Goals:
Reformers addressed overcrowding, poorly-trained and poorly-paid teachers, limited curriculum, and irregular schedules in American tax-supported public schools. In higher education, reformers wanted to address the lack of schooling for women.
Key figures:
Horace Mann (secretary on the MA Board of Education; promoted more schools, longer school days, expanded curriculum)
Noah Webster (Published a dictionary that standardized the American language and textbooks that were used throughout American schools)
William Holmes McGuffey (Published McGuffey Readers, which were textbooks for young students that emphasized morality, patriotism, and idealism.)
Emma Willard and Mary Lyon (both established colleges for women.)
Accomplishments:
Better school houses, longer school terms, higher pay for teachers, expanded curriculum. In higher education, Oberlin College began to accept women students as well as black students, and colleges for women were established elsewhere in the country.
Setbacks:
Black slaves in the South were legally barred from education, free black people were still generally excluded from schooling, even public school was an expensive luxury for the poor.