In this interview study, I examine how student affairs administration (SAA) works at rural community colleges as well as how rural senior student affairs officers (SSAOs) function in their leadership roles. The study purports to understand student affairs in the context of "rurality," or what it means to be rural. Two primary research…

This embedded mixed methods case study described the decision-making influences relevant to Wisconsin rural school district's consolidation. In 2015, Wisconsin's K-12 schools experienced financial cuts that were amongst the largest in the country. As a result, school district interest in consolidation was a natural topic of discussion for many of…

In this study, I surveyed 337 teachers representing 47 Wisconsin rural elementary schools with similar rates of economic disadvantage but exceeded expectations on the 2018-2019 Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WI DPI) Report Card. Participating teachers were asked to anonymously complete Wagner's (2006) school-culture-triage survey and…

In this study I sought to explore the current state of global citizenship education in rural Wisconsin schools, including perceived benefits, barriers, successes, supports, and visions for the future, as well as opportunities and ways to expand global citizenship education in rural Wisconsin schools. Pragmatic and transformative worldview…

The current demand for teachers outpaces the supply of teachers. Policymakers and educational administrators have altered teacher certification rules to address the teacher shortage. One such alteration is the creation of alternative certification pathways for teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of alternatively…

The purpose of this post-positivist, mixed methods study was to accurately quantify the teacher staffing trends in public education, especially for rural schooling and to learn how these trends impacted school districts specifically using Wisconsin schools as a case study. In the early 2000's, school districts throughout the nation experienced…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate differences among special education enrollments for specific learning disabilities (SLD) and other disabilities within districts using school-wide response to intervention (RTI). Differences between rural and suburban school districts during the phases of the insufficient criterion rollout…

It was unknown how rural Wisconsin school districts best implement strategic planning to maintain the efficient use of limited resources in a manner that is aligned with changing expectations of school district stakeholders. In this basic qualitative study, strategic planning documents and artifacts were collected from a rural Wisconsin K-12…

This study explored the practices rural schools in Wisconsin have in place to meet the needs of students at grades PK-3 with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities (EBD). The research question was as follows: What practices do rural elementary schools use as they strive to meet the Individual Education Plan (IEP) Objectives of PK-3 grade students…

This study represents a paradigm shift in an attempt to examine early adolescent self-concept while in a student leadership role. Positive Youth Development intertwined with Personal Construct Theory and Social Learning Theory framed the study. Students from a rural Wisconsin high school participated in a two-day leadership retreat. The…

The purpose of this study was to understand whether educators have knowledge of the 21st Century Skills concepts and if they facilitate student acquisition of these important skills. Participants in this quantitative study included 1,273 high school educators from 12 suburban and 19 rural Wisconsin school districts. The researcher developed a…

The research completed for this study focused on perceptions of selected regular education teachers from three school districts in northeastern Wisconsin on the topic of inclusion. The participants taught in regular education classrooms in grades pre-kindergarten through first grade in three different schools. Quantitative data were collected…

The retention of teachers impacts the life of a small rural school district. This study investigated the practices that school districts can employ to retain the teachers that have been recently hired. The question that guided the design of this study was: "From the perspective of recently-hired teachers, what practices can school…

This dissertation examines the various ways that teachers in two school districts in rural northern Wisconsin participate in professional development. This case study research analyzes interview data with two teachers, their administrators, and a Cooperative Educational Service Agency professional using a critical sociocultural framework in order…

Although technology is common in our society, it has not universally become an expected practice in our schools. The problem that was addressed by the qualitative, case study design is that teachers and administrators do not share an understanding of educational technology leadership. School leaders that do not understand the needs of classroom…