Additional Appointments
Adjunct Professor, History Department, College of Arts and Sciences
Research Interests
Nancy Beadie
Nancy Beadie is Professor in Educational Foundations, Leadership and Policy in the College of Education at the University of Washington. Beadie's research focuses on historical relationships among education, economics, and state formation at local, state, national, and international levels. Her current book project, Paramount Duty of the State: Education and State Formation in the U.S., 1846-1912, analyzes the significance of education in federal policy and the process of state (re)formation in the U.S. West before and after the Civil War, as part of Southern Reconstruction after the Civil War, and during the rise of the US as a global economic and imperial power at the end of the 19th century. Previous books include Education and the Creation of Capital in the Early American Republic (Cambridge University Press, 2010), which won the Outstanding Book Award from the History of Education Society and Chartered Schools: Two Hundred Years of Independent Academies in the United States, 1727-1925 (NY: Routledge Press, 2002), co-edited with Kim Tolley, as well as a numerous articles in US and international journals.
In addition to the politics and economics of education, Dr. Beadie has written extensively on the history of women in education. This work includes two articles for which she received the prize for Best Article Published in a Refereed Journal awarded by the History of Education Society. Other publications include a chapter on the history of civic education co-written with Zoe Burkholder for the Civic Reasoning and Discourse Project (2021), commissioned and published by the National Academy of Education and funded by the Spencer Foundation; an essay on the rise of national educational systems in North America, for the Oxford Handbook on the History of Education, edited by John Rury and Eileen Tamura (2019); and another on federal education policy and the rise of social science research published in the Centennial Anniversary Volume of the Review of Research on Education, 2016. Other commissioned work includes "A Brief History of Educational Equity and Inequality in Washington State," produced as part of the "roadmap to Reducing Barriers to Educational Justice in Washington State" (2021) funded by the Washington Education Association and the National Education Association. Dr. Beadie served as senior editor of History of Education Quarterly, from 2015-2020. She has also served as President of the History of Education Society (U.S.) and as Vice-President of the American Educational Research Association for Division F (History and Historiography).
Dr. Beadie teaches courses on the history of education and education reform in the United States, the history of urban education, education as the transfer of culture, historical research methods in education, and the social history of gender in education.
Beadie, N. (book, in progress). Paramount Duty of the State: Education and State Formation in the U.S. and Comparative Historical Perspective.
Beadie, N. (2010). Education and the Creation of Capital in the Early American Republic. New York: Cambridge University Press. Winner of the Oustanding Book Award, History of Education Society, 2012.
Beadie, N. and Tolley, K., eds. (2002). Chartered Schools: Two Hundred Years of Independent Academies in the United States, 1727-1925. New York: Routledge Press.
Project reports
Beadie, N. (2021). Paramount Duty of the State: A Brief History of Educational Equity and Inequality in Washington State. Produced as part of the “Roadmap to Reducing Barriers to Educational Justice in Washington State,” Project funded by the Washington Education Association and the National Education Association. Manka Varghese, Project Lead.
Beadie, N. and Zoe Burkholder (2021), “From the Diffusion of Knowledge to the Cultivation of Agency: A Short History of Civic Education Policy and Practice in the United States,” in C. Lee, G. White, and D. Dong (Eds.), Civic Reasoning and Discourse (pp. 109-155), Committee on Civic Reasoning and Discourse. Washington D.C.: National Academy of Education.
Journal articles
Beadie, N. (2019). “Resource Extraction and Education Funding: Nature and Political Economies of State Formation in the United States,” Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education 56 (1–2), 150–170.
Beadie, N. (2018). “Feminism and the History of Education: Intersections and Convergences,” Bildungsgeschichte. International Journal for the Historiography of Education 8: 1, 93-97; published as part of a Debatte: Discussion by nine scholars on “Feminist and Gender Research Agendas in the History of Education,” pp. 65-97.
Beadie, N., J. Williamson-Lott, M. Bowman, T. Frizell, G. Guzman, J. Hyun, J. Johnson, K. Nicholas, L. Phillips, R. Wellington, L. Yoshida, (2017). "Gateways to the West, Part II: Education and the Making of Race, Place and Culture in the West," History of Education Quarterly 57: 1 (February): 94-126
Beadie, N. (2016b). "The Federal Role in Education and the Rise of Social Science Research: Historical and Comparative Perspectives," Review of Research in Education, Centennial Volume 40 (March): 1-37.
Beadie, N., J. Williamson-Lott, M. Bowman, T. Frizell, G. Guzman, J. Hyun, J. Johnson, K. Nicholas, L. Phillips, R. Wellington, L. Yoshida, (2016). "Gateways to the West, Part I: Education in the Shaping of the West," History of Education Quarterly 56: 3 (August): 418-444.
Beadie, N. (2016a). "War, Education, and State Formation: Problems of Territorial and Political Integration in the United States, 1848-1912," Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education 52, nos. 1-2 (Feburary-April): 58-75.
Beadie, N. (2016c). "When is a Space Not a Space?: A Comment," Bildungsgeschichte. International Journal for the Historiography of Education 6 (1), 96-99.
Beadie, N. (2013b). "Assessing the Consequences of Failure: The Uses of History in Education Policy and Decision-Making," Proceedings: International Conference on the Past, Present and Future of Philosophy and History of Education Research. Marc Depaepe and John Smeyers, eds. (Leuven: Faculteit Psychologie en Pedagogische Wetenschappen): 17-24.
Beadie, N. (2013a). "Learning the Drill: A Comment," Bildungsgeschichte. International Journal for the Historiography of Education 3 (1): 116-120.
Beadie, N. (2011). “Probing the Deep: Theory and History,” History of Education Quarterly 51:2 (May): 211-217.
Beadie, N. (2010). “Education, Social Capital, and State Formation in Comparative Historical Perspective: Preliminary Investigations,” Paedagogica Historica 46, 1-2, (April): 15-32.
Beadie, N. (2008c). "Education and the Creation of Capital, or What I have Learned by Following the Money," History of Education Quarterly 48:1 (Feb.): 1-29.
Beadie, N. (2008a). “Toward a History of Education Markets in the United States: An Introduction,” Social Science History 32 (1): 47-73.
Beadie, N. (2008b). “Tuition-Funding in Common Schools: Education Markets and Market Regulation in Nineteenth-Century New York, 1815-1850,” Social Science History 32 (1), 107-33.
Tolley, K. and Beadie, N. (2006). "Socio-Economic Incentives to Teach in New York and North Carolina: Toward a More Complex Model of Teacher Labor Markets, 1800-1850," History of Education Quarterly 46: 1 (Feb.): 36-72.
Tolley, K. and Beadie, N. (2001). Reappraisals of the Academy Movement. History of Education Quarterly 41, 2 (Summer), 216-224.
Beadie, N. (2001). Academy Students in the Mid-19th Century: Social Geography, Demography, and the Culture of Academy Attendance. History of Education Quarterly 41, 2 (Summer), 252-263.
Beadie, N. (1999a). Female Students and Denominational Affiliation: Sources of Success Among Nineteenth Century Academies. American Journal of Education 107 (2), 75-115.
Beadie, N. (1999b). From Student Markets to Credential Markets: The Creation of the Regents Examination System in New York State, 1864-1890. History of Education Quarterly 39 (1),1-30.
Beadie, N. (1999c). Market-Based Policies of School Funding: Lessons from the History of the New York Academy System. Educational Policy 13 (3), 296-317.
Beadie, N. (1996). From 'Teacher as Decision-Maker' to Teacher as Participant in 'Shared Decision-Making': Reframing the Purpose of Social Foundations in Teacher Education. Teachers College Record 97 (4), 77-103.
Beadie, N. (1994). From Academy to University in New York State: TheGenesee Institutions and the Importance of Capital to the Success of an Idea, 1848-1871. History of Higher Education Annual 14, 13-38.
Beadie, N. (1993). Emma Willard's Idea Put to the Test: The Consequences of State Support for Female Education in New York, 1819-1867. History of Education Quarterly 33 (4), 543-562. Reprinted in Educational Equity, K. Maschke, ed. as part of the series, Gender and American Law (Hamden, CT: Garland Publishing, 1997), 185-204.
Book chapters
Beadie, N. and Zoe Burkholder (2021), “From the Diffusion of Knowledge to the Cultivation of Agency: A Short History of Civic Education Policy and Practice in the United States,” in C. Lee, G. White, and D. Dong (Eds.), Civic Reasoning and Discourse (pp. 109-155), Committee on Civic Reasoning and Discourse. Washington D.C.: National Academy of Education.
Beadie, N. (2019). “‘Annexing the World:’ Education as Nationalist and Imperial Policy in a Competitive Global Economy, 1876-1907,” Globalization and the Rise of Mass Education. (NY: PalgraveMacmillan): 253-278.
Beadie, N. (2019). "The History of National Education Systems: North America," in John Rury and Eileen Tamura, eds. Oxford Handbook of the History of Education (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 164-198.
Beadie, N. (2019) “‘Hidden’ Governance or Counterfactual Case?: Assessing the Consequences of U.S. Failure to Pass a National Education Act, 1870-1940,” in School Acts, the Rise of Mass Schooling and the Emerging Nation States in the Long 19th Century, eds. Johannes Westberg, Lukas Boser, Ingrid Brühwiler. NY Palgrave McMillan, 225-248.
Beadie, N. (2013). "Encouraging Useful Knowledge" in the Early Republic: The Roles of State Governments and Voluntary Organizations," The Founding Fathers, Education, and 'the Great Contest': The American Philosophical Society Prize of 1797, Benjamin Justice, ed. (NY: Palgrave McMillan): 85-102.
Tolley, K. and Beadie, N. (2007a). Transformations in Teaching: Toward a More Complex Model of Teacher Labor Markets in the United States, 1800 – 1850." Kim Tolley, ed. Transformations in Schooling: Historical and Comparative Perspectives on Education and the State. (New York: Palgrave MacMillan): 173-198.
Beadie, N. (2004). Moral Errors and Strategic Mistakes: Lessons from the History of Student Accountability. In Kenneth A. Sirotnik, Ed. Holding Accountability Accountable: Toward Responsible Concepts and Practices. (New York: Teachers College Press): 35-50.
Tolley, K. and Beadie, N. (2002). A School for Every Purpose: An Introduction to the History of Academies in the United States. In N. Beadie and K. Tolley, eds. Chartered Schools: Two Hundred Years of Independent Academies in the United States, 1727-1925 (New York: Routledge Press): 3-18.
Beadie, N. (2002a). Internal Improvement: The Structure and Culture of Academy
Expansion in New York State in the Antebellum Era, 1820-1860. In N. Beadie and K. Tolley, eds. Chartered Schools: Two Hundred Years of Independent Academies in the United States, 1727-1925 (New York: Routledge Press):89-116.
Terzian, S. and Beadie, N. (2002). "Let the People Remember It": Academies and the Rise of High Schools, 1865 to 1890. In N. Beadie and K. Tolley, eds. Chartered Schools: Two Hundred Years of Independent Academies in the United States, 1727-1925 (New York: Routledge Press): 251-283.
Beadie, N. and Tolley, K. (2002b). Legacies of the Academy. In N. Beadie and K. Tolley, eds. Chartered Schools: Two Hundred Years of Independent Academies in the United States, 1727-1925 (New York: Routledge Press): 331-352.
Beadie, N. (2002b). “Academies.” Encyclopedia of the State of New York. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press).
Beadie, N. (2000a). The Limits of Standardization and the Importance of Constituencies: Historical Tensions in the Relationship between State Authority and Local Control. In N. Theobald and B. Malen, eds. Balancing Local Control and State Responsibility for K-12 Education: 2000 Yearbook of the American Education Finance Association. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education, for the American Education Finance Association, 2000, pp. 47-91.
Beadie, N. (1990). Sarah Moore Grimke, 1792-1873, Angelina Grimke Weld, 1805-1879. Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women, Joan N. Burstyn, ed. (The Women's Project of New Jersey, Inc.) (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press), 66-70.
Book reviews and review essays
Beadie, N. (2019) Democracy’s Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America, by Johann Neem, William and Mary Quarterly 76:1 (January, 2019):181-5.
Beadie, N. (2014) Reconstructing the Campus: Higher Education and the American Civil War, by Michael David Cohen, American Historical Review 119: 1 (January): 178-9.
Beadie, N. (2013) Creating the Market University: How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine, by Elizabeth Popp Berman, History of Education (British) 42: 2 (March): 1-4.
Beadie, N. (2012) The Struggle for the History of Education, by Gary McCulloch, Journal of Educational Administration and History (Australia) 44:2 (May): 172-4.
Beadie, N. (2011). Women Pioneers of Public Education: How Culture Came to the Wild West, by Jurgen Herbst. History of Education (British) 40: 1 (January): 121-3.
Beadie, N. (2007b) The War that Wasn’t: Religious Conflict and Compromise in the Common Schools of New York State, 1865-1900, by Benjamin Justice. History of Education (British) 36: 2 (March): 267-282.
Beadie, N. (2006). Public or Private? Lessons from History, edited by Richard Aldrich. Paedagogica Historica (International) 42 (3): 433-9.
Beadie, N. (2005). Seeking Common Ground: Public Schools in a Diverse Society by David Tyack. American Journal of Education 111:2 (February): 267-70.
Beadie, N. (2003). Whose America: Culture Wars in the Public Schools, by Jonathan Zimmerman. Journal of American Ethnic History 22 (4): 82-4.
Beadie, N. (2002c). The American College in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Roger Geiger, Teachers College Record 104 (1) (January).
Beadie, N. (2000b). The Promise and Perils of Community-Based Schooling. American Journal of Education 109, 1 (November): 112-24.
Beadie, N. (1999). Religion Race and Reconstruction: The Public School in the Politics of the 1870s, by Ward M. McAfee. American Journal of Education 107 (3), 240-3.
Beadie, N. (1997). The Once and Future School: Three Hundred Years of American Secondary Education, by Jurgen Herbst. The Journal of American History 84 (3), 1030.
Beadie, N. (1996). The Significance of the American High School. American Journal of Education 104 (2), 218-230.
Beadie, N. (1994). Bernard Powers, The 'Girl Question' in Education: Vocational Education for Young Women in the Progressive Era. History of Education 23 (2), 225-7 (British).