There's a rise in the employment of uncertified teachers, driven by acute staffing shortages and the flexibility offered by Texas' District of Innovation plans. This reliance on uncertified educators is raising alarms among educators and policymakers alike. Concerns are mounting over whether these teachers, often entering the classroom having…

Public school districts play a pivotal role in the well-being of rural communities. To help mitigate the impact of labor market trends, societal shifts, and the skilled labor shortage, rural schools are in the initial stages of expanding innovative career pathways. As such, career and technical education (CTE) administrators serve their rural…

This study employed design-based research to explore the efficacy of professional learning materials and approaches in developing social justice advocacy with rural elementary teachers in Appalachia. Bronfenbrenner's (2005) bioecological theory and Boler's (1999) pedagogy of discomfort formed the theoretical framework for the design,…

Teachers hold conflicting beliefs about the usefulness and role of print and digital media in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' enacted beliefs (beliefs that explain classroom practice) about using print and digital media. Early childhood and elementary teachers (N = 519) from a rural U.S. state were surveyed. They…

With heightened concerns regarding securing schools against random acts of school violence such as school shootings, school leaders have implemented many safety measures including arming schools with school security officers. As with any change, there can be unintended consequences, for example, school security officers may improve school safety…

The prevalence of Autism is increasing exponentially in today's classrooms, such that general education teachers face a broad range of challenges within inclusive settings (Leech, 2008). This study investigated the degree of teacher preparedness in teaching autistic students in general education and special education classrooms by examining the…

This article explores the research question: How does the nature of interest group influence on school superintendents vary across school district locale/? Utilizing a survey of Wisconsin superintendents, the author tests several hypotheses related to the relationship between school district locale and superintendent perceptions of interest group…

The purpose of this descriptive correlational quantitative study was to examine contributing factors of students and teachers affecting teacher self-efficacy and students' reading achievement in rural Oklahoma elementary schools in grades first through fifth. The contributing factors of students being analyzed included (a) poverty and (b) race or…

The importance of parental involvement in children's education cannot be overemphasized. This study aimed to explore the role that parents play in the education of their children in the Giyani Municipality, Limpopo Province South Africa. The study followed Epstein's model of school-parent-community partnerships to understand the participation of…

Colleges implement success courses to improve student outcomes. Since expanding its curriculum to include nine success courses, Illinois Eastern Community Colleges (IECC)--a multi-college community college district in rural, southeastern Illinois--has not determined the efficacy of these courses on student success. The purpose of this study was to…

This generic qualitative research study examined licensed professional counselors' (LPC) experiences with advocacy engagement in the rural school setting. Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory provided the theoretical foundation to describe the experiences of LPC advocacy engagement for varying systemic level needs of clients. The sample…

Many students in rural schools have negative school safety perceptions. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological research study was to investigate the school safety perceptions of students in rural elementary, middle, and high schools in a public school district in South Carolina. The school safety perceptions of students in grades three…

Students with disabilities have progressed in achievement compared to their general education peers, but learning gaps remain. The problem is elementary and secondary school students with disabilities have achievement gaps despite receiving specially designed instruction through an individualized education program by an intervention specialist in…

This descriptive qualitative study investigates the concerns that pre-service teachers at a small liberal arts college expressed about the racialization of English learners (ELs) and documents their increasing awareness of and preparedness to address these concerns during and after their studentteaching experience. The study included informal…

Mathematics is one of the key subjects in the South African schooling system. Improving mathematics learning is an ongoing concern especially in rural schools. Rural schools are expected to be equipped with educational technology tools and schooling communities are concerned about the extent to which these tools are used to improve mathematics…