Normal schools in the United States

Normal schools in the United Statesin the 19th century were developed and built primarily to train elementary-level teachers for the public schools. The term “normal school” is based on the French école normale, a sixteenth-century model school with model classrooms where model teaching practices were taught to teacher candidates. Many high schools in the 19th century had one-year "normal school" programs to train teachers for common schools, In the early 20th century the normal schools all became state colleges. More recently most have become state universities with a wide range of programs beyond just training teachers.

History[edit]

The former normal schools that survive in the 21st century have become state universities. Before 1860, "common schools" wereelementary schools,and many high schools provided a year or two of instruction to young women as part of preparation for teaching in the common schools. New England—especially Massachusetts—was the center for educational innovation.^[1]

New England[edit]

1823 – Columbian School in Concord, Vermont

In 1823, ReverendSamuel Read Hallfounded the first private normal school in the United States, the Columbian School inConcord, Vermont.^[2]^[3]Influenced by similar academies inPrussiaand elsewhere in Europe, American normal schools were intended to improve the quality of the burgeoningcommon schoolsystem by producing more qualified teachers. Hall also founded the first private normal schools in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.^[3]His original school was renamed Concord Academy before closing after seven years.^[4]

1839 – Lexington Normal School, Lexington, Massachusetts

Massachusetts took the lead among state governments, thanks to a grant of $10,000 from a Boston philanthropist and a vigorous campaign led byJames G. CarterandHorace Mann.The legislature in 1838 provided for normal schools in the towns of Lexington, Bare and Bridgewater. The first state-sponsored normal school opened in 1839 in Lexington. The goal was to provide training in how to teach children in the ungraded common schools. The new curriculum included an in-depth review of the usual subjects; a review of the physical, mental and moral psychological development; the general principles and methods of teaching; and covered daily plans, discipline; and practice teaching.^[5]^[6]In 1844 that school moved from its original site ofLexingtontoWest Newton,and then in 1853 toFramingham.Today,Framingham State Universityis recognized as the oldest continuously operated public normal school in the United States.Anna Brackettattended this school and in 1863 became the first woman principal of a teachers' college.

1849 – State Normal School, New Britain, Connecticut

In 1849, theConnecticut General Assemblyestablished a State Normal School, a training school for teachers. In 1850, a new building to house the Normal School was built in New Britain. In 1933, the school became the Teachers College of Connecticut and in 1959 it became Central Connecticut State College, and finally in 1983 renamedCentral Connecticut State University.CCSU is the oldest publicly funded higher education institution in Connecticut.

1854 – Rhode Island State Normal School, Bristol, Rhode Island

Rhode Island State Normal School was established by the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1854. Its creation can be attributed toHenry Barnard,the first state agent for education in Rhode Island who had established the Rhode Island Teachers Institute at Smithville Seminary in 1845, and his successor,Elisha R. Potter.

With the dedication of a new building in 1898, the institution began a period of steady growth, evolving first into a teachers' college, the Rhode Island College of Education. In the 1958–59 academic year the college moved to its current Mount Pleasant campus, and in 1959 was renamedRhode Island Collegeto reflect its new purpose as a comprehensive institution of higher education. With an enrollment predominantly from Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut, the institution historically has served as a "College of Opportunity" for first-generation college students.^[7]

1854 – Salem Normal School, Salem, Massachusetts

Salem Normal School, nowSalem State University,was founded in 1854 as the fourth Normal School inMassachusetts.In 1853, the General Court authorized the founding of a normal school in Essex County. Proposals were received from Salem, Chelsea, Groveland, and North Andover.^[8]Salemwas selected due to many factors including the city's historical and commercial significance and need for local teacher education.

Prior to the founding of the normal school, Salem women had few opportunities to receive teacher training and the Salem school system was replete with funding, attendance, and teacher compensation problems. It was assumed that by training women as teachers, they could be hired at a lower salary than male teachers, thus alleviating the city's public school budget and teacher compensation challenges.

The original location was at the corner of Broad and Summer Streets, with the building's dedication held on September 14, 1854. Richard Edwards, a graduate of Bridgewater Normal School (nowBridgewater State University), was the first president of Salem Normal School.^[9]

1864 – Farmington State Normal School, Farmington, Maine

Established in 1864, Farmington State Normal School was the first public establishment of higher education in the state ofMaine.In 1945, the school was renamed "Farmington State Teachers College". The Farmington State Teachers College was acquired by the University of Maine system in 1968 and is today theUniversity of Maine at Farmington.

Northeast[edit]

1855 – Millersville Normal School, Millersville, Pennsylvania

Millersville Normal School was founded in 1855 as the first normal school in Pennsylvania. Over the years it has changed its name a number of times eventually becomingMillersville University of Pennsylvania.

1855 – The Paterson City Normal School, Paterson, New Jersey

A land grant institution founded as thePaterson City Normal Schoolin the industrial city ofPaterson, NJto train teachers for NJ schools. In 1951, the school moved to the present campus inWayne, NJwhich was purchased by the State in 1948 from the family ofGarret Hobart,twenty-fourth vice president of the United States and renamedPaterson State Teachers College.In 1971, it was renamed William Paterson College of New Jersey in honor ofWilliam Paterson (judge),a United States Supreme Court Justice appointed by PresidentGeorge Washington,after the legislative mandate to move from a teachers' college to a broad-based liberal arts institution. The New Jersey Commission on Higher Education granted William Paterson university status in June 1997 and it is now known as TheWilliam Paterson Universityof New Jersey (WPUNJ). The second oldest public university in the state; Rutgers (public) and Princeton (private) being older and pre-colonial.

1855 – New Jersey State Normal School, Trenton, New Jersey

Founded in 1855, the college was located in Trenton until 1928, when it moved to Ewing Township, where four year baccalaureate degrees began to be offered. The college exists today asThe College of New Jersey.

1861 – Oswego Primary Teachers School, Oswego, New York

Established as Oswego Normal School, the Oswego State Normal School was founded byEdward Austin Sheldon,and recognized as a state school in 1866 byNew York Statebecoming the Oswego State Normal and Training School. The school was part of the training program Sheldon devised to introduce thePestalozzimethod of education to the schools of the city ofOswego,the first time the method had ever been used in the United States. The "Oswego Movement" was highly influential nationwide.^[10]Sheldon's school became Oswego State Teachers College in 1942, and was upgraded again to a liberal arts college in 1962, becoming known asOswego State University.

1865 – Baltimore Normal School for Colored Teachers, Baltimore, Maryland

Established in 1865 by The Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People, School #1 opened on January 9, 1865, in the African Baptist Church in Crane's Building on the corner of Calvert and Saratoga streets. In 1867, with the aid of the Freedmen's Bureau, the Quakers of England and others, the Baltimore Association purchased and renovated the Old Friends Meeting House at the corner of Saratoga and Courtland streets to house the Baltimore Normal School for Colored Teachers. The school moved to Bowie, MD in 1911, changing its name to the Maryland Normal and Industrial School at Bowie in 1914. Today, this school exists asBowie State University.

1866 – Keystone State Normal School, Kutztown, Pennsylvania

On September 15, 1866, the Keystone State Normal School was established on what is now the site of Kutztown University's Old Main. The needs of a burgeoning industrialization in the region placed more and more demands on teacher preparation, and in 1928, the institution was designated Kutztown State Teacher's College and authorized to confer the bachelor's degree.

1866 – Maryland State Normal School, Baltimore, Maryland

While the state created the Maryland State Normal School in the state constitution of 1864, MSNS wouldn't open its doors inBaltimoreuntil January 15, 1865. The school was moved to Towson, Maryland in 1915. In 1935, it was renamed the State Teachers College at Towson, and by 1963 it was changed to a liberal arts school and was renamed Towson State College. In 1976 it was renamed Towson State University and by 1997 it wasTowson University.

1871 – Normal School, Buffalo, New York

Buffalo State was founded in 1871 as the Buffalo Normal School before becoming the State Normal and Training School (1888–1927), the State Teachers College at Buffalo (1928–1946), the New York State College for Teachers at Buffalo (1946–1950), SUNY, New York State College for Teachers (1950–1951), the State University College for Teachers at Buffalo (1951–1959), the State University College of Education at Buffalo (1960–1961), and finally theState University College at Buffaloin 1961.

Notes[edit]

^Michael B. Katz,The irony of early school reform: Educational innovation in mid-nineteenth century Massachusetts(Teachers College Press, 2001).
^Samuel Read Hall Biography at the Old Stone House Museum website Archived2010-04-05 at theWayback Machine,Retrieved on 2009-07-03
^^a ^bGeorge Nelson Torrey (April 1, 2005)."An early Yankee Educator".Archived fromthe originalon 2006-09-20.Retrieved2013-10-26.
^Vermont, University of."Center for Rural Studies: University of Vermont".
^Arthur Norton, ed.,The First State Normal School in America: the Journals of Cyrus Peirce and Marv Swift(Harvard UP, 1926), p. xviii.
^SeeNormal Schools – History of American Education Web Project,.
^Hector Richard Carbone, "The history of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction and the Rhode Island Normal School as agencies and institutions of teacher education, 1845-1920" (PhD dissertation, University of Connecticut; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1971. 7129849).
^Pitman, J. Asbury (February 1930). "The Salem Normal School: Past, Present, and Future".The Elementary School Journal.30(6): 417.doi:10.1086/456430.S2CID 144079098.
^Maloney, Joan (1990).Salem Normal School 1854–1905: A Tradition of Excellence.Acton, MA: Tapestry Press. pp. 1–27.ISBN 0-924234-31-8.
^Ned Harland Dearborn,The Oswego movement in American education(1925)online

External links[edit]

Media related toTeacher training collegesat Wikimedia Commons

[1] Michael B. Katz,The irony of early school reform: Educational innovation in mid-nineteenth century Massachusetts(Teachers College Press, 2001).

[2] Samuel Read Hall Biography at the Old Stone House Museum website Archived2010-04-05 at theWayback Machine,Retrieved on 2009-07-03

[melrosemirror.media.mit.edu-3] George Nelson Torrey (April 1, 2005)."An early Yankee Educator".Archived fromthe originalon 2006-09-20.Retrieved2013-10-26.

[4] Vermont, University of."Center for Rural Studies: University of Vermont".

[5] Arthur Norton, ed.,The First State Normal School in America: the Journals of Cyrus Peirce and Marv Swift(Harvard UP, 1926), p. xviii.

[6] SeeNormal Schools – History of American Education Web Project,.

[7] Hector Richard Carbone, "The history of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruction and the Rhode Island Normal School as agencies and institutions of teacher education, 1845-1920" (PhD dissertation, University of Connecticut; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1971. 7129849).

[8] Pitman, J. Asbury (February 1930). "The Salem Normal School: Past, Present, and Future".The Elementary School Journal.30(6): 417.doi:10.1086/456430.S2CID 144079098.

[9] Maloney, Joan (1990).Salem Normal School 1854–1905: A Tradition of Excellence.Acton, MA: Tapestry Press. pp. 1–27.ISBN 0-924234-31-8.

[10] Ned Harland Dearborn,The Oswego movement in American education(1925)online

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v t e Higher education in the United States
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Normal schools in the United States

History[edit]

New England[edit]

Northeast[edit]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Individual schools and states[edit]

Primary sources[edit]

External links[edit]