In this article, the authors draw on narrative portraiture to inquire into the family, school, community, and teacher education experiences of two novice teachers who teach in schools located in two rural communities in the southeastern United States. The authors show how their university teacher education classes and field experiences neither…

Across the United States, student achievement is a concern. The local district under study is not meeting adequate yearly progress (AYP), a standard initiated by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which schools are expected to attain to avoid sanctions. The district's students are performing lower than state average on the state's standardized…

This research created a technology-based learning environment at two schools belonging to the National Council of Educational Development (CONAFE) for indigenous children in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. The purpose of the study was to describe the educational impact of using the Classmate PC netbooks and the Sugar Educational Platform in the…

In Canadian public primary schools, newcomer West African refugees like other ethnic immigrant students are a visible minority group, often referred as Linguistic and Culturally Different (LCD) students. In the province of British Columbia, newcomer immigrant students are subjected to a battery of tests, as soon as they enroll in the primary…

In this paper we consider why students in poor and rural regions of China are dropping out of school in numbers that may be greater than official statistics admit. With questions about education quality among the most intractable in Education for All initiatives across the developing world, we sketch a portrait of education in a remote mountain…

Three studies compared beliefs about natural and late blooming positive traits with those acquired through personal effort, extrinsic rewards or medicine. Young children (5-6 years), older children (8-13 years), and adults all showed a strong bias for natural and late blooming traits over acquired traits. All age groups, except 8- to 10-year-olds,…

This study reviews the state of professional development (PD) for teachers of beginning readers in Florida's rural schools. Teachers of beginning readers need to have a deep understanding of language, of how the reading process develops, and of effective pedagogy in early literacy. Few teachers begin their careers with sufficient knowledge and…

Eight hundred Saudi Arabia educators from the Riyadh District participated in this study to determine teachers' access to computers, computer skill level and motivation to enroll in online courses pertaining to professional development. Participants, who were chosen according to a stratified sampling technique, completed a survey which provided…

In this article, factors inhibiting the use of mother tongue as the language of learning and teaching (LoLT) in rural foundation phase classes is investigated. I analysed qualitative data from focus group interviews with 20 foundation phase teachers that were selected through purposive sampling. Findings show that factors such as prior learner…

Globalization and increased diversity within student populations results in a growing impetus toward a multicultural approach to music education. The National Standards in Music Education (MENC, 2010) requires that students experience the music of other cultures; however, not all multicultural music programs are equivalent in content, depth of…

Preschool attendance is considered an important factor for predicting later success in literacy achievement. This quantitative ex-post facto study examined whether attendance of public prekindergarten is related to improved reading achievement in 2nd grade students in a rural, southeastern school district. The learning theories of Piaget, Bandura,…

Classrooms are complex societies. Teachers are the leaders of these societies and the way they exercise their leadership abilities greatly affects the interactions that take place between teachers and students as well as interactions between the students themselves. These interactions, both social and instructional, have a great impact on the…

Reviews of research on rural education suggest that identifying ways to help rural schools improve teachers' pedagogical skills should be a high priority. This article addresses this issue by examining changes in reading skills through the primary grades of students in three rural, Midwestern districts that occurred after the implementation of a…

REL Appalachia conducted a systematic review of the research evidence on the effects of increased learning time. After screening more than 7,000 studies, REL Appalachia identified 30 that met the most rigorous standards for research. A review of those 30 studies found that increased learning time does not always produce positive results. However,…

The gap in reading achievement continues to be consistent, despite No Child Left Behind goals to narrow these gaps among minority and other subgroup populations. This gap is especially profound for students with disabilities, and any evidence to support progress monitoring of oral reading fluency (ORF) and comprehension will inform educational…