The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, examines how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's…

The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, examines how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's…

School districts across the United States have had to make many difficult decisions to prepare for the 2020-2021 school year amid the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A seemingly impossible dilemma dominated planning: Should schools reopen buildings to provide much-needed in-person instruction but potentially risk the health…

In spring 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to an unprecedented and sweeping shift in the landscape of public schooling in the United States. Beginning in March, schools across the country closed their doors and adopted remote learning supports that varied in degree and type. In May 2020, researchers from the RAND…

Accomplishing personalized, deeper learning through anywhere, anytime digital learning requires a redesign of the K-12 education system. This report looks at readiness for digital learning at two levels in West Virginia: the district capacity building to ready the system for digital learning and school implementation of digital learning. The…

The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to investigate the impact of one-to-one student issued laptop computers on secondary campuses in four rural Texas school districts. Data were collected using focus groups which included 27 leaders in four rural Texas school districts that had implemented the one-to-one laptop initiative. The…

The primary purpose of the current study was to examine barriers to the use of distance education and explore related factors in small and low-income rural schools. Data were collected via a telephone survey with administrators or other qualified personnel. The sample involved 417 randomly selected small and low-income rural school districts…

As school districts face declining enrollment and stable or reduced funding they look for ways to contain costs and continue to provide a quality educational experience. In many states "a new wave of consolidation...may be at hand" (Kysilko, 2003). The research cites advantage for both consolidation and for maintaining small schools. The…

The purposes of this study were to (a) identify how leadership in a successful rural school districts has helped raise student achievement levels beyond those of comparable school districts as measured by state and federal mandated test scores, (b) investigate the district leadership that aligns with identified effective practices, and (c)…

Describing the past two decades as a turbulent era for American education and suggesting that the coming decade will also demand great change, this article discusses problems facing small school districts, resources available to them, and some of the measures they might take to meet the challenges of change. (DS)

The research question posed in this study is as follows: How are small, rural school districts different from other school districts? The study involved analysis of data from 52 unit (K-12) school districts in a 9-county region of East Central Illinois. Data were collected from the 1986 school district report cards and from Illinois State Board of…

ONE OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA REGION 5 EDUCATIONAL SERVICES CENTER IS TO ASSIST SCHOOL DISTRICTS IN THE ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL NEEDS. THE SERVICE CENTER WAS REQUESTED TO FORMULATE THE NECESSARY CURRICULUM FOR THE CONSOLIDATION OF FLAT CREEK, HEATH SPRINGS, AND KERSHAW HIGH SCHOOLS, HAVING A COMBINED ENROLLMENT OF 502 STUDENTS IN…

Administrative concerns of programs for educable mentally retarded children in small school systems are discussed beginning with preliminary steps of program promotion and development of program rationale. The selection of children is explored in areas of screening methods, individual evaluations, implications of student characteristics, and…

This paper provides cross-site policy analysis of themes related to state education reform and the impact of state educational reforms on students with disabilities and special education programs. It analyzes state-level reforms in the general education policy areas of curriculum, assessment, accountability, teacher development, and governance and…

Information on 44 small/rural K-12 Nebraska school districts (900 students or fewer) is compared to data from 642 similar districts nationwide, using material gathered during 1982-83. Of the nation's 15,601 public school districts, 4,125 (26.4%) were identified as qualifying for the survey; 76.4% (249 districts, enrolling 76,516 students) of…