How has the CSAA grown in scope and size?
The idea of a national organization devoted to the preservation of the one/two-room country school experience was realized in 2006 when a group of one-room school enthusiasts came together to turn that dream into reality.
Following a series of five annual country schoolhouse conferences spearheaded by Dr. Lucy Townsend, Professor Emeritus, who served curator of the Blackwell History of Education Museum at Northern Illinois University, and Schoolhouse Preservationist Bill Sherman, of Iowa, efforts to create a national organization would be realized. They saw the need for an association dedicated to saving and promoting country schoolhouses as working multi-age schools and living history museums.
Townsend and Sherman had experience in helping to coordinate country school conferences in De Kalb, IL (2001), Iowa City, IA (2002), Livonia, MI (2003), Cedar Falls, IA (2004), and Barbourville, KY (2005). They envisioned a national organization where people could also share news and resources, preserve buildings, study the history of the country school experience, and research the teachers and former scholars.
A founding group who met at the first five conferences convened in DeKalb, Il in 2006 to organize such an effort. They chose Country School Association of America as the official name, drew up a set of by-laws, and incorporated CSAA as a non-profit organization soon after in 2007.
Since 2007, CSAA has held 13 highly successful annual conferences held on college campuses.
2007 Nashua, NH
2008 Oxford, OH
2009 Latrobe, PA
2010 Chickasha, OK
2011 Lawrenceville, NJ
2012 Ankeny, IA
2013 Rome, Georgia
2014 St. Joseph, MO
2015 Saratoga, NY
2016 Fredericksburg, TX
2017 New London, NH
2018 Beatrice, NE
2019 Frederick, Maryland
2020 COVID CANCELLATION
2021 First Virtual Conference (On-Line)
2022 Golden, Colorado (CLICK FOR LINK)
The CSAA annual conference has grown in scope and purpose as a forum for exchange between academics, preservationists, re-enactors, programmers, and history buffs. In addition to two full days of presentations on all aspects of country schooling, attendees take part in an all-day motor coach tour of preserved one-room schools in the area of the conference.
The CSAA has expanded its support services over the years to include a number of awards and grants including:
Awards for Scholarship and Artistry
Preservation Grants
National Schoolhouse Registry
Service Awards
Disaster Relief Fund
Conference Financial Aid
Innovative Instruction Grant
All awards and information regarding membership are outlined in detail on this website.
The CSAA encourages research on country schooling and provides a scholarly journal for those who wish to publish articles.
http://www.countryschooljournal.com
CSAA maintains a Facebook page with news of country schools across the nation:
https://www.facebook.com/CountrySchoolAssociationofAmerica/
CSAA sponsors a newsletter that highlights stories and announcements of our conferences and the interests of our readers as guest writers.
http://www.csaa.typepad.com
CSAA maintains a Twitter account for national one-room school tweets:
https://twitter.com/CountrySchAssn
Following a series of five annual country schoolhouse conferences spearheaded by Dr. Lucy Townsend, Professor Emeritus, who served curator of the Blackwell History of Education Museum at Northern Illinois University, and Schoolhouse Preservationist Bill Sherman, of Iowa, efforts to create a national organization would be realized. They saw the need for an association dedicated to saving and promoting country schoolhouses as working multi-age schools and living history museums.
Townsend and Sherman had experience in helping to coordinate country school conferences in De Kalb, IL (2001), Iowa City, IA (2002), Livonia, MI (2003), Cedar Falls, IA (2004), and Barbourville, KY (2005). They envisioned a national organization where people could also share news and resources, preserve buildings, study the history of the country school experience, and research the teachers and former scholars.
A founding group who met at the first five conferences convened in DeKalb, Il in 2006 to organize such an effort. They chose Country School Association of America as the official name, drew up a set of by-laws, and incorporated CSAA as a non-profit organization soon after in 2007.
Since 2007, CSAA has held 13 highly successful annual conferences held on college campuses.
2007 Nashua, NH
2008 Oxford, OH
2009 Latrobe, PA
2010 Chickasha, OK
2011 Lawrenceville, NJ
2012 Ankeny, IA
2013 Rome, Georgia
2014 St. Joseph, MO
2015 Saratoga, NY
2016 Fredericksburg, TX
2017 New London, NH
2018 Beatrice, NE
2019 Frederick, Maryland
2020 COVID CANCELLATION
2021 First Virtual Conference (On-Line)
2022 Golden, Colorado (CLICK FOR LINK)
The CSAA annual conference has grown in scope and purpose as a forum for exchange between academics, preservationists, re-enactors, programmers, and history buffs. In addition to two full days of presentations on all aspects of country schooling, attendees take part in an all-day motor coach tour of preserved one-room schools in the area of the conference.
The CSAA has expanded its support services over the years to include a number of awards and grants including:
Awards for Scholarship and Artistry
Preservation Grants
National Schoolhouse Registry
Service Awards
Disaster Relief Fund
Conference Financial Aid
Innovative Instruction Grant
All awards and information regarding membership are outlined in detail on this website.
The CSAA encourages research on country schooling and provides a scholarly journal for those who wish to publish articles.
http://www.countryschooljournal.com
CSAA maintains a Facebook page with news of country schools across the nation:
https://www.facebook.com/CountrySchoolAssociationofAmerica/
CSAA sponsors a newsletter that highlights stories and announcements of our conferences and the interests of our readers as guest writers.
http://www.csaa.typepad.com
CSAA maintains a Twitter account for national one-room school tweets:
https://twitter.com/CountrySchAssn
