While there is a robust literature examining the patterns and causes of teacher turnover, few articles to date have critically examined the measures of turnover used in these studies. Yet, an assessment of the way turnover is measured is important, as the measures become the means by which the "problem" of turnover becomes defined and…

Teachers are the most important in-school factor that affect student learning. Yet many schools, particularly low-income urban schools, have a difficult time hiring and retaining teachers. When multiple teachers leave a school each year, multiple years in a row, those schools lose not only human capital, but teachers lose the strong social ties…

Strong and stable school leadership is critical for success in schools across the nation. The duties of the principal are many and varied. Principals, for example, can oversee instruction, purchase curricular materials and supplies, and provide professional learning and supports for teachers. Carrying out these duties effectively makes a…

Many reports on rural education give little attention to digital learning. At most, they tend to note either infrastructure needs or the potential of remote course access, with little focus on instruction, outcomes, or exemplars. This report intends to begin correcting that imbalance by connecting the dots between rural regions, rural education,…

The article's purpose is to compare case studies of computer technology use at two rural elementary schools across two international settings. This study uses the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) theory to guide this comparative investigation of how elementary school teachers and students in East Texas and South India construct meaning for…

This monograph offers an in-depth look at the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Rural Systemic Initiative (RSI) efforts, an investment of more than $140 million to reform mathematics and science programs in rural K-12 public education and tribal education. The authors seek to promote a foundation of contextual understanding for improving public…

As a follow-up to a 2007 Edvantia, Inc. report entitled "A Legacy of Leadership and Lessons Learned: Results of the Rural Systemic Initiatives for Improving Mathematics and Science Education," (ED531892) Edvantia, Inc. sought and received support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to hold a forum in the nation's capital that…

This report pays tribute to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Rural Systemic Initiatives (RSIs), an investment of more than $140 million to improve mathematics and science education in some of rural America's most impoverished communities. The report illustrates the impact of NSF's RSI program on a national scale. Each RSI planned a project…

A 1993 study explored the relationships among literacy, drug/alcohol misuse, victimization, and economic hardship in rural central Texas schools, using survey instruments and regression techniques. The association between violence and youth's academic performance in rural schools may be mediated by economic influences and magnified by local drug…

Although the children in Texas face health and welfare issues common to other states, such as changing family structures, poverty, expanding immigrant populations, and tight budgets, there are unique aspects to Texas that must be factored in. These include having 254 counties, the largest rural population of any state, and a 46 percent increase in…

Rural learners represent a diverse and significant part of the student population. Although research shows that the overall percentage and types of students with disabilities are similar in rural and non-rural school districts, greater proportions of rural students live in poverty, which places them at higher risk for disability. This article…