Although it may imply so, a normal school is actually not for average students. A normal school, also known as a teachers’ college, is a school that trains teacher, generally for the primary, or elementary, grades. The name was developed from French to indicate that a normal school was intended to be a model. Most likely it developed from a lesser known definition of the word normal: conforming with, adhering to, or constituting a norm, standard, pattern, level, or type. One of the first normal schools was founded in Paris in the late 1600s.

By the early 1800s, the concept of normal schools moved to the U.S. Vermont opened a normal school in Concord in the 1820s. In 1839, Massachusetts opened the first state-funded school for training teachers in Lexington. Prior to this period, U.S. colleges existed for education in other fields such as law or medicine but not for teacher education. Before the establishment of normal schools, no formal teacher training existed. Most teachers were male because women did not have the same educational opportunities.

The Normal School in Massachusetts was considered an experimental plan. Women were allowed to enroll in these teacher training programs. James G. Carter, a state legislator, was significant in the formation of the first Board of Education in Massachusetts. The first secretary of the Board of Education was Horace Mann.

Prior to the formation of the normal school, strict memorization was the primary teaching method used in the U.S. The normal schools encouraged a process of critical thinking and guidance as preferable teaching methods. Another normal school in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, graduated a class of 26 who went on to lead normal schools in other states, including Illinois and Michigan.

As the concept of the normal school spread to other states, the idea of teacher education expanded to incorporate model classrooms and a learning laboratory environment. Typically, the normal school program was two years in length. Many normal schools, promoting the art and science of teaching, were established in the U.S. during 1870-90. To supplement the normal schools, county-level teacher institutes were also held.

By the 1920s, the term “normal school” lost ground to the preferable term “teachers’ college.” At this time, most such educational institutions were also restructured into four year programs that granted degrees in teacher education.