NORMAL SCHOOL

also called teachers' college, or teacher-training college institution for the training of teachers. One of the first schools so named, the cole Normale Suprieure (Normal Superior School), which was established in Paris in 1794, was intended to serve as a model for other teacher-training schools; that institution later became affiliated with the University of Paris. The first public normal school in the United States was founded in Lexington, Mass., in 1839. Normal schools were established chiefly to train elementary-school teachers. They were commonly state-supported and offered a two-year course beyond the secondary level. In the 20th century the tendency has been to extend teacher-training requirements to at least four years and, especially after World War II, for the schools to broaden their programs. Thus, by the 1960s most former normal schools had been absorbed into colleges or universities as departments or schools of education. This assimilation of the normal school parallels the halting elevation of teaching to the status of a profession over the last 150 years. The normal school represented a forward step over the practice of assigning teaching responsibilities to the most deserving eighth-grade graduate in the early 1800s. In the 20th century, licensing requirements have stiffened considerably in public education, and salary increases and advancement often depend on the earning of advanced degrees.