Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have a unique history, mission, and role in educating underrepresented and underserved students in the United States. In light of the recent uptick in institutional closures across sectors, understanding the factors associated with college survival for HBCUs is critical. Using linear probability…

This article seeks to present the perspectives of three school leaders in one rural primary school in the English East Midlands, who, when faced with closure due to a falling student numbers, decided to offer and operate a flexi-schooling model of educational provision. We aim to find out, through a theoretical model of systems school leadership,…

Internationally and domestically, depopulation and the decrease of student enrollment caused are becoming an issue of interest in higher education, especially in regions such as east Europe, south Europe, and East Asia. This article analyzes strategies of Japanese universities to tackle depopulation issues in Japan. The 18-year-old bracket…

The paper discusses local responses to schooling policy in the context of the uneven differentiation and sharp social polarisation of the Hungarian countryside. Counter-urbanisation, on the one hand, has brought affluent urban middle classes to suburban spaces, on the other hand, peripheral areas are becoming impoverished with high unemployment,…

This case study focuses on a four-district collaborative that shared services for more than 15 years in an effort to retain rural schools and thereby to preserve community identity. With population losses in the four districts and suburbanization in the largest, the collaborative made extensive use of distance education in addition to itinerant…

This paper uses data from a survey of K-12 unit schools to fashion a measure of small school sustainability and relate it to variables pertinent to the rural context. Drawing on definitions of sustainable development and sustainable agriculture, this study proposes sustainability as a concept appropriate to schooling in general, and to small rural…

One school in Canada's Exemplary Schools Project, Grandy's River Collegiate, is a rural high school threatened with closure because it does not meet Newfoundland's new "viability" requirements (primarily involving school size). Compares characteristics of several types of schools, and suggests that schools such as Grandy's are suited to…

Discusses academic discourses of "rural,""sustainability," and "community" and approaches to these concepts in New Zealand government policy. Examines social sustainability issues in the Mangakahia Valley, New Zealand: urban-rural migration of "lifestyle" newcomers and Maori returning to ancestral lands,…

Fourche Valley School District in central Arkansas has a single K-12 school serving 157 students. Surrounded by the Ouachita National Forest, Fourche Valley is unusually isolated and lacking in economic opportunity, leading to "low aspirations" among students who desire to remain in the area. Nevertheless, the school is thriving in the…

A 1960 study found that one-teacher schools numbered 24,000; were outmoded, poorly financed, and of inferior construction; and had inadequately prepared teachers. In the early 1980s, a study of these schools found that their facilities were updated, most teachers were college trained and state certified, and the students performed well at school…

Thrasher School is a K-12 unit school in Prentiss County, Mississippi, that has survived and flourished in an economically disadvantaged area because of its close community connections. The K-12 school enrolls 482 students, of which 144 attend grades 9-12. The community has vigorously resisted high school consolidation, financing reconstruction of…

Examines 3 stabilizing principles of small town organization that are intertwined with the survival of local schools: (1) centripetalism (inwardly focused community involvement); (2) inclusiveness of local associations and activities; and (3) distinctive identity. Discusses the effects of state pro-consolidation policies on rural economic…

This paper examines the impact on small rural school districts of school choice programs available in Minnesota. An opening section traces the history of school choice in Minnesota since 1983, focusing on two programs enacted in 1990: enrollment options (EO), which allows students to attend any public school without cost, and postsecondary…

A case study of Oneida High School (Oneida, Tennessee) in December 1997 examined influences and unique circumstances that sustained the school in the face of possible closure and enabled it to "flourish." The study included structured interviews with over 70 individuals in the school and community, focus groups, and informal…

This study examines the relationship between school consolidation and district transportation costs, effects on instructional expenditures, and institutional factors supporting consolidation. Data on actual student transportation costs across the United States indicate that despite widespread school and school district consolidation,…