Volume 26, Issue 1      Fall 2004

Table of Contents

From the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv

Rural Research Brief: Rural Schools Under Scrutiny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1 Teresa S. Jordan and K. Forbis Jordan

ABSTRACT: Historically, rural schools have been geographically and politically isolated to the extent that some might say that they have been the victims of, or beneficiaries from, an unstated government policy of benign neglect. Recently, conditions and relationships have changed with the enactment of state and federal accountability legislation and legal challenges to the constitutionality of state funding systems for schools.  Federal concerns about the quality of teachers and the progress of students are accompanied by state standards, proficiency tests for high school graduation, and school report cards.  Most of these requirements are unfunded or under-funded mandates.  However, rural schools likely will benefit from the recent shift in school finance litigation from a single emphasis on equity to a dual interest in equity and adequacy.   If education is a state responsibility, then in an era of state-mandated standards and assessments, the state has an inherent responsibility to ensure that students have access to the human and material resources required for them to meet standards and pass state proficiency examinations.

Policy Implications of the Northwest’s Phantom Pool:
Superintendent Certificate Holders Who Do Not Plan to Apply and Why  . . . . . . . . . 5
Mimi Wolverton

ABSTRACT: Responses gathered in a recent study of the superintendency in the Pacific Northwest suggest that less than 25% of sitting superintendents in the year 2000 were under the age of 50; and 40% of those who were 50 years or older planned to retire within the next four years.  While the pool of potential applicants includes over 1,000 superintendent certificate holders, fewer than 150 of respondents in the same study planned to apply for upcoming vacancies.  This article examines aspects of the position that serve as disincentives to seemingly qualified candidates and the policy ramifications of possible pool inadequacy within the given context.

Reflections of Native American Teacher Education on Bear Ridge  . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
Steven Locke  

ABSTRACT: This study examines an elementary teacher education certification program delivered by a state university to Native American teacher aides on the reservation. Data were collected over two semesters using a Freirean critical theory framework to analyze the data and to explicate the problematic nature of Native American education. Analysis of the data indicated that the program reproduced Euro-American cultural values, was insensitive to Native American history or values, and did little to support individual teachers. Suggestions include the need for the program to acknowledge and address the historical cultural genocide that occurred in the education of Native Americans and the cultural and political hegemony of the teacher education program. More focus needed to be placed on supporting individual participants and their academic and cultural struggles in becoming teachers.

The Appalachian Model Teaching Consortium:
Preparing Teachers for Rural Appalachia  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   24
Alvin C. Proffit, R. Paul Sale, Ann E. Alexander, and Ruth S. Andrews

ABSTRACT: The Appalachian Model Teacher Consortium is a partnership involving Radford University, Wytheville Community College, and the Grayson County (Virginia) School System.  Its purpose is to prepare highly qualified teachers for rural southwest Virginia.  The model was developed in response to the growing teacher shortage facing school districts in rural southwest Virginia.  Poorer, more rural districts often have weaker tax bases that provide limited, and at times inadequate, financial support for their school districts.  This lack of local resources often results in lower salaries and benefits when compared to many districts that compete for the shrinking pool of potential teachers.  Additionally, rural communities are often geographically isolated areas and have fewer amenities that attract young teachers from outside the district.  The Appalachian Model Teacher Consortium attempts to naturalize shortages by recruiting potential teachers from the local area, and providing incentives for them to stay and teach in their home community.

Rural Elementary Administrators’ Views of High-Stakes Testing   . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
Robert J. Egley and Brett D. Jones

ABSTRACT: This study examines how rural elementary school administrators perceive the effects of high-stakes testing in comparison to suburban and urban elementary administrators. High-stakes testing had a greater impact, both positively and negatively, on rural administrators than on their counterparts in suburban and urban schools. Specifically, the positive effects were that rural administrators were more motivated by the testing program to do a better job, found the test results more useful in assessing teachers, and found the test results more useful in meeting the academic needs of students. The negative effects were that rural administrators felt more pressure than urban administrators to improve test scores and found their school rating to more negatively affect their ability to attract high quality teachers than administrators in suburban schools.

Recruiting and Interviewing in Rural School Districts:  Protocol or Potluck . . . . . . 40
Joe Nichols

ABSTRACT: Through administrator and teacher surveys and interviews, this study examined recruiting and interviewing practices of eighty-three rural school districts located in, and between, the rural Ozark Plateau and Mississippi River Delta. Survey results indicated that districts with smaller student populations were far less likely to have an identified protocol in place to recruit and interview teachers.  In addition, the study found that critical issues such as student achievement and qualifications of teachers were not addressed during the recruiting or interviewing phases of the employment process.  Finally, this research brought to light questionable interviewing practices leading the author to make recommendations for rural schools’ implementation of measurable interviewing protocol.

Edward W. Chance Dissertation Award for Doctoral Research in Rural Education Upon Entering College:  First Semester Experiences
of First-generation Rural Students from Agricultural Families  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  48 Patrick F. Schutz

subscriptions