The Great Depression, the most severe economic crisis the United States had ever experienced, began in late 1929 with the crash of the stock market. Schools, like every other part of American society, were deeply affected, but the hardships of the Depression were only a temporary setback to upward trends in education that had begun earlier in the decade. For public schools the most difficult years of the Depression were between 1932 and 1936. Cuts in school budgets resulted in shortened school years or school days, lower teacher salaries, teacher layoffs, insufficient funds for books and supplies, cuts in the number and variety of classes offered, and increased class sizes. A significant number of schools, especially rural schools, closed altogether.

Yet through the upheaval several positive and long-lasting changes occurred. Membership in teachers' labor unions greatly increased as teachers organized to work for higher wages, better job opportunities, retirement benefits, and...