This article from the archives of "Schools: Studies in Education," presents a biography of Ella Flagg Young, a dynamic and inspirational leader in American education, with a career that spanned more than 50 years. Young was one of the most outstanding educators during the period that saw the rise of universal education in the United States, and served as a distinguished classroom teacher for many years. She became an administrator in the public school system in her early forties. She was increasingly skeptical of the moves to centralize control of curriculum and increasingly vocal about the importance of teachers' freedom. At the age of 50, she began taking graduate classes at the University of Chicago with John Dewey. She resigned from her job in the Chicago public school system in 1899 and was appointed associate professor of pedagogy at the University of Chicago. She received her doctorate the following year, at the age of 55. Her dissertation, the first of three books she published in two years, is "Isolation in the Schools." The other two books are "Ethics in the School" and "Some Types of Modern Educational Theory," both published in 1902. Young became the first woman to head a major public school system when she was appointed Chicago school superintendent in 1909. Her major goals were to improve teacher training, to give classroom teachers greater responsibility, and to secure the integrity of teaching as a profession. She was the first woman to become president of the National Education Association, elected in 1910.