Founding Mothers and Others Women Educational Leaders During the Progressive Era

Interest in progressive education and feminist pedagogy has gained a significant following in current educational reform circles. Founding Mothers and Others examines the female founders of progressive schools and other female educational leaders in the early twentieth century and their schools or educational movements. All of the women led remarkable lives and their legacies are embedded in education today. The book examines the lessons to be learned from their work and their lives. The book also analyzes whether their leadership styles support contemporary feminist theories of leadership that argue women administrators tend to be more inclusive, democratic, and caring than male administrators. Through an examination of these women, this book looks critically at the ways in which the leaders' administrative styles and behaviors lend support to feminist claims.

Alan R. Sadovnik is Professor of Education and Sociology and Chair of the Department of Education and Academic Foundations at Rutgers University-Newark. He is the editor (with Susan Semel) of “Schools of Tomorrow,” Schools of Today.

Susan F. Semel is Associate Professor in the School of Education at the City College of New York. She is the author of The Dalton School, one of the seminal histories of the progressive school movement in the United States.