This historical case study explores the twin forces of collaboration and competition within independent schooling by examining the merger of two long established and well respected independent schools in Cincinnati, Ohio: (1) College Preparatory School; and (2) Hillsdale-Lotspeich School. Their merger in 1974 led to the creation of The Seven Hills…

Since the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, public education has been high on the national agenda. The nation's need for human capital and the need to provide equality of educational opportunity to all children and youth without regard to their race, ethnicity, or social status are the two needs that then framed education…

This article takes a closer look at Ralph Waldo Emerson's educational philosophy and its relationship to cooperative learning. Emerson believed that human beings should learn to think on their own, rather than solely acquire the craft of imitation or conformity by repeating the speech of their teachers. A liberating education, to Emerson, gives…

In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, state-sponsored reading circles provided American teachers with an opportunity for low-cost professional development. Teachers who participated in reading circles read professional literature, discussed the material with colleagues, and, occasionally, completed written assignments based on the…

Mary Coombs Greenleaf sought to take her place among the many frontier teachers who preceded her in 1800s. However, her destination--Indian Territory--was distinctive from previous American frontiers in that it was the geographical solution to a long record of Indian eradication policy. Mary Greenleaf was fifty-six years old, having just lost her…

Parochial and private schools in the United States have maintained opportunities for students to attend same-gender settings without interference from policies governing public education. The gender composition and curriculum of public schools, however, have been influenced by societal regulations and expectations that have often utilized…

This article traces the history of Native American women clubs from 1899-1955. In its heyday in the early 1900s, the women's club movement attracted about two million participants nationwide. Excluded from higher education at the time, women were moved to create their own opportunities to learn, meeting regularly in small groups to study such…

The purpose of this study is to explore the significance of 19th century American educator Alfred Holbrook through his writings and administration of the Lebanon, Ohio based National Normal University. Through a case study of Alfred Holbrook, the historical understanding of important issues relating to the history of pedagogy and normal schools…

The purpose of this article is to examine the life, pedagogical practices, and educational philosophy of Helen Lotspeich, who may be considered the premier practitioner of child-centered Progressive education in Cincinnati, Ohio during the first half of the 20th century. In "A History of The Seven Hills School," Driscoll (1995) concluded that in…

For most of the 20th century, innovators promoted the use of technology to improve learning in schools. As Larry Cuban noted in "Teachers and Machines: The Classroom Use of Technology Since 1920" (1986), there has been no end to promises of how motion pictures, radio, and television would transform the learning process. In each case, some…

The first round of attempts to extend the access of working people to higher education began in 1873 with an imitation of the University of London on the prairies of Illinois. For all practical purposes, it ended in the legislature of the State of New York in 1892, although it took more than a decade to formally close all of the external degree…

When education is paid for by society it is only logical that it should address social problems. Such an understanding stresses that historical change should be examined in terms of how education responds to the needs of society, and the process involved in that change. It must be cautioned, however, that educational change does not precisely…

Often spurred by an upcoming anniversary, celebration, or other special event, U.S. colleges and universities have been diligent in publishing their institutional histories. In the past, authors of these works have relied on archival collections housed in their institution, local historical records, newspaper accounts, and other primary source…

Congressman George Frisbie Hoar of Massachusetts introduced a bill "to establish a system of national education" on February 25, 1870. This bill, and others that followed, opened an acrimonious political debate that lasted for twenty years. The opening salvos of that debate, and the regional issues of ethnicity and religion that framed the debate,…

The six federally financed public emergency junior colleges in New Jersey, part of the temporary relief program of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration during the Great Depression, all ceased operations as public junior colleges after only a few years in existence. Yet their study is of import for many reasons: (1) Monmouth University and…