Background: Early childhood development (ECD) practitioners are encouraged to implement play pedagogies and their views of play as a pedagogy in rural settings have not been captured widely. They are the main role players in implementing play pedagogies for learners' learning and development. The commitment to play can be traced through theory and…

Teacher leadership remains at the forefront of conversations in teacher education, with discussions on recruitment, retention, and effectiveness. Teachers are at the core of schooling, and the roles they assume and types of leadership they engage in are multi-dimensional. Teacher leadership comes in many shapes and definitions. In this sense, both…

Challenges in the educational arena are not new phenomena. However, with the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers and educators have been made even more aware of the need for a paradigm shift in education. Blended learning, as opposed to fully online learning or traditional face-to-face teaching, has been well-researched and has…

A year-long study investigated the perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs of rural educators concerning gifted learners and their educational needs. Participants were all K-12 teachers (43) and administrators (3) in a single, rural southeastern Kansas school district serving 518 students. During the study, conducted in school year 1985, teachers…

Alternative models of rural school improvement consortia were identified through a review of research literature in order to determine what existing models were applicable to rural school consortia in the northwest United States. Organization structure of rural school collaboratives and characteristics associated with successful functioning were…

Rural education trends in the 1980s--influenced by decreased federal, state, and local funding and demands for higher academic standards and greater accountability--will have a significant impact on staff development in small and rural schools. Along with ebbing support for compensatory education and increased focus on math and science…

This collection of papers examines the premises for changes to the curriculum and the manner in which those changes are reflected in the development of schools in Finland and England. The papers provide an intrinsic context for integrating language and content. The book begins with a foreword, "The Challenges of Curriculum Development and the…

General educators' perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs towards gifted learners and education of the gifted at both elementary and secondary levels in small, rural schools were examined. Eighteen teachers from a rural K-12 Kansas district having 518 students completed questionnaires during summer 1985 and during the 1985-86 school year, and the…

An overview is provided of "Rural AGE: Accessing Gerontological Education," a 3-year curriculum and faculty development project in Kansas aimed at transferring gerontological expertise and educational capacities from state universities to a consortium of seven rural community colleges. Introductory sections explain the purpose, background, and…

Based on research studies of effective staff development and rural education, the Inservice Leadership Team (ILT) was designed to identify key teachers in school buildings, team them with principals and central office staff, and train the team to design, deliver, and evaluate staff development at the school level. Rural Pennsylvania school staff,…

Designed to help principals in rural and small schools, this volume contains 29 articles under the three broad headings of new possibilities in everyday practice, applications of recent research, and initiatives to help schools and communities grow. The editors' introduction notes the challenges facing small school administrators, the problems…

This book offers a selection of 14 conference papers that present a variety of innovative partnerships for the preparation of teachers and school administrators. Part 1, "Teacher Preparation Partnerships," presents 4 papers: (1) "Ten Years of the Hawaii School/University Partnership" (J.P. Dolly, P.A. Whitesell, and A.P. Port); (2) "The Colton…

The practical steps outlined in this manual are based on the experience of establishing Marquette (Michigan) Alternative Senior High (MASH), organized in 1978 to serve rural youth who had dropped out or were not benefiting significantly from the regular high school programs. Chapters are organized in chronological progression and each refers to…