Comparing American education in the 19th and 20th centuries

Question

The text provides a fairly comprehensive overview of education as it existed during the past two centuries. During that time, much has changed. Describe the highlights of 19th century education in the United States, emphasizing such aspects as laws, trends, purposes, policies, and outstanding leaders. Then repeat the process with the highlights of education in the 20th century. Finally, compare and contrast education in the two century-long periods of time.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANS: Scoring guide:

Key elements that should appear in an appropriate response:

* To receive full credit for the first part of the assignment, the student must highlight the major features of education in the 19th century. Failure to include relevant major laws, purposes, policies, trends, and outstanding leaders results in less than full credit.
* The second part of the assignment asks the student to describe the major aspects of education in the 20th century and include key leaders, purposes of education, policies, laws, and trends. Omission of any of these components limits the number of points to be assigned.
* The third part of the assignment expects the student to (a) compare the major aspects of 19th century American education with the 20th century counterpart and (b) contrast education as it existed during the two centuries. Full credit requires both attention to common threads, and to discontinuities.