The Ohio State University School

The University School's Role in Education History

In 1931 the Ohio General Assembly ordered construction of a world-class laboratory school at Ohio Field – the birthplace of Ohio State University Football. The building designed by Stadium architect Howard Dwight Smith remains today, but the light once shed from the tower atop this building no longer radiates philosophy-driven teaching theory and practice to schools at home, and abroad. By order of the Board of Trustees, The Ohio State University School, a K-12 teaching laboratory, opened in this building in September, 1932 – the year Time Magazine called it America’s Most Famous school.

Ohio State’s University School was organized around the pedagogical and philosophical foundations conceived by Columbia University’s progressive theoretician John Dewey, Cal Berkeley’s teacher training exponent, Rudolph Lindquist, and Ohio State’s citizenship and democracy methodist, Boyd Bode. Under the leadership of Harold Alberty, Laura Zirbes, and Dean Donald Cottrell, the school rose to become the brightest light in American education – America’s premier exponent of student-directed education. Until that light was extinguished, as a result of 1960 era political instability, nationally, and at the university, at the end of the 1967 academic year.

Welcome to the official website for the Alumni Association of the Ohio State University School. The website was completely re-designed in November 2014 using new HTML coding technology.

The TOSUS.ORG website is intended to be a gathering place and communications facility for former students. faculty and administrators, and as an online archive of materials, pictures, and facts relating to the people, events and history of the University School from 1932-1967.

TOSUS.ORG is our website domain name and is host to many articles, historical information about the school, the students and faculty, images, historical events, contact information, a memoriam honor roll, a place for all the graduating classes to announce their reunions, a library room, a showcase and achievement area, and much more.  We encourage every user to review or download our website privacy policy.  If you have any questions or comments about the website, please contact the webmaster at steve@simpledesignwebsites.comI