A former student at a one-room school in rural Monongalia County, West Virginia, in the 1920s describes educational practices, social life, discipline, extracurricular activities, subject matter, teacher responsibilities, and the importance of the school to the community. (TD)

This study was designed to correct misperceptions many Americans have concerning one-room schools and Old Order Mennonite and Amish education in the United States. It was also intended to quantify the number of U.S. public and private one-room schools. The paper briefly reviews the history of Amish and Old Order Mennonite schools. Recent research…

Highlights events in the life of Jesse Stuart, who began his teaching career at the age of 17 in a remote one-room school in the Kentucky hills and went on to become widely recognized as teacher, lecturer, and significant regional writer. Emphasizes Stuart's love of teaching and his personal values. (JHZ)

In the rural areas of developing countries, teacher absence is a widespread problem. This paper tests whether a simple incentive program based on teacher presence can reduce teacher absence, and whether it has the potential to lead to more teaching activities and better learning. In 60 informal one-teacher schools in rural India, randomly chosen…

Schoolhouse planning is becoming specialized. In a few of the larger centers of population there are architects who desire no other work except the planning of school buildings. This is bringing about in the larger cities schoolhouses that are peculiarly adapted to the educational program. They are sanitary, well lighted, and properly ventilated.…

Educators have kept up a continual bombardment against one-room schools. It has been pointed out that one teacher working alone with all grades and with pupils of all ages can not be expected to accomplish results equal to the results made possible by the specialization of the well-graded school. The present-day practice of attempting to evaluate…

The building that once housed the only primary school for blacks in Lee County, Virginia, is now the Appalachian African-American Cultural Center. Besides preserving Appalachian black history, it hosts an annual Race Unity Day; houses a library of black literature; and sponsors workshops on racism, where blacks and whites can discuss racial issues…

This history of the one-room school examines reasons for its demise (perceived inferior status, efficiency, modernization) and presents advantages of multiaged grouping in schools. (SK)

The experiences of two schoolmasters in the small Western Port Bay fishing community of Hastings (Australia) in the last century are presented to provide insights to present-day teachers about the nature of living and teaching in a rural community. The second schoolmaster did a much better job than the first in involving parents in school…

Oak Hill School served elementary students in the 10th district of Washington County, Tennessee, from 1886 to 1952. After extensive restoration and a move to Historic Jonesborough, the one-room school now functions as a living history museum. Fourth-grade students spend a day following the 1892 curriculum for grade 4. A teacher's resource and…

Oral history plays a vital role in accurate preservation of the rural school experience and the actual restoration of some of the country's 212,000 one-room school buildings. Oral histories provide valuable, first-hand information on who taught in and who attended one-room schools, what the curriculum included, what the building looked like, and…

A questionnaire sent to organizations and programs in rural education was designed to identify institutions displaying early school artifacts. Responses were received from 19 of the 30 states surveyed. The study found 11 university or college museums that have a one-room school as part of their collection. In addition, state parks and county…

Questionnaires were sent to the Ministries of Education in 69 countries to obtain information about one-teacher school systems in each respective country. The questionnaire was constructed to provide information about administration, length of schooling in one-teacher schools, organization of school work, curricula and methods, teaching staff,…

The one-room school experience is a part of U.S. and Tennessee history that should be preserved and shared. Since the last generation of scholars who attended one-room schools will soon be gone, the Jonesborough-Washington County (Tennessee) History Museum recreated this early system of education through a "living classroom" heritage…

A 15-year study of Amish schools in the United States and Canada found that the number of Amish schools has grown dramatically from 1940 through the present. The Amish provide formal schooling only up to the eighth grade, after which adolescents are engaged in mastering a trade before entering into adulthood. The Amish once supported public…