Literacy Timeline

  • Hornbooks

    Hornbooks one of the first tools used to teach reading in colonial America.
    Helped establish the practice of teaching literacy through memorization and religious texts.
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    Jean Piaget

    Believed children learn through developmental stages.
    Showed that literacy skills grow as children’s thinking develops.
  • Period: to

    Lev Vygotsky

    Highlighted the role of social interaction in learning.
    His Zone of Proximal Development influenced how teachers support reading and writing growth.
  • Elementary and Secondary Education Act

    Provided federal funding to schools, especially for disadvantaged students.
    Created Title I programs that aimed to improve reading and literacy instruction.
  • Whole Language Movement

    Whole Language Movement was focused on reading for meaning and immersion rather than phonics drills.
    Emphasized student choice and authentic texts.
  • No Child Left Behind Act

    Required schools to test students in reading and math.
    Increased accountability and placed a strong focus on reading achievement.
  • Refernces

    Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. International Universities Press.
    Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
    Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Pub. L. No. 89-10, 79 Stat. 27.
    No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110, 115 Stat. 1425