Rural school success is crucial for the Nebraska education system. Without rural schools, many students and families would be without access to high quality educational opportunities. Despite the importance of rural education, the number of rural schools in Nebraska continues to decline, and "one thing is clear from academic research on rural…

This qualitative study explores the early implementation of a university school leadership preparation program and school district collaborative effort to develop school leaders and sustain leadership capacity in nine rural school districts. Emerging findings drawn from survey, focus-group, and participant observation data include (a) the…

This article reports the results of an inquiry into the dynamics of principal selection in rural school districts in two mid-American states with high numbers of rural schools. The study focuses on two questions: (1) are rural school districts experiencing a shortage of qualified applicants for vacant principal's positions; and (2) what…

The teaching of mathematics, which arguably is so abstract as to transcend place and community and even culture (according at least to a Platonic view of mathematics), will seem to some observers particularly ill-suited to instruction in place- or community- or culture-based approaches. Nevertheless, current thinking in mathematics education,…

The 1997 Nebraska Legislature enacted Bill 806 to promote school consolidation, which legislators believed would lead schools to become more cost-efficient and provide a significantly larger curriculum. This legislative action begged the question: Has the move to consolidate schools made Nebraska schools more efficient while providing greater…

Describes results of a survey of 30 superintendents who were asked to identify the most critical issues in managing and running small rural school districts. Reports finances were the greatest worry, followed by regional economic conditions, state regulations, salaries, and providing an adequate variety of classes. (Author/DHP)

A 15-item questionnaire was administered to 36 rural Nebraska superintendents concerning special education. Financing of special education programs ranked as the number one concern of superintendents. Other high ranking concerns were meeting state guidelines, increasing enrollment, shortages of support service personnel, and matching the…

Interviews with educators and community members in a very small rural Nebraska school district suggested causes for the district's exceptionally high superintendent turnover rate: low salary and status, lack of challenge, use of the position as a stepping stone, declining economy and population, community transition, and the superintendent's…

Examination of superintendent turnover rates in Nebraska's K-12 and high school-only districts during a 10-year period revealed that average tenure for a school superintendent was almost a year less than the national average and that average tenures in both the largest and smallest school districts were shorter than national and Nebraska averages.…

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…

Information on 44 small/rural K-12 Nebraska school districts (900 students or fewer) is compared to data from 642 similar districts nationwide, using material gathered during 1982-83. Of the nation's 15,601 public school districts, 4,125 (26.4%) were identified as qualifying for the survey; 76.4% (249 districts, enrolling 76,516 students) of…

Any conclusions that community education concepts are "alive and well" were not supported in a study of the impact of state education policies on rural school districts with total enrollments of 350 students or less in the Great Plains Region (Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota). Survey…