The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has implemented a student accountability system that measures students' performance on the State of Texas Assessment for Academic Readiness (STAAR) in several content areas. Therefore, teachers and administrators all over the state are always seeking ways to ensure that students are academically well prepared.…

Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. However, during policy discussions, rural schools' unique challenges are often eclipsed by those of their urban and suburban counterparts. This report is a case study of an innovative, replicable public education experiment at three rural Texas high schools called the Rural Schools Innovation Zone2…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of technology influence the integration of technology in rural south Texas teachers' classrooms. To investigate possible relationships, the researcher collected data through an online survey tool. The sample size for the study was 115…

"I know you've heard the rumor about the school closing down. That is not a rumor. That's a fact." Years of unacceptable academic ratings, dysfunctional school leadership, and constant budget deficits had finally caught up to a rural school in South Texas. Unfortunately, this is not the only school that has heard these words. Many…

School choice is expected to generate competition and thereby lead to organizational improvements. Using teachers' original survey responses, this study uses the market culture within the competing values framework and finds substantial variation in how rural schoolteachers perceive competitive pressure and school climate. When we restricted our…

This study examined whether the intensive reading intervention affects annual reading level growth in middle school students to mitigate reading loss from the COVID19 school closures. Participants included struggling middle school readers (N = 101) from a rural district in east Texas. Student participant Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)…

Rural students graduate from high school at higher rates but go to college at lower rate than their urban and suburban peers. To take on the educational attainment challenge for rural students, we need to know more about postsecondary encouragement programs. This study examined a pilot postsecondary encouragement program in 11 rural high schools…

Students living in rural areas are less likely to attend schools that offer computer science (CS) courses largely because educational institutions in these remote areas lack the resources to staff teaching positions for these courses. This study investigated the impact of WeTeach_CS, a program designed to train teachers to become certified to…

Rural students in the United States have a lower likelihood of entering and completing college compared with their non-rural peers, despite strong high school graduation rates. Postsecondary attendance and degree attainment gaps observed across geographic regions present equity and access concerns in the high school-to-higher education pipeline.…

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has implemented a student accountability system that measures students' performance on State of Texas Assessment for Academic Readiness (STAAR) in several content areas. How students perform determines the accountability ratings that will be assigned to every school district in Texas. Therefore, teachers and…

Therapy dogs positively impact students mental and emotional well-being, which can improve the student's academic performance. Therapy dogs can reduce stress and anxiety levels, which leads to better concentration and improved learning outcomes. Canines can also help improve social skills and behavior, which fosters a more productive classroom…

Many districts have adopted social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum that teachers must incorporate into their lessons. The purpose of this qualitative dissertation-in-practice was to explore teachers' perceptions of the quality of SEL program professional development (PD) for teachers at a small, rural West Texas high school. For this study,…

The construct of science identity has been gaining attention across various domains in the educational arena. To date, however, no studies have used a person-centered quantitative approach within science identity research that is based upon traditional identity theory. Hence, there is an absence of a theoretical underpinning of the number of…

Latina/o rural students are underrepresented in college and the research of their college choice process. Using Bourdieu's habitus, and Yosso's Community Cultural Wealth Conceptual Model, this qualitative study used interviews with 24 Latina/o rural high school students. Our findings explored how school habitus limits college options. Students use…

Texas House Bill 3 established a college, career, and military readiness (CCMR) outcomes bonus, which provides extra funding to districts for each annual graduate demonstrating CCMR under the state accountability system. Some small district and rural district leaders expressed concern about the ability of their graduates to meet the career…