Front Matter

The Evolution of Teacher Certification and the Qualifications to Teach in Four States, 1890-1930 by Paul G. Perrault A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment Of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Education) in The University of Michigan 2010 Doctoral Committee: Professor Jeffrey E. Mirel, Chair Professor Maris A. Vinovskis Associate Professor Robert B. Bain Processor Roger D. Goddard, Texas A & M University © Paul G. Perrault ______________________________ 2010 I dedicate this dissertation to my wife, Lori—whose patience and faith in me has been the greatest motivator in my work. ii Acknowledgements In writing this dissertation, I have been blessed by a number of individuals who have influenced my thinking and contributed intellectually to my work. To all of these people, I am deeply grateful for the encouragement, support and critiques which helped me shape this dissertation. I am especially thankful to all of the libraries that helped me collect my data. In particular, I am thankful to the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan and the Monroe C. Gutman Library at Harvard University for making their collections accessible to me in my work. I am especially thankful to Karen Jania at the Bentley who first showed me how to navigate the collections, assisted me in locating resources that were missing, and discussed other records and materials that were relevant to my research. I am equally indebted to Edward Copenhagen at the Gutman for helping me locate materials for three states in the matter of days, copying more than a thousand pages in the same period so that I could take the materials with me, and treating me like I was a student or researcher at Harvard. I am also deeply grateful for all the assistance given to me by Marija Freeland at the Hatcher Graduate Library at the University of Michigan. In the past five years, Marija answered more questions than I can remember, and without her assistance I would still be looking for resources today. In working on this research, I was fortunate enough to have four leading scholars serve on my dissertation committee who I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to. iii Bob Bain helped me challenge initial assumptions, be more specific in my writing, and to understand the danger of being seduced by characters or groups that I am researching. In addition, Bob has brought me into his own work with the training of secondary teachers, which has given me new insight in how professional educators at universities such as the University of Michigan are striving to improve the quality of teachers. Roger Goddard provided me with valuable critiques of issues that I hadn’t considered and provided suggestions for research that shifted the focus of my work greatly from the proposal stage. In addition, Roger also afforded me the opportunity to work in the administrative office of a moderate size school district near Ann Arbor. As a result, I was able to see first-hand some of the challenges that administrators face in filling classrooms with qualified teachers. Maris Vinovskis brought a historical perspective outside of the school of education to my work. From day one, Maris has challenged me to be a better writer, researcher and educational historian. I have been fortunate to have Maris critique not only this dissertation but also two other pieces that I worked on in the past. Across every work Maris has shown me how to question my findings as well as think about other ways to analyze my data. Most importantly, Maris has taught me not to rely so heavily on works of previous historians and that sometimes you come to different conclusions when you do the work over. On my dissertation committee, I am especially indebted to my advisor and chair Jeff Mirel. In the last seven years, I have come to rely on Jeff as a professor, mentor, adviser, chair, colleague and most importantly as a friend. It is because of Jeff that I became interested in how teacher certification and training developed. Jeff has iv supported me in this work through suggestions for research design, ideas on where to track down data, and in reading countless drafts both of individual chapters and the dissertation as a whole. It is because of Jeff’s encouragement and guidance that I am able to add to our understanding of the history of teacher certification. I am truly grateful that Jeff never wavered in his belief in this project or my work. I am also grateful to two research scientists who have also played a large role in helping me move my work forward, Carol Barnes and Didi Massell. Carol and Didi provided me with great insight in conducting research and evaluation. As a result I was able to take some of the knowledge that I learned from them and put it into practice in my own dissertation work. In addition, as my employers both Carol and Didi created an exceptional work environment that fostered my own educational development. They supported me in my dissertation work. At times when I had dissertation deadlines looming, Carol and Didi lightened my load so that I could focus on my own work. For this I am especially thankful. I am also particularly thankful to the numerous friends that helped me in this journey. In particular, Heidi Matiyow Rosenberg, Beth Sanders Rabinowitz, Serena Salloum, and Charles Vanover all started out as colleagues of mine, but I now consider all of them dear friends. At times, each has provided me with ideas, critiques and most importantly support. Outside of the University of Michigan community, I would like to thank two friends in particular, Katy Cooper and Mike Walsh. Both Katy and Mike have been invaluable in assisting me in locating resources, checking citations, and in just acting as sounding boards for my ideas. v Finally, I must reserve my deepest thanks and appreciation to my family. I am deeply indebted to my wife, Lori, to whom this dissertation is dedicated. It is only through her love, encouragement and assistance that I was ever able to complete this work. Other than Jeff, no person but Lori has read so many iterations of this dissertation. Lori has been my rock for more than fifteen years, and all that is good is my life is because of her. I am also deeply grateful to my daughters Victoria and Madison. I am truly thankful for all that Victoria has had to endure from traveling to Boston to collect data to helping me print out and bind copies of the dissertation for my committee—all of which came without any complaints. From Madison, I am thankful that her smile made me feel that I could get through the day and get this work done. vi Table of Contents Dedication ...........................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements............................................................................................................iii List of Figures ..................................................................................................................viii List of Tables...................................................................................................................... ix List of Appendices ............................................................................................................. xi Abstract .............................................................................................................................xii Chapter I. Introduction............................................................................................................... 1 II. The Birth Development of Public Education in Four States, 1890 – 1920 ............ 20 III. Knowledge, Routes, and Requirement: Teacher Certification, 1890 -1920 ......... 96 IV. The Changing Nature of Teacher Training and Certification, 1920 - 1930......... 159 V. Conclusions.....................................................................................................................230 Appendices...................................................................................................................... 251 Bibliography.................................................................................................................... 265 vii List of Figures Figure: 1.1: Percentage Increases in Population within Each Case Study State Compared with National Average Increase ...................................................................... 13 4.1: Certificates Granted Through Examinations in Oregon 1922 – 1930 ................... 205 4.2: Total Number of Teachers Serving with Normal School Training in Oregon, 1922 – 1930....................................................................................................... 207 4.3: Total Number of Teachers by Graduation from College or University in Oregon, 1922 – 1930....................................................................................................... 208 4.4: Number of Certificates Held By Race and Type of Certificate in Virginia for the year 1930......................................................................................................................... 215 4.5: Number of County Teachers by Years of Experience in Teaching From 1923 – 1930 ........................................................................................................... 221 4.6: Number of City Teachers by Years of Experience from 1923 – 1930 ................... 222 4.7: Number of County Teachers Holding Various Classes of Certificates From 1923 – 1930Acknowledgements ..........................................................................

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