The federal government always played a key role in the development of American education. By means of granting lands,endowing funds,passing laws and so on,the federal government continuously exerted great influence on American education profoundly and thoroughly. In one word,the United States federal government had been adjusting goals of educational reforms on the basis of needs of social development in different periods in order to ensure the leading position in the world. The article attempted to analyze the federal government’s role in promoting American education and its enlightenment to Chinese educational reform.