Language educators were unprepared for emergency remote language teaching (ERLT) due to lack of training in online pedagogy and negative perceptions of online instruction, and the rural community of language educators have been challenged in unique ways. Using the intersections of content (language teaching), space (rurality), and context…

One ongoing challenge that educator preparation programs frequently encounter is their limited ability to authentically expose preservice teachers (PSTs) to rural schools and potential careers in rural school districts. To remedy this concern, faculty at three institutions in both the United States and Australia have developed targeted initiatives…

This qualitative study compares the instructional leadership practices of rural and non-rural principals, seeking to understand contextually based differences in how principals create a focus on teaching and learning. Principals across settings report similarities in instructional leadership tasks; however, they reported significant contextual…

A pressing need on principals and their demands for personal professional development is improving their performance based on evaluation policy standards. State policy standards dictate how principals evaluate teachers and how they are evaluated. Surveying rural principals we investigated the current understanding of state standards and needs for…

Because standards-based reform emphasizes improved teaching as the best path to increased learning and improved student performance, one would expect high performing schools to be implementing effective professional development practices. This study examines professional development practices in high performing urban and persistently low achieving…

Rural schools, particularly high poverty rural schools, often have difficulty hiring and retaining qualified teachers. Here, we discuss three programs the Arkansas Department of Education has used to attract teachers to teacher Geographic Shortage Districts (GSDs) through material incentives. Unfortunately, none of the programs have had much…

International assessment data indicate American students are not competing with their counterparts in other countries. The mathematics curriculum and pedagogy are not preparing students to compete in a global economy. This study compared student achievement using sixth grade mathematics results from the Illinois Standards Achievement Test.…

The purpose of this study was to compare Alabama's rural school districts with its city, suburban, and town districts. Descriptive statistics were used for this population study, with effect sizes calculated using Cohen's d. Findings indicated Alabama's rural school districts serve slightly less affluent student populations, with a lower…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there exists a relationship between student achievement in Texas, as measured by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test, and the size of the high school at different socioeconomic levels. This study compared five size categories of Texas high schools to determine which size high…

The purpose of this study was to examine the job satisfaction of Iowa public school principals and contrast the job satisfaction to the perceptions six years previously. The population for the 1999 and 2005 study was a sample of principals from Iowa K-12 schools. The study revealed significant differences in overall job satisfaction, in gender of…

This study is a quantitative descriptive research design which compared 1995 and 2005 data regarding family influence on rural Pennsylvania high school seniors' postsecondary decisions. A chi-square analysis at p less than 0.05 determined that there was (a) an increase in students planning college attendance, (b) a decrease in students not…

Reviews distance-education technologies, their uses for rural schools, and related issues. Lists advantages and disadvantages for satellite TV teaching, microcomputer networks, and two-way TV instruction. Concludes that technologies' advantages outweigh disadvantages. Suggests final decision making and assessment depend on local program content…

Part of a larger research project involving the study of mathematics achievement of middle and high school students in Tennessee, this report analyzes said achievement in terms of school locale and the percentage of disadvantaged (pdisadv) students enrolled in the school. Schools were designated as Rural, Large Central City, and Other Nonrural.…

A study in a remote, rural, mid-Atlantic school system assessed how teachers regarded the curriculum and their instructional needs; 226 personnel directly related to instructional services responded to the questionnaire, 42 were interviewed, and 72 were observed in classroom settings. Teachers generally rated themselves much more favorably than…

The success of Project Launch, a teacher induction program sponsored by a regional teacher center and a consortium of universities, is compared for rural and non-rural participants. Indicators of success include teacher accomplishment of action plan goals, teacher self and mentor assessment of teaching strengths related to action plan goals,…