Coaching is an increasingly popular and promising method of professional learning, but unfortunately, many teachers do not have access to high-quality coaching due to geographic and financial constraints. Technology offers an opportunity to increase access to coaching, especially for educators in isolated rural areas. Research shows video is…

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…

Historians of education have probed into the involvement of Social Reconstructionists' with issues of racial justice and have argued explicitly that Social Reconstructionists, while "interested" in racial problems during the Depression, actually did little to carefully study the role of race or race relations in America. The authors…

This article features St. Lawrence University's Adirondack Semester, a small program, with enrollment limited to twelve students. The participants of the program are composed of a small group of students with shared interests and serious purpose, living harmoniously and mostly free from the temptations and distractions of the larger world,…

A lot of children are suffering--from bullet wounds, car crashes, gashes in legs, and great tears in the social fabric. There are wounds to heal, hopes to foster, and scar tissue to form. Public school teachers and leaders, wherever we are, this is our work. And we can do a good job of it, if the school community is strong, and if we always work…

This study analyzes videotaped interviews and 407 photographs taken by 20 grade 5 and 6 students in rural New York State to document their science and engineering learning. Aristotle's concept of phronesis or practical wisdom frames the findings and their implications. Key findings indicate that: (1) All 20 children found examples of science and…

High-poverty schools in rural areas and small towns are under attack from state policy makers who want to consolidate these schools in order to save money. In addition to calls for consolidation, rural schools also are threatened by unfair and inadequate funding formulas.

In New York State, the 24 brightest fifth and sixth graders from Avon, Caledonia, and York participated in a project funded by Title IV minigrants, distributed through BOCES. The children were bussed to a central point and permitted to study whatever they wished; Spanish was the first subject selected. (EJS)

The purpose of the study was to examine how reader response journals followed by classroom discussion ("Reader Response Plus") contributed to students' reading comprehension and to their attitudes toward reading. The study was conducted in a rural school in upstate New York. The twelfth grade class that participated in the study…

A review of the poet's teaching experience from 1836-1841 on Long Island, New York, includes Whitman's preparation for teaching, teaching conditions, references to teaching in a Whitman short story, comments by one of his students, a description of his teaching and disciplinary methods, and his own reflections on the experience. (MM)

Examines evidence on the effects of school and school district size in light of the educational reform movement and increasingly sophisticated telecommunications. Discusses an emerging technology of individualization that could alter conceptions of optimal school size. Focuses on New York studies. Contains 35 references. (SV)

Readiness skills measured effects of no treatment, home based programs, formal preschool programs, and a combination of the latter two on 90 incoming kindergarteners. Conclusions indicate cooperative home/school bonds are important for improving preschool readiness skills and home based programs can provide important developmental experiences in…

A survey of rural school administrators and college education faculty assessed attitudes toward educating the disabled and opinions about characteristics of effective rural education. Results documented a knowledge and attitude gap between rural and college educators. Both groups were unaware of issues identified in the research literature on…

Three professional development approaches have shown promise in raising the competency level of early childhood professionals in rural areas. Provider registry systems gather information that provides a foundation for further professional development initiatives and systemic development. Statewide professional development systems designed to serve…

Examines demographic information on all-white school districts in New York. Surveys perceptions of superintendents in nonminority school districts about the meaning of "minority" and "disadvantaged" and about the impact of a modified social studies curriculum that calls for the inclusion of minority contributions to American…