Francis Wayland Parker

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Francis W. Parker (1837-1902)

Francis Wayland Parker (October 9, 1837 – March 2, 1902) was a pioneer of the progressive school movement in the United States. He believed that education should include the complete development of an individual — mental, physical, and moral. John Dewey called him the "father of progressive education."

Parker was born in Bedford, New Hampshire in Hillsborough County. He was educated in the public schools and began his career as a village teacher in New Hampshire at age 16.

In August 1861, at the beginning of the American Civil War, Parker enlisted as a private in the 4th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. He was elected lieutenant and was later promoted to captain and commander of the company. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and commander of the 4th New Hampshire in January 1865. He was captured and held prisoner in North Carolina in May, 1865.

After the war ended, Colonel Parker resumed teaching, first in Ohio where he became the head of the normal school in Dayton, Ohio. In 1872 he traveled to Germany to study at the University of Berlin. In Europe, Parker examined the new methods of pedagogy being developed there, proposed by European theorists such as Rousseau, Froebel, Pestalozzi, and particularly Johann Friedrich Herbart.

In 1875, Parker was able to put his philosophy into practice when he was named superintendent of schools in Quincy, Massachusetts. There he developed the Quincy Plan, which eliminated harsh discipline and de-emphasized rote memorization, replacing them with elements of progressive education such as group activities, the teaching of the arts and sciences, and informal methods of instruction. The model was hailed as successful when in 1879, responding to critics of the progressive methods, state-ordered testing showed that Quincy pupils surpassed the scores of other school children in Massachusetts.

He continued to implement his theories as superintendent of Boston's public schools (1880–83), as principal of the Cook County Normal School, Chicago (1883–99), and as founder and principal (1899–1901) of the Chicago Institute, which became the University of Chicago School of Education in 1901.

In 1901, to further put Parker's theories into practice, the Francis W. Parker School opened in Chicago with an initial enrollment of one hundred and eighty students. A second school was founded in San Diego in 1912. Both schools exist today.

Parker published five books on education, including Talks on Teaching (New York, 1883); The Practical Teacher (1884); Course in Arithmetic (1884); and How to Teach Geography (1885). Dartmouth College awarded Parker the degree of M.A. in 1886.

In poor health, Parker was sent by his doctors to the south for a better climate. He died at age 64 in Pass Christian, Harrison County, Mississippi. His ashes were returned to New Hampshire in May 1902 and were interred at Piscataquog Cemetery, Manchester, New Hampshire.

In addition to the schools in Illinois and California, the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School was founded in Massachusetts in 1995 in honor of Parker's contributions to the field of progressive education.