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Articles 1 - 13 of 13
Full-Text Articles in Education
Teachers' Perceptions Of Rural Stem Teaching: Implications For Rural Teacher Retention, Kasey P. S. Goodpaster, Omolola A. Adedokun, Gabriela C. Weaver
Teachers' Perceptions Of Rural Stem Teaching: Implications For Rural Teacher Retention, Kasey P. S. Goodpaster, Omolola A. Adedokun, Gabriela C. Weaver
The Rural Educator
Rural school districts often struggle with attracting and retaining high-quality teachers, especially in science subject areas. However, little is known about STEM in-service teachers’ lived experiences of rural teaching as they relate to retention. In this phenomenographical study, six rural in-service science teachers were interviewed regarding their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of teaching in rural schools in general, and teaching science subjects in particular. Community interactions, professional development, and rural school structures emerged as three key factors related to rural teacher retention. Participants viewed each of these factors as having both positive and negative aspects. Findings from this …
Principals As Assessment Leaders In Rural Schools, Patrick Renihan, Brian Noonan
Principals As Assessment Leaders In Rural Schools, Patrick Renihan, Brian Noonan
The Rural Educator
This article reports a study of rural school principals’ assessment leadership roles and the impact of rural context on their work. The study involved three focus groups of principals serving small rural schools of varied size and grade configuration in three systems. Principals viewed assessment as a matter of teacher accountability and as a focus for the school professional team. They saw themselves as teachers first, stressing their importance as sources of teacher support, serving a ‘buffer role,’ ameliorating external constraints to effective assessment and learning. Bureaucratic environments and trappings of large-scale assessment were seen to be incompatible with the …
Exploring Rural Contexts With Digital Storytelling, Donna G. Wake
Exploring Rural Contexts With Digital Storytelling, Donna G. Wake
The Rural Educator
This article describes rural middle school students’ exploration of their identity and their rural contexts through the vehicle of digital storytelling. Participants included 40 7th and 40 9th grade students at two rural schools in the Southeast United States. Students worked in shared writing groups to create digital stories expressing their views on teen life in a small, rural town. The resultant stories were analyzed using comparative grounded theory yielding some themes which may be posited as unique to a rural population while other themes were typical of the developmental age regardless of geographical context. Study findings indicate that the …
The Effect Of Constructivist Mathematics On Achievement In Rural Schools, Michael Grady, Sandra Watkins, Greg Montalvo
The Effect Of Constructivist Mathematics On Achievement In Rural Schools, Michael Grady, Sandra Watkins, Greg Montalvo
The Rural Educator
International assessment data indicate American students are not competing with their counterparts in other countries. The mathematics curriculum and pedagogy are not preparing students to compete in a global economy. This study compared student achievement using sixth grade mathematics results from the Illinois Standards Achievement Test. Specifically, the study compared the results of students in three different rural school districts, all of whom were receiving instruction in three different mathematics curricula. In one district, students received seven years of the K-6 Everyday Mathematics curriculum which was compared with students who received seven years of instruction using a traditional mathematics curriculum …
Wyoming’S Instructional Facilitator Program: Teachers’ Beliefs About The Impact Of Coaching On Practice, Leslie S. Rush, Suzanne Young
Wyoming’S Instructional Facilitator Program: Teachers’ Beliefs About The Impact Of Coaching On Practice, Leslie S. Rush, Suzanne Young
The Rural Educator
In 2006, the Wyoming state government allocated monies for the Department of Education to fund the work of Instructional Facilitators, or coaches, in schools across the state (Wyoming Department of Education, 2008). In Spring 2009, after the program had been in place for two years, an ex-post facto study was designed to examine the impact of the program on teacher practice. An online survey was used to collect data from classroom teachers throughout Wyoming’s public schools. Teachers answered questions about the extent of their work with Instructional Facilitators, the activities that they worked on with Instructional Facilitators, and the impact …
The State Of Education In Alabama’S K-12 Rural Public Schools, Ronald A. Lindahl
The State Of Education In Alabama’S K-12 Rural Public Schools, Ronald A. Lindahl
The Rural Educator
The purpose of this study was to compare Alabama’s rural school districts with its city, suburban, and town districts. Descriptive statistics were used for this population study, with effect sizes calculated using Cohen’s d. Findings indicated Alabama’s rural school districts serve slightly less affluent student populations, with a lower percentage of minority students, than their counterparts. They are funded at slightly lower levels than their counterparts in other categories, yet spend approximately the same percentage of their budgets on administration and on instruction. They spend a considerably higher percentage on transportation. Although rural district dropout rates are similar to those …
Increasing College-Going Rate, Parent Involvement, And Community Participation In Rural Communities, Stephanie B. King
Increasing College-Going Rate, Parent Involvement, And Community Participation In Rural Communities, Stephanie B. King
The Rural Educator
This study examined the perceptions of leaders of grant-supported projects aimed at increasing the college-going rate of high school students in rural Appalachian counties in Mississippi to determine which factors they felt most influenced the college-going rate, parental participation in school activities, and community participation. Analysis of the leaders’ responses to questions related to these items showed that college visits and ACT preparation workshops were perceived as having the greatest impact on increasing the college-going rate at the schools. No one factor was perceived as having the least impact on increasing the college-going rate at the schools. Factors influencing parental …
Rural Research Report: A Longitudinal Study On The Effect Of The Texas Behavior Support Initiative On Rural Middle School Students, Alberto Ruiz, Grace V. Ruiz, Nestor W. Sherman
Rural Research Report: A Longitudinal Study On The Effect Of The Texas Behavior Support Initiative On Rural Middle School Students, Alberto Ruiz, Grace V. Ruiz, Nestor W. Sherman
The Rural Educator
The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of a school wide positive behavior initiative designed to improve student behavior. Researchers analyzed the last 3 years (2005-2008) of student discipline referral data for grades 7 and 8. Implementation resulted in a significant reduction in the number of discipline referrals. Data revealed a decrease of 23% in the number (2239 vs. 1723) of discipline referrals from year one to year two and a decrease of 22% in the number (1723 vs.1340) of discipline referrals from year two to year three. Results obtained from the analysis indicate that the TBSI …
The Four-Day School Week: Impact On Student Academic Performance, Paul M. Hewitt, George S. Denny
The Four-Day School Week: Impact On Student Academic Performance, Paul M. Hewitt, George S. Denny
The Rural Educator
Although the four-day school week originated in 1936, it was not widely implemented until 1973 when there was a need to conserve energy and reduce operating costs. This study investigated how achievement tests scores of schools with a four-day school week compared with schools with a traditional five-day school week. The study focused on student performance in Colorado where 62 school districts operated a four-day school week. The results of the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) were utilized to examine student performance in reading, writing, and mathematics in grades 3 through 10. While the mean test scores for five-day week …
A Synthesis Of International Rural Education Issues And Responses, Bonnie L. Stelmach
A Synthesis Of International Rural Education Issues And Responses, Bonnie L. Stelmach
The Rural Educator
This article synthesizes problems impacting rural primary and secondary schools and describes how schools and relevant organizations have responded to the challenges. Given the context of a globally-compressed world, the focus of the literature review is on international rural education research and strategies. The exploration took the path of topical rather than regional or methodological investigation of rural education for the purpose of thematic understanding of issues. The paper opens with a discussion of the ambiguity of the definition of “rural” to reinforce an epistemological challenge with rural education research. An adaptation of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory is used as a …
Planning For The Future: An Investigation Of Work-Bound Rural Youth, Bryan C. Hutchins, Judith L. Meece, Soo-Yong Byun, Thomas W. Farmer
Planning For The Future: An Investigation Of Work-Bound Rural Youth, Bryan C. Hutchins, Judith L. Meece, Soo-Yong Byun, Thomas W. Farmer
The Rural Educator
The purpose of this study was to explore the postsecondary educational and occupational expectations of work-bound rural youth. Three groups of work-bound youth were identified (work-bound, work-bound with future educational plans, and work-bound but unsure/undecided about postsecondary education), and each group was compared to college-bound rural youth using results from a recent national investigation of the educational and occupational aspirations of rural youth. Results indicated that the majority of rural youth in this study planned to continue their education after high school (56%), followed by 34% who planned to work and further their education. Results of logistic regression analysis indicated …
Teaching Elementary Children With Autism: Addressing Teacher Challenges And Preparation Needs, Ruth Busby, Rebecca Ingram, Rhonda Bowron, Jan Oliver, Barbara Lyons
Teaching Elementary Children With Autism: Addressing Teacher Challenges And Preparation Needs, Ruth Busby, Rebecca Ingram, Rhonda Bowron, Jan Oliver, Barbara Lyons
The Rural Educator
Teachers’ perception of self-efficacy may have a significant impact on their ability to accept the challenges inherent in including children with autism in their classrooms. The Nominal Group Technique (NGT) was used to identify perceived challenges and needs of 31 graduate students in a university course of which 14 of the 23 students were actively teaching in rural schools located in southeast Alabama. Five faculty members used the resulting NGT data to draft six recommendations for improving the teacher preparation program at Troy University.
Developing A Rural Teacher Education Curriculum Package, Simone White, Jodie Kline
Developing A Rural Teacher Education Curriculum Package, Simone White, Jodie Kline
The Rural Educator
This paper documents the development of a new website (www.rrrtec.net.au) specifically designed to better equip teacher educators to prepare graduates to teach in rural and regional communities. The two year study (2009-2011) that informed the website’s creation included three data sources: A literature review of research into rural teacher education, a survey of pre-service students who had completed a rural practicum and interviews with teacher educators about the current strategies they used to raise awareness and understanding of the needs of rural students, their families, and communities. An analysis of the data revealed that teacher educators need to focus more …