Abstract

Though many educational spokespersons today maintain that standards-based school reform is unprecedented or historically unique, the claim is not warranted. This essay documents an educational reform effort begun nearly a century ago that set standardsfor improving rural schools. Emerging in the midst ofthe tumultuous Progressive Era, the standard school reform initiative was an outgrowth ofa larger concern for the quality ofrural life in America that culminated in the Country Life movement. Despite this, the components ofthe standard schools reform effort are strikingly contemporary.

How to Cite:

Sherman, W. L. & Theobald, P., (2001) “Progressive Era Rural Reform: Creating Standard Schools in the Midwest”, Journal of Research in Rural Education 17(2), 84–91.

Rights: Copyright