Rural Education Policy Research Articles

Does Rural Mean not Urban? Reconsidering the Conceptualization and Operationalization of Rural School Districts

Increasing attention has been paid to rural education policy and research, yet few studies have examined the conceptualization of rural school districts. This study provides a conceptual and empirical examination of the definitions of rural districts. The results illustrate that a common, singular definition of rural is elusive and there is a prevailing notion of rural as “not urban.” Regardless of the operationalization of rurality, there are statistically significant differences across urban and rural districts in terms of their size, complexity, demographic composition, segregation, educational resources, economic structure, economic and social context, and academic and equity-related outcomes. Implications are discussed.

Identity construction of rural schools: pedagogy, teacher training, infrastructure and politics

This research aims to reflect on the construction of the identity of rural schools, having as reference the dimensions: pedagogical, teacher training, infrastructure and politics. The methodological procedures are based on the assumptions of Qualitative Research, from a critical perspective, through the technique of document analysis of the Rural Education Policy, in interface with the theoretical framework that supports reflections on cultural identity, modernity and Rural Education. The results point to the interdependence of the aforementioned dimensions in the construction of the identity of rural schools. In conclusion, it is highlighted that the dynamism of the modern world covers these dimensions and requires constant reflection on demands that are not always new.

Decolonial movements in rural teacher's training: resistance to the segregated knowledge pattern

The year of 2020 is the milestone of a decade since the implementation of the Rural Education Policy, also known as Procampo, which was enacted through Decree n. 7.352, from November 4, 2010. This policy, as victory of social movements, is changing university spacetimes, territorialities and the daily lives of rural communities. Therefore, it summarizes the counter-hegemonic struggle for different educational rights, for the emancipation of teaching practices and for schools and communities’ autonomy. Based on such elements, the aim of the present article is to present autobiographical narratives according to which students and teachers rescue different decolonial movements observed in academic training as the very outcome of experiences built on Interdisciplinary Degree in Rural Education at Fluminense Federal University (UFF). The narratives highlight that Rural Education breaks up with the Eurocentric view of knowledge in order to acknowledge the richness of different knowledge fields, identities, and students’ historical and epistemic place with a colonial scene that denies differences to the detriment of submission practices. In order to face such reality, the narratives point out that the Rural Education proposes decolonial movements – as prevailing feature in teachers’ training – focused on coping with, as well as on resisting and repairing historical violence imposed by the coloniality.

Reimaging Local Control, Local Democracy, and Local Engagement in Education: How Rural Education Policy in a Metro Centric State Alienated Its Residents

This paper examines two case studies as examples of how an Urbannormative State policy implementation for education reform in rural areas altered and de established trust in state government reforms. By specifically examining two rural community’s efforts to ensure local control in the face of state policy implementation practices, the paper finds that rural areas have over 70 years of concrete evidence that their values are often subjugated to state reform plans which stress efficiency and effectiveness. Using archival evidence, these case studies present under studied, and little-known events which have shaped relationships between the State and its residents. The paper finishes with a re-evaluation of implementation theory and posits an updated theory that includes local stakeholders influences beyond the previous model of focus on government officials.

Exploring Perceptions Related to Teacher Retention Issues in Rural Western United States

The rural setting is one that must be better understood because of the broader discussions of changing demographics, growing diversity, the need for economic development, and community engagement. Additional research is needed to understand the interconnection of rural spaces and teacher retention. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of educational stakeholders in a rural region of the western United States as they relate to retaining teachers in rural school communities that are experiencing shifts in the community due to limited rural opportunity and underdevelopment, ageing populations, poverty, out-migration, and shrinking economies. The study collected data from teachers, administrators, parents, patrons, legislators, students, and other educational stakeholders through a survey instrument (n= 806). Data were collected from October of 2017 to January of 2018. The methodological approach was a mixed qualitative and quantitative inquiry. The mixed-method approach was due to several open-ended questions on the survey, along with quantitative, closed-ended survey questions. The findings illuminate the critical role leadership plays in retaining teachers, and the significant need for robust mentoring and support programs for new teachers. Findings also consider the relationship between rural education policies, leadership practices, teacher recruitment and retention, and broader issues related to rural development. In addition to finding ways to better support mentoring, there are several implications for teacher and leadership preparation programs to better support rural placements.

Revisiting Rural Education Access

Drawing on a contemporary construction of rurality, which acknowledges rural education amplified by technology, we capture two examples where online mathematics resources were used in a rural middle school setting. As such we examine issues and consider rural education access as it is changed with technology towards a more nuanced understanding of rural contexts necessary to inform future rural education policy, practice, and research.

Leadership practices contributing to STEM education success at three rural Australian schools

AbstractThe limited research into leading STEM education in rural schools internationally tends to adopt a deficit view, with a focus on the poor achievement and aspirations of rural students, difficulties recruiting and retaining STEM teachers, and issues of isolation and under-resourcing. Counter to this trend, this paper reports on research investigating leadership practices shaping STEM education at three high STEM-performing rural schools. High-performing rural schools in Victoria, Australia were identified through analysis of state-wide final year enrolment and achievement data in STEM related senior subjects. Three rural schools with relatively high STEM subject enrolments and achievement levels were selected for in-depth study. The theory of Practice Architectures guided thematic analysis of interviews with principals, middle leaders, and teachers, facilitating a description of the ways that leadership practices interacted with the Practice Architectures evident at each school, which, in turn, enabled and constrained practices that contributed to each school’s STEM education success. Five leadership practices were identified as contributing to STEM education success at all three schools: leveraging community relationships, utilising local resources to enrich STEM learning, empowering STEM teaching staff, promoting the value of STEM education, and supporting STEM pathways. In detailing these leadership practices, this paper provides guidance to rural education leaders and policy makers seeking to improve STEM education in rural schools.

Sustainable Development of Education in Rural Areas for Rural Revitalization in China: A Comprehensive Policy Circle Analysis

Rural revitalization to promote sustainable rural development is a key strategy promoted by the Communist Party of China. We conducted a comprehensive policy analysis to explore the development of sustainable rural education for promoting rural revitalization in China. Integrity, openness, and endogeneity are critical in the development of sustainable rural education. We investigated the formulation and implementation of sustainable development policies supporting rural education in China through an in-depth analysis of the rural education policy circle (policy design, content, and implementation) and administered a survey among rural education administrators and teachers to elicit their perspectives. Education personnel employed in rural areas within 10 provinces, including school and education administrators, teaching staff and researchers, and teachers (in kindergartens, primary schools, and middle schools) were recruited for the study. A total of 741 questionnaires were sent out and returned (a recovery rate of 100%). Our findings indicated that the policy design was unreasonable, and its focus on rural-based care was inadequate. Moreover, integration and symbiosis of policy content was lacking, and the governance system was also inadequate, leading to poor policy implementation associated with insufficient support of teacher resources. In addition to addressing the above issues, we suggest that the policy should have a rural orientation to enhance integration and symbiosis, with a focus on building and consolidating the ranks of rural teachers.

Mapping historical trends of sustainable rural education policy development in China

This study examines the key historical stages of the sustainable rural education policy development, including the stage of Rural Education Restoration and Adjustment Period (1979–1985); the stage of Comprehensive Reform Period of Rural Education (1985–2003); the stage of Rural Education Coordinated Development Period (2003–2018); and the stage of Rural Education Revitalization and Development Period (2018 to present). Along with the analysis, the policy characteristics of sustainable development of rural education policy in China concentrates on adhering to the unified leadership of the Party as the fundamental, adhering to the principle of comprehensive reform, adhering to the goal of serving rural development; adhere to promoting equity in education as the main task; and adhering to the construction of teachers as the key. In addition, policy problems on the sustainable development of rural education in China are also highlighted in this study. The conclusion and remarks are finally offered in the last.

As conquistas da Educação do Campo e o avanço da extrema-direita: desafios e perspectivas

The pressure of socio-territorial movements of struggle for land, in articulation with different institutions of organized civil society and, associated with that, who assumed education for countryside schools as public policy contributed to the strengthening of Countryside Education. In this collective commitment, the objective was to guarantee the creation and maintenance of schools in rural spaces with a pedagogical proposal linked to their reality, to invest in the training of teachers to serve these rural schools and prepare teaching materials for this population. These actions were guaranteed by public policies established within the National Countryside Education Program (PRONACAMPO). One of these policies was the National Field Textbook Program (PNLD-Campo). This context favours strengthening the movement organized by agribusiness sectors to control education in the Brazilian agrarian space. In this sense, this paper discusses a brief history of Rural Education and public educational policies aimed at the field. Furthermore, it points out some of the current disputes that encompass the education of the/in the field and the relationship of these disputes with the increase in the power of the agrarian elites from 2016, demonstrating how land concentration is in the basis of these processes. Finally, we point how urgent is an articulation to confront the neoliberal advance on State and Rural Education.

Introduction to Special Topic: Rural Education Finance and Policy

This special topic takes stock of the current state of rural education finance and policy research. Taken together the articles in this special topic highlight a major point. Rural districts and schools not only differ from those in urban areas but also differ from one another. This is perhaps not surprising given the heterogeneity of school size, community size, demographics, and the degree of rurality of schools across the United States. The articles pose a challenge for policymakers. Policies that serve one state or one rural community may not be relevant or helpful to another. Policy solutions must recognize the diversity of education challenges across and within states.

O processo de fechamento das escolas rurais nos municípios de Arraias e Combinado - TO

As políticas de Educação do Campo têm se consolidado nos movimentos sociais por um projeto político e pedagógico de emancipação dos povos do campo. O recorte desta pesquisa delimita-se entre o período de 1998 a 2015, cujo objetivo é investigar os marcos normativos da educação do campo que asseguram o direito à educação pública de qualidade aos povos camponeses e compreender as políticas de fechamento das escolas rurais localizadas em Arraias e Combinado no estado do Tocantins. Em termos metodológicos, utilizamos como fonte de pesquisa a revisão bibliográfica e documental na organização e sistematização de fontes primárias. A partir disso a pesquisa revela que o fechamento das escolas rurais nos devidos municípios evidencia a negação do direito à educação no ambiente em que vivem. Sendo assim, os direitos educacionais conquistados foram violados pelo poder público no processo de mobilização e organização das comunidades rurais.

Políticas públicas de educação do campo: Revisão sistemática das publicações brasileiras

Esta pesquisa objetivou investigar as características das publicações contemporâneas sobre políticas públicas de educação do campo, o que permitiu monitorar os avanços científicos da área e os assuntos abordados pela academia em periódicos brasileiros. Para tanto, utilizou-se de revisão sistemática de literatura na base de dados “Periódicos Capes” através dos descritores “educação do campo” e “políticas públicas”, com data “2009/2017”. Os critérios para inclusão na análise foram metodologia claramente definida e possibilidade de enquadramento temático. Ao todo, 93 trabalhos foram analisados, 52 selecionados para análise descritiva geral e 10 discutidos em profundidade. Constatou-se a predominância de estudos de natureza qualitativa, de caráter empírico e a tendência temática de maior representação foi a “trajetória e contexto regional ou microlocalizado”, com 16 (31%) artigos estudados. Assim, foi possível verificar uma forte tendência para a publicação de artigos que esclareçam fenômenos contemporâneos aplicados à realidade do cidadão do campo.

Rural Educator Policy Brief: AASA Transistion Memo to President Trump

Editor’s Note: In this third Rural Education Policy Brief, we share the Transition Memo originally published by AASA: The School Superintendents Association. The National Rural Education Association partners with AASA and other state and national organizations to advocate for rural education through the National Rural Education Advocacy Coalition. The NREAC monitors federal policy and lobbies about issues that impact rural schools. Each spring, the NREAC develops a legislative agenda. Readers can learn more about the NREAC at their website: http://www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=17140. On January 10, 2017, AASA released its Transition Memo to President Trump and his administration, summarizing key issues and steps the administration can take to support public education. Because the Transition Memo succinctly addresses several national policy issues of particular relevance to rural educators, the AASA Transition Memo is reprinted here, in its entirety.

Policy Brief: An Interview with Education Advocates Juliane Baron and Michele McLaughlin

TRE Editor Devon Brenner recently sat down with experts to learn more about how to communicate with members of congress to advocate for rural education policy and funding. Juliane Baron is the Director of Government Relations at the American Educational Research Association. AERA, a national research society, strives to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good. Michele McLaughlin is the President of Knowledge Alliance, an association that focuses on the federal role in education research, technical assistance and innovation.

Safety at Schools: Identifying the Costs Associated with the Necessary Safeguards for Arming Educators

Editors’ note: The Rural Educator publishes a policy brief each issue, intended to explore topics pertinent to rural education policy and advocacy. The issue of school safety is particularly timely, especially for rural schools. We believe this essay, based on surveys of school leaders in Colorado, takes a unique perspective by examining the financial costs that might be associated with policies to place guns in schools.

Análise da instrumentação da ação pública a partir da teoria do ator-rede: tecnologia social e a educação no campo em Rondônia

Este artigo discute o uso de tecnologias sociais para a instrumentação da ação pública e a adoção da teoria do ator-rede como suporte para a análise relacional. Para tanto, um estudo de caso qualitativo foi realizado para analisar a adoção da pedagogia da alternância como instrumento da política de educação rural do estado de Rondônia, Brasil. Constatou-se que, apesar de o governo estadual querer definir um modelo padrão, a instrumentação da educação no campo foi transladada diversamente em diferentes regiões do estado, por meio da ação pública que envolveu uma ampla rede de atores. Concluindo que, em decorrência dessas múltiplas e diferentes formas de instrumentação sociotécnica da ação pública, existe uma maior demanda pela abertura dos atores governamentais à dinâmica relacional do processo de construção de políticas públicas.

Rural education practice and policy in marginalised communities:Teaching and learning on the edge

In this paper I focus on the problems that face (teacher) education policy and practice in meeting the challenge of ‘persistent and entrenched locational disadvantage’ in marginal communities. In Dropping off the Edge 2015, Tony Vinson and colleagues (2015) clearly demonstrate that complex and entrenched disadvantage has continued to characterise a number of Australian communities, with few signs of improvement in the past 15 years. A very high proportion of these disadvantaged localities are in rural areas, and they pose an enormous challenge to policy makers and service providers, as well as to the people who live in the communities themselves. In such contexts, education is both crucially important and inexorably difficult. Agreeing with Vinson, Rawshtorne, Beavis and Ericson, that we need to understand locational disadvantage as a wicked problem for a social equity agenda (2015), I argue that the concept of Rural Social Space (Reid et al., 2010) provides a useful and coherent theoretical resource for understanding and addressing this problem, and rethinking the idea of community in ways that are necessary for change to occur. Using an exemplary case of one locality identified by Vinson as threatened with ‘dropping off the edge’, I examine what a wicked problem looks like for social equity in this particular rural social space, and how it calls into question some of our most cherished assumptions about rural communities and rural schooling. The example allows consideration of the kind of policy and practice responses that may be necessary if the problem of educational disadvantage in rural locations is to be adequately addressed.

Educação do campo: Aproximações conceituais e evolução histórica no Brasil

Entre os estudos acadêmicos é comum a distinção de “educação rural” para “educação do campo”, em uma perspectiva de que a prática emancipatória da educação deve ser fundamentada na problematização do indivíduo em suas relações com o mundo. Sendo assim, temos como objetivo: elencar diferenças e aproximações, através de revisão em literatura acadêmica, entre graus de ruralidade, fora da cidade, rural, remoto e campo, e; analisar as políticas públicas de educação do campo em três períodos históricos, por meio de revisão literária e documental – focada em normas – com apresentação de um quadro de comparações históricas. Concluímos que os movimentos sociais tiveram ampla participação no aprofundamento de conceitos da educação do campo e que tal força impulsionou conquistas normativas, porém os desafios na qualidade e na manutenção das principais conquistas permanecem.

Rural Education As Rural Development: Understanding the Rural School–Community Well-Being Linkage in a 21st-Century Policy Context

Despite the significant proportions of rural Americans, schools, and public school students situated in the geographic peripheries of an increasingly urbanizing country, rural education in the United States has consistently occupied both scholarly and policy peripheries. This is to the detriment of rural America, especially to the extent that public policy and educational practice may work at cross-purposes with the vitality and well-being of rural communities. This paper examines these issues and, more specifically, considers the relationship between rural education and rural community development. I argue that rethinking the purposes of education, particularly within rural contexts, may help not only to more clearly articulate a sensible rural education policy, but, in the process, more clearly articulate broader rural development policy.