State-Federal Education Policy, Chronology 1960s

Federal-State Education Policy Chronology
1960-1969

This summary lists key events and developments in the history of federal education policy. You can view the complete version of this publication in PDF format.

1960	*The Process of Active Learning, NSF-sponsored conference report supports "activity learning" (versus passive students and active teachers). Led to Jerome Bruner's Man: A Course of Study (MACOS)* in 1962, calling for research-based curriculum stressing critical thinking, collaboration, and questioning of traditional thought and values. Met strong resistance and was never implemented.
	Vice President Johnson develops education agenda, later the core of the "Great Society" program.
1962	Manpower Development and Training Act (MDTA)
1963	Vocational Education Act
	Bilingual Education established in Dade County, Florida, to serve Cuban immigrant community.
1964	Civil Rights Act, Title VI, links federal funds to non-discrimination, supports desegregation activities. U.S. Office of Education releases Compensatory Education for Cultural Deprivation.
1965	Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Title I. Most money allocated to meet needs of educationally deprived children in public and non-public schools. Funds go through states to school districts and must meet federal and state guidelines.
	Title III funds "innovative projects" (open classrooms, team teaching, alternative schools, etc.)
	Title V provides direct federal aid to strengthen state education agencies.
	Operation Head Start established.
	"Compensatory education" gains currency, emphasizing that to attain the Sputnik-inspired academic objectives of the late 1950s for poor, urban, minority students, additional financial aid is essential.
1966	*Coleman Report (Equality of Educational Opportunity)*, commissioned under Civil Rights Act of 1964, finds that academic achievement is more related to the student's family background than to the quality of the school.
1968-71	Supreme Court on desegregation. The court, in Green v. New Kent County School Board, requires local boards to develop workable desegregation plans; in U. S. v. Montgomery County rules that a federal judge can order integration of school staffs; and in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg affirms constitutionality of mandatory desegregation.
1968	Bilingual Education Act of 1968 (Title VII of ESEA). It left open whether its purpose was to maintain the language and culture of non-English-speaking children or provide a transition to English-speaking classes. The 1978 amendment to the act emphasized the latter intent. Amended also in 1974, 1984, 1988, 1994 and 2001 as part of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
1969	President Nixon administration opposed Great Society emphasis on social functions of schools and the needs of disadvantaged groups, emphasized reduced federal role, state and local control, and improvements in academic education. Nixon and Ford administrations try unsuccessfully to eliminate the categorical approach to federal funding in favor of block grants.
	School busing. President Nixon distinguishes de jure segregation from de facto segregation. Commits to fight de jure segregation while preserving neighborhood schools. School busing to end segregation and achieve integration becomes volatile national issue.
	Basic education movement begins to emerge in the late 1970s.
	National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) federally funded to carry out periodic sample surveys of student academic achievement. Results are to be reported by the nation and regions, but not by individual states, districts, or students.