Education Commons^™

Keep Rural Schools Open: Position And Policy, Emily Norman

Online Journal of Rural Research & Policy

Rural schools are a central pillar in the communities in which they belong. They offer not only education for the community’s youth, but serve as a community space, educational location for all community members, and enhance new generations’ understanding of local history and current events. The schools ensure that education is accessible to everyone in the community by avoiding long commutes, employing numerous locals, and having smaller class sizes to better cater to individual student needs. While there are benefits to closing schools, often ones of financial nature, the loss of these schools is felt deeply within rural communities. There …

Exploring College Choice Experiences Of Rural Students Through Creative Nonfiction, Jenna L. Gannon

Educational Considerations

Rural students pursue post-secondary education at a lower rate than their urban and suburban counterparts. While the college choice process is complex for all students, it is important to further examine this process for rural students because they are an underserved population. This study utilized Perna’s (2006) college choice model to examine the unique experiences of rural students in Kansas through narrative inquiry. This research sought to answer how rural students described their college choice process as well as the lived experiences that they believed affected their choice in college majors. This research found that the college choice process for …

Revisiting Rural Education Access, Elizabeth Wargo, Ian Hoke

Educational Considerations

Drawing on a contemporary construction of rurality, which acknowledges rural education amplified by technology, we capture two examples where online mathematics resources were used in a rural middle school setting. As such we examine issues and consider rural education access as it is changed with technology towards a more nuanced understanding of rural contexts necessary to inform future rural education policy, practice, and research.

Redesigning Field Experiences To Support Rural Schools: A Praxis Reflection, Vicki S. Sherbert

Educational Considerations

The on-going social and political climate, with polarizing stances on everything from issues of social justice to mandates for mask-wearing and vaccination, brings non-normative stressors into the lived experiences of students, families, and educators everywhere. These stressors are often magnified in rural communities and schools. Yet, in spite of these challenges, many schools in rural areas have embraced opportunities for creative collaborations which foster connections and celebrate the unique richness of their communities.

This Praxis Reflection describes one such collaboration between a teacher educator at a midwestern university and a rural junior high/senior high school 300 miles west of the …

Context Matters: Concepts Of School Engagement In The Context Of Geographic Isolation, Gary Andersen, Linda E. Feldstein

The Advocate

This case study research represents an attempt to gain a better understanding of conceptions of school engagement in a rural, isolated, agricultural mid-western community. Local school administrators, in collaboration with a regional university, chose to make student engagement the focus of deep inquiry in order to better address student concerns, improve teaching, and student outcomes (Association of Teacher Educators, 2007). Researchers interviewed students, teachers, and parents in a local high school, using an interview protocol specifically designed for each constituency. The study results point to a mostly behavioral, or compliance driven concept of engagement among all groups interviewed, but further …

Teacher Attrition And Retention In Kansas: A Case Study Of Geographically Rural States With Persistent Teacher Shortages, Tuan Nguyen

Online Journal of Rural Research & Policy

Teacher attrition is a key contributor to teacher shortages in many states, particularly those with large geographically rural areas. Using seven waves of the School and Staffing Survey and Kansas as a case study, this study examines the teacher labor force from 1988 to 2012. Moreover, the study describes the teacher mobility patterns for Kansas from 2000 to 2012 and compares them against the national average, the Midwest states, and the Great Plains states. Furthermore, it examines whether younger teachers, teachers with graduate degrees, and STEM and special education teachers in Kansas are more or less likely to turn over. …