This Data Point uses school questionnaire data from the 2015-16 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) and from the 2011-12 and 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Surveys (SASS). These data include nationally representative information for public K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This Data Point…

This brief summarizes our findings from a review of COVID-19 response plans of 477 school districts across the country. Key findings include: (1) 1 in 3 school districts have been communicating an expectation that teachers will provide instruction while schools remain closed; (2) Urban and suburban districts have been significantly more likely…

Teachers in rural areas need equitable access to professional development to develop their instructional capacities and efficacy. Moreover, the teachers in this district work in rural schools with little access to professional development and resources. Teachers for a Better Belize (TFABB) is a non-profit organization that provides free…

Co-teaching is a widely-used service delivery model to support students with disabilities in accessing the general curriculum in the United States. The pairing of a special educator and general educator is meant to produce substantively different instruction than when the general educator teaches alone. Research into these instructional…

Two teaching residency programs in northern California have provided some insight into graduates' preparation for, and inclination to pursue, teaching in a rural school. Both programs include early coursework that addresses the needs and strengths of rural communities and requires candidates to conduct an in-depth study of their placement…

In small rural schools, despite the nourishing sense of community, there is the constant danger of professional isolation. Without enough colleagues for a typically structured PLC, teachers have plenty of community but not enough structured professional learning. With the NW RISE network, however, rural educators are connecting with…

The North Dakota Teacher Support System (NDTSS) mentoring program is available to 1st-year teachers employed in the state public schools. Because there has been limited research on the topic, the purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of how participation in the mentoring program affects the experiences and developing…

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…

Historically, school counselors have been the primary facilitators in supporting the career and college transition process for students, but many school counselors do not have the knowledge, resources, or materials to support students in this transition (Belasco, 2013). One way to help support career and college readiness is to develop…

School leaders are continuously searching for innovative educational practices such as the use of digital badges to curtail illiteracy. Digital badges are electronic representations of academic achievements that offer a more cohesive and comprehensive account of learning. The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental research study was to…

Many small rural school districts are consistently faced with the challenge of recruiting and retaining teachers (Lowe, 2006). These districts are faced with challenging factors such as low funding and being geographically isolated that influence teachers to leave these areas more often than urban and suburban areas. With Alabama being one of…

Rapid urbanization in China has worsened the educational disparity between rural and urban regions, which can lead to increased social stratification and injustice. Information and communications technologies (ICTs), with their potential to enable universal access and pedagogical reform, are considered a promising solution to bridge such…

Professional learning provides the opportunity to improve teacher practice and student outcomes; however, challenges exist in ensuring that teachers can access quality professional learning. Teachers in regional and remote schools may have even more limited access to the expertise required to support changes in practice than their peers in…

Standard Australian reading assessment tests are criticized for being culturally inappropriate for use with Australian Indigenous children, particularly for those living in remote and very remote regions, as these tests are culturally biased towards mainstream Australian culture and imperceptive to Indigenous knowledge, language, concepts, and…

Professional development is necessary to support and empower teachers in meeting the high stakes demands of mathematics teaching and to ensure equitable, accessible, and high-quality instruction for all students. Using the Interconnected Model of Professional Growth, we designed and implemented a longitudinal, multi-faceted professional…