Multilingual learners (MLs) represent a substantial, growing segment of the PreK--12 population, including in rural areas. Several forces contribute to the increase of ML students in rural schools (e.g., immigrant labor, refugee crises). As we undergo a major cultural shift from a society that was (misguidedly) viewed as monolingual to one that is…

This case study focused on the perceptions of faculty and staff of mental health services at the elementary level in a rural district. Mental health services provided in elementary school settings can ultimately change the outcome of individuals' lives. Many districts in North Carolina lack the funds to hire mental health counselors, and must rely…

This grounded theory study explored how primary-grade teachers perceive and enact dialogic English Language Arts (ELA) comprehension pedagogy in the novel context of pandemic-induced digital learning. The study involved nine diverse rural primary teachers teaching digitally during the coronavirus disease pandemic. The researchers followed a…

Schools across the nation faced a teacher shortage, and North Carolina was no exception. North Carolina leaders used alternatively licensed teachers to fill vacancies. The purpose of this qualitative, interpretive study was to compare beginning alternatively licensed teachers' perceptions to principals' perceptions of the needed and implemented…

Implemented by Pfeiffer University, REPERTOIRE: Recruiting Educators, Preparing Educators, and Retaining Teachers to Optimize Interest in Rural Education was a collaborative partnership with Montgomery and Stanly County Schools in rural North Carolina. Pfeiffer University and the Division of Education and Division of Arts and Sciences provided…

With a growing interest in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in education (Goldberg et al., 2019; Gordon et al., 2016; Todd et al., 2022), schools have been positioned as effective settings for SEL development of students (Nielsen et al., 2015). As the potential of Physical Education (PE) to promote student learning in social and affective…

This qualitative investigation of a rural North Carolina elementary school aimed at discovering teacher perceptions of technology and its value in improving classroom teaching and learning. It also examined the barriers perceived by the teachers, which discouraged them from using technology in the classroom. The researcher conducted a qualitative…

Poverty has been identified as an obstacle to educational success. In 2003, Washington state researchers, Shannon and Bylsma (2007), conducted a study to uncover the commonalities found in schools outperforming their socioeconomic indicators. Their work identified nine characteristics of high-performing schools and determined all successful…

As part of an embedded mixed-method study, qualitative research was conducted to understand how Engineering Is Elementary (EiE) professional development influenced the self-efficacy of K-5 elementary teachers required to teach engineering in a rural school in Southeastern, North Carolina. In fall 2016, proportional stratified sampling was used to…

This case study examined an approach for sustaining the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI) in rural schools. Researchers, teachers, and district-level partners collaboratively implemented the TRI Certification Process in order to sustain the TRI in one rural school district once researcher-based support ended. Primarily drawing from…

This study investigated the influence of Engineering Is Elementary (EiE) professional development on teachers' self-efficacy of integrating engineering into the K-5 curriculum in a rural school district in southeastern North Carolina. In fall 2016, the researchers conducted an embedded mixed-method study. The focus of this paper is the…

This study explored the year-long development of 159 (N = 159) novice K-2 teachers' self-efficacy for literacy instruction, within a literacy-specific induction initiative with sixteen high-need, predominantly rural school districts. Findings reveal novice teachers' self-efficacy for literacy instruction grew significantly throughout the year.…

Since the implementation of No Child Left Behind in 2001, high-stakes testing has become a mandatory practice across all 50 states. High-stakes testing is currently being used as a way to hold teachers and schools accountable for student success. In order to enforce these policies, the federal government has created sanctions that have serious…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of Invitational Leadership behaviors on school teacher satisfaction, teacher perceptions of the school principal's performance, and to identify if there was a difference between the levels of inviting behaviors of principals at high-achieving and low-achieving rural schools in North Carolina. The…

With substantial demographic shifts in the U.S. student population, today's teachers educate growing numbers of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (Kena, Aud, & Johnson, 2010). While these students bring an abundance of different cultures and languages from their families and communities, these dynamic shifts add…