Education Reform Essay The history of education is important because it explains the teaching and learning that happened in recent times which led to the way education is today. There are so many amazing attributes that were made in education. I believe that knowing about the past leads to change in the future. It is important for children to know the struggles that were made to provide equal opportunity in education. To me, in order to teach education, you need to know the history of it.

Positive Changes in Education
The positive changes in education is : Public Law 101-476, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), renames and amends Public Law 94-142. In addition to changing terminology from handicap to disability, it mandates transition services and adds autism and traumatic brain injury to the eligibility list. I am an educator who has taught handicapped children and they are allowed the right to be educationally stimulated. The elements addressed are American education and students with special needs (disabled and gifted). 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. The law, which reauthorizes the ESEA of 1965 and replaces the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, mandates high-stakes student testing, holds schools accountable for student achievement levels, and provides penalties for schools that do not make adequate yearly progress toward meeting the goals of NCLB. The elements addressed are American education in a global/international context. - President Barack Obama signs the 1.1-trillion dollar bipartisan budget bill on January 17. David Winograd states, “The legislation provides funding for all federal agencies and alleviates automatic spending cuts that hit military and domestic programs last year, the Associated Press reports. Obama signed the bill just a day before the federal government was due to run out of cash. The result of bipartisan negotiations, the package was approved by vast majorities in both houses of Congress earlier this week. The bill provides less funding than both President Obama and Democrats called for and more than Congressional Republicans wanted, but members of both parties appeared eager to avert the kind of political stalemate that resulted in a government shutdown last year.

Negative Changes in Education
John Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education is published, describing his views on educating upper class boys to be moral, rationally-thinking, and reflective "young gentlemen." His ideas regarding educating the masses are conveyed in On Working Schools, published in 1697, which focused on the importance of developing a work ethic. Locke developed educational theories that focused on wisdom and knowledge. One of his sayings, “Thoughts" that they bear the mark of their original purpose, the individual education of a gentleman's son, not the formation of a school system. The elements American education and curriculum are being addressed. - Benjamin Franklin helps to establish the first "English Academy" in Philadelphia with a curriculum that is both classical and modern, including such courses as history, geography,