can meet grade-level expectations in reading and writing," after this 12-week intervention program ("Basic Facts", 2019). Her work in intervention and literacy development has helped keep students on track for decades, is still widely used in the modern day, and has taken much of a burden off schools with struggling readers.

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Askew, B. J., & Gaffney, J. S. (1999). Stirring the waters: The influence of Marie Clay. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Basic Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://readingrecovery.org/reading-recovery/teaching-children/basic-facts/

Early Literacy Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://readingrecovery.org/reading-recovery/teaching-children/early-literacy-learning/

Groff, P. (n.d.). Teaching Children to Memorize Words: An Unnecessary Evil. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from http://www.nrrf.org/old/85_memorize.html

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The National School Lunch Act of 1946 is a "permanent status" (Gunderson, 2017) act that allows funding for school lunches - this includes free and reduced lunches, and has now spanned to some free and reduced school breakfasts as well. This is an act that is funded by the Federal government and is based on the number of school children within the state that are between the ages of 5 and 17, and the need of the state for such funds (Gunderson, 2017).

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This act not only helps starving children ensure that they have at least one meal per day, it also greatly increases the cognitive awareness and development of students who are allowed to utilize this program. According to the Food and Research Action Center, "Children and adolescents experiencing hunger have lower math scores and poorer grades" (2019). Children who experience hunger also have "behavioral and attention problems more often than other children" (FRAC, 2019). The National School Lunch Act has not only allowed these children sometimes what is their only meal of the day, but also given them the necessary nutrition that will help them better focus in class and experience more of the opportunity for achievement that their classmates are afforded. This is just one of the many steps toward an equal education that we strive for in this country.

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Benefits of School Lunch. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2019, from http://www.frac.org/programs/national-school-lunch-program/benefits-school-lunch

Gunderson, G. (2017, February 24). National School Lunch Act. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp/history_5#natact

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Compulsory education laws began in Massachusetts in 1852. All states followed suit thereafter, and what this meant was students were required to attend primary schools where they were taught arithmetic and literacy. Prior to these laws according to the Home School Legal Defense Association, most schools were run by private churches (2019). Not every student was required to attend school, and most children underwent apprenticeships through their parents, either learning skilled labor from their father or home keeping skills from their mother.

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Prior to compulsory education laws, children were often taught through apprenticeship from their parents and were merely pigeonholed into doing what their parents had done and their parents had done, etc. Education, which was private and mostly funded by churches, was left to the offspring of the wealthy who could afford tuition for their children (Blumenfeld, 2005). The disparity in literacy alone between the wealthy and skilled laborers due to lack of education allowed many opportunities for the wealthy to take advantage, as evinced by well-known monopolists such as Rockefeller, Carnegie, and many gold-mining operations. However, there has always been a debate as to the balance of compulsory education laws. On one hand, the forced education of students is allowing them opportunity to move beyond simply what their families have done for years. On the other hand, it is pulling them away from apprenticeships that could benefit them and generate much more wealth in the future (Ogbu, 1992). Whatever side of the fence one may lie on, it is clear to see why these laws are among the most influential - education is required for all children regardless of race, gender, social status, or religion and this has greatly changed the dynamics of education in the United States. We must not only develop organizations to ensure students are attending school, but we must also fund public schools, provide access to students, provide transportation, etc. The requirement of students to be in school also allows more access to the public to children who may be endangered in their home lives. There are lists and lists of how this act alone influenced education in the U.S.

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Blumenfeld, S. (2005). Before Compulsory Education: The Private Academies. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://www.home-school.com/Articles/before-compulsory-education-the-private-academies.php

Compulsory Attendance. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://hslda.org/content/docs/nche/Issues/S/State_Compulsory_Attendance.asp

Ogbu, J. (1992). Understanding Cultural Diversity and Learning. Educational Researcher, 21(8), 5-24. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1176697

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The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was basically a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This act was reinstated by George W. Bush, and under this law states are required to test students from grades 3-8 and again throughout high school. The aims of the NCLB was to "close student achievement gaps by providing all children with a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education" ("Elementary and Secondary", 2011). However, the methodology as outlined within the legislation has been heavily debated and caused many issues within the school system. The test has been criticized for being racially unjust, harmful to students achievement, and not properly used to hold accountability ("How Standardized Testing", 2012).

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The atmosphere within the classroom during the second half of the year in public schools is vastly different than the first half, and a lot of this is due to NCLB. Teachers must often begin "direct[ing] instruction toward the body of knowledge or skills that a test represents," (Popham, 2001) and are praised for doing so. Prior to such formalized testing, teachers could focus more on where their students had the most need, rather than spending hours on proper testing skills and the specific language and knowledge used within the tests. Imagine a classroom where the second half of the year was spent on interesting topics spanning across various genres rather than teaching students how to properly fill in bubbles and what kinds of questions are intentionally worded to trip them up (which is setting them up to fail). Another severe argument against the NLCB is in the testing itself, where "students from low-income and minority-group backgrounds, English language learners, and students with disabilities, are more likely to be denied diplomas, retained in grade, placed in a lower track, or unnecessarily put in remedial education programs," ("How Standardized Testing", 2007). It can be argued for this reason that students in low-income areas and students with disabilities experienced the greatest change in their educational development through this act.
However, whether one is for or against the NCLB, there is absolutely no doubt that it marked a drastic change in the way schools operate. Thanks to incentives along the lines of better school funding due to better test scores, the concepts of teaching to the test and ignoring certain curriculum that would otherwise be engaging and beneficial to the students. This act sparked wide debate and criticism, and caused a change in curriculum throughout the United States on top of all the above changes made.

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How Standardized Testing Damages Education (Updated July 2012). (2007, August 28). Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://fairtest.org/how-standardized-testing-damages-education-pdf

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. (2011, January 27). Retrieved February 10, 2019, from http://www.k12.wa.us/esea/NCLB.aspx

Popham, W. (2001, March). Teaching to the Test? Retrieved February 10, 2019, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar01/vol58/num06/Teaching-to-the-Test¢.aspx

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This seems like a bit of a silly description to write, as it is difficult for anyone to not know who the 96.4 billionaire is (Google Facts, 2019). However, aside from his founding of the Microsoft empire, he has proven himself to be an active voice in the realm of education where he often publishes articles, discussed various issues with political influencers, and even funds education legislation through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As Fenn (2018) states, "The Gates Foundation spent about $44 million focused on the 2015 federal education law called the Every Student Succeeds Act. The law gives states flexibility to create their own education system framework defining what a "good school" is — and in turn states get federal dollars for complying with their own rules." And this is just one of the educational reform structures Gates is tied to.

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Bill Gates is not only an amazingly successful entrepreneur, founder of several non-profit organizations, and a public speaker - he is also a public influence and a celebrity. His voice on any issues stretches far and wide, and with his largely funded nonprofit organization, he is attractive to many people fighting for change. As spoken from his speech at The Council of Great City Schools in 2017, "Melinda and I made public education our top priority in the U.S. because we wanted to do something about the disparity in achievement and postsecondary success for students of color and low-income students." His organization continues to provide valuable resources through research, grant funding, and educational partnerships.
Gates states, "In 2007, we began investing in the Measures of Effective Teaching project. Over the last decade, it has contributed important knowledge to the field about how to gather feedback from students on their engagement and classroom learning experiences," a crucial resource for teachers to utilize, creating a more inclusive and effective classroom environment (2017). In this 2017 speech, Gates also announced his organization "expect[s] to invest close to $1.7 billion in U.S. public education over the next five years," the largest single chunk of philanthropic funding to the U.S. education system currently. His role is crucial in development of schools and speaking out for those who need a voice, and this is why he remains so influential and will continue to hold this title.

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Fenn, L. (2018, May 16). AP Analysis Shows How Bill Gates Influences Education Policy. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2018-05-16/bill-gates-gives-44m-to-states-navigating-new-education-law

Gates, B. (2017, October 19). Our education efforts are evolving. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://www.gatesnotes.com/Education/Council-of-Great-City-Schools