Claxton was a member of the Southern Education Board, which during the early years of the twentieth century worked assiduously to promote interest in public schooling in the South.

The United States Bureau of Education became an important branch of the government as under his guidance its role and activities were substantially expanded.

In 1930, he returned once more to Tennessee where he again became involved in academic education as the President of the Austin Peay Normal School in Clarksville until he retired in 1946.

While his role was more directly focused on the improvement of schools at the lower levels — for which he has been hailed as the Horace Mann of the South — he exercised considerable influence on higher education.

Two of his public pronouncements perhaps best sum up his concern for issues surrounding teacher education: The state must give the University wise direction, keeping it free from all influences of partisan politics, sectarian bias, social caste, and unrighteous personal ambitions.and "The most important work of a college president ... is the selection of teachers, relieving them of all unnecessary duties that may interfere with teaching.