The school district is the fundamental administrative unit of schooling in the United States and the superintendent the lead official. The nature and the challenges of this position, however, vary across the landscape. Because most superintendents lead rural districts, the challenges facing those districts are the ones that typically bedevil the…

The Alaska Statewide Mentor Project (ASMP) is a joint effort of the University of Alaska and the Alaska Department of Education & Early Development to address the persistently low teacher retention rates in the state, especially in rural districts that predominantly serve Alaska Native (AN) students. Over six years, teacher retention in rural…

School consolidation in rural districts has been ongoing since the 1800s. Although many district personnel tout economic inefficiency as a reason for consolidation to occur, micropolitics among school board members, parents, and the business community often drive the consolidation process. This article presents a qualitative case study of Webster…

Outlines the difficulties the Soviet Union is having in bringing its rural schools on a par with the quality of education found in its urban schools. (RK)

Explores Wendell Berry's social philosophy in the context of the larger framework of liberalism and democratic theory, addressing implications for reconceptualizing rural schooling. The article exposes the benefits rural schools could tap by fostering a critical literacy based on local knowledge. (SM)

Examines family-school connections and sense of place in rural Alabama, observing that rural communities and schools often have many attributes related to strong identification with place (e.g., shared norms and values). However, many other attributes of place closely connected with school-success-related elements of social capital may be present…

This article defines historical and contemporary rural schools, outlines three sociological and political economy perspectives essential for understanding why school consolidation and rural school reform are abiding themes in rural America, and examines the political and economic context of a vigorous new school consolidation program in West…

Describes changes in school practices in a rural Mexican elementary school, presenting examples of social interactions that illustrate how the changes were constructed and the nature of the underlying cultural compatibility they expressed. Teacher-student relations became characterized by a tacitly recognized acceptance and respect of Mazahua…

Introduces a theme issue on school-constituent relationships that includes papers on such topics as community development in educational reform; teacher commitment; parent- principal contacts; family school relationships; school boards and school-based decision making; engaging Latino families; the agency of African American teachers in Franklin,…