One Room School House

Consolidation and One Room School Houses

late 1800's to early 1900's

 School consolidation has been an issue in the field of education dating back to the late 1800’s. Schools were designed to teach the American way of life to the influx of immigrants entering our democratic state. Most immigrants went to the urban cities, however the rural communities were also responsible for teaching America’s youth. Public schools were developed to give immigrants a basic understanding of the democratic way of living in the United States and to give them fundamental reading, writing and math skills so that they could become a productive citizens of this country

When single room schoolrooms were first developed, they were a product of the community. Neighbors came together and built the building, crafted the desks, chairs and made sure the students and teacher had the supplies they needed. They created their own school schedule based on the demands of the farms and what work needed to be done. It was common that schools were only open for two months out of the year.

During the Industrial Revolution when the government saw how effective businesses were running and how efficient factories could be that they decided that they were going to start designing public school systems this way as well. Schools no longer reflected the communities that they came from, but needed to all meet standards and rules.

 Also happening in the early 1900’s was school standardization. Illinois was the first state to start visiting one-room schoolhouses and assessing the quality of education that was being delivered to rural communities. In 1919, the Iowa Standard School Law was approved in which the state provided aid to schools that were recognized as meeting the standards and had met the minimum enrollment of students. This state aid was divided between teacher salary and school supplies . State incentives and laws for consolidation had begun. During the days of the Great Depression, schools nationwide had reduced from 200,000- 30,000. 

A glimpse into what life in a one room school house was like! Take a look...