Excerpt from A Pocket Manual of the Lancasterian System of Education, in Its Most Improved State: As Practised in the Model School, First School District, Pennsylvania "The Lancasterian or Monitorial System of instruction, has formed a new era in elementary education. Its decided superiority over every other mode, has been so well tested by experience, and so thoroughly evidenced by its success, that it requires neither argument nor illustration to defend it. Its economy alone sufficiently recommends it for immediate adoption, in every district where the population is dense. The simple fact, that 300 children, under the superintendance of a competent teacher, may be rapidly and efficiently instructed, in all the elementary branches of an English education, for a sum less than $2,50, each child, per annum, is of itself conclusive. "How important is this system, then, as the means of the performance of a great public duty! a duty incumbent on every intelligent citizen, the diffusion of moral and intellectual light among all classes of the community." The following view of the Lancasterian System, of Education, prepared by the writer, is now principally published for the use of the Monitors and Tutors in the Model School, and for persons wishing to become acquainted with the system, who will find it an important auxiliary in acquiring a knowledge of the manner of conducting the business of a large school. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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"This work explains how a failed school-reform system, championed by a delusional narcissist, ended up creating modern urban public education in the US in the early 1800s"--

This book is a concise social history of teaching from the colonial period to the present. By revealing the words of teachers themselves, it brings their stories to life. Synthesizing decades of research on teaching, it places important topics such as discipline in the classroom, technology, and cultural diversity within historical perspective.

Written tests to evaluate students were a radical and controversial innovation when American educators began adopting them in the 1800s. Testing quickly became a key factor in the political battles during this period that gave birth to America's modern public school system. William J. Reese offers a richly detailed history of an educational revolution that has so far been only partially told. Single-classroom schools were the norm throughout the United States at the turn of the nineteenth century. Pupils demonstrated their knowledge by rote recitation of lessons and were often assessed according to criteria of behavior and discipline having little to do with academics. Convinced of the inadequacy of this system, the reformer Horace Mann and allies on the Boston School Committee crafted America's first major written exam and administered it as a surprise in local schools in 1845. The embarrassingly poor results became front-page news and led to the first serious consideration of tests as a useful pedagogic tool and objective measure of student achievement. A generation after Mann's experiment, testing had become widespread. Despite critics' ongoing claims that exams narrowed the curriculum, ruined children's health, and turned teachers into automatons, once tests took root in American schools their legitimacy was never seriously challenged. Testing Wars in the Public Schools puts contemporary battles over scholastic standards and benchmarks into perspective by showcasing the historic successes and limitations of the pencil-and-paper exam.