(1837–1902), U.S. educator. Francis Parker was born on Oct. 9, 1837, in Bedford, N.H. At 21 he became the principal of a school in Carrollton, Ill. After serving in the American Civil War, he returned to teaching and developed a program of progressive education. He helped establish education as an academic discipline and founded the Chicago Institute, which became the University of Chicago's School of Education.