which was a reform to the education system in the united states that began in the early 1800s
History of education in the United States In 1821, Boston started the first public high school in the United States. By the close of the 19th century, public secondary schools began to outnumber private ones.[51][52]
Federal involvement in US education The first piece of federal education legislation passed by Congress was the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act. This bill was passed as a means for the Federal government to provide land proportional to the number of Congressmen and Senators a state had for states to use to create agricultural colleges.[3]  The next noteworthy piece of legislation passed by Congress pertaining to education was the Smith-Hughes Act which provided federal aid to vocational education programs across the country. Through the beginning of the 20th century, the federal government had a relatively small role to play in education, and its contributions focused mainly on providing opportunities to students who would later become an important part of a well-functioning economy. This tact changed following the Great Depression and World War II though.