ERIC Number: EJ1068111
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Jun
Pages: 30
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1740-2743
EISSN: N/A
Seeing Strengths in a Rural School: Educators' Conceptions of Individual and Environmental Resilience Factors
McMahon, Brenda
Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, v13 n1 p238-267 Jun 2015
This qualitative study of educators' understandings of resilience contributes to ongoing rural school research that examines educators' beliefs about, and attitudes toward, rural students whom are at-risk and factors that impact rural school success. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers and administrators in one rural Florida school that was reported as failing. The respondents identified individual students who they deemed resilient as well as character traits they deemed to be factors in building resilience. The principal had the experiential knowledge of rural and urban settings as well as skills required to build communities designed to increase resilience and improve student success. However, obstacles at the district and site levels meant that although individual examples of resilience were evident in this school, they were not actualized at systemic levels. The study also raises questions about conceptions of resilience related to students' exodus from their rural communities.
Descriptors: Rural Schools, Rural Education, Teacher Attitudes, Resilience (Psychology), At Risk Students, Rural Youth, Semi Structured Interviews, Qualitative Research, School Effectiveness, Failure, Personality Traits, Academic Achievement, Success, Barriers, Educational Policy, Educational Legislation, Federal Legislation, Elementary Secondary Education, Instructional Leadership, Educational Practices, Learner Engagement, Teacher Student Relationship, Student School Relationship, Capacity Building
Institute for Education Policy Studies. University of Northampton, School of Education, Boughton Green Road, Northampton, NN2 7AL, UK. Tel: +44-1273-270943; e-mail: ieps@ieps.org.uk; Web site: http://www.jceps.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Florida
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: No Child Left Behind Act 2001
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A