Learning organizations (LOs) serve as an important tool for continuous school improvement. School leaders can shift a school culture from top-down control to a learning-centered environment in which all staff share collective responsibility for improvement. This demands a collaborative culture, ongoing reflection on data to challenge existing…

The one-room school house was synonymous with education in Nebraska for over a century. In 1901, most of the state's 6,773 schools were identified as one-room schools. While the national movement away from the one-room school house was also occurring in Nebraska, its 385 one-room schools were the most of any state in 1986 (McKee, 2013). The…

This study investigated Principals' Perception of misconduct among Secondary School teachers in Delta State. Four research questions and four hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The instrument used for collection of data was tagged "Principals' Perception of Teachers Misconduct Questionnaire" (PPOTMQ). For content validity,…

Decisions about who gets what, when and how are driven by economic constraints and individuals who dominate policy agendas. As policymakers at the state and federal levels continue to debate budgetary priories, funding education becomes secondary. The complexities of political systems become apparent when decision makers attempt to balance…

Concerned that their special education students were not being adequately prepared for the post-high school world, a rural Arkansas school district made a concerted effort to provide a systematic transition program in which opportunities for life after graduation could become a meaningful reality. A significant component of the transition program…

A rural school district in the Mississippi Delta Region of Arkansas was identified by the Arkansas Department of Education as being academically deficient. As a result, a partnership was formed between the school district and faculty members from a regional university to address the situation. A three-phase program of mastery teaching and learning…

Dr. Stephen R. Pickard is currently serving as an adjunct professor at Gardner-Webb University located in Boiling Springs North Carolina. He is a retired educator having served 21 years as a classroom teacher at both the middle and elementary levels. In addition to his service as a classroom teacher, Dr. Pickard served as a public school…

The role of principal is a multifaceted one. Beyond the duties associated with the general education program, principals are essential in making inclusion work within their buildings (Quigney, 1996). Information about the ways in which rural and small-school principals administrate the special education programs in their buildings was the focus of…

As measured by the Mathias Township School's student participants, the total life simulation project was successful. Among the 11 tasks required were opening both a savings and checking account or establishing an average weekly income by getting one or more jobs or applying for food stamps and/or welfare. (JC)

The implementation of the No Child Left Behind accountability process has allowed schools to fail to report academic progress for significant groups of students. This study examined the impact of No Child Left Behind on accountability for special education students in small rural schools within a state. The study used both qualitative and…

Elementary teachers' beliefs, knowledge, and practice relating to retention were explored using an adapted version of the Teacher Retention Beliefs Questionnaire (Tompchin & Impara, 1992). A researcher-developed knowledge section was added to the original questionnaire to measure teachers' propositional knowledge of retention. Thirty-five, K-4…

This paper describes a study of a collaborative initiative between a rural high school and a university. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of collaboration in a rural school reform partnership. What grew out of this study was a collaborative model of a partnership. While partnerships are not unique, there is a unique…

Reveals 126 Oregon rural high school teachers showed: a positive correlation between principal's attitude toward people and productivity; no relationship between principal's attitude toward people and teachers' attitudes toward teaching; and no relationship concerning teachers' age or sex. Women were shown to be more satisfied with teaching status…

Because of No Child Left Behind and the pressure of high stakes testing, many school districts are looking for ways to raise test scores and gain or maintain adequate yearly progress. A successful after-school math tutoring program, a partnership between a rural school district and the local university, is summarized in this article. Keys to this…

Test responses of students in grades six and 11 were examined to determine the relationship between school size and learning in the affective domain, i.e., character, cooperation, and attitudes toward school, communication, and change. Results indicated that students in smaller schools have more positive attitudes toward their schools and…