Themes in American Education
History of Education and Childhood
This extensive site is maintained by Nijmegen University in the Netherlands. It contains a large section on the history of education in the U.S. that includes links to nearly every topic covered in this chapter.
Library of Congress
The resources available from the Library of Congress web site include Thomas, the source for legislative information, and American Memories, a multimedia historical collection which includes a great deal of school-related information. There is also a special teachers’ area to explore.
Bibliography of the History of American Education
This site, arranged by historical period, links you to in-depth readings on several of the topics discussed in this chapter.
History of American Education Web Project
This site is arranged chronologically and contains information about six major periods of U.S. educational history, as well as links to other history of education sites.
America at School
View videos of students American elementary and high schools during the early 20th century, at this site from the American Memories collection of the Library of Congress.
120 Years of Education in America: A Statistical Portrait
This publication from the National Center for Education Statistics uses statistics to show you some of the ways American education changed between the 1870s and early 1990s when the report was published.
Elementary Education
Blackwell History of Education Museum
The Blackwell Museum, located at Northern Illinois University, is dedicated to promoting interest in the history of American education. Their website contains information on one-room schools, cool artifacts, neat books, and more.
19th Century Schoolbooks
Examine full-text editions of McGuffey readers and Noah Webster’s spelling book, among other books, at this site.
Colonial Schools
This is a collection of original writings from colonial Americans regarding schooling. It includes letters back and forth between a father and son at college, Benjamin Franklin’s description of his days at school, and more.
Lessons of a Century
At the turn of the new century, Education Week published this series of articles looking at U.S. education from 1900 to 2000.
Secondary Education
High School: The Shifting Mission
This 2001 special report collection of articles from Education Week about U.S. high schools today found them still coping with some of the questions they have faced throughout their history.
Middleweb
This site is all about the current status and future of middle and junior high schools.
Private Education
National Association of Independent Schools
This organization represents over 1000 independent schools and associations in the U.S. and abroad.
National Association of Private Schools
This group is dedicated to improving the quality of Christian private schools.
National Catholic Education Association
This organization serves Catholic schools, the largest group of religious schools.
Education of Minorities
African American Education Photos
Education reformer Jackson Davis took these photos to demonstrate the wretched conditions of education faced by African American children in the Southeastern U.S. during the first half of the twentieth century.
The Talented Tenth
This 1903 article by W.E.B. DuBois details his emphasis on educating the most gifted African American students.
Brown v Board of Education Tutorial
PBS has produced a short tutorial relating the concerns of Thomas Jefferson to the Supreme Court’s ruling against racially segregated schools in Brown v. Board of Education.
Desegregation
The weekly online publication, Education Week, has compiled this "hot topic" summary of information and resources related to school desegregation.
Rethinking Schools
The Fall 2001 issue of this publication contains a special report examining recent trends in school desegregation.
Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Provides a close-up view of the workings of one boarding school that aimed, from 1879 to 1918, to "Americanize" Native American children.
Native American Education: Documents from the 19th Century
This is a comprehensive look at the attempts made in the late 1800s to "civilize" Native American children through education.
An Indian Boy’s Story
This is an autobiographical account written by Ah-nen-la-de-ni, who came to be named Daniel LaFrance, about his "reeducation" in an "Indian institution" in the 1800s.
Bilingual Education: The Controversy
In this 1998 article from the Phi Delta Kappan, Mark Rothstein examines the use of English-only or bilingual programs in the 1800s and draws suggestions for helping today’s children who do not speak English as a first language.
Japanese-American Internment
This Internet Guide from the National Clearinghouse for U.S.-Japan Studies offers links to several sites that offer information or online exhibitions about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, including "Dear Miss Breed," a collection of letters to a librarian from children in the camps, and links to information for teachers who would like students to learn about this period of U.S. history.
