This narrative literature analysis examines the storylines of rural teachers told through published research on rural teachers. Using a narrative analysis approach, we investigated research published between 1970 and 2010--four decades of rural-oriented education research and policy work. Four storylines emerged from our coding of rural-related…

Based on an ethnographic study in a rural middle school in Northwest China, the author explores how the transition of the rural countryside, specifically townization, has challenged the urban-rural dichotomy being reproduced in and by formal schooling. Rural students express criticism of the chaos, pollution, and corruption they have experienced…

This paper reports on outcomes of Phases One and Two of the ALTC Competitive Research and Development Project "Developing Strategies at the Pre-Service Level to Address Critical Teacher Attraction and Retention Issues in Australian Rural, Regional and Remote Schools". This project funded over two years aims to strengthen the capacity and…

This paper focuses on rural and indigenous girls and their mothers in Peru, examining how they position schooling and education in their current life and future aspirations, in order to better understand girls' increasing participation in education. It is argued here that the high educational aspirations girls and their families have are not only…

Due to imbalanced social and economic development, education in poverty-stricken rural areas in China is lagging behind that of urban areas. The current study explores the role of the nonprofit organizations (NPOs) involved in rural compulsory education promotion. Results show that the NPOs are providing a variety of programs to promote rural…

This article interprets inequality evident at the intersection of three realms: (a) mathematical talent (as a cultural phenomenon); (b) rural place and rural life; and (c) future economic, political, and ecological developments. The discussion explains this outlook on inequality, contextualizes interest in rural mathematics education, presents the…

From the early 1980s, China underwent perhaps the world's largest and most comprehensive experiment of decentralization in education. There has been a shift from decentralization to some degree of recentralization, however, since the mid-1990s, particularly since the early 2000s. The purpose of this shift was to establish a stable and regularized…

The Educational Missions in the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1936) had the purpose of making available, "especially to those living in rural areas, the feeling of progress and the means to participate in it, as well as in its moral stimuli and in the examples of universal progress, so that all the peoples of Spain, even those in remote areas…

Purpose: Recent educational research has demonstrated rural-urban gaps in achievement and schooling conditions. Evidence from developing countries is still sparse. This study seeks to report rural-urban disparities in achievement, student, teacher, and school characteristics based on a nationally representative sample of grade four students from…

Dropping out of high school seriously impacts an individual's job opportunities, income potential and employment stability. To minimize those risks, individuals can earn a General Educational Development (GED) credential. Researchers have studied the impact of obtaining a GED on candidates' lives and found that the credential affects their…

This article is essentially written as two linked parts. The first part considers how space, spatiality and history can contribute to understanding and "doing something about" the sustainability of rural communities. This is done by extensive reference to Soja's (1989 & 1996) space and spatial theorising and selective perspectives of…

The public usually thinks of large urban schools when it considers reforms to the American education system. But rural students account for a large and growing segment of the school-age population, and their needs have too often been overlooked in school improvement efforts. Policymakers and the public must make rural education a priority if the…

The widely reported economic divide between the richer eastern provinces and the poorer western provinces in China has an exact parallel in the development of basic education. As a result of geographical, historical and social factors the quality and management of the education system lags considerably behind the east coast. A pioneering project…

The purpose of this study was to examine the high school math preparation of students intending to go into a construction trade after graduation rather than attend college. The first part of the study was quantitative in nature. A Chi Square analysis of apprentice pass/fail scores by urban, suburban and rural geographic locales was conducted. The…

This brief examines the complex interplay of family, school, and place factors in the reading achievement levels of third grade students. Third grade reading achievement is critical to later academic and occupational success. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, the authors report that suburban children realize greater gains in…