The Pell Grant is the foundational need-based student aid program in the United States, providing students of lower socio-economic status a pathway to afford college costs and educational expenses. Currently, over one-third of all U.S. undergraduate students receive Pell. This paper examines federal Pell assistance and institutional costs for…

The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has been studying the four-day school week since 2015. Since then, the phenomenon of the four-day school week has spread into non-rural areas and interest appears to be growing. Given these apparent changes, the author wanted to know more about recent trends in the initiative. As districts continue…

This technical appendix provides additional information about the sample, data, and estimation strategy used for a series of American Educator Panels (AEP) Data Notes published by the RAND Corporation in 2019. The Data Note series is intended to provide brief but incisive analyses of teacher and school leader survey results that may be of…

In this descriptive and comparative study, we present results highlighting the complexity and scope of the challenges facing rural districts as they navigate the changing demographics of the students and families they serve. Rapid increases in the number and concentration of racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students in rural areas…

This monograph offers an in-depth look at the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Rural Systemic Initiative (RSI) efforts, an investment of more than $140 million to reform mathematics and science programs in rural K-12 public education and tribal education. The authors seek to promote a foundation of contextual understanding for improving public…

In the fall of 2004, the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) convened members of the School Leadership Learning Community (SLLC) and invited guests for three invitational, issue-focused meetings. Each of the meetings was conducted as a modified Select Seminar (www.casdany.neric.org/history3.htm) and explored an issue specific to preparing…

Facing financial difficulties, the Webster County Public School System in rural Kentucky implemented a four-day school week to save money on transportation and staffing. The district's research in the experience of other rural districts had indicated that such a calendar change could increase efficiency and also yield some unexpected benefits.…

This report pays tribute to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Rural Systemic Initiatives (RSIs), an investment of more than $140 million to improve mathematics and science education in some of rural America's most impoverished communities. The report illustrates the impact of NSF's RSI program on a national scale. Each RSI planned a project…

This report is based on an almost 5-year continual study of selected collaboratives engaged in education reform and improvement with a focus on science, math, and technology in schools serving K-12 students in rural America. This version of the final report of the study is primarily intended for use by educators, decision makers, and others who…

In 2002-2003, 27% (12.5 million) of public school students attended school in communities of fewer than 25,000 and 19% (8.8 million) attended school in smaller communities of fewer than 2,500. In this report, the authors focus on the schools in those smaller communities, the most rural schools in America. They frame the report around 22…

The 1965 status of secondary education in 11 southern states is analyzed in terms of school size, personnel, professional qualifications, and working conditions. Financial data relate per pupil expenditures in both rural and urban schools in each state. Information is provided concerning curriculum trends, innovations, and progressive school…

The Conference for Education in the South, which for 16 years has held its annual sessions at different places in the Southern States, is unique among educational conferences, in that its membership does not consist chiefly of teachers and school officers, but of farmers, professional men of all kinds, business men, and women of varied interests,…