This article presents case studies of two rural districts--both confronting economic and demographic challenges--that were making significant strides toward closing achievement gaps between students with and without disabilities. The districts accomplished this work by using six practices, common to both but implemented differently in each: (a)…

Based on survey responses from more than 500 third-grade teachers, this study addressed three research questions relating to technology integration and its impact in rural elementary schools. The first analyses compared rural with non-rural teachers, revealing that the rural teachers had more positive attitudes toward technology integration. Then…

Computers are now a ubiquitous part of US elementary school education. With policy reports suggesting that inequities in information and communication technology (ICT) access across US schools are a thing of the past, investigating how such resources and their use may nonetheless continue to vary becomes all that much more important. Through a…

The teaching of mathematics, which arguably is so abstract as to transcend place and community and even culture (according at least to a Platonic view of mathematics), will seem to some observers particularly ill-suited to instruction in place- or community- or culture-based approaches. Nevertheless, current thinking in mathematics education,…

A survey of rural and suburban principals in Ohio and West Virginia explored the different approaches to planning that principals take and examined two possible contextual influences: rural versus suburban locale, and state. A survey instrument based on five types of planning discussed in the literature was completed by 207 West Virginia…

Mentorship programs are a promising approach to the professional development needs of new principals. The Southeastern Regional Principals' Academy provides professional development and collegial support for early-career principals in the primarily rural schools of southeast Ohio. For its 1999-2001 pilot program, 19 principals were organized into…

To date, there has never been an empirical study that has examined the actual activities of rural principals on behalf of improving mathematics education. This monograph presents the results of the first study of rural principals' engagement with mathematics education "reform." This study posed three research questions relating to rural…

A survey completed by 161 Ohio school board presidents examined superintendent selection practices and how they related to district size and rurality-urbanicity. Overall, board presidents preferred recommended practices (such as use of professional consultants and uniform selection criteria) over traditional ones. However, board presidents from…

Principals' support for various approaches to educational planning were examined in rural and suburban schools in Ohio and West Virginia. It was expected that rational approaches to planning would be more prevalent in suburban than rural schools and in a state with more tightly coupled bureaucratic control (West Virginia) than a less tightly…

An evaluation of an Ohio professional development program for beginning rural principals interviewed and observed 23 principals and mentors in 3 study groups. Participants valued mentoring and networking activities, noting they mitigated professional isolation. Participants preferred "unofficial" activities focused on practical problems…

A survey of 604 principals of suburban and rural schools in Ohio and West Virginia found that suburban Ohio principals showed less interest in traditional-consensual approaches to planning, whereas rural Ohio principals showed less interest in the new technicist approaches. Suburban West Virginia principals favored the new technicist approach,…