History and Evolution of the U.S. Education System

Introduction: Decentralization and the Constitutional Basis of U.S. Education

All significant approaches to educational development are multi-faceted endeavors involving many aspects, decisions, dimensions, and alternatives that must be carefully considered. Since education is a sector that brings many people in society together, any alternatives arrived at should be agreed upon by the majority, with common ground reached. Because education also operates at different levels in society, the alternatives chosen must be consistent with and aligned to decisions made at other levels. While the federal government has a significant influence on education, education as far as policy and implementation is concerned is highly decentralized in the United States (Barnhardt, 1981).

The United States Constitution's Tenth Amendment provides that all powers not explicitly delegated by the Constitution to the United States, or not prohibited by the Constitution to the states, shall be reserved to the people and the states. Education, being one of these matters, allows states to wield considerable power over schooling and educational systems. The federal government does not provide a national framework for education, nor does it hold general authority over the creation and execution of educational policy at the state level. It does not license schools or establish them. Nonetheless, the federal government still plays an important role in education in several key areas (Spellings, 2005).

The decentralization of the United States education system can be explained by America's history. The United States was founded from separate colonies begun by various European settlers. These colonies tended to have different systems of governance that also covered different ways of administering education. The original United States was founded from thirteen former British colonies. Depending on the colony in question, either the local community or the colonial government was responsible for educating its children and adults. Since communities and colonial governments had different priorities, needs, and values, the education systems they used were structurally and systematically different from those used in other places. Education was highly localized. Such a history of localization helps explain how states still maintain significant control over education policy and the establishment of educational systems in the United States (Spellings, 2005).

Creation of the American Education System

America's public education system was founded around 1840. The image shared of the American populace before that time was of a largely illiterate people, though it is unclear whether this image is entirely accurate. Regardless, it appears that society will rarely leave a vacuum when it comes to education — one way or another, communities find ways to impart knowledge. Before 1840, American communities used decentralized, informal education systems. Children were educated in charity schools run by benevolent groups, churches, and town councils. Alongside charity schools, there were also dame schools run out of homes by women, female seminaries, grammar schools, independent day schools, and academies (Lattier, 2016).

For most of human history, learning was conducted at home. Children were taught by their parents and grandparents, and wealthier families brought in experienced tutors with specialized knowledge. In America, the Puritans were the first to advocate for some form of public education. The public schools they created extended their lessons beyond the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic to include important ideas that helped children form core values. Following the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson argued that America should have a structured educational system funded by taxation. His ideas were not acted upon immediately, and it would take nearly a century before a system was put in place.

By around 1840, a limited number of public schools had been established in various communities, though only those communities that could afford them did so. Even these schools were deemed inadequate by persistent crusaders of formal education such as Henry Barnard of Connecticut and Horace Mann of Massachusetts. These reformers began pushing for the establishment of free and compulsory schools for all of America's children (Watson, 2019).

In 1852, Massachusetts became the first jurisdiction to pass a law making school attendance compulsory. New York followed within a year. By 1918, all children in America were required to have at least some elementary school education. This period of dramatic change was followed by another revolutionary era that campaigned for equal schooling for all American children regardless of race. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Southern states still maintained segregated schools. The Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court ruling of 1896 upheld that segregation in public schools was legal. This was later overturned by the same Court in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education, which ended segregation in public schools and made them open to all children regardless of race (Watson, 2019).

Formal education — defined as the learning of academic concepts and facts through a well-defined curriculum — has existed since ancient Greece, when thinkers examined various topics through structured learning channels. Just three centuries ago, only a small percentage of the population could read and write, and education was largely available only to the higher classes who had the means and leisure to pursue it. The establishment of a capitalist system brought significant changes to society's economic and social dynamics, making education more of a necessity. As education became more necessary, more families educated their children, and capitalism also made schooling more accessible and affordable for the general population. Canada and the United States were among the first countries to approach the ideal of universal education, achieving this around 1900, while much of the world had not yet embraced that concept. Universal education therefore remains relatively young globally, and some parts of the world have not yet achieved it (Little, 2014).

No Child Left Behind: The Beginning of a New Era

One of the most significant landmark pieces of legislation in United States education history is the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The aim of the legislation was to drastically improve student achievement and markedly alter America's school culture. It was a bipartisan effort supported by both the Democratic and Republican parties, and it was signed into law on January 8, 2002 by President George W. Bush. A key provision of the law was the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the main federal law overseeing the education of children from kindergarten through high school. The amendment to the ESEA overhauled various federal efforts in support of secondary and elementary education. It required states to establish accountability systems ensuring that resources used to improve education were accessible to every child in the state — a basic requirement for receiving federal educational aid (Spellings, 2005).

Conclusion

Education reform in the United States has consistently been informed by the recognition that, beyond being a private good, education is a formidable public good. The United States benefits greatly from having a well-educated population. Governments have also appreciated that while public funding of education is beneficial, its provision should be local and responsive to community needs. This approach has resulted in increased efficiencies at various levels within the education sector. Without monopolizing the delivery of education, the federal government has been able to support competitive and diverse educational offerings, including targeted programs for special populations and minorities in need (Tooley, 2014).