The purpose of this inquiry was to conduct a formative evaluation of a rural Pennsylvania school district's dispositional hiring practices. The review of literature includes disposition evaluation methods and summarizes the controversial nature of evaluating dispositions. Interviews of administrators who ask dispositional questions, and newly…

The purpose of this study was to examine the variables that contributes to high teacher turnover rate in one Southeastern rural school district. The study used the Gap Analysis for Problem-solving, Planning, and School Improvement (GAPPSI) method approach to improve the current state of the problem by determining if there were common variables…

This qualitative study explored parent perceptions of parental involvement in mathematics learning. The study was conducted in a rural area of South Carolina. Face-to-face interviews, online interviews, and review of documents were the sources of data for this inquiry. Findings revealed that parents admitted to a lack of involvement as long as…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine those factors influencing a teacher's level of adaptation to a one-to-one laptop program in a middle-school setting. The school chosen for this study is located in a semi-rural district with approximately 500 students in sixth through eighth grade. Over the past 10 years, the school…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a new teacher induction program as implemented in a rural school district in central North Carolina. All beginning teachers with 3 or less years of experience, all school-based administrators, and all mentoring teachers were the target participants. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the…

Many small rural schools are facing a crisis of declining student populations and in the era of school choice, school districts are looking at innovative ways to attract and retain students. Research is limited on the qualitative experiences of people in communities who are focused on increasing inter-district open enrollment in K-12 schools as a…

Background: Research on rural educational leadership is often overlooked in educational research, specifically within the context of homegrown leaders, or leaders who have been lifelong residents in the districts where they were students, teachers, and now lead as principal. Rural districts face many challenges that differ from urban districts.…

This study explores how six school leadership teams in a rural district in California responded to professional development (PD) designed to strengthen leadership practices and organizational conditions in schools for improving teaching and learning. Specifically, the PD was intended to address the problem of practice identified by the schools:…

This study is a program evaluation of a small, rural school district's special education program's compliance with key processes, including the child study, eligibility, and individual education plan (IEP) processes. The goals of the evaluation were to identify potential weaknesses in the special education program implementation, and to provide…

Despite growing consensus regarding the value of inquiry-based teaching and learning, the implementation of such a pedagogical practice continues to be a challenge for many South African teachers, especially at rural schools. The research reported in this article concerns the interaction between Grade 10 Physical Sciences teachers' beliefs about…

With the current trend in education toward instructing all students inclusively in the general education setting it is necessary to determine whether general and special educators are adequately equipped to provide instruction, which takes place inclusively, for students with the disability classification Emotional Behavior Disorder. An…

In this article, we describe how a consultation team explored their school district and their perceptions as well as what they did to initiate systems-change. This 2-year qualitative research study involved the use of a participant-observer approach to collect data via observations, interviews, and historical analysis. The consultation teams'…

This multiple-case study design with embedded units of analysis examined a two-year professional development (PD) program in which two rural districts received at least 90 hours of PD. This PD was provided through an Investing in Innovation (i3) grant that the United States Department of Education awarded to the National Writing Project. Two of…

This research was conducted as a qualitative comparative case study of two Northern New England school districts that were in the process of responding to declining enrollments. The purpose of the study was to explore decision-making through the lens of declining enrollments. An award winning rural school in an affluent town with high performing…

This guide was created to help district leaders understand the benefits and drawbacks of the four-day school week, assess their district's readiness to make the switch, and evaluate the results of implementing the new schedule. This guide begins with an overview of common goals and outcomes for the four-day school week. It then provides a set of…