Carleton Washburne
American superintendent of schools (1889-1968)
Carleton Wolsey Washburne (December 2, 1889 – November 28, 1968)
was an American educator and education reformer. He served as the superintendent of schools in Winnetka, Illinois, from 1919 to 1943 and is most notably associated with the Winnetka Plan that he developed for his district.
Early life and education
Carleton Wolsey Washburne was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1889 to an obstetrician father. His mother was active in political affairs, especially education, and was a friend of the innovative educator John Dewey. The family was well-educated, though not particularly wealthy. Washburne was raised Protestant and attended the Francis W. Parker School. Late in his childhood, his family moved to Elkhart, Indiana, where Washburne attended a traditional school. During his high school years, Washburne moved back to Chicago to live with his maternal grandfather and study at John Marshall Metropolitan High School. When his immediate family moved to Elgin, Illinois, Washburne followed and finished his high school education there. He initially followed in the family footsteps and studied medicine at the University of Chicago.
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This entry incorporates text from “Carleton Washburne” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.