| academies | The private or semipublic secondary schools in the United States from 1830 through 1870 that stressed practical subjects.
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| behaviorism | A psychological theory that interprets human behavior in terms of stimuli-response.
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| Carnegie unit | A credit awarded to a student for successfully completing a high school course. It is used in determining graduation requirements and college admissions.
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| categorical grant | Financial aid to local school districts from state or federal agencies for specific purposes.
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| Committee of Ten | In 1892, the National Education Association formed the committee, influenced by college presidents, to reform the nation's high schools. The result was an academically oriented curriculum geared for colleges, and the creation of the Carnegie unit as a measure of progress through the high school curriculum.
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| common school | A public, tax-supported school. First established in Massachusetts, the school's purpose was to create a common basis of knowledge for children. It usually refers to a public elementary school.
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| dame schools | Primary schools in colonial and other early periods in which students were taught by untrained women in the women's own homes.
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| Eight-Year Study | Educator Ralph Tyler's study in the 1930s that indicated the effectiveness of progressive education.
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| elementary school | An educational institution for children in grades 1 through 5, 6, or 8, often including kindergarten.
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| Franklin Academy | A colonial high school founded by Benjamin Franklin that accepted females as students and promoted a less classical, more practical curriculum.
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| gendered career | Is a term applied to the gender stereotyping of career and occupational fields. Teaching, for example, was initially gendered male, and today is gendered female, particularly at the elementary school level.
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| hornbook | A single sheet of parchment containing the Lord's Prayer and letters of the alphabet. It was protected by a thin sheath from the flattened horn of a cow and fastened to a wooden board—hence, the name. It was used during the colonial era in primary schools.
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| in loco parentis | Latin term meaning "in place of the parents"; that is, a teacher or school administrator assumes the duties and responsibilities of the parents during the hours the child attends school.
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| junior high school | A two- or three-year school between elementary and high school for students in their early adolescent years, commonly grades 7 and 8 or 7 through 9.
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| kindergarten | A preschool, early childhood educational environment first designed by Froebel in the mid-nineteenth century.
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| laboratory schools | Schools often associated with a teacher preparation institution for practice teaching, demonstration, research, or innovation.
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| Latin grammar school | A classical secondary school with a Latin and Greek curriculum preparing students for college.
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| McGuffey Reader | For almost 100 years, this reading series promoted moral and patriotic messages and set the practice of reading levels leading toward graded elementary schools.
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| middle schools | Two- to four-year schools of the middle grades, often grades 6 through 8, between elementary school and high school.
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| National Defense Education Act | Federally sponsored programs (1958) to improve science, math, and foreign language instruction in schools.
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| New England Primer | One of the first textbooks in colonial America, teaching reading and moral messages.
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| normal school | A two-year teacher education institution popular in the nineteenth century, many of which were expanded to become today's state colleges and universities.
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| Northwest Ordinance (1785, 1787) | Provided for the sale of federal lands in the Northwest territory to support public schools.
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| Old Deluder Satan Law (1647) | Massachusetts colony law requiring teachers in towns of fifty families or more and that schools be built in towns of one hundred families or more. Communities must teach children to read so that they can read the Bible and thwart Satan.
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| progressive education | An educational philosophy emphasizing democracy, student needs, practical activities, and school-community relationships.
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| secondary school | A program of study that follows elementary school and includes junior, middle, and high school.
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