Czech parents place particular emphasis on ensuring the overall quality of life of their child when choosing a school. Our study shows how rural state schools understand this demand. A mixed approach was used in our research. In the first step, administrative data from all schools in municipalities with a population of up to 3,000 was used to…

Students with autism spectrum disorder often require social supports to function well in a mainstream class setting. Researchers have demonstrated the effects of social skills training for students with autism, but their work has focused primarily on topographically defined outcomes, such as increasing the frequency of social behaviours. More…

Five lesbian faculty who were out in the workplace had positive personal and professional experiences in relation to how they negotiated family, campus culture, community, and personal fulfillment. This phenomenological qualitative study offers an alternative to deficit model research by exploring the participants' lived-experiences using a…

Community boundary spanners create ties that bind the campus and its surrounding region for reciprocal relationships. Using community boundary spanning literature as a conceptual framework, this study went beyond existing research on public and 4-year comprehensive universities to examine how university leadership at rural, private liberal arts…

Empirical studies indicate family concerns as a primary reasons why promising principals and central office administrators do not aspire to the superintendency (O'Connell, Brown, Guptil, Stosberg, & O'Connell, 2001; Volp & Rogers, 2004). Hesitancy to apply for superintendent positions is further complicated by the fact that the…

This study investigated the magnitude of the relationships between eight school climate domains and a measure of global school satisfaction among 2,049 middle and high school students. Tests of moderator effects were conducted to determine if the magnitude of the relationships between the school climate domains and school satisfaction differed as…

Reviews literature on characteristics of rural schools and rural communities and compares these findings with the results of an open-ended survey of rural professionals about their experiences working in rural schools. Both sources identified limited resources as a problem, but quality of life issues were more explicitly identified by survey…

Teachers' decisions about staying in a position are influenced by three classes of variables: employment, personal, and external. In a North Dakota study of the relationship between these variables and job retention in rural areas, 42 special education teachers and related service personnel who had left their positions in the past year (leavers)…

Two years after graduation, a mail survey investigated the quality of life of rural high school graduates who had been placed in special education programs for mild mental retardation or a learning disability. The Quality of Life Questionnaire was completed by 12 such individuals and by 40 graduates who were not mentally retarded or learning…

A survey of 558 teachers in rural schools and districts in British Columbia explored influences on teachers' decisions to enter, remain in, or leave their districts. Important factors in career decisions were the job itself, lifestyle, school district recruiters, financial compensation, social and recreational opportunities, and partner's job. (KS)

Study of how busing time to school affected daily activities in 64 rural households in Eastern Townships School Board, Quebec (Canada), found that household schedules altered according to distance from school, constraints on students' and families' activities increased as travel time increased, travel time was viewed as wasted time, and farm…

A study identified community characteristics associated with the presence of a school. Data from the U.S. census and the state department of education for 297 rural New York villages indicated that social and economic welfare is higher in communities with schools. Schools are especially critical to the well-being of the smallest villages.…

A study of stress in 120 rural teachers in Whatcom County, Washington, revealed that time management issues were listed most frequently as the highest stress factor, followed by lack of administrative support, poor student motivation, and discipline. Salary levels and violence toward teachers were insignificant. Includes teachers' predictions of…

The number of public high school districts in North Dakota declined from 256 to 186 during 1970-94; 22 school districts were eliminated in the last 5 years of that period. A survey was conducted in eight communities (four pairs) that had gone through school district consolidation and school closing during 1991-94. Community populations in 1994…

A study examining school violence surveyed 819 students in grades 8, 10, and 11 in a rural secondary school in 1997 and 1999. Student feelings toward school safety were not significantly different in the 2 years. However, there was a significant decline in feeling safe at home, which may be a catalyst for future school problems. (Contains 24…