Teachers--Training of

Merrill-Palmer Institute Records

drice — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:18:00 -0500

The collection illustrates the Institute’s commitment to research, education, and outreach through documentation of its programs, projects, and administration. It includes research and studies the Institute undertook, course information, nursery school, camp and club information, correspondence with students, individuals and organizations, presidential and faculty files, and day to day operational information.

Merrill-Palmer Institute: Dr. J. William Rioux Records

drice — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:23:36 -0400

J. William Rioux was the president of the Merrill-Palmer Institute from 1967-1973, prior
to which he worked for the U.S. Department of Education. He was a native of Detroit
and received his Ed. D. at Wayne State University. During his time at Merrill-Palmer he
worked to diversify the student body, establish a graduate degree program, work with
urban youth, and bring more students into the program. He also emphasized
dissemination and publication of research by Merrill-Palmer faculty and staff.

The J. William Rioux Records contain mainly administrative files, which emphasize
Rioux’s commitment to urban and low-income youth and his push to bring in more
students and get them involved with the local Detroit community.

Merrill-Palmer Institute: Dr. Michael D. Usdan Records

drice — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:12:09 -0400

Dr. Michael D. Usdan was president of the Merrill-Palmer Institute from 1974-1977.
Educated at Brown University and Teachers College at Columbia University, Usdan
worked as a professor at City University of New York before joining Merrill-Palmer. He
published widely, writing mainly on educational politics. His records document his work
on urban and lower income youth in the Detroit area, as well as research and conferences
focusing on urban poor, parent-child relationships and the impact of unemployment on
families.

Merrill-Palmer Institute: Dr. Pauline Park Wilson Knapp Records

drice — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:47:04 -0400

Dr. Pauline Park Wilson Knapp was the president and director of the Merrill-Palmer
Institute from 1952-1967. Knapp received her B.S. in Home Economics from the
University of Kentucky and M.A. and Ph. D in Psychology from Columbia University.
She established the first Child Development Center in Georgia in 1928, was head of the
Department of Family and Life at the University of Alabama from 1941-45 and the Dean
of the School of Home Economics at the University of Georgia from 1946-52. In 1952
she rejoined the Merrill-Palmer Institute as president, returning to the school where she
was previously a student (1920s) and a staff member (1932-41). During her years as
president, Knapp broadened the school’s emphasis on parent education to incorporate
research on human development and increased research on applied child and family
issues. Under her leadership she increased the schools scope, built two new facilities,
The Program Center and the Skillman Center, and oversaw the largest increase in student
enrollment and faculty appointments in the history of the institute.

Knapp’s records cover day-to-day activities and long range programs, as well as the shift
in emphasis the institute underwent during Knapp’s tenure. Included are programs and
correspondence which highlight Knapp’s close relationship with students and supporters
through which she increased the influence of Merrill-Palmer and ensured continued
student enrollment. The collection also covers committees and boards Knapp served on,
as well as research conducted by the Institute, as a whole.

Merrill-Palmer Institute: Dr.William McKee Records

drice — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:00:56 -0400

Dr. William Wakefield McKee was with the Merrill-Palmer Institute for 30 years in a variety of roles. He began as a faculty member in 1953, became Vice-President in 1957 and served as Acting-President during the 1973-73 school year, eventually retiring in 1983. McKee received his B. A. from the University of North Carolina, his B. D. from Yale Divinity School, a S. T. M. from Union Theological Seminary, NY, and his Ph. D. from Yale. Prior to coming to Merrill-Palmer he worked for the YMCA, the American Friends Service Commission, and the Edward W. Hagen Foundation. In addition to his work at the institute McKee was also active on many Detroit area boards of directors and trustees including the Highland Park School District, Girl Scouts of Metropolitan Detroit, Homemaker Service of Detroit, and Michigan Adult Education.

The collection covers his years at Merrill-Palmer and highlights his flexibility to work for four different presidents, each with their own visions for the institute. It documents his teaching and advising duties of both graduate and undergraduate students, his work on various institute committees and boards, his responsibilities as Chairman of the Teaching Area of the institute as well as his administrative duties as Vice-President.

Merrill-Palmer Institute: Photographs and Audio-Visual Materials

drice — Fri, 19 Jul 2019 15:20:39 -0400

The Merrill-Palmer Institute was founded in 1920 by an endowment
from Lizzie Merrill Palmer. Throughout its 61 years of independent
operation, the Institute was greatly respected and internationally
known as one of the top institutions for education, training and
research in Child Development. Merrill-Palmer staff conducted and
published studies on families and children, operated a nursery school,
children's camps and clubs, offered marriage and family counseling,
and performed community service work. The Institute accepted
undergraduate and graduate students from the U. S. and internationally
and taught courses and provided research and laboratory experience
unavailable elsewhere. In 1981, the Institute came under the auspices
of Wayne State University, merging in 2005 with the Skillman
Center for Children to become the Merrill-Palmer Skillman Institute
for Child and Family Development. The Merrill-Palmer Institute:
Photographs and Audio-Visual Materials reflect the main functions of
the institute throughout its history as an independent entity and almost
twenty years into its relationship with Wayne State University. The
bulk of the materials center on the operation of the Early Childhood
Center (formerly the Merrill-Palmer Nursery School), but also cover
its programs and services, teaching and research missions, and the
Institute's physical environment.

Wayne University College of Education Teacher Placement Records

cwesterman — Fri, 15 Nov 2013 14:14:24 -0500

The Detroit Normal Training School was founded in 1881 by the Detroit Board of Education in order to train teachers for Detroit's public schools. The Normal School was renamed the Detroit Teachers College in 1920; in 1933, the Detroit Teachers College became the College of Education of the newly formed Wayne University.

These records of the Wayne University College of Education contain teacher placement information from the years 1919-1940. They include Detroit Board of Education placements and assignments, placements of graduates not from the College of Education, cumulative lists, and placement statistics from those years. Additionally, the records contain information on graduates’ placement in the teaching fields, and other statistics regarding their activities before graduating.

[Podcast] Blaming Teachers: How America Simultaneously Professionalized and Patronized Education

teller — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 12:03:22 -0400

Dr. Diana D'Amico Pawlewicz explains how the push to professionalize and standardize educators beginning in the mid-1800s, without granting them decision-making power, has made them the public face of foundering school policies developed and implemented by local school administrators and state and national policymakers. read more »

[Podcast] Para Power: How Paraprofessional Labor Changed Education

teller — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 07:18:53 -0400

Dr. Nick Juravich discusses the experiences of the first-generation of paraprofessional educators in New York City in the 1960s-1980s and their impact on the city’s educational system, community relations, and public sector unions. read more »

American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education: "Professional Relationships: Reality and Action"

jruss — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:27:17 -0500

Al Shanker discusses the need for changes in teacher training, and he calls for teacher colleges to join together with teachers, parents, administration, supervisors, and other interested parties in a coalition Shanker has formed to accomplish various education goals. Shanker cites a danger in criticizing teacher training and public schools to the point that small, independent education experiments are justified. Rather, he advocates for partnership over criticism and for improvement within the system instead of moving outside of it. Shanker further acknowledges that the situation many teachers encounter in urban school systems forces them to employ survival techniques rather than the teaching techniques they have learned in their training. This proves, he asserts, that training needs to adapt to address the real world situations teachers are going to encounter. One suggestion he has is to establish an internship program, placing teachers in the classroom to gain experience. Shanker also briefly touches on issues like testing, early childhood education, and lobbying the government for more funding.

Tocqueville Forum Series on Liberal Education and American Democracy, Wake Forest University: “Moving Beyond Reform”

jruss — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:55:30 -0400