Elisabeth Antoinette Irwin

Elisabeth Antoinette Irwin (29 August, 1880, Brooklyn, New York - 16 October, 1942, Manhattan) was the founder of the Little Red School House. She was an educator, psychologist, reformer, and declared lesbian, living with her life partner Katharine Anthony and the two children they adopted.

Born in Brooklyn to William Henry Irwin and Josephina Augusta Easton. Her father was a Cotton Merchant. She attended the Packer Collegiate Institute and received her A.B. from Smith College in 1903, and her M.A. from Columbia University in 1923.

In 1912 while a member of the staff of the Public Education Association, she began work at revising the curriculum for the children at Public School 64. She founded the Little Red School House curriculum, in Manhattan in 1921, in the red-painted annex of Public School 61. Her work there, and then at Public School 41, a New York Times article describes as an experiment to demonstrate that "...the broader, more active program of the so-called progressive schools could be carried out under public school conditions." (New York Times, Apr, 3, 1932. pg E7)

Faced with funding cuts, it appeared the experiment would end, but a group of parents came together in a candy store, urging her to start her own school and promising financial support. In Sep 1932 the "Little Red School House" got its own building at Bleeker Street. At first only primary education, in 1940 a high school was added.

She died in the New York Hospital. Her obituary appears in the New York Times on Oct 17, 1942, pg 15. She was survived by her partner, and their two adopted daughters, Mrs Howard Gresens of Plandome, New York and Mrs R.O. Bogue of Pensacola, Florida. Her funeral was conducted in Gaylordsville, Connecticut where she and Miss Anthony maintained a Summer home. She was buried there.

Template:NYC-stub Template:Pedagogue-stub

This biography of an American academic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Template:LGBT-stub

The Little Red School House (sometimes simply referred to as LREI) was founded by Elisabeth Irwin in 1921 in New York, New York as a joint public—private educational experiment. The school was an experiment designed to test the notion that the principles of progressive education, advocated since the turn of the century by John Dewey could be applied successfully in the crowded, ethnically diverse, public schools of the nation’s largest city. Nevertheless, this method of progressive education continues to be tried out mainly in small, private school settings. In 1932, the school became entirely privately funded with tuition ranging today from $24,240 to $27,200. The Little Red School House consists of a lower school, middle school, and a high school; Elizabeth Irwin High School. Famous alumni of the school include Ethan Coen, Robert De Niro, Kathy Boudin, Angela Davis, Mary Travers, Avi and Victor Navasky. As of now, the institution's head is Philip Kassen; the High School principal is Ruth Jurgensen; the Middle School principal is Mark Silberberg; the Lower School principal is Elaine Winter. The Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School occupy two separate buildings, as well as a third space housing athletic facilities. They rent one floor of a fourth building, Saint Anthony's School, for language and history classes. The middle and lower school building is located on 6th Avenue, The High School on Charlton St., The athletic center on Thompson St., and the "Annex," as the students call it, is located on McDougall St.

In the 1940's, the high-school students at the Little Red School House decided that they wanted the high school to be named after the founder, Elisabeth Irwin, making the full title of the school The Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School.

LREI believes in progressive education. Much of the students' learning is done through experimentation, projects, and field trips, as opposed to the more traditional direct instruction. As a further example, high-school students have art every day. (These art classes include: Dance, Drama, Music, Digital Filmmaking, Photography, Studio, and Graphic Arts). LREI's sports teams include soccer (co-ed), vollyball (girls), cross country (co-ed), basketball (jv & varsity boys & girls), winter and spring track (co-ed), tennis (co-ed), softball (girls), baseball (boys), and the newest additions: the bowling team (co-ed) known as the EI Strikers lead by coach Vinay Chowdhry and the step team coach Peggy Peloquin (girls). Their 2004 handbook states: “The school retains its historic commitment to social justice and inclusion. Students are encouraged to become involved in struggles for social justice… as alumni tell stories of concerts given by Pete Seeger singing about social and racial justice, future alumni will remember the programs and discussions sponsored by today’s Multicultural Committee and Lesbian and Gay Issues Group.”

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Elisabeth_Irwin  ^history
• Little_Red_School_House  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Elisabeth Antoinette Irwin"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.