Rural school districts face a unique set of challenges. This dissertation focuses on two rural counties in three school districts in southeastern Ohio and examines the difficulties special education teachers and administrators in rural communities often face. Two special education teachers, a general education teacher, two principals, a special…

Effective school leaders develop the capacity to connect with their staff, students, and educational stakeholders to form bonds of respect and trust, and to foster a sense of efficacy in their practice and the practice of others. This phenomenological investigation aims to better understand how school principals interpret the influence of their…

School districts across the country are experiencing a mass exodus of teachers and administrators while those who stay struggle to maintain the level of productivity needed to lead our schools and ensure a high-quality education for our nation's students (DeMatthews et. al., 2021; Peters-Hawkins et.al., 2018; Superville, 2020). Black women, in…

This is a quantitative phenomenological study of the perceptions of principals of public secondary schools in rural Appalachian Ohio. The purpose of the study is to understand the experiences of the principals as online charter schools become feasible for students in their school district. A random sample of ten principals was obtained from the…

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…

The goal of this research was to explore the construct of academic optimism at the principal level and examine possible explanatory variables for the factors that emerged from the principal academic optimism scale. Academic optimism contains efficacy, trust and academic emphasis (Hoy, Tarter & Woolfolk Hoy, 2006). It has been studied at the…

One remedy for Ohio schools that fail to meet the state's test score criteria for "effectiveness" is to force a change in the principalship. Concerns have been raised that such a remedy may simultaneously undermine the organizational stability of the school. The researchers in this study examined the frequency with which elementary…

The purpose of this study was to have a better understanding of what rural superintendents are looking for in new first-year teachers, and to provide that information to future teaching candidates and colleges of education that are preparing teachers for the 21st Century classroom. Over the past twenty years, superintendents have not changed in…

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,…

Currently principals are involved with a variety of programs offered in schools, such as IDEA, English Language Learners, Title I remedial services, migrant education, and gifted and talented programs. However, there is a growing recognition that gifted students are being poorly served by most public schools. The purpose of this study was to…

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…

A survey of rural and suburban principals in Ohio and West Virginia explored the different approaches to planning that principals take and examined two possible contextual influences: rural versus suburban locale, and state. A survey instrument based on five types of planning discussed in the literature was completed by 207 West Virginia…

To date, there has never been an empirical study that has examined the actual activities of rural principals on behalf of improving mathematics education. This monograph presents the results of the first study of rural principals' engagement with mathematics education "reform." This study posed three research questions relating to rural…

A study of 508 Ohio principals found that administrators in the rural Appalachian region of Ohio perceived their jobs as harder than other educators, but were less likely to leave and were more focused on place than on professional issues. The administrator shortage, efforts to groom teachers for administration jobs, and a typical working day for…

Principals' support for various approaches to educational planning were examined in rural and suburban schools in Ohio and West Virginia. It was expected that rational approaches to planning would be more prevalent in suburban than rural schools and in a state with more tightly coupled bureaucratic control (West Virginia) than a less tightly…