In 1896 the Chicago Board of Education assumed responsibility for what had been Cook County’s Normal school, located in Englewood. Shortly thereafter, Francis W. Parker, the school’s renowned principal, resigned after the Board failed to implement the recommendations of a school system commission headed by William Rainey Harper of the University of Chicago. Harper suggested raising the standards for admission to the Normal School, increasing the total number of teachers trained, and strengthening oversight of graduates once they were working in the public schools. Parker resigned in 1899 and he was replaced by Arnold Tomkins. While Tomkins was not as distinguished an educator as Parker, he introduced key reforms that helped mold the institution’s philosophy. Tomkins declared his dissatisfaction with the practice school then used as a laboratory for student-teachers. He wanted instructors to gain real world experience in Chicago’s public schools, and he decided, moreover, that whenever possible they should be placed in poor, immigrant communities. From that point forward, the school would be characterized not just by its innovative pedagogical practices, but also by its commitment to expanding opportunity to underserved sectors of society. Tomkins was succeeded as president by Ella Flagg Young, a pioneering educator in her own right. Young received a Ph.D. under John Dewey at the University of Chicago, and after leaving Chicago Normal School served as Superintendent of the Chicago Public School system. She attempted to expand the curriculum to three years, but was stymied by the Board of Education. After Young left to become Superintendent in 1909, William Bishop Owen became Principal of CNS.