Brooklyn Training School for Teachers

1885 - 1932

The Brooklyn Training School for Teachers was founded in 1885 following a decades-long debate over how to best train New York’s future teachers, particularly in Brooklyn. After the Brooklyn Board of Education was organized in 1843, the number of Brooklyn residents, public schools, and students grew and grew, increasing the demand for qualified teachers. It was not until 1884, however, that the Board of Education resolved to use four classrooms of a schoolhouse on Berkeley Place as the site for the Brooklyn Training School for Teachers, an institution which would provide a one-year training program in education to young women. In 1920, the school was renamed the Maxwell Training School for Teachers in memory of late Superintendent William Maxwell who had been a strong advocate for the school. Concerns over the limited curriculum offered by the school sparked discussion of expansion into a four year degree program but such a program never came to fruition. Instead, the trials of the Great Depression hit the Brooklyn community hard and ultimately led to the school’s closure in 1932.

Brooklyn Training School for Teachers, 1892.
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Details

Category
Professional school
Instructional Level
Trade/Industrial
Audience
Adults
Founder(s)
The Committee on High and Normal Schools, Brooklyn Board of Education
Tags
closure, BrooklynBoardofEducation, Depression, adulteducation, girls

Location

  • 40 Lincoln Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11217, USA
    ? - ?

Archival Collections

References

  1. Roff, Sandra. “A School Of Their Own: Teacher Training In Brooklyn, New York.” Long Island History Journal, Vol 28, 2020. Accessed April 26, 2022. http://lihj.cc.stonybrook.edu/2020/articles/a-school-of-their-own-teacher-training-in-brooklyn-new-york/ .