| academy | A classical secondary school in colonial America that emphasized elements of Latin and English grammar schools and by the nineteenth century became more of a college preparatory school. Also the name of the ancient Greek school founded by Plato.
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| American Spelling Book | An early elementary textbook written by Noah Webster that focused on the alphabet, grammar, and moral lessons.
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| Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka | U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reversed an earlier "separate but equal" ruling and declared that segregated schooling was inherently unequal and therefore unlawful.
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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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| de facto segregation | The segregation of racial or other groups resulting from circumstances, such as housing patterns, rather than from official policy or law.
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| de jure segregation | The segregation of racial or other groups on the basis of law, policy, or a practice designed to accomplish such separation.
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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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| English Classical School | The first free public high school, established in Boston in 1821. The school initially enrolled only boys.
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| gendered career | A term applied to the gender stereotyping of career and occupational fields. Teaching, for example, was initially gendered male but 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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| Kalamazoo, Michigan, case | An 1874 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the right of states to tax citizens to provide public secondary education.
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| kindergarten | A preschool, early childhood educational environment first designed by Froebel in the mid–nineteenth century.
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| Land Ordinance Act | A nineteenth-century federal law that required newly settled territories to reserve a section of land for schools.
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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 Readers | A reading series that, for almost 100 years, promoted moral and patriotic messages and set the practice of reading levels leading toward graded elementary schools.
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| National Defense Education Act (NDEA) | 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 schools | A two-year teacher education institution popular in the nineteenth century. Many normal schools were expanded to become today's state colleges and universities.
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| Northwest Ordinance | Federal legislation that provided for the sale of federal lands in the Northwest territory to support public schools.
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| Old Deluder Satan Law | 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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| Plessy v. Ferguson | An 1896 Supreme Court decision that upheld that "separate but equal" was legal and that the races could be segregated. It was overturned in 1954 by Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka
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| progressive education | An educational philosophy emphasizing democracy, student needs, practical activities, and school–community relationships.
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| second-generation segregation | The separation of a school's multiracial populations through tracking, extracurricular activities, and informal social events.
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| separate but equal | A legal doctrine that holds that equality of treatment is accorded when the races are provided substantially equal facilities, even though those facilities are separate. This doctrine was ruled unconstitutional in regard to race.
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| Tenth Amendment | The constitutional Amendment that establishes that areas not specifically mentioned in the Constitution as federal responsibilities are left to state authority. Since education is not mentioned, each state is free to create its own school system.
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