The purpose of this article is to describe the relationship between district size, socioeconomic status, actual levy percentages, and their predictive influence on the 2003 Washington Assessment of Student Learning results for 4th and 7th grade students in Reading and Mathematics. The convenient sample was 82 Washington State 2nd-Class school…

As the accountability movement has gained momentum, policy makers and educators have strived to strike a difficult balance between the sometimes competing demands at the local, state, and federal levels. Efforts to improve accountability and teacher evaluation have taken an especially unique route in Iowa, where local control and resistance to…

The increased pressure for gains in academic performance in mathematics and science are not going to dissipate, and rural schools must find a way to meet these challenges. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the Carl D. Perkins Federal Vocational and Technical Education Act legislations have also put pressure on career and technical education…

The number of English language learners (ELL) students in the US is increasing dramatically. The growth is even more evident in rural areas of the United States such as North Carolina where teachers are facing classrooms with a majority of second language learners. The authors conducted a study interviewing 24 teachers at a rural elementary school…

This article explores the perspective of parents regarding their elementary children's writing in one rural, elementary school. During the research, thematic strands emerged indicating that parents may value their children's writing for purposes that differ from the purposes deemed appropriate by the school. Upon interviewing 30 parents/guardians,…

This paper extracts and elaborates rural secondary teachers' most effective reported motivating strategies. From the data generated by two years of mixed method research in rural secondary schools, these strategies emerged as among the most successful. Selection of best practices was based on a synthesis of what both teachers and students reported…

A rural superintendent used action research principles in conducting a series of focus groups with community members, students, and staff. The focus group data informed strategic planning. At the end of a carefully designed process, district administrators found more agreement among residents than they had expected. Community members were grateful…

Schools are an important resource in combating the physical inactivity and obesity epidemics in rural economically depressed areas. Through a University-community partnership, teachers and adolescents in a rural West Virginia county with one of the highest obesity rates in the state developed a school-based research intervention to increase…

In this study, 206 teachers, 35 school board presidents, and 37 superintendents/principals (n = 278) were surveyed regarding their views of effective leadership behaviors demonstrated by school leaders with dual role responsibilities through serving as both a school principal and as a superintendent in small rural school districts. Data were…

In rural Oklahoma, the role of the superintendent is often vastly different than that of superintendents in large cities. The superintendent is the leader of the school district, which is typically the community's largest employer. There are a few examples of superintendents who embrace this sometimes overwhelming responsibility and who are often…

This article focuses on the challenge of teacher retention in rural schools in relation to the No Child Left Behind mandate, that school districts must attract and retain highly qualified teachers. This case study examines the extent to which a rural school enhanced teacher retention by overcoming the barriers that might otherwise have presented a…

Research in science education has evolved rapidly over the past ten to twelve years due to the growth of two components of most published research. Though it might be argued that they are not really new, these two components are today necessarily explicit whereas they were more implicit in the past. As research has become increasingly qualitative…

The Rural Education Bureau of the New Mexico Public Education Department has established a program to address the special needs of schools and communities in the extensive rural areas of the state. High poverty rates, depopulation and a general lack of viable economic opportunity have marked rural New Mexico for decades. The program underway aims…

One process for retaining experienced, qualified teachers is to provide them with opportunities to grow professionally (Blase & Blase, 2001). The intent of this paper is to provide information about meeting the needs of experienced, qualified rural teachers, especially in the area of professional development. A story line of one rural science…

Between the 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census several Southeastern states, largely void of a permanent Latino population prior to 1990, witnessed significantly large increases in the number of Latina/o residents, particularly in rural communities. This study was designed to ascertain the impressions of non-Latina/o teachers and school counselors working…