Educational Leadership Commons^™

Section Viii: Technology And Its Implications For Iowa Rural Education: Introduction

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Educators concerned with service delivery to rural areas are once again looking to technology as a potential means for that delivery. In the following sections, contributors review key aspects of planning for and implementing technology applications towards improving these services. Four overarching observations are offered. First, educators must focus on the educational outcomes that are desired prior to proposing a technological solution. Too often, the opposite happens. Second, a systematic and comprehensive program needs to be undertaken to increase the awareness among potential producers (teachers and administrators) and consumers (learners) of successful technology applications. Third, state agencies must provide the …

Section Viii: Technology And Its Implications For Iowa Rural Education [Costello], Larry Costello

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

I have been a member of the Ventura Community School District Board of Directors since September of 1976, and on the board of Directors of People United for Rural Education (PURE) for the last ten years. Currently, I have daughters in fifth grade, eleventh grade and one who is a sophomore in college. I write this paper as a lay citizen, and a parent who has spent considerable time in educational interests.

I selected "Technology and Its Implication for Iowa Rural Education" as my field of interest because of the direction our local school is currently going. As we were …

Section Viii: Technology And Its Implications For Iowa Rural Education [Scala], David Scala

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Technology in education is an issue which is of paramount importance today in all Iowa schools and not just rural school districts. Technological advances in educational delivery systems have expanded greatly during the 1980's and possibilities seem almost limitless for the coming decade. Although available technologies impact upon all schools, we will concentrate on implications for rural Iowa schools for the purpose of this discussion. As schools in rural areas struggle with the challenges of preparing students for the competitive world and for making the tough choices in life, new technological advances in educational delivery systems provide tremendous opportunities for …

Section Viii: Technology And Its Implications For Iowa Rural Education [Wede], Richard Wede

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Students today and in the future will enter a complex world of rapid change and high technology. As a result, our schools must change to meet the needs of students. Modern technology has provided students numerous advantages which were not available to their grandparents. This is certainly true regarding education.

"Distance learning" has become the latest buzz word in education journals and at conferences. The interactive television instructional network is a part of that distance learning concept; and, it is definitely different from the types of learning that took place over television in the fifties and sixties. Today's television classrooms …

Section Ix: Conference And Monograph Contributors

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

No abstract provided.

Section Ix: Institute For Educational Leadership Advisory Board

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

No abstract provided.

Section Vii: Staff Development And Rural Schools: Ways And Means [Smith], Daniel Smith

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Staff development programs which are of high quality exhibit several characteristics. First, they are research based. As a result, they are not based on a current fad or on the whim of a group of school administrators. Good programs have a mass of verifiable data to indicate that teacher participation in the program will have a high probability of improving the service he/she provides to students.

Second, quality programs are focused. The research-based components are carefully selected and consistently reinforced. Good programs are not merely one-day inservice activities that deal with a single topic in isolation from other topics. There …

Section Iv: Financing Rural Education In Iowa [Meier], Dean Meier

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The financing of rural education, as well as all public education, needs to center around two principles. One, equity for the students, and two, equity for the taxpayers.

For the purpose of this paper, equity for the student shall be defined to mean providing a level of support so each student has an equal opportunity to learn and to succeed according to their abilities. This definition contrasts with the definition of equality which shall mean providing an equal number of dollars for each child. With equality, the focus is on equal inputs. With equity, the focus is on equal opportunities …

Section Iii: Effective Rural Schools: What We Know, What We Need To Know [Milligan], Michael Milligan

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Rural schools are a fact of life in Iowa. Over 76% of Iowa school districts contain less than 1,000 students, and 91 % contain less than 2,000 students. Even if the new state standards and revised finance formula succeed in forcing districts to share or reorganize into larger regional units, most Iowa school districts will remain rural in nature. So, it is imperative for us to identify and study effective schools in a rural setting. Essentially, research of effective schools has been going on for most of this century, beginning with the progressive reformers of the early 1900's and culminating …

Section Viii: Technology And Its Implications For Iowa Rural Education [Lindaman], Arnold Lindaman

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

It is true that technology, economics, demographics and international factors are pressuring the nation and our state to completely transform public schools' uses of instructional technology or risk a growing gap between educational "haves" and "have nots." In 1988-89, 54.4% of the 433 districts in Iowa had a student enrollment of 600 students or less. These 236 districts enroll 18% or 86,582 students of the 480,346 students in Iowa. Indeed, with open enrollment bearing down upon us, rural district educators, board members and parents have yet another reason to look at uses of technology and wonder if they are keeping …

An Introduction From A Regional Viewpoint On Rural Education, Lawrence B. Friedman

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

This volume is one key outcome of the Invitational Rural Education Conference, April 7-9, 1989, sponsored by the University of Northern Iowa, the Iowa State Department of Education, and the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Individually, the papers reflect the authors' knowledge of the rural education enterprise and its diversity in Iowa and their commitment to improving and expanding educational opportunities for all rural students in the state. Collectively, the papers depict the state of rural education in Iowa near the end of the 1980s from a broad range of viewpoints, including those of teachers, administrators, counselors, parents, school board …

Section V: Meeting Student Needs In Rural Education [Herzberg], Kim Herzberg

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

A common theme of mixed messages indicating despair and hope emerges as rural Iowans have faced the economic fragility of the nineteen eighties. Abandoned businesses and farms, poorly kept properties that once were neatly groomed, new businesses representing only outside financial interests, expectations of inevitable decline and the mistrust of one's neighbors are becoming more common in rural communities. If a person displayed similar characteristics such as withdrawal and mistrust of others, poor grooming, negative statements about the future and general despondency, one might conclude the person has a low self-esteem or is suffering from depression. If a child were …

Section Iii: Effective Rural Schools: What We Know, What We Need To Know [Goltz], Clark Goltz

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

At-risk students, funding, state standards, substance abuse, talented and gifted programs, technology, curriculum changes, preschool education, latch key programs, poverty, child abuse, declining enrollment, and the family in transition are all major issues placed in the hands of schools. Research conducted in the early seventies revealed that some schools do a better job than others of educating their student population. The question one must address at this conference reflects not only the characteristics of effective schools, but specifically the characteristics of the effective rural schools of Iowa.

A Working Conference On Rural Education, Thomas J. Switzer

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The College of Education at the University of Northern Iowa, through its Institute for Educational Leadership, was pleased to host the invitational working conference described in this monograph. We appreciate the financial assistance of the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory in making it possible for us to conduct the conference. Additional support was provided by the Iowa Department of Education, Continuing Education and Special Programs (UNI), and the Graduate College (UNI). The conference emerged from the continuing commitment of the University of Northern Iowa to the rural schools of the State of Iowa and the nation. Although we are increasingly …

Section Viii: Technology And Its Implications For Iowa Rural Education [Waggoner], Michael Waggoner

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Americans have long believed that "Yankee ingenuity" can be applied, to good result, in most any circumstance. We have faith in our ability to study a problem and fashion apparatus to address it, be it machine or program. Such a propensity has contributed, no doubt, to the unparalleled achievements in science and technology that we have seen in this country, and to the quality of life that we have come to enjoy. But there is some consensus that this advance has not been an unmitigated success. For it seems that there are always social consequences, however subtle, to technological progress …

Section Ii: Curriculum Diversity In Rural Iowa: Quality And Equity Issues [Brummer], Kevin Brummer

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Over the past five years in Iowa, several initiatives have been instigated to address what is perceived to be a lack of quality and equitable curricular opportunities for students in Iowa schools. Some examples of initiatives include: the Iowa Five-Year Plan, the New Minimum Standards for Accreditation of Schools, incentives for sharing and reorganization, and unrestricted open enrollment, along with a movement in revising the state aid formula to "put the money where the students are." It is quite ironic that in a state which has been and still is economically based on agriculture, legislators seem to want to make …

Section Ii: Curriculum Diversity In Rural Iowa: Quality And Equity Issues [O'Kones], Ronald O'Kones

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The concept of open enrollment in Iowa is based upon the premise that students should have the opportunity to seek the best education available. It is also based upon the premise that competition between school districts will improve schools in Iowa. Can Iowa rural schools, schools of a thousand students or less, remain competitive by providing quality curriculums that are equal in quantity to urban or large rural districts? The answer is yes, but changes are needed in the traditional methods of curriculum delivery.

Whole-grade sharing of students between districts offer one means of change in delivering curriculum. Many Iowa …

Section Iii: Effective Rural Schools: What We Know, What We Need To Know [Koehler], Marilyn Koehler

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Rural schools have had enormous efficiency in the past. The school in a rural community was the focal point of social, as well as academic activity, with varying degrees of excellence. Many of our nation's leaders were educated in rural schools. Rural population has declined by twenty-five to thirty percent in the last ten years. That brings us to point number one, a fact that we know: Change in school structures and educational delivery is mandated and imminent.

Section Iv: Financing Rural Education In Iowa [Van Ryswyk], Don Van Ryswyk

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Rural education in Iowa needs to be on the same level as city and urban schools. The curriculum offerings and quality should be equal. The rural population has strived to provide better education at a cost we can afford and has always paid more than its share in support of the Iowa school system. Rural education should be funded by state and local taxpayers in a way that would be equal to all students in the state. Transportation should be from a separate budget so all students can have equal dollars to start with. There are many ways to be …

Section V: Meeting Student Needs In Rural Education [Frank], Robert Frank

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

A few years ago a graduate student of mine constructed a scenario of an "oppressed" school in which the human relations components of a school were highlighted. Examples of this school were identified by a variety of verbal and written communications between administrators, teachers and students. If the illustrations were not so painfully consistent with what actually occurs in the daily life of the school, they would be humorous and entertaining. They were neither humorous or entertaining. Students, teachers and administrators often create situations which demoralize or destroy the self-esteem of its participants. Education to create maximum individual learning for …

Section V: Meeting Student Needs In Rural Education [Wagner], Lee Wagner

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

One of the most disappointing phrases I hear from adults is, "Kids these days! What they really need is ..." Before we begin to analyze what needs to be done, we must try to understand what rural youth want to be done. As a rural youth myself, the purpose of this paper is to better help build an understanding of what it is that rural youth want. Let's take a look at what rural youth today are faced with.

Section Vi: Redesigning Iowa Rural Schools: Sharing, Restructuring Or Consolidating [Decker & Talbot], Robert Decker, Adrian Talbot

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Faced with unfavorable demographic and economic trends, many Iowa school districts have been seeking innovative ways of re-shaping themselves in order to continue providing high quality educational programs. Many districts, encouraged by legislative incentives are currently sharing grades, teaching staff, and administrators. During the 1988 fall semester, the authors solicited the opinions of superintendents who have been employed simultaneously in two or more neighboring districts. Based upon their responses during a semi-structured interview, we take the following position:

In the absence of sincere school board intentions to pursue grade sharing and possible reorganization with a partner district within three to …

Section Vi: Redesigning Iowa Rural Schools: Sharing, Restructuring Or Consolidating [Judkins], Marvin Judkins

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Iowa has historically held firmly to two basic, but contradictory assumptions about its schools. The first assumption is that Iowa's schools and their students are the best, or at least among the best, in the nation. The second assumption is that Iowa has too many small schools to provide a top quality education for its students. The past decade has witnessed an unprecedented attack on the quality of education provided by Iowa schools. The roots of that assault may be traced to two factors.

"A Nation At Risk" created a national concern with the quality of education provided children. While …

Section Vii: Staff Development And Rural Schools: Ways And Means [Roach], Richard Roach

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

My position on the ways and means of staff development in rural schools is similar to the ways and means of staff development in urban schools. Rural education has its peculiarities: sparse population, high transportation costs, low drop-out rates, high test scores, low pupil-teacher ratios, high parental involvement, strong moral values, etc. I don't consider, however, the opportunities for staff development in rural schools to be at a disadvantage. The need is equal between rural and urban schools, and our access to quality programs and presenters through Area Education Agencies (or ESU's, Coops, etc.) are just as profound as that …

Section Viii: Technology And Its Implications For Iowa Rural Education [Drey], Richard Drey

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Based on the following understandings, this is the vision I see as I gaze into Iowa's "Rural Education" crystal ball. First, the implementation of today's technological advances within Iowa's educational institutions in no way assures improved educational results. Second, the implications of today's technology for rural education are limitless; they are restricted only by our designated state and community leaders' narrownesses of perspective and petty jealousies. Third, there needs to be a realization from within the State that, from a national perspective, all of lowa's educational institutions are "rural" in nature. Fourth, since the people of this state see value …

Section Iii: Effective Rural Schools: What We Know, What We Need To Know [Dreier], William Dreier

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

In the USA, rural education is the informal and formal learning occurring to infants, children, youth and adults living in the open country, farms, villages, towns, and other places located outside the many Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Informal learning takes place in the home, work place, school, and community. Formal learning takes place in the classes provided by churches and non-public schools and in the local public school districts. By far, the largest number of schools and local school districts include non-urban villages and towns. These rural areas, whose population centers are fewer than 2,500 people, include about one-third of …