Kindergarten: 225,000 American children attend kindergarten. By 2000, more than 8 million children attend kindergarten across the U.S.

Enrollment: More than 15 million children are enrolled in American public schools. By 1999, more than 72 million students are enrolled in American public schools.

Junior College: Joliet Junior, the first independent public junior college in the U.S., is formed in Chicago. Evolving into community colleges, the two-year institutions have had a major impact on higher education.

Margaret Haley: The first woman and teacher to speak from the floor at a National Education Association meeting. Today, American students in kindergarten through 12 grades are primarily taught by women.

Crayola Crayons: Cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith produce the first box of Crayola Crayons. The box of eight came in black, brown, blue, red, purple, orange, yellow and green. The cost: 5 cents.

Mary McLeod Bethune: She opens the Daytona Literary and Industrial School in Daytona Beach, Fla., which is the first “training school” for African-American girls.

Montessori: Italian physician-educator Maria Montessori establishes the Casa Dei Bambini (Children’s House) in Rome, Italy, the first “Montessori School.”

PTA: The National Parent Teacher Association, originally founded and named the National Congress of Mothers in 1897, changes its name to the National Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations. Today it’s known formally as the PTA with chapters on most K-12 campuses.

Mandatory Attendance: Georgia legislature enacts a compulsory school attendance law for children ages 6-16.

Language Restrictions: The United States enters World War I, and a wave of language restrictions hits schools. Several states enact English-only text guidelines, and mobs raid schools, burn German textbooks, and quickly turn hostile toward other languages besides English.

Smith-Hughes Act: The federal government enacts the Smith-Hughes Act, granting money for agriculture, trade, industrial and home economics subjects to be taught in school for children over 14 who are preparing for trade careers. This legislation is the groundbreaker for teaching vocational education on a large scale.

Progressive Education Association: Stanwood Cobb and other progressive educators create the Progressive Education Association. The educators emphasize problem-solving skills, hands-on learning, and self-discipline and flexible methods to teaching in the classroom vs. memorization, recitation and harsh discipline.

Bryn Mawr Summer School: The school for women workers opens due to pressure from the National Women’s Trade Union League for women’s colleges to participate in educating working women.

All-Black High School: Booker T. Washington High School, the first black high school in Georgia and one of the first in the Southeast, opens in Atlanta.

Scopes Monkey Trial: The Butler Act is passed in Tennessee, forbidding the public school teaching of any evolutionary theory indicating that man descended from lower orders of animals. John T. Scopes, a biology schoolteacher, is brought to trial and convicted of violating the Butler Act. Considered “the trial of the century,” the case is formally known as Tennessee vs. John Scopes.

One-Teacher Schools: There are 200,000 one-teacher schools in the United States, a symbol of small-town America. By 2000, there are 423 one-teacher schools still operating.

SAT: Scholastic Aptitude Tests are first administered experimentally as a college admissions test. Robert Yerkes, a leading member of an IQ testing movement, created the first versions of the SAT during World War I. The test, originally called the Army Alpha, was used by the U.S. Army as a method of intelligence testing on recruits. Professor and psychologist Carl Brigham assisted Yerkes in the production of the Army Alpha and later modified it as a college entrance exam.

School Buses: Wayne Works and the Blue Bird Co. build the first all-steel school bus. In 1939, Professor Frank W. Cyr of Columbia University in New York organizes a conference to establish national school bus standards, including the use of “school bus yellow.” This particular shade is designated as the national school bus color because of its easy visibility in early morning and late afternoon. Today, some 25 million children across the United States are shuttled in more than 450,000 school buses.

SAT: The tests are administered to more than 300,000 students and become mandatory for university acceptance. Today, more than 2 million students take the SAT every year.

School Lunch: The National School Lunch Act is established to provide for school lunch and milk programs. Legislation was created as a result of the frequent rejection many American men received for military service in World War II due to poor health.

Elmer’s Glue: The famous white goo is introduced as “Cascorez Glue” in glass bottles with Popsicle sticks, hence the urge to eat the stuff. It is later named Elmer’s Glue-All.

Lunch Boxes: The first metal lunch box was created by the Aladdin Co. of Nashville. The boxes came in red and blue. Their allure continues with each decade’s covers reflecting favorite characters, movies and fads.

Desegregation: In Topeka, Ks., Oliver Brown, the father of African-American third-grader Linda Brown, tries to enroll her in the all-white elementary school just blocks from their house. Previously, Linda walked several miles through a railroad switchyard to reach her all-black elementary school. The young girl is denied admission to the all-white elementary school. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People requests an injunction that would forbid the segregation of Topeka’s public schools. In 1954, in Brown vs. the Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ends federally sanctioned racial segregation in public schools. Georgia Attorney General Eugene Cook declares the ruling doesn’t apply to Georgia. A decade after the decision, 98 percent of African-American children nationwide were still in all-black schools.

Polio: Thousands of American schoolchildren become test subjects, or “polio pioneers,” in the experimentation of Jonas Salk’s polio vaccination, and the results are positive. Every summer, 50,000 cases of polio had popped up. Because of the polio vaccinations, 25 years later, polio became the second disease besides smallpox to be wiped out in America.

“The Blackboard Jungle”: The first Hollywood movie about school violence is released.

Physical Education: President Dwight D. Eisenhower creates the President’s Council on Youth Fitness after viewing a study in which European children scored higher than American children on physical fitness tests. In 1960, President John F. Kennedy changed the agency’s title to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness to reflect and serve Americans of all ages. In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson added “Sports” to the council’s title.

National Education Defense Act: Congress provides funds for states and local districts to improve math, science and foreign language teaching. Critics claim “real life” curriculum had lowered standards, diminished student’s efforts and reduced achievement. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first space satellite in 1957, schools were blamed for the United States’ failure to beat its Cold War rival into outer space.

School Prayer: In Engel vs. Vitale, the U.S. Supreme Court bans required prayer in public schools, determining that it is a violation of the First Amendment.

New Math: The curriculum is developed, emphasizing abstract concepts such as set theory and number bases other than 10. The term, coined for the dramatic change in the way mathematics was taught in American grade schools, is introduced to boost scientific and mathematical skills.

Fiber Tip Pen: The modern writing utensil is introduced to the United States, coming via Japan.

Civil Rights Act: In late 1963, President Johnson creates a wide-ranging series of federal programs to help disadvantaged students. In 1964, Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act, which bans discrimination on the basis of race in all federally funded programs, including schools.

Project Head Start: The federal program launches as an eight-week summer investment by the Office of Economic Opportunity that provides preschool children of low-income families a comprehensive program to meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional and psychological needs.

Elementary and Secondary Act: President Johnson enacts the most sweeping extension ever of the federal government’s involvement in education.

“Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood”: On a beautiful day in the neighborhood, the program is created and nationally distributed a year later by PBS. Generations of children are educated and delighted for 33 years, until Fred Rogers hangs up his sweater for the last time. In 2003, Rogers dies at age 74 after a battle with stomach cancer.

Bilingual Education: Congress passes the Bilingual Act, which gives federal funding to schools that try to incorporate instruction in languages other than English. Several states follow suit, enacting their own bilingual laws.

“Sesame Street”: Television becomes huggable when the show makes its national debut on the National Education Television network and later that year is moved to the Public Broadcasting Service. More than 4,000 episodes and 36 seasons later, it has won more Emmy Awards than any other program.

Georgia Desegregation: U.S. Supreme Court orders complete desegregation of Georgia schools, including “freedom of choice” districts which made it difficult for black students to transfer to white schools. Fulton County schools are placed under federal desegregation order.

Lemon vs. Kurtzman: The Supreme Court rules that when state aid is used to pay private school salaries and buy instructional materials for schools that are religious in character, it is a violation of the First Amendment. The argument, still unsettled, has since expanded into student vouchers and whether public money can be used for private, religious education.

Civil Rights: 91 percent of African-American children in the South are attending integrated schools due to pressure from the president, new federal laws, and the civil rights movement.

Title IX: Established to ban sex discrimination in programs receiving federal funds. Most affected are sports programs, where today women receive about the same number of athletic scholarships as men.

Microsoft: Bill Gates and Paul Allen create the first computer language program written for a personal computer. They are partners in what becomes Microsoft. The next year, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak sell the first Apple computer.

Charter Schools: Charter schools are born in Minnesota, allowing parent-driven administrative requirements for new schools and public funding.

Education of All Handicapped Children Act: States receiving federal funds must develop policies to assure a free, appropriate public education to all children with disabilities. Today, most disabled schoolchildren spend at least part of the day in a mainstream classroom with their peers.

De Facto Segregation: A group of south DeKalb County parents files a federal suit accusing the county school system of creating segregated attendance zones and denying black children the right to transfer to predominantly white schools.

“Nation at Risk”: The National Commission on Excellence in Education’s stunning report states, “We have been, in effect, committing an act of unthinking unilateral disarmament.” It urges an intense effort to improve education, and many states enact laws increasing graduation requirements and instructional time.

D.A.R.E.: Daryl Gates, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, unveils Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.). It is introduced to 50 elementary schools in Los Angeles to be taught by 10 certified officers. Today, D.A.R.E. is taught to more than 30 million children in 50 states, 17 other countries and has more than 20,000 certified officers. Its effectiveness is still being studied.

Home Schooling: Academic instruction at home becomes an official educational option in Georgia with the passage of the Home Study Program statute.

Georgia Independent School Association: Formed from the merger of the Georgia Association of Independent Schools and the Southeastern Association of Independent Schools.

Separation of Church and State: The case of Edwards vs. Aguillard determines that the belief that a supernatural creator is responsible for the origins of humankind is religious and therefore cannot be taught in public school science courses.

Re-segregation: Racial separation is on the rise due to socioeconomic status. By 2004, white students attend schools that are 80 percent white, while 14 percent of white students attend multiracial schools.

The Georgia Lottery: Created to enhance education funding. To date, the Georgia Lottery Corporation, which oversees and operates the state lottery, has transferred more than $7.8 billion to the students of Georgia.

Georgia Charter Schools: The state legislature passes a law authorizing the creation of charter schools.

The HOPE Scholarship: Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally is launched with funds from the Georgia Lottery. The program enables state residents who maintained a “B” average in high school to attend a Georgia public college, university or technical college tuition-free. The program also helps cover costs at eligible private schools. Since its launch, more than $2.7 billion in HOPE funds has been awarded to more than 850,000 students.

Pre-K: Georgia becomes the first state in the country to provide pre-kindergarten to all 4-year-olds in the state who want to participate. The program is offered in public schools, Head Start sites and private childcare centers.

Georgia’s First Charter Schools: Approval is given to create charter schools at Addison Elementary in Cobb County, Midway Elementary in Forsyth County and Charles Ellis Elementary in Chatham County.

Graduation Test: The Georgia Department of Education begins phasing in the Georgia High School Graduation Test for the Class of 1995. Currently, students seeking a Georgia high school diploma must pass the Georgia High School Graduation Tests in four content areas as well as the Georgia High School Writing Assessment.

Georgia Desegregation: DeKalb County school system is released from its federal desegregation order.

Sex Ed: 100 federally funded abstinence-only programs are taught in schools. By 2005, the federal government spends $170 million on abstinence-only education.

School Vouchers: Florida enacts a statewide voucher program in which students who are failing may choose to attend another school.

Columbine: Two high school students open fire on fellow classmates in Littleton, Colo., killing 13 and wounding 21 before taking their own lives. The Columbine High School massacre becomes the worst school shooting and second deadliest attack on a school in U.S. history.

Gateway Test: Gwinnett County schools, the largest school system in Georgia, implements controversial Gateway tests to identify students who are falling behind academically.

Atlanta Girls’ School: The first single-sex school for girls in Atlanta in more than 30 years opens.

No Child Left Behind: The sweeping education reform law is introduced by President George W. Bush. Its goal is to quantify improvement in the performance of America’s primary and secondary schools by increasing the standards for states, school districts and schools.

Georgia Desegregation: Fulton County is the last district in Georgia released from its federal desegregation order.

Soda Machines: Arkansas becomes the first state that passes legislation to ban vending machines in elementary schools.

New SAT: A new and even more vigorous SAT is introduced with an essay section. The class of 2006 is the first group of students to take the new SAT for college admissions.