In the summer of 2020, it became clear to growing numbers of families and community organizations that COVID-19's unprecedented disruptions to public education would not subside in time for the coming school year. Facing the prospect of continued school closures and uncertain public health safeguards, families were forced to make new childcare…

The COVID-19 pandemic upended American education, throwing schools first into an impromptu version of distance learning in the spring of 2020 followed by a summer beset by uncertainty then delayed and uneven reopenings in the fall. Parents faced tough decisions about their children's education during the pandemic. In July 2020, a poll found that…

10 Great Curricula is a collection of stories written by educators who have come to understand curricula differently as a result of their engagement with a graduate course and its instructor. The book represents the best of what can be found in teaching and learning, in general, and in the quest for meaningful ways to understand curricula in…

A significant factor for many people deciding where to live is the quality of the local school district, with superior schools creating a price premium for housing. The result is a "race to the top," as all school districts attempt to improve their performance in order to attract homebuyers. Given the importance of school districts to the daily…

Traces the history of the one-room school in West Virginia from the 1750s to the 1970s. Describes teachers, buildings, curriculum, pupil and teacher rules of conduct, size advantages/disadvantages, length of school year, salaries, changes in school district size, evolution of transportation networks, and current status. (NEC)

Author reviews excerpts from her book of the early 1940's, My Country School Diary, from a modern perspective, and finds the situation today essentially the same; teacher and student must start from where they are'' and develop from that point. (SP)

An average of 1,000 school consolidations were formed yearly; public money spent for pupil transportation increased about three and one-half million dollars annually; and the number of one-room schools in the United States decreased about 4,500 a year, during the period from 1918 to 1922. These are the rates at which three important movements in…

It is in the classroom of the graded school that the underlying mismatch between functions and forms occurs in American public education. (Author)

This book describes the teaching experiences of Stella Gipson Polk, who taught in one-room schools in rural Texas. She was 16 at the time she took her first teaching job in 1918. After high school graduation, she had intended to enter a 4-year college or university. However, World War I left numerous schools without teachers as many were called…

To compensate for disadvantages of traditional rural schools, Colombia's Escuela Nueva (New School) movement offers solutions such as self-instruction guides geared to aspects of daily life and flexible school schedules. Teacher training that encourages student and community involvement is a key element. Escuela Nueva successes have led to its…

This paper provides a history of early public schools in two Iowa townships. Townships are six by six mile areas of land that were established as the result of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The civil townships of Bennington and Cedar Falls were part of 17 townships located in Black Hawk County, Iowa. The Northwest Ordinance specified that the…

This 1987-88 study was conducted to identify, describe, and analyze the significant issues facing one of Vermont's five remaining schoolmarms. The primary subject of the study is a first-year one-room schoolteacher in a rural Vermont town. Chapter 1 offers a brief history of Vermont's one-room schools, a description of the town, the school, and…

This ERIC digest presents an overview of small-scale schooling in an international context; examines demographic data, staffing problems, and incentives used in other nations; and points out the distinctive characteristics and unique value and potential of small schools in both industrialized and developing nations. Rural school populations remain…

Presenting detailed statistics illustrating trends and the numerical status of one-teacher schools, this U.S. Office of Education bulletin spans a 30-year period describing, by states, the overall decreases in the number of 1-teacher schools, their proportional relationship to all public schools and teachers, and the number of students attending…

Presents the views of a concerned citizen on reshaping U.S. schools in a peaceful, grass-roots revolution. Emphasis is on the neighborhood school, with parent participation, and a system that keeps students with the same teacher for multiple years. The human and technological resources that the approach requires are discussed. (SLD)