His dissertation under Bernard Bailyn dealt with "Gentleman of letters: a study of George Ticknor".
He received awards from the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.
[3] Tyack examined late 19th century reform movements in New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco and Chicago.
He concluded that, "What the structural reformers wanted to do, then, was to replace a rather mechanical form of public bureaucracy, which was permeated with 'illegitimate' lay influence, with a streamlined 'professional' bureaucracy in which lay control was carefully filtered through a corporate school board.
"[4] Tyack died on October 27, 2016, in Palo Alto from complications of Parkinson's disease.