Approximately one quarter of American students attend rural schools; however, the needs of these students are often overlooked in education policy despite well-documented limited financial resources and pervasive poverty. Relatively little is known about the experiences of gifted students in rural areas and even less about the teachers serving…

This article describes findings from a survey completed by 250 K-12th grade teachers from eight states (i.e., Kentucky, Minnesota, Michigan, Maine, Delaware, North Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi) that had fully implemented the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) by spring 2013. The survey was designed to examine teachers' perceptions about…

The goal of this study was to examine the relationships between school level poverty found in Maine schools and student academic performance. The evidence clearly shows that there is a relationship. As the percent of poverty increases in a school, student performance declines. But the poverty level alone does not explain the wide variations in…

For five years running, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has tracked states' teacher policies, preparing a detailed and thorough compendium of teacher policy in the United States on topics related to teacher preparation, licensure, evaluation, career advancement, tenure, compensation, pensions and dismissal. The "2011 State…