SUMMARY The Cooperative Education Association was organized in 1904 to advocate for public education reform in Virginia. The group was part of the larger, national Progressive movement, which generally pushed for workers’ rights, women’s rights, and more efficient government. The cooperative saw itself representing all citizens of Virginia, “whether living in the city or the country, whether white or black,” and was an outgrowth of the Richmond Education Association, founded in 1900 by Lila Meade Valentine and dedicated to education reform. The idea behind the cooperative was to extend the group’s successes in Richmond to the rest of the state.