American Education Week begins Sunday, Nov. 11, and its history is rooted deep in education unionism.
The special week counts among its sponsors NYSUT's two national affiliates - the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. In fact, the NEA was one of the creators and original sponsors of American Education Week.
Distressed that 25 percent of the country's World War I draftees were illiterate and 9 percent were physically unfit, representatives of the NEA and the American Legion met in 1919 to seek ways to generate public support for education.
The conventions of both organizations subsequently adopted resolutions of support for a national effort to raise public awareness of the importance of education. In 1921, the NEA Representative Assembly in Des Moines, Iowa, called for designation of one week each year to spotlight education. In its resolution, the NEA called for: "An educational week ... observed in all communities annually for the purpose of informing the public of the accomplishments and needs of the public schools and to secure the cooperation and support of the public in meeting those needs."
The first observance of American Education Week occurred December 4-10, 1921, with the NEA and American Legion as the cosponsors. A year later, the then-U.S. Office of Education joined the effort as a cosponsor, and the PTA followed in 1938.
In addition to the NEA, AFT and American Legion, other co-sponsors are the U.S. Department of Education, the National PTA, the American Association of School Administrators, the National School Boards Association, the American School Counselor Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National School Public Relations Association, the National Association of State Boards of Education, the National Association of Elementary School Principal and the National Association of Secondary School Principals.
American Education Week is always celebrated the week prior to the week of Thanksgiving.