William McAndrew

William McAndrew Jr. (August 20, 1863 – June 13, 1937) was an American educator and editor who served as Superintendent of Chicago Public Schools in the 1920s. McAndrew was, for a time, one of the best-known educators in the United States.

Before becoming Chicago superintendent, he worked as superintendent of schools in St. Clair, Michigan, as a principal in Chicago, and as a principal and assistant superintendent of schools for New York City. During his more than three-decades (1892–1924) as a school administrator in New York, McAndrew garnered national attention and esteem in his field, becoming widely-known and well-regarded as a leading figure in the field of education. His philosophies about education (which took inspiration from scientific management movement advocate Frederick Winslow Taylor) received attention.

McAndrew made numerous reforms within Chicago Public Schools, including establishing middle schools, implementing standardized testing, expanding vocational training, enacting rigid requirements and supervision of teachers, and championing the creation of a mandatory retirement age. While he garnered national reverence in some circles, he also became an enemy of local teacher unions, which disapproved of his elimination of teachers' councils and strict rules in governing teachers. In Chicago, McAndrew attracted significant criticism for what detractors characterized as an autocratic leadership style, as well as national renown and praise for a number of his successes as a school administrator. He was the subject of hyperbolic political attacks by William Hale Thompson during Thompson's campaign in the 1927 Chicago mayoral election. After Thompson took office as mayor in April 1927, his adversarial tact towards McAndrew led to a highly-publicized administrative hearing conducted by the Chicago Board of Education. The board suspended McAndrew from acting as superintendent pending the result of the hearing and eventually found him guilty of various charges, but the Superior Court of Cook County would later void this ruling.

Later in his life, McAndrew was an editor of both the Educational Review and School and Society, and continued this work until his death. Educator Robert J. Havighurst described him as "a man of great self-confidence, well educated, and honorable in all his dealings", but also as one whose approach to efficiency and administration ultimately conflicted with the Chicago teachers and schools he sought to change under his leadership.

McAndrew was born on August 20, 1863, in Ypsilanti, Michigan. His parents were both Scottish immigrants to the United States. McAndrew's father, William McAndrew, was a furniture maker, and his mother, Helen Walker McAndrew (née Walker), was an obstetrician, and the first female physician in Michigan. He was their second-born son, and had an older brother named Thomas.

His parents were political liberals and were involved in local reform activism. They hosted Sunday afternoon forums which drew participants such as social reformer and women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony and temperance reform activist John Bartholomew Gough to speak at their meetings. McAndrew's father would later quit his profession to join McAndrew's mother to operate a sanatorium she founded.

McAndrew graduated from the local Ypsilanti elementary school and from Ypsilanti High School. He studied at Michigan State Normal School before entering the University of Michigan, where he graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1886 with a Bachelor of Arts from the university's literary department. McAndrew later returned to Michigan State Normal School to receive his Master of Education in 1916.

Upon his graduation from the University of Michigan, McAndrew became superintendent of schools for St. Clair, Michigan, serving in this role from 1886 through 1887.