This promising practice describes an innovative collaboration between West Virginia University, a land grant institution situated in the middle of rural Appalachia, and Kanawha County Schools, located in Charleston, WV. The partnership aimed to assist the rural school district by supporting children in three elementary schools and by providing the…

The purpose of this article is to examine a 'grow your own' model of leadership preparation and placement of educational administrators in the state of Tennessee. The growing need for school and district administrators in the rural counties of Tennessee mirrors a nationwide issue, and state policymakers and practitioners must respond appropriately…

Despite a long history of overrepresentation in segregated settings (Brock, 2018), students with disabilities who require extensive supports are more likely to receive inclusive placements in rural schools. In this paper, we present findings from a narrative literature analysis of inclusive education for students with disabilities in rural schools…

Faculty from two universities in Florida and Ohio designed, developed, and implemented programs to work with youth from their respective service regions to support college and career readiness initiatives. Both programs were directed by university faculty and utilized university resources to support K-12 students' career development skills. In…

The Essential Three (e3) is a professional learning series that focuses on supporting rural school districts and school leaders as they engage in the important work of prioritizing and determining areas of instructional focus. As educators transition to new rigorous state and national standards and face the challenges of learning newly adopted…

Rural teachers need ongoing, flexible professional development designed to encourage collaboration and curriculum development. Furthermore, rural school reform requires successful collaborations between schools and colleges to create leaders within schools. Therefore, this case study is a program review that investigates how social studies…

Although "grow your own" principal preparation programs have become a popular method for recruiting and selecting administrator candidates for hard to fill positions in both urban and rural schools, "grow your own" principal candidates in rural contexts may be more vulnerable to the phenomenon of loss of self-efficacy. This…

In rural eastern North Carolina, the rapid growth of English Learners (ELs) unintentionally makes mainstream classrooms sheltered instruction classrooms. Sheltered instruction is content-based instruction (CBI) where ELs acquire language while learning content. In addition to ELs, this region has a high number of Standard English Learners (SELs).…

There is a dearth of studies in science education that are both comprehensive and focused on rural schools. Thus, this brief is in the form of a research report on the impact of an externally funded, five-year professional development project. The project involved approximately 1500 teachers on the student achievement of approximately 20,000 K-6…

Describes a collaborative project to design a personnel development system for Northeast rural educators. Defines collaboration. Explains initiation of collaborative staff development and the collaborative role of colleges and universities. Applies collaborative planning to leadership training and describes the training of a leadership team for…

Schools are an important resource in combating the physical inactivity and obesity epidemics in rural economically depressed areas. Through a University-community partnership, teachers and adolescents in a rural West Virginia county with one of the highest obesity rates in the state developed a school-based research intervention to increase…

Consistent with their name and mission, rural community colleges should be committed to building community. This can be accomplished through comprehensive curricula; extracurricular events; community education programs; continuing education; partnering with businesses and schools to encourage local youth to prepare for college; service learning;…

In the "Just Do It, Jr." program, 81 at-risk fifth-grade students in rural Nevada attended life skills training sessions, then taught self-esteem concepts to second graders. The fifth graders averaged a 16% improvement on self-observed school attitudes and self-esteem, and the second graders thought the programs were well taught. (TD)

Describes a program offering freshman college courses to high school seniors designed to make senior year more challenging and help rural students' transition from high school to college. Discusses costs, curriculum, and student responses. Notes that successful students gain college credit while others learn they are not ready for college. (DHP)

Highlights the importance of increasing student and staff aspirations as a component of effective schools and describes a rural school improvement project developed at the University of Maine. The Aspirations Project involves university school partnerships with four rural Maine school systems. (KS)