The purpose of the creation of this timeline is to provide a perspective of the past for educators to understand how curriculum development has been impacted by a wide variety of factors throughout history.
Efforts to shape the curriculum for basic education. Push to use scientific knowledge in making decisions about school mission and curriculum content. The educational influences of this era were both academic and scientific.
The Committee of Ten was a working group of educators that, in 1892, created a report recommending the standardization of American high school curriculum. The report recommended twelve years of education: eight years of elementary education followed by four years of high school. It was also recommended that students be taught English, mathematics, and history or civics every year during high school and that colleges offer subject-education courses to better prepare teachers
Significant for pedagogy and curriculum development. He argued for a child-centered curriculum that builds on what the child instinctively knows. Believed that the common school was the key to human advancement.
At the Superintendence meeting, Colonel Francis Weyland Parker introduced the motion which established the Committee of Fifteen on Elementary Education. Parker hoped that the Committee of Fifteen would revise the elementary curriculum as the Committee of Ten was revising the high school curriculum. When the five members of the nominating committee were added to the 10 original members, the group became the Committee of Fifteen. "The ultimate impact of the Committee of Fifteen report was to sustain a somewhat fragmented and subject-centered curriculum."
Provided intellectual support for a rational world view (Problems could be solved by a rational application of the scientific processes).
President of Harvard University. Made specific recommendations for a sound academic curriculum in elementary, secondary, and higher education.
It was charted by an act of Congress in 1906, the same year the Foundation encouraged the adoption of a standard system for equating "seat time" (the amount of time spent in a class) to high school credits. Still in use today, this system came to be called the "Carnegie Unit."
Founded and directed a college-preparatory school in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky In 1908, he wrote The American College: A Criticism which sparked the Carnegie Foundation to commission an in-depth evaluation into 155 colleges and universities across the United States and Canada. Another piece, the Flexner Report, published in 1910, that started the reform of medical education in the United States and Canada. As a result, most rural medical institutions were closed
became the first female superintendent of a large city school system (Chicago Public Schools). In 1910, she is elected president of the National Education Association.
Authorized by the Columbus Ohio School Board in an effort to improve high school graduation rates, the Indianola Junior High School opens in fall of 1909 and becomes the first junior high school in the U.S.
The first Montessori school in the U.S. opens in Tarrytown, New York.
His interests focused on childhood development and evolutionary theory. For example: Hall observed that males tend to have an increase in sensation seeking and aggression during adolescence. He believed that the task of the school was to the students' evolutionary social changes through the nurturing of the gifted students while providing them with an opportunity to grow through individualized activities.
Written by John Dewey, who is known for "experimental education." One point made within the book is that an educator must take into account the uniqueness of each student. Each student is different in terms of past experiences. "Even when a standard curricula is presented using established pedagogical methods, each students will have a different quality of experience. Thus, teaching and curriculum must be designed in ways that allow for such individual differences."
This era lasted from 1917 to 1940. This era in education is depicted by two different views in education. One view was progressive with a child centered orientation. While the other view was a functional approach.
John Dewey had a strong belief in democracy. His point of view created a prevailing society through diversity. Dewey did not advocate for "mindless centered" activities. He believed desired learning experiences had to meet specific criteria. Dewey saw learning as a form or organic interactions.
The child-centered curriculum was promoted by Dewey. While functionalism was promoted by Bobbitt.
Bobbitt is a curriculum theorist whom believed curriculum was whatever was needed to promote learning. Bobbitt believed in a scientific approach to matching the activity to a specific outcome.
Due to the increase in enrollment secondary schools changes were needed. The commission was appointed to provide recommendations. Democracy was a guiding force for education in the United States. Seven Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education were developed.
The Twenty-Sixth Yearbook was a compilation of all the experts in the field of education. It brought a consensus by experts on two major issues in education.
1941-1956 was a transition period. The United States was involved in World War 2 and the Cold War. It was also a time of racial unrest and desegregation. It was the beginning of the atomic age. Americans were trying to live lives of quiet conformity through these turbulent times.
Racial tension, social unrest, and desegregation formed this era as well.
It was a time of war. 1941 World War 2
World War 2: What was happening in the US?
The Cold War was a state of political hostility between the US and Soviet Union characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare. The state of political hostility that existed between the Soviet bloc countries and the US-led Western powers from 1945 to 1990.
Cold War
Schools were being desegregated and many people were unhappy about this. African Americans were being put through some violent and difficult times.
During this time here was a keen interest in developmental stages and abilities. There were also pressures on schools to take responsibility for helping children to conform to existing societal norms. There was an emphasis on functional outcomes such as practical skills and knowledge that had immediate value for the student.
Ralph Tyler was a research director of the "Eight-Year Study" to evaluate and systematize the efforts of progressive schools. The results of the study came down to 4 issues: Identifying objectives, Selecting the means for attaining those objectives, organizing the means, and evaluating the outcomes.
Hollis Caswell 1. He understood the importance of staff development. This included helping teachers understand child development. 2. He believed that teachers should be major players in studying, discussing, and developing curriculum. 3. Through his child development studies he developed organizational structures that took into consideration child interests, social meaning, and subject matter.
The Psychology of Intelligence by Piaget was written in 1950 and presented the nature of intelligence and the child's developmental stages.
The National Education Association published several pieces of work in the 1940s that advocated the school's role for social reconstruction and blueprints for schools. Specifically the Education for All American Youth volume.
In 1957, the Cold War was in a deep freeze! The United States was competing with the Soviet Union for global dominance. This idea, as well as other meaningful events, impacted the education system in America.
The launch of Sputnik sent shockwaves through the American education system, which means only one thing, reform! Scholarly structuralism is aptly named because it is curriculum designed by scholars that follows a step by step process. The dawning of a space and technology era was upon us and the curriculum reflected that thinking, as well. In others words, a step by step teaching process should work with all children, teachers, and circumstances. The federal government funded the development of general curricula created by scholars and delivered in bright, shiny, new packages to teachers. At first, it seemed as though the movement was successful and had great promise. The challenges with this approach were that teachers did not fully accept the instructions from the scholars in how and what to deliver in the classroom and the curriculum seemed federally "progressive" or "liberal" to some.
New Physics course involving discovery and inquiry. (1961)
"Conant Report"- a study about U.S. high schools. It recommended required courses, new rigorous standards for "academically talented" students, and a social studies course to evaluate and discuss the "state of the union".
According to Jerome Bruner, the answer to that question is clear; Education is a Science! It is a transfer of learning in the most efficient way possible.
Joseph Schwab is another leader during this era. He believed that any valid approach to understanding a concept is a good approach.
This publication focused on equal education opportunity. As a response to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it reported on the educational opportunities of students of various races, colors, religions, and national origins.
Flower child, hippies, summer of love. Or should it be fragmentation, upheaval, and society's breaking point?
“People are just as wonderful as sunsets if you let them be. When I look at a sunset, I don't find myself saying, "Soften the orange a bit on the right hand corner." I don't try to control a sunset. I watch with awe as it unfolds.” ― Carl R. Rogers, Way of Being
John Holt... the teacher who didn't believe in teaching.
Crisis in the Classroom
Alternative schools, open classrooms, elective programs
Man: A Course of Study
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