Public school campuses in rural South Texas are struggling to recruit and retain high-quality teachers. Districts now have flexibility in hiring certified teachers, but the need for teachers continues to grow annually. The challenge lies in attracting teachers to smaller school districts, when there are larger districts throughout the State of…

Recent mass closings of schools have rocked cities across the United States. Though these urban closures--and widespread community protests--have made headlines, rural schools have also long experienced and opposed the closure of their schools. A large body of research examines these urban and rural closures from a variety of perspectives,…

Knowledge is Power Program Delta College Preparatory School (KIPP DCPS), an open-enrollment charter school,1 opened in 2002 in Helena, Arkansas. KIPP DCPS students have consistently outperformed their peers from neighboring districts on year-end student achievement scores, and KIPP's national reputation led Arkansas lawmakers to exempt KIPP from…

Arguments for consolidation, which merges schools or districts and centralizes their management, rest primarily on two presumed benefits: (1) fiscal efficiency and (2) higher educational quality. The extent of consolidation varies across states due to their considerable differences in history, geography, population density, and politics. Because…

This report presents selected findings from the Public School Principal and Private School Principal Data Files of the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. School districts associated…

The purpose of this study was to examine the college enrollment and persistence rates of rural high schools in Pennsylvania; the types of postsecondary institutions in which students from such schools enroll; and the student, school, and college characteristics associated with enrollment and persistence outcomes. The study used extant data from…

This report presents selected findings from the Public School District Data File of the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. School districts associated with public schools and library…

This report presents selected findings from the Public School Library Media Center Data File of the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. School districts associated with public schools…

This report presents selected findings from the Public School and Private School Data Files of the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. School districts associated with public schools…

This report presents selected findings from the Public School Teacher and Private School Teacher Data Files of the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. School districts associated with…

Federal legislation supports participation in the public schools by children who are medically fragile and technology dependent. These children require specialized technological health care procedures for life support and/or health support during the school day. Inclusion in safe school environments that facilitate effective learning requires…

The Government Accounting Agency estimates that one third of the nation's schools are in need of extensive repairs or replacement of one or more buildings. The condition of America's rural schools are at a crisis stage and need to be improved to continue to educate rural youth. This paper profiles the state of rural schools' infrastructure, rural…

Studies suggest that the challenge of violence in public schools can be met through character education, whether by providing a school culture in which core values are practiced or some form of moral training (indoctrination). To assess the need for character education in rural schools, small-school superintendents and board members in central…

This study examined the degree of understanding among district and school level personnel in New Mexico regarding recent changes implemented in the State's accountability reporting system. The results are being used to design two further research activities: one to explore the relationship between accountability information and classroom practice,…

The issues of parochial school participation, transportation finance, information dissemination, rural school participation, and racial and economic segregation are examined in the context of current educational voucher proposals. (SK)