In this study on educational change in Pennsylvania from 1790 to 1838, I reexamine the history of how the state established its common school system, the predecessor to the state's public school system. In doing so, I identify a series of three leaders, argue that poverty was the primary catalyst for educational reform, and explain the nature of…

This dissertation examines state-level efforts to mandate the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools, especially following 9/11. Despite longstanding Supreme Court precedent declaring mandatory flag salutes unconstitutional, various state legislatures sought to institute or strengthen pledge mandates irrespective of students' civil liberties.…

Community of practice provided the theoretical frame to study the Old Bedford Village crafts persons as they reproduced lifestyles of a Southern Alleghenies rural village from 200 to 300 years ago in early America. This study sought the "how" and "why" Old Bedford Village crafts persons engaged in learning processes as…

This dissertation examines the formation, reformation, and standardization of land-grant colleges in the Northeastern United States during the last four decades of the nineteenth century. It is a history that explores the turbulent origins of land-grant colleges in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont,…

For over a century, history teachers throughout the United States have selected textbooks as the primary instructional material for their classrooms, while textbook authors and publishers have continuously produced a unified nation-state narrative that presents United States history as a series of objective historical facts for student…

This dissertation examines the process of desegregation on the campus of a Catholic university in the North. Focusing on Villanova University during the period from 1940-1985, the narrative explores the tension between the University's public commitment to desegregation and the difficulties of implementing integration on a predominately white…

This dissertation describes the teaching methods and educational philosophies of natural philosophy instructors at several of the colleges in colonial and early national North America. It finds two distinct approaches: the demonstrative, in which the instructor centers the course on visually engaging lecture-demonstrations, and the catechetical,…