ERIC Number: EJ1042618
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0161-956X
EISSN: N/A
School and Community Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing within Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale Region, and the Dilemmas of Educational Leadership in Gasfield Boomtowns
Schafft, Kai A.; Biddle, Catharine
Peabody Journal of Education, v89 n5 p670-682 2014
Innovations associated with gas and oil drilling technology, including new hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques, have recently led to dramatic boomtown development in many rural areas that have endured extended periods of economic decline. The Marcellus Shale play, one of the world's largest gas-bearing shale formations, lies beneath approximately two-thirds of Pennsylvania, including some of the state's most economically lagging rural areas. Spurred by a state-level policy environment favorable to unconventional gas extraction, drilling activity in the last five years has rapidly increased, often with profound social, economic, and environmental implications for communities. In this paper we use schooling as a particular analytic lens for understanding the dynamics of natural resource boomtown development, community change, and how these changes may affect educational and instructional decision making. Using data from interviews and focus groups with educators and administrators in Pennsylvania communities experiencing intensive natural gas development, we discuss the multiple organizational, curricular, and educational dilemmas school leaders face in the context of both rapid, unpredictable community change, and an educational policy environment unfavorable to place-sensitive educational responses to local change.
Descriptors: Engineering Technology, Power Technology, Fuels, Economic Impact, Rural Areas, Interviews, Focus Groups, Social Change, Public Education, Economic Development, Teacher Attitudes, Administrator Attitudes, Community Change, Institutional Characteristics, Career Counseling, Educational Counseling, Place Based Education, Testing, Barriers, Postsecondary Education, Elementary Secondary Education, Educational Administration, School Community Relationship, Community Benefits, Qualitative Research
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Postsecondary Education; Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Pennsylvania
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A