University of Massachusetts Amherst. College of Education

In 1906 the Massachusetts Legislature enacted a law supporting the development of agricultural teaching in grades of schools in the Commonwealth. Then President, Kenyon L. Butterfield, a leader in the rural life movement, organized a separate Department of Agricultural Education at the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1907, which introduced teacher-training courses for preparation of teachers of agriculture. The first head of the department, Professor William R. Hart, identified the departments mission as “the historical and philosophical study of industrial education leading to a rational interpretation of the meaning of agriculture as a study in modern school life…. It is, in short, the effort to interpret agriculture in terms of rural betterment rather than in terms of profit and loss, and the drudgery of making a living. The work of instruction will be partly within the college and partly without.”

In 1912, the College’s individual departments were organized under newly formed divisions and Agricultural Education became part of the Division of Rural Social Science. Specific authorization providing training of vocational agricultural teachers was passed in 1914, but no classes were organized prior to the acceptance of the Smith-Hughes Act in 1917. During the 1918/1919 academic year, the college established one course in special methods of agricultural teaching for undergraduates, an apprentice teaching plan, and short courses for mature persons. The state agent for agricultural teacher training, Franklin E. Heald was located in a branch office in the agricultural building at the college. In September 1919, an additional member, Professor W. S. Welles, was appointed to the college teacher-training staff, with primary responsibility for the courses in agricultural education and with some itinerant teacher-training duties. The basic apprentice-teaching plan, which required a full term away from the campus for college credit, was put into effect in the winter of 1919.

On the recommendation of the Trustees’ Faculty and Program of Study Committee, in 1932 the Board of Trustees changed the name of the Department of Agricultural Education to the Department of Education. In 1936, to more appropriately reflect the differences in majors offered, the Department of Education became the Department of Education and Psychology within the Division of Social Sciences. In 1938, the Division was renamed the Division of Liberal Arts. In 1947 the department of Education and Psychology was divided into separate departments and faculty members were housed in the former Liberal Arts Annex and later in Machmer Hall.

In 1948, University President Ralph Van Meter requested that the Department of Education prepare a program commensurate with the present and future needs of the citizens of Massachusetts. He also created a special faculty committee to analyze the advisability of creating a school of education that could respond to the drastic need for new teachers in Massachusetts in the post-war years. To meet this need, the University proposed expanding its teacher-training program. In 1956, the Department of Education was organized into a School of Education by President Jean Paul Mather. Dr. Albert W. Purvis served as the first Dean of the School of Education from 1956-1968.

The Education Building and Laboratory School opened in 1961. Although teacher training was the function of the School, the administration maintained that teacher education was a
function of the entire University. To this end, cooperative programs were established with various schools and departments whereby these units provided the general education and subject content needed by the teacher trainees and also aided, in some cases, with the professional program.

The late 1960s and 1970s were expansive years for the School of Education. In 1967, with Provost Oswald Tippo and the University Trustees investing heavily in its development. The curriculum, departmental structure, and governance processes of the School were modified. Its faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students were organized into one of nearly three dozen centers (later clusters and concentrations), each focusing on one or a few of the aspects of managing and delivering educational content. The academic reforms achieved by the School of Education in the areas of experimentation, options, student responsibility, social action, and continuing innovation appeared to reflect the thoughts of many commissions involved in Higher Education at the time.

Between 1968 and 1971, fifty-five new tenured faculty were hired. By 1973, the School had ninety faculty members, including sixteen minority faculty and twelve women, and was ranked thirteenth in the nation for its research contribution to the American Educational Research Association. In addition, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education recognized the School’s offering twenty-two alternate teacher preparation programs.

In 1976 the Chancellor appointed a special Committee on the Future School of Education, which made a number of recommendations including, continuing “to increase the size and scope of its program of in-service education, primarily to meet the needs of school systems in the Commonwealth, but, also to provide professional improvement for people in other institutions and agencies.”
Major change came in the 1976-1977 academic year with the establishment of a new mission. The central mission of the School became the training and development of professional leaders in the field of teaching and in non-teaching areas of research, administration, and the human services. The need for the School to foster partnerships between the University and the Public School system as well as with other urban and rural agencies statewide was also addressed. As a result, between 1977 and 1993, the
school was organized into divisions and concentrations. The major divisions were Human Services and Applied Behavioral Sciences; Educational Policy, Research and Administration; and Instructional Leadership and concentrations such as Alternative Schools Programs and the Horace Mann Bond Center.

The late 1980s saw a dramatic decrease in state support for the University, and the School of Education suffered cuts. In 1993, the School reorganized into three major departments: Education Policy, Research, and Administration; Student Development and Pupil Personnel Services; and Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies.

This record group is comprised of annual reports; Executive Committee Minutes and Faculty Minutes; correspondence and memoranda; biographical information; organizational charts and directories; audits; policies and procedures, guidelines and handbooks; grants and proposals; accreditation reports and program evaluations, studies, surveys, reviews and data sheets; technical reports and publications; catalogs, brochures, pamphlets and flyers; course descriptions and schedules, curriculum, workshop materials and sample portfolios; bulletins, newsletters, articles; news releases and newsclippings; dedication programs; films; artifacts and related materials.

Two unique collections are the early collection of Teacher Training: Vocational Agriculture materials (1912-1964) and the National School Alternative Programs films and related materials.

Access restrictions: The National School Alternative Program films and related materials are housed off-site and require 24-hour retrieval notification.