Normal schools in the United States were developed and built primarily to train elementary-level teachers for public schools in the 19th century. The term derives from the French école normale, a sixteenth-century model school where model teaching practices were taught to teacher candidates. Many high schools in the 19th century offered one-year normal school programs to train teachers for common schools. New England, especially Massachusetts, became the center for educational innovation in this field.
In the early 20th century, normal schools transitioned into state colleges, and more recently most have become state universities with a wide range of programs extending far beyond teacher training. The former normal schools that survive in the 21st century have become comprehensive state universities. This transformation reflects the expanding mission of these institutions from specialized teacher preparation to broader higher education.
Normal schools spread across the United States from New England to the Midwest and beyond. The first public normal school opened in Lexington, Massachusetts in 1839, while the first normal school west of the Appalachian Mountains was established in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1853. By the mid-to-late 1800s, normal schools had been established in nearly every region of the country to meet growing demand for qualified teachers.