The three rejoinders that follow engage ideas in Amy Azano's critique (q.v.) (see ERIC Document: EJ1048750) of the study of dissertations with a dual focus on rural education and curriculum and instruction (C&I). Considering the issues Amy raises about authors and authority, the allusion to Luigi Pirandello's great twentieth century…

This essay explains the relevance of fiction to the practice of rural education research, in so doing engaging questions about the nature and purposes of research and, therefore, of science itself. Although many may assume science and fiction (in this account, novels) harbor contrary purposes and devices, this essay argues that, to the contrary,…

To date, mathematics education research has rarely engaged issues that could be considered relevant to rural policy and practice. In particular, few research reports in mathematics education have involved the Appalachian region in a way that draws rural-specific conclusions. This manuscript represents an attempt to identify research questions that…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) new classification system for location of public schools and the NCES databases will provide new opportunities for rural education researchers. NCES developed a coding system called "Johnson codes" based on zip codes and Census definitions both of rural and nonrural places and of…

The great challenge for rural education scholars is explaining what relevance the rural circumstance might have to schooling, a task especially difficult in the case of mathematics education. This paper argues that the rural lifeworld makes math education rural and suggests implications for research based on that statement. The lifeworld is the…

This paper presents a researcher's view of the foundations on which to research rural schooling. Three sections each discuss a different parameter of rural education research into science and mathematics education. These sections advise a conservative approach to research methodology, a liberal approach to content, and a radical approach to…

A prolegomenon--a "critical discussion to introduce and interpret an extended work"--exactly describes the purpose of this essay, since the Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment, and Instruction in Mathematics (ACCLAIM) is very much an extended work. This essay develops a tentative theoretical framework to help represent…

Responding to the need for research in rural mathematics education, three investigators develop an initial research agenda in this area. Because this development is perhaps unique, the investigators envision the utility of this initial agenda in terms of both product and process. Drawing from 190 questions from multiple sources in mathematics,…

This paper explores changes needed in the focus and commitment of educational research to better reflect issues relevant to rural schools and their communities. Historically, educational researchers have focused on national or cosmopolitan concerns in efforts to develop widely applicable procedures for school improvement. However, improving rural…