Young, Ella Flagg (1845–1918)

Elizabeth P. Harper

The first woman to become superintendent of a major city school system, Ella Flagg Young was an advocate for teachers throughout her long career. A reform-oriented leader in the Progressive movement, Young worked closely with John Dewey at the University of Chicago, earning her Ph.D. when she was 55 years old. She led the Chicago schools during a tumultuous period when progressivism warred with industrialization as a model for education. Her tenure as superintendent was marked by a number of reforms, but also by conflict with the conservative Board of Education. Ella Flagg Young graduated from the Chicago Normal School and began teaching in Chicago in 1862, when she was 18 years old. Her career in administration began 3 years later when she was appointed director of practice-teaching classrooms. During the next 14 years she served as a high school math teacher and as principal of two Chicago schools. Young's ...

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