Our American forefathers, with the exception of Thomas Jefferson, had no ideal of a system of universal education. His plans were throttled by slavery, but the doctrine of universal education lived. Then at a time when the whole system of common schools was in danger of failure Horace Mann gave his life to the promotion of the interests of the Common school. In 1837, the very year Horace Mann gave up his prospect of a famous political career to become Secretary of the State Board of Education in Massachusetts, Francis Wayland Parker was born in New Hampshire, and was destined to play an important part in this movement for the welfare of the common school. He began his teaching career at the age of sixteen. In his work he made a practical application of the truism of Comenius, 'We Learn To Do By Doing,' by supplying conditions which were favorable to efficient and rational doing. Spurred on by his deep conviction that there must be a science of education with which he was not familiar, he spent several years studying in Germany. With his conviction strengthened, he returned to America to continue his work or reform in the elementary schools of, America. He pictured the school as a community and the teacher as an organizer of community life and creator of public opinion. Like Horace Mann, he instigated and promoted a great movement to free teachers as well as children. Prior to this time teachers had received appointments mainly through political influence, regardless of their lack of qualifications. Through Colonel Parker's efforts, it became necessary to appoint teachers who were equipped the guide the pupils along the path of freedom which develops self-control.1 Colonel Parker refused to accept a creed handed down from the past and so refused to impose a creed upon his followers. Thus he left no published works which do justice to his educational theory and practice. It is my purpose to show the relationship of his work to the Progressive School Movement, and the background provided by his reforms for Dr. John Dewey's contribution to the elementary school.

Francis Wayland Parker was one of the earliest American educators of national prominence to advocate what has come to be known today as progressive education. He was in total support of the common school concept, helped from the earliest, formal child study association in America, promoted the institution of kindergartens, and stressed the need for a child-centered, correlated curriculum organized around the natural and physical sciences. Through his work in the Quincy, Massachusetts, public schools and at the Cook County (Chicago) Normal School, Parker also made strong contributions to early language arts/reading instruction and methodology. Despite his influences on his contemporaries and on American education, few studies of any nature have been available to illuminate factors influencing Parker himself. There has been no historical study defining influences on Francis Wayland Parker’s philosophy of education as it relates to language arts reading instruction.