Local Schools of Thought: A Search for Purpose in Rural Education (original) (raw)
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Toward a Rural Philosophy of Education
2022
This essay calls for the development of a rural philosophy of education and outlines considerations toward that end. Questioning the applicability of current school reform initiatives to rural education, the essay draws on the work of rural philosopher Wendell Berry, educational historian Paul Theobald, and other rural scholars to outline considerations for the development of such an education philosophy. Education policy issues, rural history, and current economic, political, and cultural challenges are presented. Differences, strengths, and needs of rural education are highlighted as considerations that must be addressed in the formation of a philosophy of rural education.
Navigating the Rural Terrain: Educators' Visions to Promote Change
Rural Educator, 2013
Advocates of rural education emphasize the need to examine supports which may promote rural educators given the challenging contexts of which they face. Teacher visioning has been conceptualized as a navigational tool to help sustain and promote teachers given high-challenging contexts. The current study explored 10 public school teachers from rural areas in the Pacific Northwest, and their visions and challenges to practicing their visions in their respective school environments. Findings suggest that visions were described in three domains: visions of students, visions of self as teacher, and visions of school. Teachers expressed visions of self as 'change agents,' and often expressed a sense of responsibility and vulnerability as they worked to weave knowledge of effective pedagogy, teacher leadership principles, and self-reflection to implement change in their individual schools.
Rural Schools and Modern Visions
Across the Ridge, 1994
In 1991 West Virginia's governor announced a 10-year statewide plan that would close 245 schools, primarily in poor, small, and rural communities, and replace them with larger, more "efficient," more urban facilities. The controversy surrounding West Virginia school closings stems from the clash of two sets of beliefs and values. The people in power-legislators, bureaucrats, and school administrators-have visions of the future and of educational progress based on positive views of modernity and urbanization, while their conception of the rural present is based on stereotypes. These beliefs have the ultimate effect of eliminating small schools and the sparsely populated places they serve and sustain. Traditional Appalachian culture is ccenerally stereotyped as passive, fatalistic, and tuo satisfied with the present. In contrast to these and other, more denigrating, media stereotypes, the rural Appalachian lifestyle encompasses such traditional American values as thrift, productive labor, community, family values, and self-reliance, and also allows time for just living, a quality of experience often lost in more efficient "modern" lifestyles. Educators believe that they should raise students' level of expectations from the present-oriented rural way of thinking and prepare students to leave home in search of a future somewhere else. A more innovative approach to rural education, emphasizing self-study and local analysis, would surely produce some students who would stay and develop an economically viable rural home in the 21st century. Such an approach, pursued in small schools and rural communities, could fulfill the brave promises of educators and politicians and allow rural people to control their destiny. (SV)
The Coalition of Essential Schools and Rural Educational Reform
The Rural Educator, 2018
has existed for thirty years and includes hundreds of public schools that are diverse in size, population, and programmatic emphasis. A qualitative grounded theory approach is utilized to describe how three rural (non-urban/suburban) high schools operationalize CES Common Principles. This research documents that the CES reform network may be both a viable and underutilized reform model for rural school districts to assist them in achieving educational excellence. Empirical data came from school site visits, interviews and school documents. Grounded theory identifies four working hypothesis that explain how these schools, as CES members, aim to be true to the Coalition's principles. The working hypotheses are: (1) Educational justice, democracy, and citizenship, (2) The educational value of interpersonal relationships between teachers and students, (3) Pedagogical and curricular organization to enhance student engagement and learning, and (4) Pathways to adulthood via the world.
1997
There is an evolving paradigm shift in the field of rural education away from emulating urban schools and toward a pedagogy of place. This shift is influenced by the following trends: 1) the rediscovery of the unique features of rural and small schools as strengths to be nurtured, not problems to be solved; 2) the recognition that centralized, large-scale organizational models resulting from a century of global industrial expansion and resource extraction have been inappropriate for rural contexts, and the environmental sensitivity and new appreciation for rural places that has grown in response to these often destructive models; 3) the acknowledgment of the role of teachers as gatekeepers of change within classrooms, the centrality of rural schools within their communities, and the many distinctive features of revitalized rural schools as essential elements of educational reform; 4) the redesign of teacher education to prepare teachers for restructured rural schools; 5) the connection of the classroom with the community through service learning and environmental education programs based on study and stewardship of local ecosystems; 6) the use of new information technologies for developing teacher networks that combat rural teacher isolation; 7) increased efforts to raise levels of sensitivity and tolerance among rural students toward racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity; 8) the use of rural films and literature as source materials for a rural curriculum; and 9) rural teachers as producers of curricula that are appropriate to their needs and contexts. (TD)
Rural Schools: Small Schools, Teacher Preparation, Place-Based Education
2001
This theme issue of Basic Education contains five articles on rural schools. "Small Schools: A Political Irony" (Marty Strange) notes the current enthusiasm among education reformers for small schools and the evidence of their effectiveness. Given this context, the question is posed as to why rural communities where small schools are commonplace have to fight against their consolidation or closing. "Preparing Teachers for Our Nation's Rural Schools" (Paul Theobald) makes the case that rural universities should specialize in rural teacher preparation, since preparing lessons anchored in community circumstances and dilemmas is sophisticated pedagogical work. "The Appalachian Model Teacher Consortium" (Alvin C. Proffit, Paul Sale, Ann E. Alexander, Ruth S. Andrews) describes a Virginia teacher education program that offers credits for certain Grayson County high school courses that are applicable to Wytheville Community College or Radford University. Upon completion of the 3-year program, students are eligible for employment with Grayson County schools. "Accountability and Sustainability: The Dual Challenge of Education in Rural Places" (Doris Terry Williams) discusses place-based education, a curriculum that aims to exceed mandated academic standards while engaging schools and students in community development and meaningful work. Examples are offered from South Dakota and Louisiana. "A New Federal Education Program" (Kari M. Arfstrom) examines a recently reauthorized federal program that will channel federal funds to districts in rural communities with fewer than 600 students and will offer a competitive grant program to low-income rural school districts. (TD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Journal of Research in Rural Education, 2010, 25(2)
2015
edu/articles/25-2.pdf This study is an investigation of how school consolidation between 2003 and 2006 affected the lived experience of students and educators in four Arkansas high schools. We present findings from twenty-three interviews with students, teachers, and school administrators who moved to a new high school because of consolidation, as well as those who were already in the receiving schools. While educators ’ and students ’ lived experiences were diverse and sometimes contradictory, two themes emerged in the interviews. Because of the study design, these findings cannot be generalized to all consolidation contexts, but they were common across the four consolidations studied. First, students adapted better than teachers to the social disruption created by consolidation; teachers struggled with new relationships, both with other teachers and students. Facing the same social disruption, students described more successful transitions. Educators and students alike explained t...
2018
In the preface to this collection of essays, the editors draw our attention to how valuable the smallest intervention can be to making a large impact on a child's life. They also discuss the impact of large investments in education and the impact of collaboration between universities, schools and communities. What makes this collection of essays different from others is the awareness throughout of the term urbanormativity, 1 when urban life and issues are seen in literature as normal, while what is rural is ignored or denigrated. In Part I, Targeting Instructional Leadership, two essays review the benefits of rural school districts collaborating on projects that build on the educational assets and work to meet their unique needs.
Thinking About Teaching: A rural social studies teacher's path to strive for excellence
Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning
Thinking About Teaching: A rural social studies teacher's path to strive for excellence by Casey Jakubowski (2020) offers insights about the macros and micros of teaching. The book is geared toward educators and teacher candidates who seek to know more about the teaching profession. The book comprises four parts, including: 1) an introduction of practice which details twenty brief chapters of hot education topics, 2) curriculum and instruction, 3) rural education, and 4) a conclusion that pinpoints recommendations about teaching based on his experience that spans twenty years in the education field. Throughout the book Jakubowski expresses his professional journey by detailing his trials and tribulations as an educator. In addition, Jakubowski prioritizes rural education based on his own research (Jakubowski, 2019) and his professional practice as a social studies teacher, district administrator, state education department associate, and currently a teacher educator. Jakubowski ...