Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. students attend rural schools. However, during policy discussions, rural schools' unique challenges are often eclipsed by those of their urban and suburban counterparts. This report is a case study of an innovative, replicable public education experiment at three rural Texas high schools called the Rural Schools Innovation Zone2…

This qualitative study examined the career readiness practices of high schools in one rural school district. Specifically, the researcher investigated how school counselors spent their time, the role of Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) in the career readiness practices of the district, and how leaders influence the school…

The ways in which high schools in rural U.S. communities allocate their staffing and assign roles related to career development impact the preparation of students with disabilities for future employment pursuits. This mixed methods study explored (a) the roles of 291 school staff and administrators in supporting the career development of students…

Alternatively certified teachers constitute a growing portion of public school educators in the U.S. This is a trend that is expected to continue, due to the declining enrollment in traditional teacher preparation programs across recent years. As such, this report examines the profiles of alternatively certified teachers working in South Carolina…

The history of school discipline has varied greatly since educating students in a formal setting became the norm, as there has always been emphasis on controlling students. The violations of school rules that have resulted in consequences have also varied. What has been documented in scholarship for almost 50 years is that African American…

The name of the study said it all: "Sleepmore in Seattle: Later School Start times Are Associated with More Sleep and Better Performance in High School Students." In 2016-17, Seattle Public Schools pushed back high-school start times by 55 minutes, from 7:50 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. And just like that, students slept an average of 34 more…

The ways in which high schools allocate their staffing and assign individual roles related to career development are pertinent to students with and without disabilities accessing career preparation that equips them for employment following graduation. Rural school districts can especially benefit from strategic role allocation that addresses gaps…

This paper examines the experiences of 18 teachers in Wisconsin during the COVID-19 pandemic to address two questions: (1) What do teaching conditions look like during the COVID-19 pandemic? (2) How have educators adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic? This research offers a snapshot of the varied delivery models, safety and mitigation practices,…

Across the country, the tides are beginning to turn on school reopening. Relief funding, policy guidance on safe reopening, declining cases, and increasing vaccination rates have cleared the way for students to safely return to classrooms. School districts are largely responding. The Center on Reinventing Public Education's (CRPE's) latest…

The joint contributions of general education and special education staff should collectively support career development for students with disabilities in rural communities. This mixed-methods study explored the views of staff and administrators across 10 rural districts on staffing for supporting students with disabilities in preparing for work,…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe/summarize the perceptions of the North Carolina Educator Evaluation System (NCEES) for 10 educational leaders in two small rural school districts in eastern North Carolina. This study was conducted through the problem definition lens. The 10 educational leaders for this study included two…

The multitiered framework for preventing and addressing discipline and school climate, school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports, is widely adopted across the United States with much of the focus on Tier 1, universal prevention supports. The following case example describes district-wide adoption of a systematic framework for Tier…

This article gives meaning to innovating promising practices in high poverty rural contexts, as experienced by the Rural Math Excel Partnership (RMEP). The project sought to develop a model of shared school-family-community responsibility to support student success in foundational math courses as preparation for science, technology, engineering,…

This brief gives an update on our nationally representative sample of school district reopening plans. This update comes at a critical time, as a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic once again forces school system leaders to rethink plans to welcome students safely to campuses, and spiking caseloads raise a new round of public health fears for…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe high school general education teachers' experiences with academic dishonesty in the digital age in rural school districts in southwest Ohio. Academic dishonesty in the digital age is defined as student use of digital technologies to receive credit for academic work beyond their own ability…