Czech parents place particular emphasis on ensuring the overall quality of life of their child when choosing a school. Our study shows how rural state schools understand this demand. A mixed approach was used in our research. In the first step, administrative data from all schools in municipalities with a population of up to 3,000 was used to…

Community colleges play a fundamental role in higher education. They are open-access institutions, providing higher education services to individuals from a variety of backgrounds. Community colleges also provide important workforce development and training opportunities to help develop the local economy. Today, states and the federal government…

The purpose of this comprehensive multi-faceted research investigation was to collect evidence from various sources related to the impact of school building closings on rural communities. The researcher employed quantitative, qualitative, and US Census data analysis to collect information and comprehensively evaluate the impact of school closings…

Students with autism spectrum disorder often require social supports to function well in a mainstream class setting. Researchers have demonstrated the effects of social skills training for students with autism, but their work has focused primarily on topographically defined outcomes, such as increasing the frequency of social behaviours. More…

Five lesbian faculty who were out in the workplace had positive personal and professional experiences in relation to how they negotiated family, campus culture, community, and personal fulfillment. This phenomenological qualitative study offers an alternative to deficit model research by exploring the participants' lived-experiences using a…

This paper examines the situating of rural communities in the United States within the neoliberal global context. It will focus on Henri Lefebvre's concept of abstract space, as well as additional theories on the ways space is produced and understood. The paper will use these theories to create an understanding of the ways rural communities are…

Community boundary spanners create ties that bind the campus and its surrounding region for reciprocal relationships. Using community boundary spanning literature as a conceptual framework, this study went beyond existing research on public and 4-year comprehensive universities to examine how university leadership at rural, private liberal arts…

This qualitative interpretive study investigated the lived experiences of qualified teachers who have remained in teaching for more than 10 years in Zimbabwean rural secondary schools. In understanding how teachers make meaning of their remaining in teaching, the focus is also on the role and place of teachers in society. The experiences were…

Empirical studies indicate family concerns as a primary reasons why promising principals and central office administrators do not aspire to the superintendency (O'Connell, Brown, Guptil, Stosberg, & O'Connell, 2001; Volp & Rogers, 2004). Hesitancy to apply for superintendent positions is further complicated by the fact that the…

Hanover School Division (HSD) is located southeast of Winnipeg, Canada and is currently Manitoba's largest rural school division, with 7500 students in 18 schools. A recent wave of immigration has led to rapid growth in both numbers and diversity and the recent planning and construction of Clearspring Middle School in Steinbach is providing many…

This dissertation study was a descriptive case study of a minority community service organization whose members were actively involved in local school decision-making and activities in a rural Northeast Georgia community. Rural schools face unique challenges in light of current educational trends. To address the challenges, rural schools must…

This study investigated the magnitude of the relationships between eight school climate domains and a measure of global school satisfaction among 2,049 middle and high school students. Tests of moderator effects were conducted to determine if the magnitude of the relationships between the school climate domains and school satisfaction differed as…

A growing body of research suggests that low job satisfaction among teachers may lead to undesired consequences for educators, students, and communities. The greatest impact appears to be a high rate of attrition among teachers, which is growing (NCTAF, 2007). Teacher effectiveness, teacher retention, and student achievement can be directly…

For those rural schools and communities across the country facing declining student enrollment, there are no easy answers. But there are steps policymakers and communities can take to help cushion the negative impact of declining enrollment on schools to ensure that "no child left behind" also means "no place left behind." This report details 20…

In 2004, the Center for Rural Pennsylvania contracted with Pennsylvania State University to begin a longitudinal study of rural Pennsylvania school students to understand their future aspirations, the factors influencing these aspirations, whether their plans change as they age, and if they attain their goals and plans. The main research questions…