Argues that studying the history of school supervision can aid understanding of current problems and future possibilities for supervision in schools. Presents a brief history of American school supervision in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (JG)

Focusing on factors which shaped and influenced public school supervision, the paper investigates educational developments in the late 19th century. During this period the movement toward centralization in urban public schools gained considerable momentum. Educational historians have largely ignored the role school superintendents played in the…