NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ1378558
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0030-9230
EISSN: EISSN-1477-674X
Available Date: N/A
Educational Therapeutics or a Clearing House for Exceptional Children?: The Development of Adjustment Rooms in Los Angeles, 1916-1923
Omori, Mariko
Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education, v59 n1 p90-107 2023
This study examines the purpose and practice of "adjustment rooms" established in special education classes in Los Angeles public schools in the early twentieth century. The establishment and practices associated with adjustment rooms are a local example of broader international trends related to the classification and streaming of schoolchildren. In this study, I argue that the function of classification and the structure of normalisation were embedded in the practices of adjustment rooms. Since a diverse group of children were being placed in ungraded rooms in Los Angeles and were not being properly educated, the adjustment room practice was initiated by identifying educable children from among them. New educational methods, which were gaining attention in progressive education at the time, were thus developed to compensate for educational delays. The goal of the adjustment rooms, which were designed to educate "backward" and "misfit" children, was to provide auxiliary education and return them to regular classes in a short period of time. Thus, on the one hand, the adjustment room had the function of promoting normalisation to the standard student model. On the other hand, the adjustment room functioned as a "clearing house" to categorise children, deciding their fate according to ambiguous criteria of educational potential. While attempts were made to return educable backward and misfit children to regular classes, "feeble-minded" children were judged to be uneducable and were removed from the adjustment room cycle, thereby promoting internal exclusion within schools.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California (Los Angeles)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A