A four-day school week (4dsw) is becoming more common, especially in areas across the western United States. States with large rural areas are spearheading this change. For example, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and South Dakota have more than 500 districts using a 4dsw. The transition to the 4dsw and the debate over…

The Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has been studying the four-day school week since 2015. Since then, the phenomenon of the four-day school week has spread into non-rural areas and interest appears to be growing. Given these apparent changes, the author wanted to know more about recent trends in the initiative. As districts continue…

The four-day school week (4dsw) is growing in popularity, especially in rural areas across the western United States. RAND Corporation researchers addressed knowledge gaps about the 4dsw by conducting a large-scale study of the implementation and outcomes of the 4dsw that involved the collection of original data in numerous districts across Idaho,…

Inquiry-based science interventions aim to improve students' science proficiency by helping them understand scientific processes. In these interventions, students conduct hands-on investigations of science concepts and everyday phenomena, construct explanations for what they observe, consider alternative explanations, and communicate and justify…

Inquiry-based science interventions aim to improve students' science proficiency by helping them understand scientific processes. In these interventions, students conduct hands-on investigations of science concepts and everyday phenomena, construct explanations for what they observe, consider alternative explanations, and communicate and justify…

Inquiry-based science interventions aim to improve students' science proficiency by helping them understand scientific processes. In these interventions, students conduct hands-on investigations of science concepts and everyday phenomena, construct explanations for what they observe, consider alternative explanations, and communicate and justify…

Many reports on rural education give little attention to digital learning. At most, they tend to note either infrastructure needs or the potential of remote course access, with little focus on instruction, outcomes, or exemplars. This report intends to begin correcting that imbalance by connecting the dots between rural regions, rural education,…

This report of the Rural School and Community Trust and the Ben Lujan Leadership and Public Policy Institute presents findings from an investigation of the impact of the funding formula proposal commissioned by the New Mexico Funding Formula Task Force (FFTF) and developed by American Institutes of Research (AIR). Appointed by the New Mexico…

Students in about 100 schools in 10 states attend classes 4 days a week, for all or part of the school year. A growing number of rural schools, faced with declining enrollments and diminishing state aid, are experimenting with this schedule. Benefits of the schedule include lower energy and transportation costs and lower absenteeism among students…

This study examined the degree of understanding among district and school level personnel in New Mexico regarding recent changes implemented in the State's accountability reporting system. The results are being used to design two further research activities: one to explore the relationship between accountability information and classroom practice,…

Educational administration faculty from five public higher education institutions in New Mexico formed a consortium to address the need for effective educational leaders in rural school districts. Members established the New Mexico Partners for Educational Leadership (PEL), composed of faculty from the five universities, leading educational…

This report describes a negotiated evaluation model used to examine the effectiveness of 10 regional center cooperatives (RCCs) that assist small rural New Mexico school districts in implementing provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The 9-month evaluation aimed to determine the scope of existing RCC services, the…

Using 1975-76 school-year data, the study describes New Mexico size adjustment factors for public school funding, compares them with the manner in which other states recognize smallness or sparsity, and delineates the impact of size adjustment factors on New Mexico school districts in terms of resources, net operational and proportionate…

Representing a broad cross section of data bearing on the operation and performance of public schools in New Mexico during the school year 1979-80, the document presents data on school district characteristics, teacher characteristics, pupil characteristics, school finance, high school graduates, American College Testing (ACT) results, and results…

New Mexico's 19 "very small" school districts (fewer than 300 average daily membership K-12 in 1981-82) were studied to identify major problems (including program deficiencies and actions being taken to alleviate those problems), to determine appropriate additional measures which might be helpful in resolving the problems, and to…