Volume 26, Issue 2      Winter 2005

Table of Contents

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

Rural Research Brief: High-Quality Teaching:
Providing for Rural Teachers’ Professional Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Aimee Howley and Craig B. Howley

ABSTRACT: This article was adapted from a Policy Brief with the same title, published by the Appalachia Educational Laboratory.  This work was sponsored wholly or in part by the Institute of Education Sciences(IES), U.S. Department of Education, under contract number ED-01-C0-0016.  Its contents do not necessarily reflect the views of IES, the Department, or any other agency of the government.

Building Capacity for Continuous
Improvement of Math and Science Education in Rural Schools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Roy E. Blanton and Hobart L. Harmon

ABSTRACT: Schools in 47 high-poverty school districts located mostly along the Atlantic Coast of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia may have a head start on new requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, thanks to a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Begun in April 2000, the five-year Coastal Rural Systemic Initiative (CRSI) is striving to stimulate sustainable systemic improvements in science and mathematics education in school districts with a long history of low student expectations, persistent poverty, low teacher pay, and high administrator turnover.  The CRSI capacity-building model is designed to address issues in rural school districts that traditionally limit the capacity for creating sustainable improvements in math and science programs. A critical action step is that each school district must sign a cooperative agreement to establish Continuous Improvement Teams (CITs) at the district and school levels. These CITs represent a fundamental system capacity-building change in how decisions are made at the school and district levels—a change that is also fundamental to creating lasting improvements in math and science education programs.

Improved Professional Development Through Teacher Leadership . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
Wesley D. Hickey and Sandra Harris

ABSTRACT: Research suggests the need to provide leadership opportunities for teachers within school settings in order to increase professional collaboration and community.  This research explored one rural district’s professional development model, which was evaluated to determine its potential in developing teacher leaders.  This district’s professional development model utilized their exemplary teachers to develop other teachers through formal presentations that were traditionally taught by non-district experts.  This study utilized a practitioner research methodology to determine effectiveness of using teachers as leaders.   Data were collected to determine the impact on the teacher leaders and the effectiveness of the presentations as perceived by the overall teaching faculty.  The results suggest an overall positive experience for teachers, as well as an increase in collaboration.  In addition, teacher presenters believed their participation in staff development increased faculty effectiveness and increased the perception of the teacher presenters as leaders within the district.

Lesson study: A Professional Development Model for Mathematics Reform . . . . . 17 Ann R. Taylor

ABSTRACT: In this action research report 4 teachers and 1 teacher educator use the Japanese lesson study model of professional development for 15 months in rural Carlinville, Illinois. In March 2001, 4 teachers identified a goal to improve their students’ understanding of two step word problems in 2^nd grade elementary mathematics.  Teachers completed three cycles of researching, planning, teaching, evaluating and reflecting. They were motivated, empowered, and found lesson study effective professional development in their rural setting. It focused on the classroom lesson; provided an effective lesson plan and hours of focused professional development; supported attempts to put into practice best professional knowledge of reform mathematics; and developed a professional community among them.

Rural Teachers in Project Launch   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23
Mary M. Harris, Linda Holdman, Robin Clark, and T. Robert Harris

ABSTRACT: The success of Project Launch, a teacher induction program sponsored by a regional teacher center and a consortium of universities, is compared for rural and non-rural participants. Indicators of success include teacher accomplishment of action plan goals, teacher self and mentor assessment of teaching strengths related to action plan goals, profiles of teaching strengths, and retention in teaching. Measures of teaching strength are related to INTASC standards. Rural participants differed significantly from non-rural participants in their lower self-perceived accomplishment of action plan goals. Rural participants were significantly more likely to move from their 1st positions after 1 year, but their attrition was not significantly different in later years. Ways to structure induction programs more effectively for rural participants are proposed.

School Council Member Perceptions and
Actual Practice of School Councils in Rural School   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Thomas Pharis, Randall V. Bass, and James L. Pate

ABSTRACT: In a time of growing interest in accountability, sharing school governance with parents, teachers, the community, and business leaders has become a norm.  School councils or advisory groups have become a requirement for schools in many states.  This research examined school council members’ perceptions of issues addressed by the councils and council effectiveness in rural Georgia.  Additionally, this research examined the relationship between council members’ perceptions of school council effectiveness among council member constituent groups and the difference between council members’ perceptions of issues addressed and actual issues addressed.  The research identified factors school council members believed to be important for school council effectiveness.  The data were gathered through a survey of school council members in the forty-one county Valdosta State University service area.  Actual issues addressed were obtained through a content analysis of school council minutes.  Implications for educational practice in rural schools included a process of involving of a variety of constituents in policy making at the school level in an attempt to improve student academic performance and principals hold the key to council effectiveness

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