The COVID-19 pandemic forced Virginia school divisions to limit the amount of time students spent learning in-person in school buildings during the 2020-21 school year. Divisions, therefore, needed to make many decisions on how to provide instruction in each student's home. We collected and coded over a thousand documents pertaining to the SY…

Education in the 21st century increasingly relies on strong, reliable access to the internet at school and at home. However, millions of students throughout the United States are unable to connect to the internet outside of school to complete coursework and actively participate in a modern education. This issue exists throughout educational…

The supplemental educational services program is a core provision of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The program offers free tutoring in reading/language arts and math from state-approved providers outside of regular school hours. This report explores differences across states and school urban and rural locales in providing…

Examination of demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural factors in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, the four states served by the Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL), shows low student population density, endemic poverty, low educational attainment, and a population reluctant to seek outside help. This report reviews the…

Although there are many sources of information about "effective schools" programs, those that specifically address the needs of rural areas are often overlooked. This document offers a collection of program descriptions to help educators determine programs and practices that appear to be effective in rural and small schools. Program…

Of Virginia's 139 school districts (which are called "divisions"), 75 (or 54%) are classified as rural. A rural school district is defined as one in which 75% or more of the population lives outside Standard Metropolitan Areas or in which student density if less than or equal to 10 pupils per square mile. While there are large…

An economic model of educational supply and demand was tested using cross-sectional data for the 95 Virginia county school districts. Three equations were hypothesized: (1) the quantity supply functions; (2) the quantity demand function; and (3) the quality demand function. The variables in the equations are education expenditures, percent of 9th…