Theory & Practice in Rural Education

Call for Manuscripts to Theory & Practice in Rural Education

Arleth Medal — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Call for Special Issue on Educator Residencies in Rural Spaces

Kristen Cuthrell, Jennifer Williams — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This is the call for manuscripts for the special issue of Theory & Practice in Rural Education to be published in fall 2024. In this special issue of TPRE, we aim to highlight research, teaching, and professional practices that promote educator residencies in rural settings. We are particularly interested in manuscripts that explore the development and study of rural residencies built upon an asset-based window into the lived reality of people in rural places by privileging their knowledge, focusing on their empowerment, and disavowing deficit-oriented narratives of rurality.

Introduction to Special Issue: Transformative Trauma-Informed Practices in Rural Schools

Loni Crumb, Jennifer Matthews, Taryne M. Mingo, Julia Lynch — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

TPRE Editorial Board for Volume 13, Issue 2

Jenn Williams — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

“They didn’t ask us!” School Counselor Perception of Involvement in Superintendent Decision Making During Crisis Schooling

Maria Frankland, Catharine Biddle — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Mental health and social-emotional development are fundamental to positive developmental outcomes. Students faced with the collective trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting rapid closure of school buildings in the spring of 2020 encountered unprecedented challenges to their physical and mental health. Structural barriers, coupled with a disproportionate shortfall of mental health professionals in rural settings, meant that rural students were at heightened risk of suffering negative psychological consequences. School districts emerged as a high-leverage source of institutional support, providing a variety of services to sustain the well-being of students and families. Superintendents were charged with reimagining the role of their schools in providing for these needs. This study used crisis decision theory as a framework to understand superintendent decision-making around mental health and social-emotional learning (SEL). Given their high degree of expertise around students’ mental health and social-emotional needs, school counselors might have been expected to serve as expert resources for superintendents during crisis decision-making around psychological needs. This statewide quantitative study sought to understand the role Maine school counselors played in the district-level response to crisis schooling as it pertained to students’ mental health and social-emotional development across geospatial contexts. Our data shows that school counselors’ perception of their involvement in superintendent decision-making was lowest where it was needed most: in rural school districts. This points toward inequitable opportunities for rural students to obtain the mental health and SEL support they needed during crisis schooling, threatening their future well-being and positive psychological development.

Understanding the Experiences of Rural School Counselors Implementing Trauma-Informed Practices

Tameka O Grimes, Jennifer Kirsch, Shannon K Roosma, Amanda Walters — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

School counselors are trained to address a wide range of student needs, including academic progress, college and career readiness, and social emotional wellness. Recent public health issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid crisis, and racial violence have created an increased need for and focus on the social emotional work of school counselors. Trauma-informed practices (TIP) have become key strategies for school counselors interested in addressing student trauma within a school context. Per the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), school counselors are ethically responsible for utilizing evidence-based methods to address the holistic needs of students, especially when implementing trauma-informed care. Previous research indicates that rural schools, and by extension the school counselors within, generally feel unprepared and under-resourced to address crises or trauma. However, little is known about the implementation of TIP within rural school settings or by rural school counselors. Given that approximately one-fifth of the United States’ child population occupies rural schools, and rural communities have been found to experience more intense, frequent and specialized forms of trauma, it is critical to understand the experiences of rural school counselors addressing trauma within their schools. Therefore, this phenomenological investigation focused on exploring the lived experience of implementing TIP for eight rural school counselors across the United States. Three themes emerged: emotional experience of implementing TIP, support for implementing TIP, and practical logistics for implementing TIP. Considerations for enhancing the supports and addressing the challenges of TIP implementation for rural school counselors are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.

Trauma and Rural Schooling

Travis Lewis, Lawrence Hodgkins, Kelly Wynne Lettieri — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In order to develop a better understanding of the perceptions of educators regarding which forms of childhood trauma most severely impact learning outcomes for their students, this study employed Q-methodology with 351 teachers, school counselors, and school administrators from across North Carolina and Missouri. A four-factor solution emerged, centered around: (1) various forms of abuse from an adult (2) violent and unstable relationships at home (3) negative community and societal factors (4) physical and mental illness. Patterns in perceptions emerged across the school community setting (urban, suburban, rural) of the participants. While educators in rural settings were more likely to perceive abuse and violence in the home as most harmful to students’ academic outcomes, educators in suburban settings felt systemic community and societal traumas as well as physical and mental illness were more detrimental. The findings of this study provide researchers, educator preparation programs, and school leaders with insight into the misconceptions that may persist among subsets of PK-12 educators regarding traumatized children and potential areas of need for further professional training.

Trauma-Informed Research-Practice Partnership Building to Support Early Childhood Educators in an Appalachian Community

Lori Caudle, Cathy Grist, Hannah Thompson — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Trauma-informed initiatives that prioritize educator well-being through equitable research-practice partnership (RPP) building are necessary to advance trauma-informed education and care for young children in rural Appalachian communities. Early stages of partnership building that consider dimensions identified by Henrick et al. (2017) foster trusting relationships, address the goals of partnering organizations, and work toward capacity building. Burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue are common problems faced by early childhood professionals who may be exposed to high levels of stress and trauma in their work with young children. Thus, any initiatives with early childhood educators should include short- and long-term strategies to address the status of the workforce. Recognizing how trauma and social determinants of health impact the rural early childhood workforce and their ability to implement trauma-informed practices in the classroom is a first step toward holistic professional development. The purpose of this article is to highlight how the early stages of a partnership study with a rural Appalachian pre-kindergarten (pre-K) program and two universities provided a foundation for future research, practice, and partnership activities. Often, trauma-informed professional learning relies on classroom strategies and swift problem-solving techniques that do not consider the primary and secondary trauma faced by early childhood educators and how these traumas directly impact educators’ ability to improve classroom practices.

Trauma-Informed Strategies for Rural Schools

Hope Schuermann — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Mental health providers, particularly for specialties such as trauma care, are often scarce in rural areas. While mental health resources are few, trauma and other mental struggles are common in rural areas, perhaps more so than in urban spaces. As part of a trauma-informed stance, schools can be a touchstone for adults suffering from trauma while working in the school system and with limited outside resources. This manuscript will discuss the implications of various types of trauma in adults working in rural schools and offer concrete strategies to address education, treatment, and prevention through the goals of trauma-informed institutions, that is, promoting healing of trauma and avoiding re-traumatization when interacting within the institution and the principles of trauma-informed treatment: safety, connection, empowerment, and cultural responsiveness (SAMHSA, 2014).

Trauma-Competent Approaches for Supporting Rural Students of Color

Sarah Henry, Debra Jones, DeQuindre C. Hughes , Ang'elita Dawkins — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Rurality is a context, often overlooked by research and society, where trauma exposure is a prevalent feature in many young people’s lives. Rural Students of Color experience trauma at higher rates compared to rural White students. In turn, school systems must respond with trauma-competent systems of support to build protective factors for students. The purpose of this article is to discuss the history and modern trauma-informed practices and ways to begin shifting our mindset and language to better support rural Students of Color by understanding the historical and present contexts and trauma that influence their experiences. Furthermore, this article will highlight the needs of Students of Color in rural spaces as well as applications for trauma-competency within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) model. Strategies for building connectedness and implementing anti-racist social-emotional learning will be identified. Additionally, implications for rural school leaders, school counselors, and school-based mental health professionals, and further research will be discussed.