In 1951 the Ford Foundation established the Fund for the Advancement" of Education to support experimental programs for improved teacher education. The development of a master of arts in teaching became one of the group's earliest accomplishments. The degree grew put of the "fifth year" programs started at Harvard in 1936. These programs gave traditional liberal arts graduates an opportunity to learn teaching methods during a "fifth year." The Fund for the Advancement of Education piloted programs to turn that fifth year into a master's program which continued to grow in future decades.