Reviews of research in rural schools and their communities: Analytical perspectives and a new agenda

This chapter responds to the research questions posed in the introductory chapter on the status and nature of educational research on rural schools and their community relationships. Drawing on the national reviews, we discuss the quality of the research focusing on its themes and questions, theoretical perspectives, and research design and methodology. The conclusions indicate substantial hiatuses, and call for greater use of the local voice, the life-world perspective, longitudinal and comparative studies, and multiple purposively sampled case studies. Internationally, while first-hand sources on the cultural contributions of rural schools exist, these must be accessed before documentary studies of central policies over-write such history. Finally, a new research agenda is formulated.     

Respect and responsibility: Review of research on small rural schools in England

This paper reviews 25 years of research on small rural schools in England, in a period of unprecedented educational reform, and shift in government policy on small schools from persistent threat of closure through a period of a centrally funded ‘presumption against closure’ in the early 2000s. It notes a dearth of funded or peer-reviewed research since that time, but reports new research on the status of teachers in small rural schools who feel greater responsibility towards, and sense greater respect from people inside and outside schools than do their large urban school counterparts. A call for theory-led, well-designed, comparative and large-scale studies, the application of the new definition of rurality, and research which seeks pupil and community voices is expressed.     

Rural Communities Lacking Multi-Sector Schooling Options: Indiana’s School Choice Deserts

ABSTRACT

Despite Indiana’s school choice landscape – including private school vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, inter-district and intra-district enrollment, magnet schools, and charter schools – not all Indiana communities have reasonable access to options outside of their traditional public schools. This research explores what lack-of-reasonable access differences – defined as greater than a 30-minute one-way drive time to a choice school – exist by locale, with a focus on rural communities. Geospatial analysis is used to identify “school choice deserts” lacking multi-sector schooling options in various communities. These deserts tend to exist wholly or mostly in rural areas, although Indiana students in grades K–8 exhibit greater access levels to non-traditional schools than those in high school.     

A “can-do” Attitude for Students with Disabilities: Special Education in Rural Charter Schools

ABSTRACT

Charter schools are often the only alternative to traditional public schools for students with disabilities in rural communities. Part of a larger study, we employed a qualitative multiple case study design to examine special education practices in five rural charter schools to understand the services provided, barriers to providing these services, and any novel practices used to provide these services. Data analysis revealed the following themes: (a) intentional school models facilitated individualized approaches, (b) schools responded to tight labor supply by prioritizing retention and making efficient use of staff time, and (c) schools demonstrate flexibility and willingness to problem solve.     

Fertile Soil? How Information does (and does not) Shape Attitudes toward School Choice in Rural America

ABSTRACT

The role of political factors, specifically of public opinion, in the relatively low penetration of charter schools into rural America remains unclear. We use 8 years of national survey data to demonstrate that rural residents express less support for charter schools than residents of other locales do. We attribute this gap to differences in familiarity with charter schools across these locales rather than to differences in satisfaction with local schools or to differences in demographics, party affiliation, or political ideology. However, using a survey experiment and an oversample of districts with charter schools, we show that increased exposure to these schools or information about them does not boost support in rural communities. Lastly, we demonstrate a similar urban-rural gap in support for private school choice policies such as vouchers and tax credits for private school scholarships.     

从“在乡村从教”到“为乡村而教”：我国乡村教师身份认同研究的进展及走向

乡村教师作为乡村教育与乡村振兴的主力军,其身份认同直接影响乡村师资队伍建设水平和乡村教育质量提升。近年来,乡村教师身份认同的研究热度持续上升,成果数量逐年增加。已有研究成果以"在乡村从教"为导向,探寻了乡村教师身份认同的研究缘起,剖析了乡村教师身份认同的内涵意蕴,明确了乡村教师身份认同的影响因素,梳理了乡村教师身份认同的危机表征,构建了乡村教师身份认同的实践策略。新时代乡村振兴战略和新型城镇化建设要求乡村教师身份认同研究树立"为乡村而教"的价值导向,澄清乡村教师身份认同的教育内涵,把握影响乡村教师身份认同的核心要素,"以中国为方法"统整乡村教师身份认同的多元研究视角,构建乡村教师身份认同的体系化策略。     

把农村学校建成农村社区的中心

建设社会主义新农村的重大历史任务对农村教育的发展提出了新的更高的要求,如何发挥农村教育在建设社会主义新农村中的基础性、先导性、全局性的作用,如何把社会主义新农村建设与农村学校的建设统筹起来,通过农村学校的建设与发展推动社会主义新农村的建设与发展,思考这样一个重大现实问题,应把农村学校规划建设成农村社区的中心是社会主义新农村的一个突破口、切入点和关键。     

A mixed-methods analysis of achievement disparities in Guatemalan primary schools

Although most Guatemalan rural students currently have access to primary school, there are large differences in the levels of learning that take place among different populations and in different contexts. This paper uses multiple data and methods to examine the interrelated factors underlying achievement disparities in Guatemalan primary schools. The research suggests that strong levels of disadvantage connected to attending schools in poor rural communities are connected to systematic differences in the way school quality is supported in different contexts. There are inadequate resources, capacity, and authority to monitor and enforce fundamental educational issues, especially in marginal communities.     

Validating the Research-Based Early Math Assessment (REMA) among rural children in Southwest United States

Children attending rural schools start kindergarten with lower mathematics achievement than their peers in urban schools and the gap increases during the later academic years. A valid theory and research-based measure is needed to identify the weakness of kindergarteners attending rural schools, so early interventions in mathematics can be designed. The purposes of this study are to: (1) validate a Research-Based Early Math Assessment (REMA) among 249 first-time kindergarteners attending rural schools using the Rasch model (Rasch, 1980); and (2) use the Rasch estimated ability scores to investigate differences in rural kindergarteners’ performance on the REMA across several subgroups (gender, ethnicity, poverty, guardian’s education, preschool attendance, and age). Findings showed that the REMA items fit within the mathematics competence of kindergarteners attending rural schools. Further, findings indicated that ethnicity, poverty, guardian’s education, preschool attendance, and age are factors affecting rural kindergarteners’ ability to perform on the REMA.     

应理性看待乡村振兴背景下的乡村学校撤并

当前一些省份开启了新一轮的义务教育学校布局调整,不少学者对此持批评态度。那么乡村振兴背景下,能否进行乡村学校撤并?对此,有必要从理论上厘清乡村振兴与乡村学校撤并的关系,为教育实践解脱思想束缚。文章回顾了二十年来乡村学校撤并的历程和学术界的态度,从而提出,乡村振兴不是一刀切,乡村振兴与乡村学校撤并并不矛盾,必要的乡村学校撤并正是乡村振兴的题中应有之义;应客观认识乡村教育与乡村振兴的关系,既不能夸大乡村教育对乡村振兴的作用,也不能夸大乡村教育对乡村文化传承的作用;推动部分乡村学校撤并是顺应城镇化发展的正当之举,应树立城乡融合的理念,摆脱狭隘的乡村教育观,推进县域教育生态的良性发展。     

Using Charter Schools to Alleviate Racial Exclusion in Rural America: An Innovative Idea or a Trojan Horse?

ABSTRACT

Racial segregation has remained a lasting legacy of rural schools in southern states. Our article explains a case where community leaders created a diverse charter school to change its historical practice of an isolated White private school and isolated African American public schools. We scan documents and literature related to this integration strategy to surface key themes when using rural charter schools to alter patterns of school segregation. First, we explain pressing issues in rural schools. Second, we describe how segregation and inequality have evolved in the South. Third, we explain research showing how charter schools maintain patterns of school segregation, but with exceptions and nuances in certain contexts. Fourth, we consider the benefits and tensions surrounding one rural charter school that offers an integrated educational program. Benefits range from societal to individual as the school fosters an environment where students are exposed to diverse educational experiences. Tensions include shifting power and funding dynamics and the possibility of using a good example to shepherd in less effective charter models elsewhere.     

Digital inclusion in Chile: Internet in rural schools

This paper analyzes the teacher's contribution to improving digital inclusion in Chilean rural schools, using a multidimensional definition of the digital divide. Data was obtained from interviews and surveys applied to teachers and students from 145 rural schools. Results show that teachers function as gatekeepers. They do not teach students how to use ICT explicitly, but when teachers have high expectations, skills and technology access, this leads to conditions for students learning how to use ICT. Finally, the data contributes to a better understanding of the new role that teachers and schools play in rural areas in terms of social and symbolic integration.     

Multigrade teaching in Peru, Sri Lanka and Vietnam: an overview

This paper comprises reviews of multigrade teaching in three countries: Peru, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. For each country, we describe the context for multigrade teaching, the country's education system, the place of multigrade teaching within the system, problems associated with multigrade teaching and current strategies for multigrade teaching. We conclude by noting some common experiences for multigrade schools across the countries, including those of isolation and dispersion, lack of physical facilities, poor teacher backgrounds and conditions, limited classroom teaching and learning strategies and pupils' deprived backgrounds. Also common across the three countries is a national commitment to improving the situation for multigrade classrooms.     

广西农村中小学校与社区关系的调查研究

对参与“学校发展计划”项目的贫困地区的农村中小学校进行调查研究,了解这些中小学校与其所隶属的社区的互动关系,结果表明,已经实施“学校发展计划”的学校与未实施的学校对比,学校与社区的互动关系存在着较显著的差异。学校融入社区,赢得社区的支持、协作和帮助是学校获得良好发展的保证;此外,学校主动了解社区、创设让社区组织和个人了解学校的机会、向社区提供服务是学校存在的价值体现。同时提出了改善学校与社区关系的策略。     

Full service and extended schools,disadvantage, and social justice

Despite successive waves of school reform, the English education system, like many others, continues to be characterized by marked inequalities of outcome. These seem to be related to factors in students’ family, community and wider societal contexts that schools traditionally have been powerless to tackle. This paper argues, however, that schools can intervene in these contexts by offering a wider range of services and activities to children and adults under the aegis of ‘full service and extended’ approaches. The paper outlines how these approaches have evolved in England and elsewhere, and reviews the evidence for their effectiveness. It concludes that their current limited impacts could be enhanced if the work of schools were aligned with wider social strategies. Such a move, it suggests, raises questions about how school systems are governed and about what kind of society schools are expected to help build.     

“Maybe I can teach those kids.” The influence of contextual factors on student teachers’ efficacy beliefs

This study investigated student teachers’ efficacy beliefs, collective teacher efficacy beliefs, and perceived cooperating teachers’ efficacy beliefs. These student teacher beliefs were examined with the focus on context, primarily the school setting (i.e., rural, suburban, and urban), to determine whether setting played a role in the development of the student teachers’ efficacy beliefs. The research participants included 102 student teachers. All three setting groups exhibited significant increases in teachers’ sense of efficacy following student teaching. Urban student teachers exhibited significantly lower perceived collective efficacy. Perceived cooperating teachers’ efficacy was predictive of and positively related to the student teachers’ post-TSES scores.     

农村中小学心理健康教育文献综述

目前,农村中小学生的心理现状令人担忧,心理健康教育亟待全面有效开展,相关领域学者在发现问题、寻找原因后,有针对性地提出了转变观念意识、建立专门机构、增强师资力量、优化校园环境等建议。这些研究成果对解决农村中小学心理健康教育的现实问题具有重要的理论价值和现实意义。     

Growing Early Childhood Education Teachers in Rural Areas

Currently in South Africa, there are over 20 000 underqualified Grade R teachers who are enlisted into service to ensure that Grade R teaching can continue. The aim of the study reported on was to investigate the challenges and needs faced by underqualified teachers in order to promote the professional development of teachers teaching in rural areas. Phenomenology was used as the research design. By means of a qualitative research approach, purposeful sampling selected only underqualified early childhood education (ECE) teachers teaching in rural schools for more than five years or more in three provinces, as well as their school principals. The findings revealed the following needs and challenges: the need for resources; poor infrastructure; lack of parental involvement; overcrowded classrooms; the need for in-service training; needs of the rural communities; and support from an open distance learning (ODL) institution.     

我国村级小学面临的困境与对策分析

分析了现阶段我国村级小学面临的困境:在校学生逐年减少,办学规模日趋萎缩;教师素质不高;办学条件差等。提出了:调整农村小学布局;加强村级小学师资队伍建设;以政府投入为主,改善村级小学办学条件。以此提高办学效益和教学质量,使村级小学走出目前的困境。     

夏威夷教师教育的质量与种类：远程教育模式

美国目前正面临着严重的教师短缺,尤其是缺乏合格的优秀教师。这种现象遍及于幼儿园到高中。产生这种现象的原因是大批教师退休、教师工资的低廉、美国校园内的暴力和联邦政府所规定的考试及规章制度等。这种现象在夏威夷也不例外。教育的质量和公平是师资培训和招生的核心问题。这个问题对于夏威夷偏远地区的少数民族学生则显得更为重要。根据Banks(2003年)及Collnick和Chinn(2002年)所提到的多元文化理论,本文将介绍2006年的一项调查。该调查研究报告以夏威夷教育学院和夏威夷大学系统的511位师生及当地居民为对象,检视教育学院招生及指导职前教师的做法,包括其偏远地区的岛屿——夏威夷岛(Hawaiyi)、可爱岛(Kauayi)、茂依岛(Maui)、摩洛开依岛(Molokayi)及蓝尼岛(Lanayi)等。这项研究显示了在偏远地区为少数民族学生提供高质量师资教育的种种困难,同时也提出了解决这些问题的有效途径和方法,以适应二十一世纪教师及教师教育的发展。