Theory & Practice in Rural Education

Call for Manuscripts

Jenn Williams — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

TPRE Editorial Board for Volume 14, Issue 1

Arleth Medal — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Rural Online Learning During COVID 19

Todd Sundeen, Lena Kisner — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

There are few times in the history of education that yield circumstances so unique that the impacts have the potential to resonate for years, if not decades. The fall of the 2020 school year was just such an historical moment. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many brick and mortar school buildings were closed forcing schools and families to reexamine traditional school instruction. This article will describe the quantitative results of an online survey completed during the critical timeframe of fall 2020. Rural educational leaders who participated in the survey provided insights on access to teaching and learning technologies that affected students with and without disabilities. Impacts of the digital divide on rural schools are examined, including broadband access and reliability. The article will also provide an update on relevant changes to the digital divide that have taken place since the deployment of the survey.

The Influence of COVID-19 in Pennsylvania Rural Schools' Due Process Hearing Decisions

David Rush — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, rural Pennsylvania Local Education Agencies (LEAs) were found to have failed to properly offer special education services in alignment with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ranks among the most litigated states in disputes over the proper facilitation of services as mandated by IDEA. Despite this high volume of litigation, there was no analysis of how being defined as a rural LEA influenced due process hearing officer decisions after the COVID-19 Pandemic. The current study addresses this research gap by reviewing special education due process hearing activity for rural LEAs and comparing activity for the two years before and after the COVID-19 pandemic-mandated office closures. Findings offer guidance on problematic practices by analyzing the relationship between the pandemic and hearing officer ruling outcome, activity frequency before and after the pandemic, and remedies owed by rural LEAs from post-COVID decisions.

Hope mediates the relationship between childhood adversity and academic resilience among Appalachian young adults.

Dr. Dan Gottron, Dr. Peter Williams, Dr. Mei Jiang — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on health and academic outcomes is well-supported in the research since Felitti, et al.’s (1998) research. Less is known about the interactions of positive supports that promote academic resilience (AR) among rural young adults who have experienced ACEs. This cross-sectional, moderated mediation study explored the factors that predict AR among young adults in rural Appalachia. We established the negative relationship between ACEs and AR, and we tested the degree to which hope and perceived social support (PSS) interact to influence that relationship. The study revealed the mediating role of hope but did not support the proposed role of PSS in moderating the relationship between ACEs and hope. We discuss this finding in the context of other research and provide recommendations for K12 educational leaders and for future research.

Examining the Influence and Implications of Peer Relationships on the Academic Motivation and College and Career Readiness of Rural Adolescents

Peter Knox — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

School experience factors, including peer relationships, internalized behavior, and externalized behavior, have been found to influence adolescent academic motivation and postsecondary readiness. Yet, the path these critical elements take to shape postsecondary motivation and readiness remains unclear, particularly among under-researched rural contexts and populations. Thus, this study aimed to (a) examine the impact of positive rural peer relationships on academic motivation and college/career readiness, (b) examine the impact of positive rural peer relationships on internalized and externalized behavior in educational contexts, and (c) learn how both internalized and externalized behaviors might mediate the association between positive peer relationships and educational attainment factors. Two thousand sixteen survey responses from 8,541 rural adolescents (12-18 years old) from the Midwest United States were utilized to conduct a cross-sectional mediating path analysis investigating the associations between peer relationships, internalized behavior, externalized behavior, and academic motivation and college/career readiness. Results indicated that positive peer relationships are significantly associated with adolescent academic motivation and college/career readiness. A significant association between positive peer relationships, academic motivation, and college/career readiness mediated by adolescent externalized behavior and a significant association between positive peer relationships and academic motivation mediated by internalized behavior were also identified. This study advances the understanding rural peer relationships' influence on adolescent behavior and subsequent perceptions of postsecondary readiness. Implications for school practices focused on climate and culture that foster prosocial rural adolescent relationships supporting educational attainment are discussed.

Rurality and Resources: Influence of High School and Individual Characteristics on Postsecondary Participation

Frimpomaa Ampaw, Sarah Williams, Skylar Duke, Anne M. Hornak — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This study explores a cohort of rural high school student's participation in postsecondary education within three years of graduation. We use the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) 's High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS2009) and logistic regression to answer our research questions. We found that many rural students plan to attend college and even apply to college; however, this did not mean that students would attend college. Also, counselors spending 20-50 percent of their time on college support positively affected students' college enrollment.

A Mixed Methods Exploration of Students' Experiences of Taking Part in a Tuition Assistance Program in Rural Alberta, Canada

Alexa Ferdinands, Matt Ormandy, Maria Mayan — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This paper reports on the experiences of rural students taking part in the Zero Fee Tuition program—a postsecondary tuition assistance program providing up to $5,000 in tuition subsidies for students residing in Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada. Zero Fee Tuition was introduced by the Town of Drayton Valley in 2019 as a rural development initiative focused on attracting and retaining postsecondary education students. Here, we present a qualitatively-oriented mixed methods study of interview, focus group, and survey data collected with 24 Zero Fee Tuition students in 2021-2022 as part of a broader community-based participatory research project. In this paper, we explore two overarching themes: (a) facing opportunities and challenges throughout zero-fee tuition education, and (b) shifting the culture of education and training in Drayton Valley. Our results suggest that students' experiences were heavily shaped by the gendered care work they undertake in addition to, and as part of, their paid work and studies. Further, the Zero Fee Tuition program provided many students the first opportunity to attend a postsecondary education program. In this way, our findings suggest that Zero Fee Tuition is working towards its goal of expanding educational opportunities for residents of Drayton Valley. We discuss our findings within a rural oil-based town shaped by a boom-bust economy. Despite the positive contributions of the Zero Fee Tuition program, our analysis demonstrates the persistence of social structural conditions that impact the challenges faced by participants in this study.

Forming networks between rural schools and their local areas: shared projects and their impact in the Asturian context

Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Rural schools play an important role in their local areas, helping stimulate the community and promoting activities with economic, social, and cultural impact on the area. This study aimed to identify the projects undertaken by 44 rural schools in Asturias (Spain) in collaboration with local agents and organizations by consulting the school management teams. It also sought their opinions about the impact of these projects. The study used a mixed methodology: quantitative, analyzing the data collected from a semi-open questionnaire, and qualitative, listing and describing the projects. The questionnaire included questions about the organizations the schools collaborated with, the goals and subjects of the shared projects, and funding sources, and it asked for their opinions about their impact. The results indicate that rural schools in Asturias have undertaken projects covering various subjects in collaboration with local authorities, cultural centers, libraries, public health centers, small businesses, and On-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The respondents were very satisfied with the activities. They viewed their schools as a stimulus for their areas, stating that the projects encouraged a sense of belonging to the area and helped construct a collective identity. They also felt that they responded to shared needs, offered services to the community, allowed people to settle or remain in the area, and, to a lesser extent, helped local businesses and the local economy. Finally, the study concludes that these schools play an active role in their local areas, and highlights the importance of external support to implement initiatives that benefit the rural population.

Novice Teacher Recruitment and Retention in a Midwestern State: An Exploration of Contextual Factors

Nicole D. Schutter, Dr. Erin Lehmann — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Teacher recruitment and retention consistently emerged as problematic in research and practice. This was particularly true in difficult-to-staff areas, such as rural school districts in the United States. As the teacher pipeline continued to decrease and various challenges plagued the field, this problem quickly became a crisis. The present study aimed to lift novice teachers' voices in rural and remote rural areas of a Midwestern State better to understand individuals' experiences in a rural setting and contribute to the current knowledge base of rural teacher recruitment and retention. Eleven participants in this qualitative phenomenological study aimed to uncover the specific contextual factors that influenced their experiences as novice teachers in a rural Midwestern State. Interviews revealed the need for direct support from administrators and colleagues to create a sense of belonging, which was imperative to positive novice teacher experiences. The need for appropriate preparedness within their preservice experiences and coursework, as well as solid induction and mentoring programs once hired, surfaced during the interviews. Rural-specific field experiences paired with comprehensive induction and mentoring programs focused on specific feedback prepare preservice teachers and novice teachers for successful rural teaching and living. Intentional recruitment efforts, including grow-your-own programs for future teachers and partnerships between rural school districts and teacher preparation programs, boosted the pipeline of novice teachers for rural areas.

Introduction

Sheresa Blanchard , Arleth Medal ; Jenn Williams — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000