A. Sophie Rogers was an early childhood education pioneer. She specialized in child psychology during her 32-year career as an Ohio State professor. She also had a highly successful pediatric practice in Clintonville and was one of the first women to win tenure in Ohio State’s Department of Medicine. She retired from the university in 1950 but continued to practice medicine until her death in 1967.
Dr. Rogers was passionate about creating an early learning experience for children that also functioned as a place for university students to learn and conduct research. Plans for a nursery school first began in 1924, and in the following year (1925), she opened a school in Ohio State’s Campbell Hall known as the Child and Family Studies Laboratory. The school was one of the first early care and research centers in the country. The curriculum displayed best practices and Ohio State students and professors observed classroom techniques for the 12 children enrolled who ranged from ages 2-6. Dr. Rogers also opened the Peter Pan Playhouse, the city’s first nursery school for children ages 3-5, in 1936.
Dr. Rogers set up an endowment to continue funding the laboratory school’s programs in 1966, and in 1985, Ohio State honored her groundbreaking work by renaming the laboratory school the A. Sophie Rogers Laboratory for Child and Family Studies. Today, the school remains a model demonstration site for practitioners and researchers and was renamed the A. Sophie Rogers School for Early Learning when it moved from Campbell Hall to the Schoenbaum Family Center in August 2007.
+ Learn about current research and student opportunities.
Dr. Sophie Rogers
A. Sophie Rogers’ principal Anneliese Johnson began her career at the laboratory school in Campbell Hall. Read her reflections in this article about the history of that building.
