Chicago Institute, Academic and Pedagogic

Francis Wayland Parker (October 9, 1837 – March 2, 1902) was a pioneer of the progressive school movement in the United States. He believed that education should include the complete development of an individual-mental, physical, and moral.

Parker was born in Bedford, New Hampshire in Hillsborough County. He was educated in the public schools and began his career as a village teacher in New Hampshire at age 16.

In August 1861, at the beginning of the American Civil War, Parker enlisted as a private in the 4th New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. He was elected lieutenant and was later promoted to captain and commander of the company. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and commander of the 4th New Hampshire in January 1865. He was captured and held prisoner in North Carolina in May, 1865.

After the war ended, Colonel Parker resumed teaching, first in Ohio where he became the head of the normal school in Dayton, Ohio. In 1872, he traveled to Germany to study at the University of Berlin.

In 1875, Parker was named superintendent of schools in Quincy, Massachusetts. There he developed the Quincy Plan, which eliminated harsh discipline and de-emphasized rote memorization, replacing them with elements of progressive education such as group activities, the teaching of the arts and sciences, and informal methods of instruction.

He continued to implement his theories as superintendent of Boston's public schools (1880–83), as principal of the Cook County Normal School, Chicago (1883–99), and as founder and principal (1899–1901) of the Chicago Institute, which became the University of Chicago School of Education in 1901.