Education Timeline
21st Century (2000-Current)
2000's-2005's
2000 - Diane Ravitch's book, Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms, criticizes progressive educational policies and argues for a more traditional, academically-oriented education.
2001 - The controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is approved by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002.
2002 - the U.S. Supreme court rules that certain school voucher programs are constitutional and do not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
2003 - a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing K-12 online education, is "launched as a formal corporate entity."
2004 - re-authorization also requires school districts to use the Response to Intervention
2005 - In the latest incarnation of the "Monkey Trial," the U.S. District Court of Pennsylvania rules in the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District that teaching "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution is a violation of the First Amendment.
2007's -2015's
2008 - Less than one year after the Virginia Tech massacre, former graduate student Stephen P. Kazmierczak kills five and wounds 17 in a classroom at Northern Illinois University. He later takes his own life.
2009 - The Common Core State Standards Initiative, "a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers," is launched. It is expected that many, perhaps most, states will adopt them.
2010 - New Texas social studies curriculum standards, described by some as “ultraconservative,” spark controversy. Many fear they will affect textbooks and classrooms in other states..
2011 - President Barack Obama announces on September 23 that the U.S. Department of Education is inviting each State educational agency to request flexibility regarding some requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.
2012 - On December 14, Adam Lanza, 20, kills his mother and then invades Sandy Hook Elementary School where he kills 20 children and six adults, including principal Dawn Hochsprung and psychologist Mary Sherlachmaking, making this the second deadliest mass shooting by a single person in U.S. history
2013 - The most recent results of the Program for International Student Assessment, released December 2, 2013, show that the achievement of U.S. teenagers continues to lag behind that of their counterparts in other developed countries,
2014 - More teacher layoffs in Chicago! CPS announces on June 26 that its latest round of layoffs will total than 1000 employees, including approximately 550 teachers.
2015 - On January 9, President Barack Obama announces a plan to allow two years of free community college for all American students.