Promotion Role Of American Education Acts In American Basic Education In The Second Half Of The20th Century

American basic education took a great leap in the second half of the20th century. From the beginning of1950s, federal government began to undertake continuous reforms in American basic education. From1950s to1970s, under the background of Cold War and Civil Rights Movement, curriculum reform movement and "promotion of equal educational opportunity" campaign have been launched in the field of education. This period was taken as the time to strengthen basic education and promote equality of educational opportunity. Form1980s to1990s, the quality of basic education was uneven in the United States; therefore "pursuing excellence" became the theme of this period.A characteristic of American basic education reforms in the second half of the20th century is the federal intervention in education. From the postwar Eisenhower administration to the Clinton administration, each government issued a corresponding educational act aiming at the current education issues. These education acts provided the development direction of basic education and the implementation of acts of the state and local government exerted influence on the basic education. This thesis will analyze four important education acts in the second half of the20th century and their promotion role in the American basic education.This thesis is divided into six parts. The first chapter is introduction, which presents the research background, along with the objective and significance of the study, the definition of the research subject and the organization of the thesis. Chapter Two gives a literature review of studies on American basic education and four important American education acts of western and Chinese scholars. Chapter Three, Four and Five are the main body of the thesis. Chapter Three brings an introduction of National Defense Education Act of1958, including the historical background, contents and its influence on American curriculum reform in elementary and secondary schools. Chapter Four gives an analysis of Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which focuses on its influence:legalizing the Federal intervention in American basic education, promoting equality of educational opportunity and ensuring educational quality for the disadvantaged children. Chapter Five presents American2000:An Education Strategy and Goals2000:Educate America Act, and provides a detailed analysis of their promotion roles in the establishment of new national education standards and school choice movement. The last chapter is a conclusion, which summarizes the key ideas discussed in the thesis and the experiences of the education reforms during this period. At last the author points out the shortcomings of the thesis and then offers some suggestions for further study.