Teachers' lives and teachers' work remain important areas of educational research today, particularly given the influence of school-based management and the significance of shared leadership in schools. Almost nowhere do the two research fields intersect more closely than in the remote school setting, where teacher turnover is high and the…

This article explores the transience and mobility of teachers working in an isolated community: a secondary school in regional Australia. Drawing on parent, student, and teacher interviews, we ask: how should we understand these teacher commitments to schooling and how does this influence parents' and students' commitments and understandings of…

Australian occupational Travelers such as circus and fairground people often enter territories normally occupied by permanent residents. This article examines the ways in which these Travelers act as "space invaders," disrupting the boundaries between urban and rural, and as pedagogical innovators, when they develop pioneering approaches to their…

Discusses the nature of tasks used to elicit the development of such systems by middle school students. Analyzes mathematical reasoning development of students across tasks and the diversity of thinking patterns identified on problem tasks. Discusses student reasoning about the relationships between and among quantities and their application in…

Explores some of the possible contributions of complexity science to discussions of the teaching of mathematics. Focuses on the use of the vocabulary of complexity in the re-description of mathematical communities and the application of principles of complexity to the teaching of mathematics. Highlights compatible and complementary discussions…

Provides readers with information regarding the current political climate in the United States that is shaping federal funding for research in mathematics education. (Author/KHR)

Presents a case study in which two 8th grade students developed knowledge for modeling a physical device called a winch. Demonstrates that students have and can use criteria for evaluating algebraic representations. Explains how students can develop modeling knowledge by coordinating criteria with knowledge for generating and using algebraic…

Reports results of a study on instructional practices that relate to student achievement in high school classrooms. Uses a standards-based curriculum called Core-Plus and identifies teachers' background characteristics, behavior, and concerns associated with growth in student achievement. Indicates the importance of professional development…

Explores the way that mathematics and secondary education mathematics majors read and reflected upon student-generated arguments purported to be proofs of a single theorem. Suggests that such undergraduates tend to focus on surface features of arguments and that their ability to determine whether arguments are proofs is very limited. Discusses…

Reports on a 2-year study about teaching and learning mathematics for social justice in an urban, Latino classroom and the role of a National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards-based curriculum. Uses qualitative, practitioner-research methodology. Indicates that the standards-based curriculum was also important in promoting…

The importance and urgency of rural education to each state was assessed using seven and nine indicators, respectively. The Mid-South Delta, central Appalachia, coastal Southeast, the north Plains, and northern New England emerged as priority rural education regions. The most important urgency indicators were teacher salaries, computer use, school…

Effects of student poverty and location on school accountability scores were examined using hierarchical linear modeling and data from 1,115 Kentucky schools in 171 districts. Positive effects of nonmetro location were found, but they did not erase the strong negative effect of poverty. Projections indicate that equitable excellence will not be…

Case study of a poor, rural Pennsylvania school district's experience with the Reading First initiative illustrates how the No Child Left Behind Act confines districts to a few federally prescribed, "scientifically proven" curricula that ignore local conditions. Sanctioned schools are negatively labeled but receive inadequate funding, setting the…

The No Child Left Behind Act reflects a decision by Congress that federal money not be squandered searching for local solutions, but that scientifically based research be utilized to ensure that every student meets academic standards. The school improvement process requires that local stakeholders cooperatively plan an improvement process, and…

Rural education scholars may be biased advocates of small schools or they may accept the values of the scientific community. An analysis of a rural Pennsylvania district's failure to receive Reading First funding did not provide enough information to determine why the proposal was rejected. The article's arguments about "privatization" lacked…