This study was designed to explore faculty perceptions about institutional and instructional efforts to achieve equitable learning outcomes among low-income students in rural community colleges. A review of the literature suggests that efforts to achieve equitable learning outcomes have primarily focused on urban institutions and have been viewed…

Documents inequality in school funding patterns in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Shows that school districts with higher percentages of economically disadvantaged children also are those with lower per pupil expenditures for instruction. Federal and State compensatory funds do not overcome this unequal expenditure for…

In spite of a mandate to create educational equality, the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) has not eliminated inequalities in school performance scores, and the problem may even be getting worse. The objective of this study is to determine the disparities that exist among Kentucky's eight Service Center regions. The analysis uses school…

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…

This article shares findings from an exploratory case study about an advanced leadership development program for administrator-certified practitioners in a Central Appalachian school district. The goal of the Principals Excellence Program, one of 24 projects supported by federal funds through the No Child Left Behind School Leadership Development…

The system of high-stakes accountability in the Kentucky public schools raises the question of whether teachers and administrators should be held accountable if test scores are influenced by external factors over which educators have no control. This study investigates whether such external factors , or "contextual effects," bias the…

This double issue of "The Evaluation Exchange" focuses on one of the central components of complementary learning: family involvement. As outlined in the Theory & Practice article, investments in family involvement are important across ages and settings and through the co-constructed efforts and shared responsibilities of many…

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…