| From
the January 19, 2006, edition of “Northwest This Week.”
The following is excerpted
from “Transitions: A Hundred Years of Northwest” by
Dr. Janice Brandon-Falcone. An illustrated history of the University’s
first 100 years, “Transitions” is available from the
Bearcat Bookstore on the first floor of the J.W. Jones Student
Union. The book can also be purchased online at www.nwmissouri.bkstore.com
or by calling (660) 562-1246 (ext. 1246 on campus).
The training school was a presence
from the beginning. From the first day of classes, school-age
children were associated with the Normal. Advertisements had appeared
in the local newspapers calling for applications for summer school
for kindergarten through third grade. Sixty-four children were
enrolled that summer. In fall, 1907, the training school added
fourth grade, and by 1908 in included eight grades. It changed
its name with regularity, calling itself the Demonstration School,
the Laboratory School, Horace Mann Learning Center, and, in later
years, Horace Mann Laboratory School. It changed its location,
housed variously in the Old Seminary, some downtown buildings,
and the east end of the Administration Building, finally moving
to its own building in 1939. The grade levels expanded to include
nursery school, kindergarten, elementary, junior high, and high
school by the 1950s. Today the school has been returned to about
its original size and contains nursery school through sixth grade.
Despite changes in grades, locations, and names, the training
school never changed in offering students opportunities to observe
experienced teachers, gain firsthand classroom experience, and
practice teaching.
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