Chronic poverty presents components of chronic trauma with one major deficit being lack of access to needed quality health care services. Often needed therapeutic services are not available and when available, challenges exist with time or travel constraints of therapists. Students who need therapeutic services such as occupational, physical or…

Students with mathematics difficulties and disabilities require evidence-based instructional strategies and interventions to improve their mathematical performance. Dissemination of these practices to teachers in rural settings presents specific challenges, including lack of Internet access, few discretionary resources, and geographic isolation.…

Poverty lack of resources and pervasive adversity threaten the healthy social and emotional development of many children living in rural Appalachia. Despite these traumatic stressors, however, Appalachian residents have proven surprisingly resilient and responsive to intervention. This article describes the twin efforts of the Partnerships Program…

Jean Stockard's (2011) article in the "Journal of Research in Rural Education," "Increasing Reading Skills in Rural Areas: An Analysis of Three School Districts," offers a productive opportunity to discuss the standardization of language and literacy teaching and learning in rural schools. The purpose of this response is to…

Drawing on an evaluation experience of a teacher education preparation project in a rural area of South Africa, this paper attempts to explore the possibility of using Communities of Practice (CoP) in teacher preparation. The paper concludes that the concept of CoP is powerful in providing spaces for self-reflection to pre-service teachers and…

Bullying and teacher's perception of student's behaviors play a large role in the interaction that teachers have with learners. Understanding the impact of bullying and teacher intervention can guide future programs and aid in professional development in rural areas. A nonexperimental, cross-sectional, correlational study of K-12 licensed staff in…

Families in rural communities are often poorly connected to schools due to challenges associated with geographic isolation, poverty, inexperienced staff, inadequate resources, scheduling challenges, and low parental education. This creates problems with the access, availability, and acceptability of services. Teachers in rural schools often have…

From a critical psychology perspective, Prilleltensky and Nelson advocate for research that has explicit focus on social change and can allow for full participation and empowerment of those under study. The current article describes the collaborative development, implementation, and evaluation of a career education program within three ethnically…

Background: The literature on motivation suggests that student learning and performance is influenced by the motivational climate, and that positive benefits can be derived from exposure to a mastery motivational climate. Nonetheless, to date, only a few studies have attempted to investigate a mastery motivational climate in a naturalistic setting…

Background: School-based interventions are critical for enhancing the health of youth. The "Goals for Health (GFH)" school-based project was a goal-setting and life-skills intervention conducted in rural areas to increase self-efficacy, knowledge, and positive behaviors related to healthy eating. The intervention was peer-led with high…

Asthma is the leading cause of missed school days despite advancements in asthma treatment. This may be, in part, due to a lack of understanding about asthma. "Okay With Asthma"[TM], an online story with psychosocial management strategies for school-age children, was pilot tested to measure its effect on asthma knowledge and attitude. The online…

The BRIGHT program was designed to improve the educational outcomes of children in Burkina Faso. It focused on girls in particular and was implemented in 132 rural villages throughout the 10 provinces of the country in which girls' enrollment rates were lowest. It consisted of constructing primary schools with three classrooms and implementing a…

Impoverished populations and schools in rural areas face special challenges that are different from other settings. Among these are the distances from social services, the sparse availability of assistance programs, and the shortage of resources to support educational programs and student learning. Rural schools, do, however, have assets that can…

The Black-White gap in completed schooling among Southern born men narrowed sharply between the World Wars after being stagnant from 1880 to 1910. We examine a large scale school construction project, the Rosenwald Rural Schools Initiative, which was designed to dramatically improve the educational opportunities for Southern rural Blacks. From…

Although violence and substance use are usually considered urban problems, rates of violence and substance use in rural areas are catching up to urban rates. This collection of six articles explores violence and substance use in rural America, the relationship between the two, the factors contributing to these problems, and effective preventive…