Quincy Method

{{Short description|Educational method developed in 1875}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Use American English|date=August 2024}}

The Quincy Method, also known as the Quincy Plan, or the Quincy system of learning, was a child-centered, progressive approach to education developed by Francis W. Parker, then superintendent of schools in Quincy, Massachusetts, United States, in 1875.{{Cite web |title=Quincy Plan |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Quincy-Plan |access-date=2024-08-23 |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica}}{{Cite journal |date=1900 |title=The Quincy Method |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2762249 |journal=American Journal of Sociology |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=114–120 |doi=10.1086/210952 |jstor=2762249 |issn=0002-9602}}

Parker, a pioneer of the progressive school movement, rejected the traditional rigid school routine, exemplified by rote learning and the spelling-book method, and even stated that the spelling book should be burned,{{Cite news |date=November 13, 1880 |title=QUINCY WAYS OF TEACHING; COL. PARKER EXPLAINS THEM AT FLUSHING. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1880/11/13/archives/quincy-ways-of-teaching-col-parker-explains-them-at-flushing.html |access-date=August 23, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}} although he did favor oral spelling. Emphasis was instead placed on social skills and self-expression through cultural activities and physical training, as well as teacher-prepared materials, experience-based learning and children's own writing.

A survey by the Massachusetts State Board of Education published four years later showed that Quincy students excelled at reading, writing, and spelling, and ranked fourth in their county in math.{{Cite web |last=Koegel |first=Rob |title=Partnership Education and Nonviolent Communication |url=http://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/press/article_PDF/Rob_Koegel/Partnership_Education_NVC_RKoegel.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060513133348/http://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/press/article_PDF/Rob_Koegel/Partnership_Education_NVC_RKoegel.pdf |archive-date=May 13, 2006 |access-date=November 23, 2008 |website=Nonviolent Communication}}

Hundreds of visitors traveled to Quincy to observe the new methods, aiming to replicate them in their own schools. Many of Quincy’s teachers were recruited by districts in other states, spreading the Quincy method beyond Massachusetts to New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Florida, Minnesota, and other places.{{cite journal |last1=Murphy |first1=Jeremy T. |date=2021 |title=From Teacher Improvement to Teacher Turnover: Unintended Consequences of School Reform in Quincy, Massachusetts, 1872–1893 |journal=History of Education Quarterly |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=503–533 |doi=10.1017/heq.2021.20 |doi-access=free}}

When in 1883 Parker became principal of the Cook County Normal School in Chicago,{{Cite news |date=July 5, 1883 |title=THE NEW EDUCATION.; THE QUINCY METHOD TO BE INTRODUCED INTO CHICAGO. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1883/07/05/archives/the-new-education-the-quincy-method-to-be-introduced-into-chicago.html |access-date=August 23, 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}} he developed the method further, introducing teacher training based on modern educational methods.

See also

References