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Issued in 1785 and 1787, these ordinances concerned the sale of public lands in the Northwest territory. Every township was divided into 36 sections, one of which was set aside for the maintenance of public schools, illustrating how, although the Constitution places education under states' domain, the initial push for public schools came from the federal government. In the later ordinance, Congress encouraged schools and education by declaring religion, morality, and knowledge as being necessary for good governance and human happiness.

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In 1896, the US Supreme Court upheld that "separate, but equal" institutions for African American individuals were constitutional. Initially applied to public transportation, this ruling was extended to justify segregation of the public school system, too. This federal sanction of the legal separation of African American children from white children lasted for 58 years, until Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

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The first Morrill Act granted each state a minimum of 30,000 acres of federal land with the proviso that the income from the rent/sale of the lands is used to establish colleges for the study of agriculture and mechanical arts. The resulting land-grant institutions became multipurpose universities that still enroll hundreds of thousands of students from all walks of life.
The second Morrill Act increased the endowment to the original land-grant colleges, but forbade the granting of funds to any college with an admissions policy that discriminated against nonwhites, unless a separate facility existed for African Americans nearby. This act resulted in the creation of countless 1890 Institutions for the education of African Americans, which are still in operation today, although they are now integrated.

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The Progressive Education Association was created to reform education according to principles such as the belief that the child should have the freedom to develop naturally; natural interest is the best motive for work; the teacher is a guide, not a dictator; the student's development should be measured scientifically, not just by grades, etc. Progressive education principles are beginning to come back into prominence in public school classrooms, and many of our common teaching methods ie. field trips, student projects, and non-lecture teaching were initially implemented by progressive educators.

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Jr. High originally encompassed grades 7, 8, and 9, while later Middle Schools encompassed grades 6, 7, and 8, which is a configuration still practiced today. These schools provided an environment for students to explore early adolescence away from elementary school, while still not yet focusing on the college prep aspects of high school. These schools, even in modern America, place strong emphasis on personal development and growth.

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Known as "Children's Garden," these were schools where pleasant children's activities such as songs and stories were used to lay the foundation before formal education began. In modern America, preschools now come before kindergarten, as parents and educators believe that the cultivation of a child's mind needs to begin as early as possible so that they may be successful in their personal and public lives.

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In 1974, the US Supreme Court ruled that schools must offer students sufficient special instruction in order to be afforded equal educational opportunity. In the case of ELL, the Supreme Court found that many minority students were being withheld from effective education offered by the school district because of their inability to understand the English language. Therefore, the district must take affirmative steps to rectify the students' language deficiency so that the instructional program may be opened to ELL. The guidelines from this ruling included those such as students being taught in their home language until they could benefit from English instruction. These guidelines later interacted with NCLB, which allowed for ELL to take standardized tests in their native language for a given amount of time.

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The creation of the public high school was controversial because many Americans believed that secondary education was a luxury that should not be paid for by public taxes. The Kalamazoo case killed this argument, ruling that the school district could tax the public in order to support both high schools and elementary schools. This ruling set the precedent for funding public high schools, and, as we have learned, the financing of public schools is a hot-button topic in America to this day!

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Following the American Revolution, demands for free elementary education provided the basis for free secondary education as being necessary for a sustainable democracy. Public high schools enabled members of the poor working classes to achieve an education even though they had been excluded from academies due to tuition rates. The creation of the public high school was vital, as it is still one of the most prevalent forms of schooling today for the average American.

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In this reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, money was provided for extra educational assistance to low-income schools in return for academic improvements. In order to receive funding, states had to establish learning standards, create annual assessments to ensure students were meeting their standards, create cut-offs which dictated proficiency in a given tested area, and report to the public what percentage of students are proficient, broken down by race, income, disability, language proficiency, and gender.
I placed NCLB as number 5 on my list because it is still in the public eye of education to this day! The measures that states had to take in order to receive funding to increase educational assistance such as standardized testing, etc. are still practiced in current schools. Furthermore, its call for scientifically proven instructional methods and curriculum changed the content and manner in which that content is taught, making it very significant to modern education.
Even its shortcomings were significant. Although it became unworkable, NCLB revealed the persisting achievement gaps in American education, which spurred the creation of the ESSA, which is still in effect.

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English grammar schools were a form of secondary education in the latter part of the colonial period that provided practical alternative education for students who were not interested in attending college. The classes offered were at varying times and places, and covered subjects such as book-keeping, navigation, engineering, etc. Even some subjects that weren't practical, such as music, art, and dancing were taught to train students for polite socializing. These were the first secondary schools to accept women into their institutions.
I chose these schools as number 4 on my list because they successfully diversified the curriculum offered to students from being strictly religious to being practical and commercial, which is something that modern schools are trying to refocus on, preparing their students for contributing to society in a practical manner! The fact that vocational schools, which provide practical skills to students who don't wish to attend college, are coming back to the forefront of public life in modern America illustrates the influence that English grammar schools had on overall education.

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Common schools were public elementary schools that were open to children of all classes. During the 19th century in America, common schools became the embodiment of universal education, which was the idea that elementary education should be provided for free, at public expense and under public control, for everyone who could not afford/did not want private schooling.
I placed the common school as number 3 on my list because they were vital to the proliferation of education for all classes in America, not just the elite classes. Arguments in favor of common schools claimed that a democracy could only survive as long as its people were capable of making informed decisions, which is one of the main motivations of schools today, to shape children into good citizens! Furthermore, the arguments in favor of the common school and universal education were revived by civil rights activists in their fight for equal education for all races and genders, not just classes.

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2. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

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2. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

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In 1954, the United States Supreme Court ruled that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal in nature; therefore, laws requiring white and nonwhite students to attend separate schools are unconstitutional and illegal. The Supreme Court ruled that the effects of education in white and nonwhite schools were different, therefore they were not equal. This ruling introduced a new component into educational opportunity, wherein the equality of educational opportunity became defined in terms of the effect of the education rather than its provision.
I place this event as number 2 in my list because it is arguably the most famous event in American educational history. Also, the integration of African Americans into previously segregated schools was one of the most significant steps toward true equality of educational opportunity, which is a goal that we are still pursuing in modern schooling.

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A Massachusetts law passed in 1647, the Old Deluder Satan Act required every town of 50 or more families to pay a teacher to instruct their children in reading and writing in order to read the Bible. The schools created by this act were known as Town Schools.
This act is number 1 on my ranking because it set the first precedent for institutionalized education in the United States of America. With the new Town Schools, America created the precedent that if parents would not or could not educate their own children, the government was obligated to take on that responsibility. Without this initial step taken to set up institutions for the education of children, the rest of the items on the ranking list would not have happened when they did.