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Cartwright, Carol Lohry; Shaffer, Scott; Waller, Randal / City on the Rock River : chapters in Janesville's history
(1998)
8. Education, pp. 147-164
Page 156
Craig Senior High School (401 S. Randall Ave.) and Parker Senior High School (3125 Mineral Point Ave.). Two new junior high schools were also built during this period. Franklin Junior High School (450 S. Crosby Ave.) was completed for the 1962-1963 school year, and Edison Junior High School (1649 S. Chatham St.) was completed for the 1971-1972 school year. (Howe 1976:1) During the late 1970s and 1980s, junior and senior high school enrollments dropped as the baby boom era came to a close. And the schools encountered new problems wrought by societal and technological changes of the era. The schools responded with new curricula and new teaching methods. These changes included the addition of boys to home economics classes, computers in the classrooms, more direct involvement of business in vocational training programs, flexible programs to keep pregnant teens and drop-outs in school, and programs designed to limit the abuse of drugs and alcohol by teenagers. (Nickol 1981:19-30; Weaver 1987:12-14) Another educational trend introduced in this era was the transition of junior high schools into middle schools: ninth graders were returned to the high schools, and sixth graders were moved up from elementary schools. This concept not only relieved overcrowded elementary schools, but placed students together in a more age-appropriate manner. The first new school building erected in the city since 1971, Marshall Middle School, was completed in 1997 at 55 S. Pontiac St. The old Marshall Middle School, formerly the Janesville High School, was converted into apartments and public space. (Weaver 1987:12-14) Colleges There has been little historic college development in Janesville. In 1844, the founders of the academy may have had such aspirations after they received a formal charter from Wisconsin's territorial government, a step often taken by early college developers. But like such early schools, Janesville's academy remained little more than a high school program. In 1855 it was acquired as the foundation for the public high school program. City directories indicate that there were several "commercial colleges" established in Janesville's downtown during the nineteenth century. These were more commercial establishments than true colleges; they flourished in the period before public high schools and technical schools developed commercial courses. Blackhawk Technical College One college program that emerged in Janesville during the early twentieth century was a vocational-technical school, Blackhawk Technical College, established in 1912 just one year after the State of Wisconsin established the State Board of Vocational Education to assist communities in setting up vocational and technical training programs. Both Janesville and Beloit established their vocational-technical school programs under the supervision of this board in the same year; eventually the two schools merged. ("VTA School Has New Name" RCHS files) The Janesville vocational-technical program was originally administered by the Board of Industrial Education. Classes were set up in the old Lincoln elementary school (not extant). At first, the curriculum was centered around vocational training for school-age children, but adult interest in the programs quickly expanded the scope of the school. By the 1920s, the vocational school needed expanded facilities. When the high school moved into a new building in 1923, the vocational-technical school began using the old high school at 58 S. High St. (not extant). ("VTA School Has New Name" RCHS files) Education 156
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