The purpose of this quantitative correlational-associative study was to determine if, and to what extent, there were statistically significant correlations between intent to stay and the three factors of organizational commitment for rural school educators in the Plains States. Three research questions guided this study to examine the potential…

Supporting the development and training of paraeducators can be complex; however, that support in rural settings can be especially challenging. The unique structure of rural settings, often with limited personnel and available resources, can create challenges for recruiting and retaining quality candidates within the field of paraeducation. This…

The United States is experiencing a teacher shortage crisis that is even more pronounced in rural communities. Teachers may be driven away from the profession if they feel inadequately trained or under-supported to address students' mental health needs. As such, an important teacher retention strategy is to ensure schools have enough mental health…

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…

Recruitment and retention concerns for teachers, particularly in rural school districts and in science, fill the daily news and research literature. The shortage of STEM workers is also another concern as well. Then why do nationally recognized secondary science teachers remain in rural schools with lower salaries, increased responsibilities…

This report provides descriptive information about the location and native language use of schools in the REL Central Region with high enrollment of American Indian students, whether Bureau of Indian Education schools or non-Bureau of Indian Education high-density American Indian schools (schools with 25 percent or more American Indian student…

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…

In rural parts of the nation, such as McCool Junction, Nebraska, schools are taking creative steps to lure new students to local schools in their quests to keep those schools open and their communities intact. Elsewhere, towns and school districts in Kansas are giving away plots of land for home sites. Districts in Kansas are drawing new students…

The proceedings consist of the entire major addresses of Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum, Steve Miller, and Walter Turner, and abbreviated versions of 29 other papers or presentations. The materials deal with a variety of rural-focused topics: women (Evelyn Hausmann); teacher career ladder plans (Paul Burden); inservice (Robert Norton, Myron…

State equalization programs for school funding have been structured around variously weighted combinations of district wealth, tax effort and student need. For rural and small school districts, these programs have not always provided adequate financing. Nine rural school finance alternatives are suggested. (MH)

Several problems exist with the rural knowledge base as it is traditionally conceived: (1) there is no useful rural definition with the diverse rural reality; (2) rural is undervalued as reflected in teacher education and training and in the stereotyping of regions in the country; (3) issues of sparsity, scarcity and size are disregarded, and (4)…

America's prairie land is under economic and ecological stress. Acting on the belief that rural schools can help revitalize their communities when schools' activities are related to the places where they are located, schools in Arizona, Kansas, and Nebraska are integrating prairie studies across the K-12 curricula. With the help of area…

Technological delivery systems currently available or in use are examined for adaptability by rural schools, especially high schools faced with increasing demands to expand curriculum. This report focuses on the Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory's (McREL's) service area of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South…

The improvement of the rural schools of the United States is the most important school problem. The most important factor in their improvement must be better educated and better trained teachers. The education and training of teachers should always have some special reference to the work of the schools in which they are to teach. Therefore any…

This study examined differences in nine factors between a group of the highest-performing needs high schools (HPHN) and a group of the lowest performing high-needs (LPHN) high schools using teacher responses from a national dataset. The factors are: (1) shared mission and goals; (2) professional development; (3) collaboration among teachers (4)…