In the Spring of 2019, the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University launched the National Center for Rural Education Research Networks (NCRERN) with funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. NCRERN was founded to expand the use of evidence-based decision-making in rural education. NCRERN…

Peer coaching involves two or more professionals collaborating to reflect on and refine current skills and practices (Yee, 2016). The peer coaching model described in this article focused on grades K-2, a critical time for the development of students' reading skills. In the 2022-23 school year, a small pilot study was conducted of a program based…

This report profiles Sciotoville Elementary Academy (SEA), a unique Ohio charter school that draws kids and families from Appalachian Ohio. SEA is one of the few charters located outside of the state's urban communities. This school's accomplishments illustrate what's possible within charter schooling for educators, families, and an entire…

Creating Active and Reflective Educators (CARE) is a Professional Development School (PDS) partnership between The Patton College of Education at Ohio University and Federal Hocking Local Schools (FHLS) in rural Southeastern Ohio. This partnership, which won the 2018 NAPDS Award for Exemplary Professional Development School Achievement, is one of…

State and local education agencies across the country face challenges related to understanding and managing their teaching staff to best help students learn. Statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDSs) offer valuable information about teacher labor markets that can be used to analyze supply and demand, inform budget and staffing decisions, and…

This article describes how out-of-work miners are engaged in the Empowering Education Initiative, a unique alliance between Country Music Television (CMT) and community colleges in Appalachia. The initiative, which includes a website and a series of country music concerts, is changing the conversation in the Appalachian region, giving hope to…

Rural schools do not usually make people think of innovation or experimentation. In fact, many people view rural areas as being too traditional or complacent to blaze educational trails. But this author is fortunate to be principal of one rural school, Federal Hocking Middle and High School, that is not afraid to innovate. Federal Hocking is also…

There are a variety of curricular approaches in physical education, any one of which can provide a framework and scheme that is the foundation of a physical education unit of study. This article will discuss the use of an adventure model to teach about diversity, multi-cultural understanding and tolerance. Teaching children diversity and tolerance…

As school districts face declining enrollment and stable or reduced funding they look for ways to contain costs and continue to provide a quality educational experience. In many states "a new wave of consolidation...may be at hand" (Kysilko, 2003). The research cites advantage for both consolidation and for maintaining small schools. The…

Few institutions have embodied African-American history as completely as Wilberforce University. Established before the Civil War, the nation's oldest private Black college was a powerful focal point in the struggle for equality and served as a destination point on the Ohio Underground Railroad. Closed briefly during the Civil War, officials with…

An Ohio principal and former language arts teacher developed a student publishing shop to encourage writing by rural elementary students. The project involved cooperation among teachers, parents, and volunteer, and featured student writing centers in many classrooms. Student-made books were published on a fairly tight schedule, using donated…

The driving premise of this paper is that students should be schooled in built and natural environments that afford them ways of understanding of how their daily physical actions and social choices affect the earth. Views of prominent philosophers and scholars in support of this premise are described. Next, four cases illustrate how schools can…

This document describes an interactive television (ITV) distance education network designed to service rural schools. Phase one of the network involved the installation of over 14 miles of fiber optic cable linking two high schools, a career center, and the University of Rio Grande; phase two will bring seven high schools in economically depressed…

The fight over school funding in most states involves a long battle in the courts that may span several years and never have a definitive endpoint because resistance to adequate funding of public schools appears to be endemic to government processes. The "DeRolph" case, first filed by the plaintiffs in December 1991, is one such legal…

This document summarizes the proceedings of the Third ACCLAIM Research Symposium, which took place over three days from May 18 through May 20, 2006. The Center's doctoral students took prominent roles, especially the entire second cohort of doctoral students. Three members of the first cohort also participated in events. Overall, the symposium…