Many are under the impression that the Department of Education was first created in 1979. That is not true. The first Department of Education was established on March 2, 1867 (14 Stat. 434).
However, it did not have a secretary at its helm like other departments (e.g., the Department of War.) Instead, it had a commissioner.
To locate education regulations, see the Code of Federal Regulations (especially Title 34) at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionCfr.action?collectionCode=CFR
The major corpus of current federal education laws and policies may be found in Title 20 of the U.S. Code.
However, some less-well-known education policies can be found elsewhere in the U.S. Code.
Laws (or statutes) as originally enacted by Congress are published elsewhere on this website. Just look at the entries under the Laws category.
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Summary. Presidents from two parties, supported by parents, teachers, and civic leaders have tried and generally failed to increase student achievement through federal policymaking. Supposedly path-breaking legislation to “leave no child behind” has hardly made a dent in the problem.
What is going on? Well… (read more)
Federal Education Policy History 